Bridge Soul

Woman <--> Water

2012-02-07T08:45:00.000-08:00

Let’s start with a story this time…

Young King Arthur was ambushed and imprisoned by the monarch of a neighboring kingdom.

The monarch could have killed him but was moved by Arthur's youth and ideals. So, the monarch offered him his freedom, as long as he could answer a very difficult question. Arthur would have a year to figure out the answer and, if after a year, he still had no answer, he would be put to death.

The question was: What do women really want?

Such a question would perplex even the most knowledgeable man. And to young Arthur, it seemed an impossible query. But, since it was better than death, he accepted the monarch's proposition to have an answer by year's end.

He returned to his kingdom and began to poll everyone: the princess, the priests, the wise men, and even the court jester. He spoke with everyone, but no one could give him a satisfactory answer.

Many people advised him to consult the old witch, for only she would have the answer. But the price would be high as the witch was famous throughout the kingdom for the exorbitant prices she charged.

The last day of the year arrived and Arthur had no choice but to talk to the witch. She agreed to answer the question, but first he would have to agree to her price.

The old witch wanted to marry Sir Lancelot, the most noble of the Knights of the Round Table, and Arthur's closest friend! Young Arthur was horrified. She was hunch-backed and hideous, had only one tooth, smelled like sewage, made obscene noises, etc.

He had never encountered such a repugnant creature in all his life.. He refused to force his friend to marry her and endure such a terrible burden.

But Lancelot, having learnt of the proposal, spoke with Arthur. He said nothing was too big of a sacrifice compared to Arthur's life. And the reservation of the Round Table. Hence, a wedding was proclaimed and the witch answered.

Arthur's question thus: 'What a woman really wants?'

She said, 'A woman wants to be in charge of her own life.'

Everyone in the kingdom instantly knew that the witch had uttered a great truth, and that Arthur's life would be spared. And so it was. The neighboring monarch granted Arthur his freedom. And Lancelot and the witch had a wonderful wedding.

The honeymoon hour approached and, Lancelot, steeling himself for a horrific experience, entered the bedroom. But, what a sight awaited him. The most beautiful woman he had ever seen was sitting by the bed.

The astounded Lancelot asked what had happened. The beauty replied that since he had been so kind to her when she appeared as a witch, she would henceforth become her horrible and deformed self only half the time, and be the beautiful maiden the other half.

'Which would you prefer?' She asked him. 'Beautiful during the day .... or at night?'

Lancelot pondered the predicament.

During the day he could have a beautiful woman to show off to his friends,

but at night, in the privacy of his castle, an old witch!

Or,

Would he prefer having a hideous witch during the day?

But by night a beautiful woman for him to enjoy wondrous moments with?

Knowing the answer the witch gave to Arthur for his question,

Sir Lancelot said that he would allow HER to make the choice herself.

Upon hearing this, she announced that she would be beautiful all the time..

Because, he had respected her enough to let her be in charge of her own life.

So, be careful how you treat a woman and always remember:

IT IS EITHER ' HER WAY ' OR IT IS ' NO WAY ' !!

Came across this story few days back and a thought sparked “Woman is like water”.

It’s always better to respect her free will. If for your benefits, you try to build a dam, a dame will damn you. She’s like a river. More she jumps, more she flows, more she looks feminine. You like to see her, you like to soak in it. When it is still, it is normally deep.

Women empowerment is always about freeing her. Freeing her from her limits: Limits of homely boundaries, limits of knowledge, limits to dream, limit to breath.

A city’s prosperity depends on the flow of river. A society’s growth also lies in its women well-being.

Water is heated through convection method. Compared to solid, it takes more time to be heated and more time to cool down. Chemical properties of water are also very special. It has no color, no taste, no smell and no shape. It acquires shape and size of the container. In the similar manner, girls acquire etiquettes and conduct of her husband’s family. It’s mysterious to understand and create chemistry with her. She takes time to be heated and time to cool down.

It is said that running water is the best source to remove negativity. That is why taking bath has given special importance even in to many religious rituals. A woman is also an ocean. Ocean of emotions. More warmth you provide, more she will rain.

She may not cry in her ‘Bidaai’ in order to make her parents less worried. She may behave rude in order to make separation less painful. But that doesn’t describe her. It doesn’t mean she is vindictive. She always helps you lifting up your moral, achieving success, removing loneliness and keeping yourself away from worldly negative vibrations.

Smart readers will read in between the lines. This is for the second time I’m writing on such similar topic. Woman’s day is yet to come but couldn’t stop myself from writing as something good came to my mind after long. Moreover the very reason I write is I need to know who I am. For which purpose I am here and where I am going. Writing helps me to know what is going inside me and helps me bridging with outer me and inner me. That is why such topics are apt I guess.

Enough for now… ;-)

Will be back with something new…

Till then Keep flowing, Keep drenching (& For others, keep getting drenched ;-) )… :-)

Moods...!!!

2011-11-12T00:34:00.000-08:00

Colors are less compared to variation of my mood,
Range of shades can’t match diversity of my mood.

Sometime I enjoy partying with crowd,
Sometimes I walk alone on empty roads.

Sometimes I’m full of emotions,
Sometimes I’m completely indifferent.

I can have complete control over me,
I may love to indulge myself.

One time so restless to finish all work,
& in a complete mood to chill at other time.

I’m nice with my enemies,
Angry with loved ones.

I keep people around me positive,
But sometimes an unknown sadness penetrates inside.

I do mundane mechanical work with utmost joy,
I find most logical things meaningless at times.

I can build creations with patience and care
I can destroy everything in a moment.

Eternity is achieved through managing mood,
Should I go deep in madness or all-time behave good??

બસ એક તું જ...!!!

2011-11-12T00:27:00.000-08:00

થોડો સમય લાગ્યો પણ ખુશ છું,
કે વખત વીતતાં પેહલા તને ઓળખી ગઈ,
હું શું હતી એની મને ખબર ન હતી,
પણ તને મળી ને હું મને પણ ઓળખી ગઈ.

જ્યાં કોઈ ને મારી કિંમત ન હતી,
ત્યારે તે મને કીધું કે હું રત્ન છું,
કઈ કરી શકવાની ક્ષમતા આપી,
એવો દુનિયા મા તું જ એક ફક્ત છું .

મારી અનંત વાતો સાંભળી,
દરેક વખતે તારો કાન ધર્યો,
આફતો ના પહાડ થી હું ડરી,
પણ મારી પડખે કાયમ ઉભો રહ્યો.

મેં બહુ કરી મુર્ખામી,
તારી સમજણ ક્યારેય ના ખૂટી,
મેં વાપરી મારી તર્ક શક્તિ,
તારી પ્રેમ શરવાણી તો ક્યારેય ના તૂટી.

જીવન તે આપ્યું છે તો,
હવે સાર્થક પણ તું જ કર,
સામાન્ય કામો કરવાનુ આમ તો ફાવે,
પણ હવે મને બહુ વ્યર્થ ના કર.

શમણા ભરેલી આંખો પણ તારી,
ને ઉડાન ભરવા માંગતી પાંખો પણ તારી,
ફરી બહુ એક થી બીજી શાખ પર,
હવે હમેંશ માટે બાહો મા રાખ તારી.

Belated Happy Friendship Day..!!!

2011-09-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my busy schedule at my job and hyper-busy schedule at home which do not allow me to write much thesedays. Life is little busy with social gatherings, meetings, new recipes at kitchen and high expectations at work, emotional management after marriage and stress management before release. Finally stealing some time out for myself and writing about something I wanted to write from long.

It is late to write with this title when friendship day is more than a month old, but pictures of groups of young faces on Ahmedabad roads are still fresh in my memory. I remembered my last friendship day spent with 3 of my best friends. Out of which one got recognition very early on my blog (yes, Prarthu ofc… ;-) ). And rest two are the ones I want to dedicate this post to.

Words always fall short to explain any beautiful feeling; it is just to be felt. Still there is an attempt to show my sincere gratitude towards them and let them know how they’ve made difference in my life. Every friend has his/her own importance and his/her own special space in our life (Har Ek Friend zaruri hota hai… :-) ), But Vidula and Pooja are those rare friends with whom I can feel the smell of college as we were fresh from college when we started interaction and at the same time can discuss corporate erudition as we entered together as a newborn in corporate.

It’s hard to remember from when we started interacting so much, from when we started feeling comfortable sharing whatever comes to our mind, from when we started understanding each other’s mood. It just happened. The best part which made this friendship different was although we were girls, we hardly allotted any time in talking like typical girls. We discussed movies; we discussed novels. We discussed psychology; we discussed career plans. We discussed philosophy; we discussed mythology. We discussed emotions; we discussed moods. We discussed success stories; we discussed fitness regimes. We discussed politics and we discussed sports. Some of the things we were never interested discussing were best places in city for hair-straightening, current love affairs in the office or any other such useless stuff. Long chat hours in riverside car- parking after lunch were best nutrition to our knowledge hungry souls.

We moved a step forward and unknowingly helped each other to grow. Vidula is the one who helped me started sharing my writing. Otherwise even today instead of blogging, I wud’ve been writing in my personal diaries or mails. Pooja helped me learn eating faster. There was a time when I was taking 30-40 minutes to lunch and she was taking hardly 7-8 minutes. We reached a state where we both were taking equal 20 minutes. It is a great help as today others don’t have to wait for me to finish my meal at restaurants or parties. She’s saved me from one of the most embarrassing situations.

Also I’ve learned from Punji (as I call her) is to be little careless. I can put my ideas more clearly and more confidently without having fear of how the other person will think about me. I take new challenges and can walk on path less traveled without having fear of results. Of course I’m not as bold as hers, but idea is to improve ourselves and not to be alike. Vidu taught me how listening is a key ingredient in care. She always listens to everyone with utmost patience and with interest. I’ve tried to implement this thing with my loved ones and seen how it has helped. You may not have capacity to solve problems but sometimes lending an ear also heals. Sometimes it also happened that while trying to explain her my problem, I’ve found solution of my own problem. She has created my interest in English songs. She’s taught me how to achieve happiness in small things. How can I forget that she accompanied me in Teach India campaign and the kind of feeling it gave was so very wonderful.

We were blended so well that we forgot that there might come a time to be separated. That time came, but Puji and I didn’t realize much as we were still going to be together in a new organization. Even that happiness didn’t last long as our enthu Punji soon decided to change this company too. I’ve never told her but yes I felt pain that day. I was with her entire day on her last day in the company for all clearance formality. It probably created a bad impression for me as people thought I’ll also be leaving the company soon as I’m her friend. But who cared? She is much more important than a silly impression. More importantly I was sad because it gave me feeling as if I was separated from her and Vidu as well since Vidu was also with us in our chat if we both were together. From the first day in my office Puji was with me and now I was not going to have the opportunity to work with her. It was going to be tough. I waved her goodbye and smiled but I wanted to hold her back and hug. I let her go as it was for her better future. Also I realized how Vidu must have felt on our last day at the company.

Today all 3 of us sit at different locations, work in different companies, can’t meet often. Still we share every happiness, every success, every confusion and every doubt either on mails and on phones regularly. We stand by each other in need. It was a great pleasure to eat from Vidu’s hands during my wedding as I was not able to eat on my own due to ‘Mehendi’. We enjoy whenever we can meet and seek each other’s advice in making important decisions.

There is something more I want to tell you both. Your trust in my ability has helped me to grow. You’ve tolerated all my stupidities and encouraged all my ideas. I’ve strong faith in universal energy and friends like you are great gifts for life. I’ve tried different colors with you and enjoyed different tastes of life. There is a significant contribution of two of you in making me who I am today and made me believe that I’m good. May it be shopping on C.G.Road or cheese-grill sandwich opposite office campus. May it be presentation in team or Jaselmer trip. May it be constant babbling or silent walk, each and every moment shared with you is precious. We might be on different roads; still we’ve many more miles to go together on life-path.

Stay in touch… Always..!!!

Temporary Homes...!!!

2011-06-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

I got a new beautiful home
Open windows and strong walls;
New ceiling, new floor
Foreign objects and doors unknown.

I was told it is my home
Makes me feel like a proud dame;
Like everything else new was the dome
New participants and new was the game.

Excitement was high
I felt everything was mine;
I asked for more energy
To establish a synergy.

While making myself compatible
I found my last home was already comfortable;
There may come a time I thought
Where I will have to change even this abode.

Again I will have to adjust
Again I will feel disgust;
How can this be solved?
An idea evolved :-)

House is temporary
But permanent is home
Following is the analogy
Of body and soul.

Maintenance is important for tenant
But it should not make them stagnant
Till when I will be a part of this torment?
Now it’s an urge to reside in a home which is permanent.

Equal and Opposite...!!!

2011-05-11T01:05:00.000-07:00

There is a Newton’s third low of motion which states that “To every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”. These days I’m experiencing rather realizing a similar such scenario. It is not just about me but I guess almost everyone experiences this. It’s about a silk thread (delicate yet strong) between us and our parents.

One side there is intense love and other side there is utmost respect. Days are coming near to wave goodbye to my humble abode and to my parents. Although I’ll always be connected to them, still I won’t be able to enjoy all the leisure I’m enjoying today, won’t be able to do everything as per my wish. There won’t be anyone around who can tolerate all my mistakes limitlessly and care infinitely.

A universal rule of action and reaction holds true here too. When I was a kid I was very proud of my parent. I knew my father is a hero and he can fix almost anything. I knew my mother is the most beautiful lady on the planet and the best cook. Similarly today I’m the brightest, most mature & most lovable daughter for my parents.

As a kid I kept waiting for my father until he comes back from office and if any member on the dinning table would have been missing, dinner was incomplete for me. This phenomenon has also become opposite. Today my parents wait for me to come back from office and have dinner only after I return. Throughout my life they have taken care of my meal, my nutrition, what is good for my health. Today I keep reminding them to have less calorie food, avoid too much sugar or salt and taking pills on time.

Every degree I own, every knowledge I’ve gained, every etiquette I follow today is due to all the efforts my parents have put in my grooming. And today I gave them lessons on mobile and internet usage. :-)

So, this law of action and reaction holds true here. And like every other law, this rule too has an exception. No matter how much I try to become nice to them, there is one thing I won’t be able to return equally. And that is the amount of care and love I’m showered with throughout my life.

I’m just couple of weeks away from my wedding date but I do not let that realization come in just for the fear that it may make me weak. Still thesedays when I go back to home from office, a thought knocks my mind that I won’t be visiting these roads as a daily routine. When I sleep, a thought do appear that I will have to leave my lovely room soon. My all tastes, all comforts will change. But more than anything else the protective layer my parents have provided me will change.

I will become busy in my new life, but it is going to be lot more tougher for them. They’re going to miss me more than I’ll miss them. They’ll always be with me in form of their teaching and guidance. A silk thread will always keep us connecting. We’ll be at opposite sides but equally attached. :-)

Shortcut to Happiness…!!!

2011-04-08T22:06:00.000-07:00

Wall-clock shows 11:50 in my drawing room. After a long, lovely and busy weekend, I’m all set to sleep on Sunday night. And thought of surfing TV, just for 5 minutes. Switched it on and swiftly moved to my favorite set of channels…. Star Movies…. Zee Studio… HBO….and wooww… a movie I love.. “Shortcut to happiness”. I have already seen it twice and I knew even though papa is going to make a comment in the morning, I am going to watch it :-D. Specially the court scene which I love to watch again and again. :-).

This film is an adaptation of Stephen Vincent Benet classic short story The Devil and Daniel Webster. It stars Anthony Hopkins as Daniel Webster, Alec Baldwin as Jabez Stone, and Jennifer Love Hewitt as The Devil.

Jabez stone is a desperate writer who doesn’t fit in the practical world, doesn’t find a publisher for his book. A book which is appreciated among his friends. For living he chooses to do a job of a sales person. For him, a poor man coming for window shopping stands in the same row of Richie rich customers. His emotional attitude causes him to leave his job. He is left with almost negligible amount in his account while his friend finds great success with multi hundred thousand dollars contract signed for his book.

He got frustrated with the situation and threw his type writer out of his window which hurts an old lady very badly and he was about to inquired by a police. Just when the situation was becoming worst, a devil comes to his life (you would love to hate Jennifer Love Hewitt as devil). This beautiful stranger offers him a chance at fame and fortune in exchange for his soul. Stone, having lost faith in himself, agrees to the offer.

After accepting the deal Jabez is quickly lavished with all he had ever dreamed of. A book deal, money, women, notoriety, Stone now had it all. However, despite the success, he is losing the friendship, respect and trust of those around him. A friend who had offered him his time and provided courage when things were wrong became prey of a chronicle disease and all Jabez had to offer in return was money.

Coming to the realization that he didn't quite get everything he bargained for, Stone begs the Devil to release him from their deal. When the Devil scoffs, he turns to famed orator Daniel Webster. The two conclude that they should take the battle to court with Webster defending Stone in an otherworldly trial against the Devil.

And there starts the ultimate battle of wits in a fight over the fate of Stone's soul. Arguments between Daniel and devil are just so very wonderful. Devil had all the right to ask for Stone’s soul as he himself had agreed to the deal. Jabez stone symbolizes a common man like you and me. Discouraged and disappointed by the problems of life, irritated by the success of less deserved people around him and lacking good opportunities & patience and wants immediate success. Devil took advantage of him, offers him shortcut to success in exchange of his soul. Stone thought he’ll be free from his quandary and will achieve happiness in shortcut.

Devil symbolizes all malice virtues which enter in our life and it looks so lucrative that we easily sale our souls in exchange of it. After all who needs a life where pain conflict and death exists? But in long run we stand nowhere. Deniel Webster gives fight with terrific arguments. He questioned about Devil’s strength. No divine energy provides her strength, It’s us who give her strength in order to find shortcut of happiness. But only money, success & fame don't actually give meaning to life. God with all the power in His hand could have created the perfect world. But He has created this world with life, pain, conflict and death. Pain to make us strong, conflicts to test us how we deal with them and emerge as a better person and death to evaluate all good and bad we have done.

Everything, every goal is achievable, but you need to pass through the process. You will be tested and then and then only rewarded. Don’t sale your soul for quick, short term happiness. Remember, There is no shortcut to Happiness!! :-)

Snowflakes!!

2011-03-22T23:15:00.000-07:00

This time I’m in a mood of sharing something different; something different than my normal phillo-thoughtful (may be heavy ;-) ) writing. A kid in me never sleeps :-). A kid in me is always curious about knowing something new, trying something new, observing some small yet interesting things which normally we forget noticing in our busy routines. Some real beautiful thing has struck to my eyes while searching for something else on net and just thought of sharing it on my page. It’s about SNOWFLAKES :-).

Snowflakes are conglomerations of frozen ice crystals which fall through the Earth's atmosphere. They begin as snow crystals which develop when microscopic supercooled cloud droplets freeze. What inspired me to share this on blog is images of it. Presenting some of them.

Some facts about snowflakes:

Every snowflake has its own unique shape and is different than all other snowflakes. (The most wonderful fact :-)… so many snowflakes and all are unique).

All snowflakes have six sides. We used to make such designs with paper and scissors while we were in school as timepass (see below image), unaware of the fact that those were snowflakes designs :-).

Snowflakes aren't always white. Years ago, when coal was used in factories and homes, snow was often gray.

In Prince Edward Island, Canada, where the soil is red clay, snowflakes often look pink. Because red dust from the soil is blown into the air and absorbed by the clouds.
(Prince… Edward… Pink snowflakes… woooow!! ;-) :-) ).

The largest snowflakes ever recorded fell in the state of Montana in the United States of America. The snowflakes were 15 inches in diameter (:-O what if it falls on you? :-D).

People buy more cakes, cookies and candies than any other food when a blizzard is in the forecast (Yummyyyyyy…..).

The snowflake is often a traditional seasonal motif used around the Christmas period, especially in Europe and the United States, representing the traditional White Christmas. During this period it is quite popular in the former Soviet Union to make paper snowflakes by folding a piece of paper several times, cutting out a pattern with scissors and then unfolding it, resulting paper snowflakes are then dipped into milk and glued to windows.

Snowflakes are also often used as symbols representing winter or cold conditions. For example, snow tires which enhance traction during harsh winter driving conditions are labelled with a snowflake on the mountain symbol. A snowflake was the symbol of the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Irrespective of facts, what I liked the most are images..!!! :-)

Jeene Ke Ishare Mil Gaye!!

2011-01-29T00:56:00.000-08:00

I updated my relationship status from “single” to “engaged” on facebook. This instance created an instant wave of surprise among a circle of my friends and fans; of which few asked me to portray about my heavenly feelings on blog. Well, for those I’m sure this post is gonna be little disappointing. This post is not about romantic fantasies or dreamland. In fact it is about something more than that.

Amount of happiness, excitement and relief which exists now in my mind, body and soul is probably greater than the amount which exists after happy ending of any fairy tale.And just like any other fictional tale, my story is also little stupid and equally sensible.

My belief has become stronger that everything happens for the best. In the universe there is someone who is taking care of me and giving me best of the best. It took me some time to understand this fact. Like any other normal human, I also had to pass through some dilemma, was little worried and uncertain about my future. There was a time when I was doubtful about my abilities. But today now when everything is in place, I can clearly analyze reasons behind it and see that Protective presence in everything I do.

There was a time when I was unsure about my technical abilities and was worried about my job. I learned to become little more sincere, had faith in that “Protective energy” which in one way or other helps everyone who believes in it. And today I’ve reached at a stage where most people and seniors with whom I’ve worked see me as a responsible & intellectual person. And somewhere inside I know someone else deserves this credit and I silently pass it to the one who deserves it.

There was a time when some corporal ailments were troubling me, but again that universal energy came for the rescue and today making me vigorous at every tick of second.

There was a time when like every girl I was also worried about who will be my life partner or how would I adjust in a completely new place & new people. But like every other task this task was also handled tactfully. The answer was there right against my eyes from past 15 years and I was unnecessarily worrying. What I’ve received is more beautiful than I could have imagined: A peaceful smile on my parents' face, a dream home, a loving and caring family and a companion who is in no hurry to burden me with his rights. He has explained me his dreams and given full access to his canvas with paint brush in my hand. I seek energy for my hands to paint it beautiful. He wants to become my friend first, then lover and then husband (if time permits ;-) ). When my would be mother (-in-law) kissed me on my forehead, I could actually feel a healing hand on my head.

Things may be little less flamboyant; words may be little less flowery, but one thing is sure it can be clearly seen covered by white light. Like a movie scene dream sequence where object boundaries are little blurred and things appear more beautiful than they appear in real life and the whole print is surrounded by soothing white light, my days are also getting equally beautiful. An ordinary mortal can not have this capacity to make me feel protected, give me all the happiness and take care of my growth. I’m happy I’m blessed specially with divine energy. I am not trying to say I can do some special effects kind of thing :-D. It is just that at every step and with every breath I can feel the protective presence in which my Faith is so strong that now I do not worry about me, myself or my future. I’ve received so much of happiness and I know this is how it would continue. This may sound stupid to some people, but most stupid things are normally most sensible. Want some example?? Ask your heart… something which you think others will consider stupid makes most sense to you, isn’t it?

When I try to know a person, one part of me is always keen on knowing what kind of music he/she likes. And when I asked my fiancé to say a song of his liking and saw his playlist, I found this song: “Jeene ke Ishare Mil Gaye..!!” . Just by words I couldn’t identify the song and it seemed completely unfamiliar. But when I listened to this song, I was so delighted to listen to it. It is a beautiful song from movie “Phir Milenge”. Which I’ve listened earlier, liked a lot but somehow it was out of focus. It was lost and found again. Just like me, who was lost in some futile worries and is found back with stronger belief in life.

Road till now was little rocky-patchy and now have reached a stop. The journey is not ended but new phase is about to start with long road ahead. The only difference is I know there will be enough supply of light and there will be shelter whenever I’ll need it. Also I’ll be getting signals which will help me in deciding what turn I need to take.

So… “Jeene Ke Ishare Mil Gaye…!!!” :-)

P.S: In this post I’ve dedicated a song to someone, there is similar instance in one of my earlier post. Tough competition!!! ;-)

Unfamiliar acquaintances!!

2011-01-12T20:25:00.000-08:00

Sounds strange?? I also passed through some strange experiences and learned some significant lessons on human relations from it, so decided to write on this topic.

There are some acquaintances where we are unfamiliar of their background or facts. There are some acquaintances where we are not bound to follow any formalities, where we have to write our own rules from the scratch. Freedom is a key ingredient of such acquaintance. A human tendency is always to look for newness, for liberty. And that’s why such bonds are more attractive, more powerful.

A casual smile exchange with someone who once in a while crosses a road with you or shares a public transport, a Good Morning wish from a security guy, a friend’s friend who helps you adjust in a new city, a book author whom you trust can guide whenever you are down, an RJ who cheers you up while you’re getting bored, someone who showed you the right path when every road seemed to be blocked, a well-wisher/guide/Guru who changed the way you think and filled you with good vibes - are some of the few examples of this case.

Happiness received in this case always have more value and its effect lasts longer. Reason??Because it is unexpected, free :-).

Best example of this oxymoron is lovers turned friends, who knows each other completely and yet can never let anybody see this, not even the person whom they know so well. As love is just the strongest form of acquaintance, true lovers are acquainted with every breath, every habit, every reaction and every thought process of each other. But they can never show and nobody will ever know (as friendship after love is a very complicated stage :-D ), yet somewhere inside they trust and rely on each other.

Someone stays attached even after being free from every tie , and someone just can’t come closer even after spending years together. In process of being familiar to someone, it doesn’t matter how many occasions you’ve celebrated together. It never matters how much close you are in family hierarchy. There are some signals straight from your heart; some lights seen in eyes, some forces free from time and space which makes you feel acquainted. And you just can’t feel unfamiliar (even though logically you’re supposed to feel so).

You got to know some people by some special chains. This has its own gains and its own pains :-).

Speak Up!!

2011-01-03T08:30:00.000-08:00

Have you ever experienced that you want to say thousand things and yet words are not coming out, as if words are stopped somewhere inside?? You try to push them up, think several times, gather courage and this helps them to reach up to your esophagus, throat, vocal chord…. and shaaa… collapse!! :-(

Well, if you have experienced this, then let me tell you, there is nothing to fear. It is absolutely normal. You belong to a quite customary set of people. It is comparatively easy to talk about business, sports or politics. We can discuss for hours on things which rarely affect our life. It’s easy to talk for long and gossip without any specific point or direction. But I don’t know what makes it difficult to speak up your innermost & truest feelings.

It might be possible that you fail to frame words exactly as your feelings and may fear of it being misinterpreted, but still there is no other alternative than to speak it up. Don’t worry about the way it comes, don’t worry about the time it takes. Don’t worry about how the other person would feel about it. Just speak it up!

Many a times we do not express what is on our mind or what we want just because we think that this is something sensitive, delicate and it can be read in my eyes. How would one read your eyes? No one is God here. And even if that someone reads, how would you know that your message is conveyed? Better way is to speak it up! :-)

I know some emotions are just to be understood between four eyes and this requires very high level of understanding and compatibility (like me and prarthu ;-P ). But for everything else communication is must. Even though you feel that your point may not be explained fully or you may get confused somebody or somebody may think that you are silly, but it is still advisable to talk. Your body language, your expression with your words will definitely convey your message right.

Even while speaking against a mass of people, or while giving some professional presentation, we become prey of this limitation. In normal terms we know it as stage fear. Stage is deprecated without a reason, everybody can stand on stage; stage is not dangerous, danger is in speaking against people. But normally before getting fear, we forget that those who are listening to us are also normal human being like us and not going to kill us (and do you think everyone is interested in listening?? How much do you listen when you attend such sessions ;-) ). And while speaking, even if you fumble, anyone can hardly notice.

Such small changes also provide a great help in improving speaking skills :-). With this topic I would like to link a very good story from “Chicken soup of the Indian Soul” written by a friend of mine. A story in some way is very close to my heart. For people who are interested in reading a full story, here is the link: http://kamfucious.blogspot.com/2005_04_01_archive.html under title: “Impervious to Love?”

For those who are running short on time, I am writing gist of the story: it’s a simple love story when a boy and a girl working in a MNC came in contact, exchanged their numbers, started liking each other, talk for long hours on phone and realized that they are in love. Next step is to admit their feelings. Boy typically thought that they both belong to different castes and their parent would never agree and did not speak anything. On contrary to that, despite of knowing all odds; girl went ahead and admitted her feelings without expecting anything in return. She became free as she expressed her thought without giving much importance to her ego, while the boy had to carry thousand things inside him. He could not tell what was true to his heart, thought everything is in order on surface and didn’t speak what was true to his heart. Firstly he thought he has great self control and he has not allowed anything wrong to happen. But ultimately felt great respect for that girl because she had courage to speak up which he didn’t have.

Unsaid words can give endless pain & frustration. Sharing your knowledge, saying few good words, complimenting others will not damage anyone. Yes, it may make someone’s day! :-)

So do not hold yourself, just speak up & shine! :-)

तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय

2010-11-21T08:30:00.000-08:00

Most of us who are graduated from India must have seen or heard this line somewhere on the front pages of our text books. A line which is picked up originally from “Bruhdaranyak Upnishaad” is a prayer to Maa Saraswati – Goddess of Knowledge. The original mantra is:

असतो मा सद्गमय

तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय

मृत्योर् मा अमृतं गमय

“From the unreal, lead us to the Real; from darkness, lead us to Light; from death, lead us to Immortality.”

Being part of Saraswati Pujan last week on the auspicious day of “Gyan Pancham” was certainly a wonderful experience. As such it is recommended to students and I was never part of it while studying in school or college. But I have no regrets, because I think today there is a vast difference in education and knowledge. There are hardly few who wants knowledge from education or there are hardly few who wants to give knowledge through education. Prime motive of education today is to stand out in a competition of getting good marks and finding a good job.

But a good job or money may not complete you. In order to grow we need knowledge and that’s why we pray the divine energy to lead us to light. The process is similar of growing of a tree. Once you have planted a seed, it will grow in the direction of light. That seed, that quest, that desire is necessary to be inside and you’ll find your way or create one to grow. Knowledgeable are called Enlightened. It’s a process to remove darkness of your ignorance and moving towards light of knowledge. Ever noticed while asking experts what do we say? We say “Throw some light” :-)

And that is why we pray goddess Saraswati. Consort of creator of this universe lord Brahma, always found in soothing white attire. You’ll find peacock and swan beside her. Peacock symbolizes material attractions of world which are to be overlooked in order to get knowledge. Swan has a capacity to differentiate milk and water from the mixture, which signifies that you should be focused about your goals, follow right things and leave unnecessary things behind.

In most photos and idols, you’ll find Saraswati sitting and Laxmiji (Goddess of wealth) standing. Because Laxmiji doesn’t believe in staying at a place permanently :-). While Maa Saraswati stays with us throughout several incarnations. She is the one who gives us knowledge about how to handle difficult situations in life, the one who makes us strong while things don’t work out. Happiness & miseries are results of our Karma, but knowledge is something which guides us to deal with them, frees us from the cycle of life and death, leads us to light.

तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय!! :-)

Indifference..!!!

2010-11-09T07:58:00.000-08:00

I have discovered one of my latent talents which seems to be developed somewhere in the recent past. I’m sure roots of this was implanted much earlier from my college days & in my unawareness gradually with time it went on growing and today it has become an integrated part of professional “me”. This art is nothing creative but it is an art of being indifferent.

Behaving with filtered emotions with people and situations is unwanted gift of corporate life. Taking advantage of someone and then behaving indifferently is common here. Interfering into someone’s personal matter through somebody else and then behaving completely indifferently against that someone is nothing new. (I don’t know what pleasure it gives.)

Even worse is a case when you yourself are a victim of such a scenario and there is nothing to protest. Even though this hurts you more than a physical pain or a monetary loss, there is no law to stand by your side. No judiciary where you can claim for your loss of trust in human being.

As there is no way to escape, you will have to face people you hate the most in your daily routine. As you have to complete your official task as a part of your duty, you’ll have to talk to such people. As your corporate code of conduct stops you beating/slapping such people in public, you’ll behave indifferently as if nothing has happened or anything hardly matter to me and manage with a smile on your face.

But if you are having a human part in you, you can not/should not suppress such emotions in you for long period. A pressure cooker also needs to release its pressure with the help of whistle. Similarly we also need to release such anger somewhere. That is where friends come for the rescue again. We can pour out all our anger, get their advice, feel relieved and move on.

Although we can stretch little longer with the help of friends, such incidents creates an urge to go to newer place when you can have a fresh start. Again these things follow at new place too. But by now you have become mature enough not to repeat previous mistakes, not to trust anyone blindly. You have accepted all these as a part of your professional life; you have become indifferent to this.

It looks nice on the outer front to have everything under control. But we are human after all, not machine. Of all the species, we are gifted with all colorful emotions. We have privilege to laugh, to cry, to love, to revenge. And we should value and utilize our gift. It is up to us to select positive or negative set of reactions. But at least react. Do not carry the attitude of indifference in your personal life at least.

When I see people novice to this corporate world & free from such indifference I feel envy of them. When I was new to this world, I used to trust everyone, I might be less smart, less experienced, still I feel I was better then. The only solution I see to this problem is being little indifferent to your selfishness and not to pass what has happened to you to others and stop this cycle.

I from my Eye..!!!

2010-10-25T01:02:00.000-07:00

I haven’t written any poem

It has been really long

I don’t think there is a better option

Than to write my own song

There are no bouquets or gifts

So my heart has some drifts

Friends’ calls & my writing way

Will save me on my special day

The day is wonderful & bright

The occasion is so very right

A kid in me has never frozen

Still age meter shows no. 2 dozen

About me, there is so much to say

She is a great personality

But this length to my dismay

On blogger is not a possibility

This is how I’ve seen

A girl so nice and fine

All flavors of life in her shine

She is a piece of divine

She loves intellectual chatter

To care and flatter

Tries different tastes on platter

& puts mind over matter

She is prone to blunder

And takes challanges with thunder

Pain in her sometimes also flows

But this is how she grows

For her, no mood is permanent

And heart is a thing to experiment

Normally doesn’t lose her temperament

And always thinks for betterment

She is normal yet special

Simple yet crucial

What she wants from life is a protective ceiling,

Higher purpose and meaning

Journey so far has been wonderful

And this is how it will last

Blessings and wishes are plentiful

Let’s go out and have a blast!

Nashiley Nights!!

2010-10-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

Navratri – 9 nights - the longest festival of dance is on air and this is the best time to write about “Night”. There is something special about the mood of night.

I was standing in the lobby of the 6th floor of my office to make a call to a friend in the evening and a sight attracted my attention. (Finally there is something I liked about this place ;-) ). Dusk had touched the town before few minutes. I could see façades of high-rise buildings & sophisticated roads with decent number of cars. (Yes, even roads here seem to follow some code of conduct :-P ). And on the other side I could see the club resort ground ready to rock for ‘Garba’ event. I was standing on the 6th floor and felt like I was free from building and standing between earth and sky without any support just to see lights of the ground below and feel the light of the moon above.

There was a spark in the moment. It changed my mood :-). There has to be something very special about nights. There are things I love to do at night. For example, As a student, I loved to study at night (in college only, as in engineering we study everything at last day… sorry last night). As a friend, I love to talk for long with friends at night. As a writer, I love to get in a mood to think at night. There are nights when I do nothing, just enjoy fragrance of ‘Parijaat’ and ‘RaatRani’ of my compound and put my ears to folk music being played somewhere at distance.

There is definitely some ‘Nasha’ in nights which keeps lovers and celibates awake. First category is away from reality, in ‘Nasha’ of love, very busy with their dream world and sacrifices their sleep. Second category lives with the quest to find what is real, in ‘Nasha’ of knowledge and their search can’t let them sleep.

And there is a third category of people (like me) who don’t fall in first two categories. They have nothing special to do. So they feel cool breeze, watch the moon, do some ‘khufiyagiri’, ponder little, pray, stay in ‘Nasha’ of life and sleep peacefully in Nashiley Nights!! :-)

Flashback !!!

2010-10-06T09:31:00.000-07:00

After Jaiselmer, Udaipur & Chandigarh, one more trip of the year… @ Matheran!! Although it may sound unfair to dedicate this trip to the name of torrent, I think it is completely fair to do so as the basic motive to arrange a trip was to cherish the golden moments with wonderful friends who met on the grounds of torrent.

Coincidently the mix of 7 people contained equal number of people who have left the company and who are still part of the company (i.e. 3.5 have left and 3.5 have not??? Yes..because 1 is on notice period ;-) ). More than exploring a new place, focus was on being with a great company of friends whose worth is probably realized more after departing.

After a long, hectic & boring week, eyes were sparkled to see those familiar faces, ears were relaxed to hear familiar voices and hands were calmed to feel familiar touch. Even on the Friday night we felt so charged and energetic to talk. Nobody seemed to be interested in sleeping (other than Smita mam of course :-P). Everybody was more or less having the same feeling that, “Some rage, some wage and some percentage are responsible for this stage, otherwise who would like to depart from such friends at any age?”

Matheran proved to be an extra-ordinary place. Not just because of the beautiful roads, but because of walks interrupted by our photo sessions. Not just because of the natural silence, but because we filled woods with our noise. Not because we got answers, but because question which were disturbing us were at least discussed – not just personal issues, Raju’s MM configuration queries too :-P

The difference between our previous trips and Matheran’s trip was: we normally do not bother about who is paying, we can always sort out this point later in the office. We normally don’t care whose luggage is in whose bag, we can always return things if they are exchanged. We are normally least concerned who is taking photographs, we can always see all photos together at office in tea-breaks and comment on each & every pose :-). But this time it was not to be. We had to give extra effort to remind us that tomorrow onwards we won’t be together so keep everything in place. (and just because of our habit of neglecting things, monkeys took our snacks away :-( ;-) ).

The greatest relief was to know that everybody is feeling the same way. May we have moved forward for career benefits, but everybody do miss those great days. Now after working in different environment, we’ve realized difference between friends and colleagues. Relief is we are still in the same city and can still plan such more trips in future.

It feels like a game to be remembered is played on the grounds of torrent. I wonder if playing equipments were good or players were potent. It is not Good-Bye that hurts, It is Flashback that Follows!!! :-)

India has got talent: Khoj not required.

2010-09-16T10:11:00.000-07:00

Well, I am not talking about any reality show. I am talking about a great talent with which people of the city are gifted. Even though we are surrounded by many such talented people, our eyes hardly notice it. Now without creating much suspense let me unveil what I am talking about… I am talking about great vehicle driving skills of people.

I am saying this neither in taunt nor in exaggeration. Everyday I see people driving with such mesmerizing skills for which they themselves are innocently unaware. Otherwise for an ordinary person like me, when signal shows me a green light and when Crores (HA… KARODO) of horns are blasting into your ears, receiving a phone call is something far beyond my capability. But everyday I see so many doing it in a completely effortless manner.

No matter how much the traffic density is; people find their way easily from the thinnest possible spaces. On two-wheeler they can easily carry 4 persons at a time. Even better are the car drivers. They can discuss about stock market, don’t tie their seat belt, cross the road even in yellow signal. Cross-roads are anyway the best place to show your driving talent. Some heroes can cross the road even when only the opposite side is allowed to move. And they feel even more proud when traffic police fails to catch them (if at all they try to :-P ).

But the award for the greatest talent in the category goes to none other than AMTS bus drivers. On a road full with small two-wheelers, a bus looks like a big blue whale in the sea from which all small fishes (poor us) have to be constantly afraid. You will never come to know when they will change their mind and from where they will take turn. So is the case with auto-rikshaw drivers.

Don’t you think such a talent requires standing applaud? Ok, stand for a while and also think about poor fellows like us, who are still not talented enough, still don’t drive at a swift speed, can’t talk on mobiles while driving. Be little careful and stop dreading us. :-P

The Transition

2010-09-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

I have said Tata to Torrent and shifted from Torrent to Tata. So, This is about my Topsy-Turvy ride from Torrent to TCS. I connect it with a scene I sometimes watch on TV, I don’t know exactly what this adventure is named as, but in This, a person jumps from one part to another part of mountain with big gap in between. When he reaches on another side, There probably he gets Time To realize whatever has happened. While jumping, he focuses only on reaching the Target. But only after reaching There he realizes how Thrilling the experience was.

Same is happening with me Too. In absence of bridge between me and my aspirations in Torrent, I had to jump to TCS. A new change is anyway not easy always, but sometimes it becomes necessary to accept change in order to grow. Leaving behind the luxuries of Torrent is a similar such experience. Group of charming friends, long talks with them, negligible distance between office and home are missed much. Denied access to meebo, blogger and “0” extension add up to the list of Turn offs. Things I miss The most is quantity and quality of “mukhvas” & beautiful bouquets on various occasions ;-). Moreover, compared To a mixed group of people expertise in all different areas, I’m surrounded by only Techie people here.

TCS may also have its own pros; it is just That I haven’t explored the new pasture enough yet. Thank God I have company of great friends like Pooja and Bhuppi here from Torrent, with help of whom I am able to start developing contacts with other colleagues and security guards. (You know friends, puji is expert in this area ;-) ).

What I’ve learned from previous experiences is: every Trauma is Temporary. I will adjust in a new Tenure Too very soon, but missing Torrent friends like hell. :-)

I will now Terminate my Thoughts which are swinging from one “T” to another “T”, (Torrent to TCS). Lets go for something in which people from both companies are most interested: “T(TEA)” Break!!! ;-).

© Bridge Soul

Rain..!!!

2010-08-23T06:21:00.000-07:00

First time I deliberately got drenched in my life and from then on I have become addicted to it. When I was circumvented by the humidity in the borders of four walls and when I could see the world full of freshness in front of my eyes, I became so desperate to lessen the distance between rain drops and me. I went to terrace, kept my hands open, closed my eyes and let the rain drops kiss my eyes.

For a moment I felt that this rain should not stop and I felt as if all my worries will be washed out with these divine liquid. How could I keep myself away from such sparkling crystals for so many years of my life just because of the fear of getting cold. Probably because I did not know the secret of it's magical power. Some real pleasures of life are criticized and banned in the society. Getting drenched in rain is one of them ;-).

The magical effect rain does is incomparable. Running water is the best source to remove negativity. As one of my friend once said that after coming to home from office, I prefer to take bath and I feel like smoke is coming out of my head and then after I feel so relaxed :-D. May it comes from the sky or from eyes, it definitely helps us to deal with negativity.

Rain helps us to understand that in order to keep any system positively working, it is necessary to keep things flowing. May it be economy or emotions. Flow of money helps to keep market conditions under control. Flow of employees helps to keep recession under control. And flow of emotions helps to keep relations under control. Try to hold any of these and situation will be out of control ;-).

If roads are getting worse, don't give attention. If your vehicle catches problems, take it easy. Go out and feel the magical experience, we call it as “RAIN” :-).

© Bridge Soul

Eternal bond of matrimony - II

2010-08-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

After a maiden month ;-), I am back to blogger. It may seem like I am following Hollywood’s naming conventions & my past few blogs end with a number. Even though the first part is not written by me, I can give this post a sequence number as it is written by my blog partner only. For those who doesn’t have reference to it, here is the link: http://soulcurryvariety.blogspot.com/2010/07/eternal-bond-of-matrimony.html

Very nicely written and I completely support it. It is just that I want to add my own views & nowadays this is something which is a point of concern for most of my “unmarried” friends. I am not here to give any solution, but may be to create more doubts:-D. Eternal bond of matrimony: sounds imperative. And it is fun to see how carelessly most of the people play with it. Not because they like to play with their lives, but because of lack of alternatives. Not by choice, but by compulsion.

A binding of two soul mates where they live, love, respect, share and cherish everything under the sun. On contrary to which I believe marriage is not love. It may sound spurious but fact remains the same. Love is like a dream and marriage is a reality. As shown in Inception, when you are dead in your dream, you are awake. One more sound proof, you will never know the exact date on which love started, but you can always tell the exact date of your marriage ;-).

Love is just not enough for successful marriage. Marriage requires maturity & adjustment, while love is all about craziness & fantasy. Marriage is a decision wisely taken, while love is all about losing control. Marriage is about tying a knot; love is about setting one free.

Now the question is if only love is important, why is it necessary to marry someone? Even in case of love marriage, why is it important to tie a knot? The answer I have found from my analysis is, people marry because they need security. More correct for girls. Girls need emotional security. Normally when you feel you are stable & secured, at that stage your growth stops. Like in case of your work, when you find your comfort zone & do not want to move out of it, at that stage you normally block your growth. Similarly in case of love, when you feel you have done enough experiments with your life or when you find your comfort zone, you marry.

Like rightly said in the movie, “The mirror has two faces”, Love has nothing to do with marriage or sex (Many a times in Indian culture, people look at marriage as a license to sex, which is very disappointing.) People fall in love for a simple reason; because while it lasts, it feels great. Marriage is sometimes considered as a happy ending for love. Very true, marriage is an end of love & true love never has an ending.

I am not against marriage; I am of the opinion that it should not be confused with love. And my humble request to all Barjatyas and Chopras, “Please, stop misguiding the youth”. I will end my post by saying that marriage is an institution, Love is a learning process. Now what is more important for you is something you need to decide… to get a degree from Harvard?? or to become someone like Edison… :-)

Layers of Beauty!!!

2010-06-26T23:30:00.000-07:00

In order to define layers of beauty, one must first know what is beauty.

Some Google answers:

The quality that gives pleasure to the mind or senses and is associated with such properties as harmony of form or color, excellence of artistry, truthfulness, and originality.

Beauty is a characteristic of a person, animal, place, object, or idea that provides a perceptual experience of pleasure, meaning, or satisfaction.

In simpler words anything which is good for eyes, good to feel is beautiful.

However, just like there are multiple definitions of the term beauty, so are its various layers. While the layers start from outward and go inwards towards character, the final or the supreme layer goes upwards towards spirituality.

Without confusing these things, let's start with the layers, the first or the outer layer is called plastic beauty. A form of beauty which is decorated for the purpose of being watched, being observed. A bouquet decorated with thermocol balls, jewelry put on view in exhibition, or a ramp walk of a super model.

A next layer which is very much close to it is natural beauty. The concept is very well described by Kalidas in his play, “Abhigyan Shakuntalam”. He has used terms, “Udhyan Lata” and “Van Lata” which mean flowers which grow under constant supervision of expert gardeners and flowers which grow without any help or proper mentoring in jungles respectively. Later ones are examples of beauty of the next level. The fact that they do not have artificial fragrance, they are untouched from the outer world and demand your efforts to reach to them beautifies them further.

Next layer is where life enters. A beauty of relations. When you like talking to someone, where you care and being cared, where you share. This is called inner beauty when you are won by qualities and not by attributes. The beauty which lasts in your mind for hours even after separating from it. By each passing layer, it becomes difficult to find that particular form of beauty.

So even more difficult form is the next layer, which actually is responsible for making things beautiful. This is the kernel. The reason which makes things beautiful is more beautiful than beauty. What makes thing beautiful is not just qualities or attributes, but the fact that there is someone to appreciate. A reason which turns a bud into a flower, a look, a scan that turns a baby to baybe ;-). It is like a painting is beautiful, but credit must go to an artist who fills colors in it.

Anyone who has the capacity to fill colors, beautify an object or at least value it, should have the power to own it. But the problem with owning a beauty is you have to witness its beauty fading. There is only one form of beauty which is eternal and that is the supreme layer. Something on which you can rely even when you pass through the ugliest phase, because It has the capacity to color your life & terminate all your sorrows. And this Supreme form is the most difficult of all to find. :-).

Continue your search for beauty, admire all beautiful things around you make world even more beautiful place :-).

@ the city beautiful - III

2010-06-18T00:43:00.000-07:00

So, here I am … writing the final post of this series. There is no particular theme for this post. It is not particularly dedicated to a place or a group of people. It is more about ‘Me’. Something that exists inside me and its dealings with an unfamiliar place, an untried domain.

One good challenge was to manage in a place where you can not find any girl around. I had thought that I too would adopt some masculine syndromes by the time I will come back ;-). But I was totally wrong. This fact did not seize my feminine feelings; it actually helped it to bloom to the further level. I was always provided an extra attention & special facilities just because of being a girl.

Just because of this reason I thought I became popular over here. I did not know everybody’s name here, but everybody was aware about my entire profile ;-). Our vice president of HR was also here for a couple of days (from Head office). And one day I found him giving some instructions to admin manager. I thought I should at least say “Hello” to him, but changed my mind thinking that he must not be aware about me or have never even seen my face, so no point in greeting, & before I could even finish my thoughts, he said, Komal, how are you? & I was like :-o0O. How does he know my name? Also felt privileged while taking breakfast with our COO. To which these people made fun of,

A: Breakfast with COO? What’s the big deal? We everyday do it.

B: Everyday? How?

A: Each time we exhale, we leave carbon dioxide, so it is around while having breakfast, & carbon dioxide = CO₂= COO. X-(.

A very big disadvantage of being with boys is, they are never free for window shopping. And one thing which embarrassed me the most was I don’t keep myself updated with latest car models. On our way to office these people kept talking about hi-fi cars around & I was just used to turn up the volume of music system as I could not be a part of the discussion ;-). One day everybody thrice said, “ Superb, Supperb, Supppeeeerrbbb!!” I thought they must have seen some nice girl ;-) but when I looked back.. Oh…. a new model of Skoda…Really Superb!!!

The work part was also good. We have worked for 12 hours even on Sunday. And we were free to work the way we liked because we were responsible for the entire project. For workers in warehouse, Motorola devices were new toys and for us operating a fork lift was the most startling task to do ;-). A new friend, Graison has joined us. As he is from Kerala, he is not much comfortable with Hindi, but looking at the speed at which he is grasping command over the language, I think he will be a master of Punjabi by the time he will go back ( & hopefully I will learn little malayalam) :-D.

For one more time I observed people behaving little awkwardly after getting drunk. And I found nothing peculiar about it. What they do after getting drunk, I do everyday ;-), like I sometimes feel great desire to laugh without reason, sometimes I become sad without reason, sometimes I want to lose control and indulge myself, and me and Vidu can chatter for infinite period of time in lunch break without any specific topic. So, anybody who thinks I miss the fun if I don’t drink, doesn’t know how alcoholic my life is.

I also enjoyed observing people talking for hours on phone at night. If there would be a Swiss bank for relations, I am sure Indians would have top there too ;-).

I am now bugged of Gobhi & Paneer and I am feeling like my nail roots also smell of punjabi tadka. I am desperately waiting to go back home and have some delicious food from mummy. :-)

All in all a wonderful trip, taught me a lot. Some learning is not shared as it is impossible to mould it in words. But definitely this journey has given me an urge to change the direction of life path and motivation to move on further with rejuvenated force.

Alvida, City Beautiful!!! :-)

3 years at Torrent!!!

2010-06-04T22:02:00.000-07:00

I am regretted for breaking my tri-blog series on tricity, but I could not hold myself from writing my tri-year experiences at torrent. Just like her name, there is a torrent of thoughts on my mind and I am struggling very hard on what to include and what to eliminate. Also I thought a lot about a pic and finally put just a logo which today for me worth a million words.

Till college, life was easy. In school we had only one goal each year, going to next standard; same way in college we had only one goal, to clear a semesters. But after getting a degree, things changed. Things were not certain and I was little worried about my future and Almighty delighted me by flinging “torrent” into my lap. A company just 1 kilometer away from my home and also the technology I was gonna work on is one of the best IT technology. Some more positives started coming my way for example a great group of colleagues… mmmm.. no, it is not a right word.. a great group of friends, which is nearly impossible to find in an office environment.

A friend who taught me to be fearless, daring and yet polite. A friend who thinks on the same line as I do and equally poetic in nature. A friend with whom I can share my all work related issues and my childish thoughts. A friend who has always accompanied me while my boss admonished us in initial days of job (as we were in the same module) and then laughed it out. A friend who taught me that love is liberty. A friend for whom just a name would suffice, Prarthu ;-). And there are many other gifts from “torrent”.

Life over here has not always been smooth. We had a vast world to explore and had to jump in an unknown ocean of SAP when we did not know even ‘A’ of ‘ABAP’ (programming language of SAP – Advanced business application programming). We were novice in this world and had very little business sense. It was not like other IT companies where your work ends with completion of your piece of development. It was necessary to be in touch with business process, understand it and follow professional mannerism, as your work directly affects business. But gradually we started molding ourselves into the new environment. Things became easy because we had very supportive seniors and because we understood that in order to get noticed, it is not important to be genius, you just need to be sincere.

And finally the day is here when I have established my monopoly in certain areas and people at other plants and subsidiaries get worried when they hear a news that I am not going to be at Head Office for few weeks. The best part is when my senior boss (yes, senior boss – we have a looooooong hierarchy of bosses ;-) ) is worried about the future of developments of my module when I am not going to be available for few weeks. (I don’t know why it always gives me a sadistic pleasure to see anxious expression on his face :-P ).

There have been days where we feel bored and think that “Yaar, life is not enough challenging. We can not waste it over just job and home. We should learn something new, something different” but mostly we forget that this competence and stability to think about doing something new or spending money on such interesting activities is also a consequence of the fact we know we can spend money wherever we want because we ourselves have earned it and we are free to do whatever we want to do with it. And in my case, whenever I get bored from my routine, TPL arranges a trip for me to Abu, Udaipur, Chandigarh and where not ;-).

These three years have given me little stability and too many unrequited quests. Which I honestly don’t prefer to be answered easily, because this search keeps me active, makes me live; the way “torrent” does. Thank you TORRENT!!!! :-)

@ the city beautiful - II

2010-06-01T05:53:00.000-07:00

As promised, I am back with another blog of this series. And here I am gonna talk about people and not places. This is the third time I am referring this person in my blog, but this time with his real name and not with Mr. Songepedia-II. His name is Utpal. He is a nice friend and I trust him enough to come here alone with him. He is the reason I could say my parents confidently that “Don’t worry, I’ll be safe”. :-)

And after my flight took off, within few minutes I got so many surprising and shocking news from him. He always carries a bag full of news, gossips and information. Not because he spies, but because he is a public figure, has good contacts with others and people like sharing with him. Sometimes I really envy such Gregarious Gangsters!! ;-)

Next I would like to mention two such people without whom my stay over here would have been impossible – Guest house staff and my cook. They are the ones who received us at our guest house and first question he politely asked me was, “Madam ji, dinner me kya khaoge??” I showed my courtesy and said, “ Jo bhi aap khilao”. And calmly added, “bas khali Jain food chahiye”. First he did not understand and said, “ O ji, thik hai, par Jain food matlab?” I explained him in simpler terms, “Matlab vegetarian food without onion, garlic and potatoes”. This made him little furious. I think it was his career’s greatest challenge to make Punjabi food without onion. But I knew if alone in Ahmedabad there can be hundreds of restaurants serving Jain Punjabi food, then he must have enough expertise to manage it for a month.

Now touching to my professional life here, Well… here, it is not at all so called professional environment. People here are sincere, hard working, but not rigidly tied in the webs of mannerism and etiquettes. Everyday I go to my office, I have to greet Good Morning to minimum 10 people. Unlike corporate, I don’t need to think twice before wishing someone Good Morning!! 12-13 people take lunch together. I can not try their lunch as it is mostly not Jain, but I offer them mine and looking at curd brought by me, they say “Oh! It contains bacteria, we don’t eat Non. Veg. food!!” In reply to that I just go X-( and they take curd without saying a word. Dinner time is also good when on the same table people from all different corners of India – Ahmedabad, Sikkim, Bangalore & Shimla - eat together.

Life here is easier, because we have a company of a local friend Pankaj who is also from our department and has taken responsibility to introduce us to the new city. He is always ready with his new car and smiling face and plan enthusiastically our trips to nearby locations.

Also this post would be incomplete if I don’t mention Diwakar and Rajiv – consultants from Bangalore. They both are typical software engineers – Intelligent, down to earth, PJ masters and dedicated to their work (??? I guess whimsical ;) ) enough to look at the hoardings of ‘Sapna Electronics’ and think, ‘Sapna’ -> ‘SAPNA’ -> ‘SAP’ ‘NA’. Oh! my God, I’ve never heard about this new module of SAP :-D.

From the grace of God, I’ve always get a company of great friends and it holds true even for my this small chapter of life! :-)

Will be back with more updates!! Stay Tuned…

@ the city beautiful - I

2010-05-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

I don’t know from where to start, but so many experiences are weaved on the time net of the last week (not talking about SAP Netweaver ;) ) I have so many things to share and also I have free time, free laptop and comfortable guest house environment. So here I am sharing my some experiences at Chandigarh.

First new thing I came to know on the land of Chandigarh is from my cab driver on my way to company’s guest house from airport is that Chandigarh recently got an award of the cleanest city of India. Uncontaminated & traffic free roads are the biggest witnesses of the fact. The Mercedes standing next to our car caught our attention. But within 2 days presence of such cars became very ordinary. Octavia and Mercedes are the most common cars here. Happy to see such a place in India. People here are probably equally rich as Gujjus, but the only difference is these people believe in showing off; while Gujju are smart enough to save money and don’t waste them on such immaterial things ;).

Also designs of buildings here are very different and beautiful. And the best part is high-rise buildings are not permitted here. Also the city is divided into sectors which gives you a feeling that you are in an organized town and not in a concrete jungle. On the road from my guest house to my office, there is a Mango belt of 6 kilometers. Each day when I pass through this Mango belt (tying my seat belt, even though I hate it), I observe clusters of mangoes on the branches of trees :-).

A great motivational sentence from our great motivational force at office states, “Jalsa aj karvana”. We thought temperature here will be less compared to Ahmedabad, and that was also one of the motives to come here. We thought we’ll be able to do jalsa, but we were wrong, global warming has hit this place too and temperature here is also between 40 to 45 degrees.

On our third day here, we visited Sukhna Lake. I must say it’s such a beautiful and romantic place. Serene lake, boat riding, soothing music, a walking track which attracts you to do work out ;), attractive trees, colorful flowers. I was flattered. On that single day I visited three states and one union territory: Punjab,Hariyana,Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh of course.

On the first weekend, we visited a hill station here named “Kasauli”. I had to wake up at 6 on Sunday also :(. But my all complaints were evaporated when I saw beautiful roads, felt some dew drops on my face, when I was embraced by cool breeze and visited a fabulous catholic church :-).

I think this is it for now, will come back with some more experiences on work culture, colleagues here and interaction with few more people. So, Baki di gal baad me dassu gi ;)

Dooriyaan…

2010-05-19T21:44:00.000-07:00

This is something I wanted to write from long and now I guess the time is more appropriate as I am away from home for the first time for a long period. That too with so many Sardarjis, a place when a girl would feel like an alien (shooting for the film on “Jaadu” is also done here ;-) ) and with a company of a little(???) intricate creature named Mr. Songepedia-II.

Dooriyaan… Distance… which is not always physical or something which you can measure. Apart from its normal meaning of remoteness, the term is very intangible in nature. You are only that much away from a person or an object as much you want to be or you feel you are.

And it is normally believed that the process of going away is painful to the person who is going away. On contrary to which I personally believe that it is more painful for them whom you leave. Because the one who is going away normally have unclear pictures of future and will step up into a new world, but the ones who stay, continue with their normal routine and will face everyday same circumstances, same situations, same scenarios but without you. So they will miss you more than you will miss them. I have experienced it in case of my sister, friends and relatives. And today when I am away from home I can feel my mother passing through the same phase.

One strange form of distance is when you are away from a person even by sitting next to him/her. This is when the proximity is washed out by duty, insularity, integrity or mere stupidity. Sometimes two lines walk together but still can never meet as they are parallel.

Distance is always relative. You will feel distance for only those who have been nearer to you once. You come in contact with someone. You come closer because you like being in that company (or you like the company because you are near). And when you are so much involved and think that you can not survive without it, suddenly Destiny Aunty ;-) comes into the picture and says, “Time Up”. :-)

Still there are some positives of Dooriyaan… you will realize there is someone who cares enough to run after you when you go away. You realize that a true relation is never long distance, it is always long lasting. You realize that there is no such place as far away.

Eternal sunshine of the spotless SIM!!!

2010-05-09T08:09:00.000-07:00

Friday I opened my notepad for my pending list of tasks, and I didn’t write anything official, instead I wrote my pending list of topics I want to blog. In addition to that, Papa gave me ultimatum to buy a new cell phone and this gave me one more topic to write ;-). One reason was also that I will be out of town for a month and my current phone doesn’t have multimedia, FM, camera or any other latest features, so he wants me to have a good phone with me while I go there. (For that also I had an argument that I already have a very good 12M camera and company of a great singer Mr. Songepedia –II, so I really don’t need it, but as a good kid I did not argue ;-) ). It was getting delayed from a long time. After all special people have a special choice... (In short phone select karvama bi nakhra ;-) ). And finally Nokia 5235 got an honor to be selected by me.

Now the real dilemma started when salesman asked me to give my SIM, so that he can start the phone and I said, “No, not mine, use my father’s SIM”. He felt little odd, but who cares? I also asked him a stupid question “Does the new phone support Bluetooth?” He thought I must be technically a less literate person. There are so many new technologies and I am interested in Bluetooth? Still he managed to say decently, “Yes, every phone today supports it”. And I was relieved. After coming home Papa said, now at least you can replace your SIM. But again, the Genius Me said, “No, you use this phone for 2-3 days, learn new features and then I’ll replace my SIM.

Stupid, yeah? I have been using this phone for nearly 4 years and it carries many beautiful memories and the only technology it supports is “Bluetooth” :-). Though it doesn’t provide latest features, but I have recorded some real beautiful memories in it. For example our bunking the classes and celebrating Rucha’s birthday with PiNK RiSK, Prarthu’s voice while sitting with her on lake, my duet song with Krupali while our HR exam preparation at my home, friends’ backwas at canteen… and most important of all, some beautiful messages, one of which also says, "we didn't realize we were making memories,we thought we were just having fun!" :-) :-).

I still remember the day when Neha had some problem with her phone and wanted to replace her SIM in somebody else’s phone. She asked me. I could not say no but I was worried and asked her not to send any message, otherwise it may affect my inbox ;-). My breathing system stopped for a while & I waited impatiently until she removed her SIM from my phone. :-D

That was for the first time and last time I allowed someone to use my phone to replace SIM & I also never use my SIM in any other phone. I never realized before that a non-living object can also have this level of sentimental value. So many priceless memories, even quarrels with friends, every heart touching sharing, memorable outings are stored and people say my phone is less featured, outdated. I am crazy about all these memories and can not afford to lose them.

I remembered a beautiful movie “Eternal sunshine of the spotless Mind”. As I will soon start the process to clear things from my SIM and transfer it to the new phone. My SIM will now be spotless but like the movie I decided to re-visit all old memories my SIM has. The only sentence I can use for this experience is, “My eyes had rain and my soul, rainbow.” But I am happy for my SIM, it will be free to move anywhere now and can see new sunshine now. :-)

Lazzzzzzzy Lamhe...!!!

2010-04-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

A warm summer day,
without a cloud in sight,
A baby bird,
Taking its first flight,
This is what summer means to me.

Only in the summer will I ever see,
The rosemary and blossoming tea,
Only In the summer will you see,
The chirping birds, Or talking trees.

These are some of the results I obtained on poemhunter.com. That is how civilians of some countries look at summer.
And this is how we look at it: ;-)

Ring of fire east to west,

On bon voyage set ablaze,

Ice-cream, soda all cool blest.

So so is even tasty food,

Sour turns even fresh milk,

To summer-scorch all abound.

Summer is hot all around,
Trilling on a grass tip,
A bit of breeze snared.

Summer heat is prickling heat,
Rashing salving prickles all,
Sunscreen on scene clean and neat.

Tonsured, shortened..summer style,
Summer-cut to head's convenience,
Ruling head's power cut..ruling style.

So, summer is back with scorching heat and we have started experiencing summer blues.

Summer blues to wake up…
Summer blues to eat…
Summer blues to work…

Childhood summer days were much better. We just had to enjoy summer vacation at home and play. The only thing missing was free power supply to run our Air Conditions ;-). Today when we are surrounded by AC (perhaps more than required, as torrent power is our sister concern ;-) ), but the worst part is we have to work even if we are feeling lazy. Situation becomes worst after lunch hours :-D.

It would be great if these two can be combined.
I have a little wish..I want a summer vacation, with free power supply and free supply of lemonade and fruit juice. :-)

In the midst of....

2010-04-09T06:40:00.000-07:00

And I am back... again with a little strange & abstract topic. In my last post I wrote one line: “In the midst of chaos, there is always an order.” Yes, this line is under my magnifying glass today ;-). In the midst of something, things start behaving abnormally & become opposite in nature. When a certain quality is excessive in a system, it actually loses its nature.

For example in the midst of light there is darkness and in the midst of darkness, there is light; in the midst of heat, you will experience cold and in the midst of cold, heat is generated. Or in the midst of chaos, there is always an order and in the midst of order, there is always a chaos.

Hmm… heavy? Difficult to understand? Let me give some simple examples.

Have you ever found that more educated people are more stupid? Our general belief is that if a person is educated, then he should think practically, but NO, it is not so. More educated person becomes more stupid. And sometimes a less educated person starts his own branch in study, for example “Dhirubhaism” :-).

In the midst of pain, sometimes relief knocks and in the midst of all comforts a person starts looking at others’ pain. Take a case of Sudha Murthy. While she can have all comforts in the world, she chooses to wear simple sarees, that too only gifted by her friends and works day & night for needy and helps them. Truly admirable.

Next case is of a gentle man image. There was a time when Tiger Woods was synonymous to Raymond… (a complete man ;-), sorry PJ has to be there, it is my blog :-P). and when his scandals got published, no one could even believe it. But that’s how it is. In extremes, things start behaving opposite in nature.

As rightly said,

अति सर्वत्र वर्जयेत्

(Translation:- anything should be left before it’s too much.)

It is always darkest before the dawn. It’s a natural phenomenon which explains that after one limit, things start acting in opposite manner. Coal gets converted to diamond. Star gets converted to Black hole. Real is stranger than fiction and fiction is always more logical. We destroy things we love the most and we forgive our enemies. In the midst of thoughts we become absent-minded and while sitting quietly with a cup of coffee mind gets flooded with thoughts :-).

In the midst of happiness, tears roll out (in normal terms we know it as “Khusi ke anshu”). And in the midst of sadness, we laugh. It is again strange that people consider it as a case of madness. But that’s how it is, in the midst of such normal phenomenon, such abnormal believes also exist. :-)

Oldies.......!!!

2010-04-01T04:11:00.000-07:00

While searching for some official documents in ‘My Computer’ ;-), I came across a word file with following content. A poem written by me long ago… How would you feel if you discover your childhood drawing book? Or say your eyes suddenly come in contact with old photos. Or an old melodious song you haven’t listened for a while hit your ears? I felt the same way while reading this… Presenting here the same…

I was suffering from a throat infection,
And was thinking of a vacation,
My boss asked me for a user interaction,
And I could not avoid my frustration,
I was unable to speak,
Still I screamed
What crap!!!

I had a different plan for my life,
Which was holding me tight,
My dreams were scratched by a knife,
And I could do nothing but fight,
I was unable to speak,
Still I screamed
What crap!!!

As I screamed "what crap",
Some people look at me sarcastically,
I was trying to make myself less tedious,
But this made me more furious,
I did not want to,
Still I screamed
What crap!!!

I decided to share this with my friends,
Each and every instance,
But I realized the change in trends,
They are also at distance,
A smile with little pain,
Came out and said,
What Crap!!

I went to His home,
People call Him God,
I was about to say something,
But had promised Him not to complain,
This time I smiled,
I was in my own trap,
What Crap!!

Sometimes life just goes crap,
Don’t get frustrated, but wait,
When you are at a test for a while,
Stand still and smile,
You may doubt and wonder,
But, In the midst of chaos there is always an order!!
(Process order??? What crap!!!)

Ek nanhi si jaan!!!

2010-03-18T06:41:00.000-07:00

'O, Vahe guru, ab bahut ho gaya, ab is raat mein aur koi excitement nahi chahiye… ekdam boring banado ji is raat ko….' Heard somewhere???

Yes, it's Geet's dialog in 'Jab we met' when she was very frustrated. From past few days I am also passing through the same situation. So many things are going on simultaneously and I feel exhausted. As if I am running very hard and want to rest for a while.

So I put down my weapons and decided to sit still for a while. As I sat down, I looked up in the sky as if I was trying to talk to my Guardian Angel, closed my eyes and could see Him. And just like a normal human tendency to torture someone who lends us an ear, I also started babbling, 'Why there is so much of tension in life? Why there are so many problems? I do not want to work, don't want to do anything, I just want to run away somewhere.'

He listened to me and just smiled. My mind, as if accessing some variables through memory address ;) took me to another segment of my life. Some pictures entered my mind frame. Images of those kids to whom I taught as a part of 'Teach India' campaign, All smiling faces, full of energies, full of charm. They are called under privileged children!! Even though they are privileged with endless happiness and enormous positive energy.

It was perplexing. They belonged to poor families; they could not afford nutritious food or beautiful dresses. Girls had to go for work after school hours and some of the boys were addicted to tobacco at this age (10-11) as a result of poor morals & family values. They had not a single thing which we believe is necessary to be happy, to keep ourselves positive. They all are gurus of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar ;-).

Then what's the secret of their energy?? (Sorry, they can't even afford Boost :-P ). One thing that was common in them all was they had no fear. No worry about future. For them whatever their parents do or their teachers say is an ultimate command. They don't give their mind much trouble. They accept what their guardians say.

How wonderful it is to be a kid, No sorry for past and No worry for future. To sing loudly without noticing who is listening, open minds for acquiring knowledge, no care for money :-D, no Emotional atyachaars ;-) and most important, no responsibility for oneself, their guardians are responsible for whatever happen to them.

Yes, I got the key :-). I looked at my Guardian Angel, He was still smiling. And with Him I felt as if I am a small kid. I felt the way a 4 year kid would have felt with his Parent; Safe, secure and fearless. I surrendered myself to Him. No complaints, No questions.. just a single request, "Take care of me, Guide me well, Hold my hand while walking on uneven paths of life, help me while crossing the "Bridge"… after all I am "Ek nanhi si jaan" :-)

HAPPY WOMEN’S DAY…!!!!!!!!!!

2010-03-07T07:15:00.001-08:00

Before writing anything else, I just want to salute all wonderful women I know, from Sonia Gandhi to Sania Mirza, from Kalpana Chawla to Kiran Bedi (or from Kareena Kapoor to Komal Shah ;-) ), from Indra Nooyi to Iyn Rand, my Mother, my Sister, My teacher Sonal Aunty & my all female friends (for the list you can see my previous post ;-).

This is not a day to get 15% discount on beauty products or take an insurance policy with woman’s plan. It’s much more than that. It’s a day to celebrate the auspicious and mysterious creation of nature.

And more than men, I’m expecting this from women to realize their worth, value themselves. Anoushka shankar - a sitarist, once said “I love curves of my body”. Woooowwww!!! Most of the times, we seek appreciation from others. We keep asking how am I looking today? Can you just stand in front of a mirror and observe yourself for few minutes? You’ll realize you are the most wonderful creation of nature. A woman has power to rule, may it be a board room or a bed room.

If you know about Kaizen or if you have read any of Robin sharma’s book or if you know about Reiki, you must be aware about the ‘Magic Rule of 21’. It says that if you really want to implement certain good practice in you, then you must follow that thing for continuous 21 days. And after that it will become an inherent part of you and you can do that thing effortlessly. Now what comes after 21 days of Valentine’s day?

“Women’s day” :-). 14th feb is a day dedicated to love. 8th march is a day dedicated to that object of universe in which love is imbibed, the one who is a form of love – Woman. So you can grab your part of love from a woman in a form of a mother, a wife, a sister, a daughter or a friend.:-)

A woman, who looks balanced from outside, is nice, naughty, mature, intelligent, innocent, caring and strong from inside. So how to know true colors of a woman? Well, you can look through a prism ;-) Own a prism of care and respect.

We all experience certain types of gender bias in our day to day life. And my curious little soul used to wonder that why God also does the same thing with us? Why we are not allowed to enter temples in certain days? But then when I found an answer, I could do nothing but smile. When we are not allowed to enter temples, we actually do not need to go there, because in these days God stays with us, within us and providing us His power to create a new life. :-).

That is something only a woman can have, not a man. I’m not saying we are superior to men, we are special. So, girls realize you worth. Get up and shower all your love and wisdom and make world a better place to live.

If this blog can bring a smile on at least 5 beautiful faces, it will be worth writing. Starting with me. :-)

HAPPY WOMEN’S DAY…!!!!!!!!!!

Surili ankhiyo vali…!!!

2010-02-17T02:55:00.000-08:00

Last weekend (3 days) we went to Udaipur. Not for a holiday, but for a conference. As we had experience of previous such conferences, we were prepared for a conference only and we took enough care that any thought of visiting beautiful palaces of Udaipur could not enter our mind. We took different route and it took around 7 and a half hours instead of 5. we reached the resort by 2 PM I guess. Jaisamand Island resort is about 30 kms away from the city and it is Asia’s largest man made island. The place was really beautiful and of course away from the city (so that we could not escape from the meeting ;-) ). We took a boat ride to reach the resort.

As we were badly tired, our vice president took pity on us and started with games. First game was to name a team and explain it’s meaning. I represented my team, named it as ‘Boosters and Blasters’. Explained it and of course I won. So, great starting and rest is a history (Do not ask ;-) ). We played some more games that day and next day we were supposed to be sincere as we had to set our KRAs (Key Responsible Area – goal setting for the next year) in one and a half day. My manager was absent and I was not satisfied the way my AGM was setting my KRA. So I had arguments with him and I decided not to decide my KRA.

So had a busy day overall. I felt so relived in the evening when again fun activity started :-). Four teams performed skits on different topics and they were absolutely brilliant. We all have become professional nautanki baaj by now ;-). It went over by 9 PM and we joined for DJ. Yeeeeeeee… In meeting we were feeling so tired, but as soon as we touched the theque, we all were full of energy.

The date was 13 february. Something suddenly stroked my mind and I became sad. Some memories of past incidents surrounded me and I became silent and stopped dancing and sat quietly. Others thought I was tired and that’s why I did not join them. But I was being grinded between noises from inside and outside. There was only one person who was probably aware about what was going on my mind and that is my dear prarthu ;-). Gradually everybody started getting bored or tired and sat one by one.

And then DJ played a song ‘surili akhiyo vali…’ from ‘Veer’. I had heard this song before and I liked it. But that was a different version, original song + some remix bits. It sounded even more beautiful and very melodious. Unconsciously I got up, look at Prarthana and simply smiled. We detected the change in our mood. I took her hand in my hand and our legs moved on their own. We did salsa cum ball dance cum couple dance. :-D. Within a minute mood was lifted, we were fully charged :-) we forced him to play the same song again and entire group of young friends danced on that song. I felt so content and satisfied and the only expression remained on my face was smile. It was a perfect eve of valentine’s day. :-)

I stopped for a moment and thought that how lucky I am to get a friend like Prathu, with whom I can share everything without saying a word. Most of the times, we exchange our ideas, serious issues or emotions in a blink of an eye. Words are optional in our type communication. How wonderful it is to have this level of friendship. It is very rare to find a friend who can understand your silence.

And it is equally frustrating when people look at it in a ‘dostana’ way. It seems like a pure definition of friendship is very hard to expect from others now a day. But how does it matter to me? I know the boundaries and I value the friendship. And I am very lucky that I am blessed with such friends.. I am in love with Pooji,Vidu, Krupsy,Magdi and PiNK RiSK too ;), but of course Prarthu is little more special ;-).

Next morning, before closing the conference, VP announced gifts for extra-ordinary performances for skits and also appreciated good dancers. And he added one more line to that with a smile: ‘It was a delight to see Prarthana and Komal dancing together.' A smile touched my face. I looked at Prarthana. Entire team was clapping for us and we both clapped for each other. In a fraction of moment, thousands of emotions were exchanged, interpreted and understood. Her eyes were looking so very beautiful. The eyes that have understood me, supported me all the time and befriended me in my all stupid activities. What can be more beautiful, more melodious than this? The song is written for you, dear… “Surili ankhiyo vali…” :-)

The whole thing is that….!!!!!!

2010-02-06T05:23:00.000-08:00

K bhaiya.. sabse bada rupaiya?? ;) that’s what came to your mind after reading the title? We’ll talk about money also someday, but today my concern is “The whole thing”.

Holism – Entire view, totality, fullness, detailed picture.

That is when you have a complete idea about something which others are not aware about. When you know about the entire story and watch others wondering about it and giving their views on it. You feel how childish they are. And believe it or not, such occasions give you pleasure ;).

Knowing a part of a matter which others do not know, gives you some sense of supremacy. Which I guess is very tiny when compared with the ultimate supremacy. Remembered an E-mail where first an image of the Earth is shown and then compared with mars and then Sun and then with Galaxy’s other larger objects. Our supremacy knowing some undiscovered part is as tiny as this when compared with the Creator. He can see life of every mortals, knows all secrets, what is going to happen, every link, every bond… how amazing.. :-)

Holism is not about hiding anything but it is about knowing something special which others don’t know. Which is achieved after working hard on your quest or simply a gift or a fluke. Let’s list down few such incidents when you feel Holism:

First and foremost: Love. Apart from the most common definition, think about the love from parents. Everybody must have listened this from your parents that : ‘ you won’t understand it, you will understand it once you will become a parent :-D. Same holds true for the most common definition of love or for your passion, for your ambition, where nobody understands what it means to you and you feel they are silly ;-).

Second comes is Knowledge. When after years of practice & efforts, you acquire knowledge about your domain, your area and become expert and find questions of non-experts very stupid. Say for example a doctor always has to face such questions. Take example of me. People ask me questions about hardware, even if I am a software engineer. They think we people are master in computers and can answer any question related to computers.;-).

Two examples would be enough I guess. But one thing is for sure; all such things when taken positively helps you reach nearer to the supreme Energy. It is like an atom of water trying to get a holistic view of an ocean. No doubt the size of ocean is bigger but ultimately it is made up of zillions of such atoms only.

After heavy philosophy, let’s come back to normal world and try some simple Holism.

You are an elder brother or sister. In a senior grade and impresses your junior sibling ;).

When work done is not more but it’s impact is high and you represent against your boss in an exaggerated way. In short, lallu boss ko ullu banaya. You know the whole thing and your boss does not. ;)

Do you know what is the most exciting part of this game? When you are in a pool of unaware people and then one fine day, universe starts giving you signals. You start getting some clues and suddenly something strikes into your mind and everything gets tallied. This is when you cross the bridge, from ignorance to knowledge. :)

So… what’s your whole story????

Cheat Sheet!!!

2010-01-17T23:19:00.000-08:00

Recently I am reading a book “Don’t lose your mind, lose your weight” by Rujuta Diwekar - celebrity fitness trainer and nutritionist. (Disclaimer: I do not want to lose my weight. I want to learn right habits and practices to be followed about meal) There she has used the concept of “Cheat Sheet”, whereby she has mentioned how to cheat on your diet. For example if you can not say “No” to your beloved chocolate pastries, then you can eat them, but make sure that this is the first thing you eat in the morning, that too only once a week. Why? Well, we will not discuss it here coz I will have to go in technicalities. The point is “Cheating”.

Cheating may not be a very positive word, but I wonder how well it helps up. We keep cheating most of the times. More than others, we cheat ourselves. No, Really!! Say for example:

You do not get something you wanted: a job, a project, a person… anything!! You may be down for a while, but what comes next to your mind? “That was not good for me” or “I will get something better” – Cheating.

You are upset and you go for shopping (Maahi’s way ;) ) or starts eating (kung fu panda :-P ). – Cheating.

You try to fill emptiness of life with money, work, sometimes also with music or some other art – Cheating.

Remember Aall Izz Well?? Yeh dil na, bada darpok hai,usko patana padta hai.. usse bolo all is well – Cheating.

Sometimes it also happens that turbulence of thoughts is going underneath and I manage to smile, just because I don’t want to make someone sad by letting him/her know that I am sad – Cheating.

To whom do we cheat? How important it is to cheat ourselves?

Recently heard a beautiful song from “Ishqiya” - Dil to bachcha hai ji.. Dil sa koi kameena nahi.. :-)

So, good or bad - Keep cheating your heart… After all, it gives you so much troubles, it deserves this!!!

3 Idiots: A must watch for every Non-Idiot! :-)

2009-12-24T22:39:00.001-08:00

Finally we office friends made a plan for a movie.. Yipppppeeee!!! That too a premiere show on Thursday. All thanks to Dada (Gaurangitrate) & PreRajularisation (No, as such he has a very good name .. Rajesh ;) ) We all were bored from our office schedule and so very eagerly waiting for 6:30. We were around 16 people and occupied two middle rows of the theatre.

Now, let’s discuss about movie. Aamir khan has once again proved he is a genius, the perfectionist. Even at the age of 44, he perfectly looks like a college student. The base might have taken from Chetan Bhagat’s Novel ‘Five Point Someone’, but the storyline is very different.. and of course much better than the Novel.

This movie will remind you of your college days... best days filled with fun and friends. The mentality of students is captured so well. We were all like this. In the initial college days everybody is in a race of getting good marks and impress our professors. Where everybody thinks one who is getting the highest marks is the most intelligent and successful person in the world. Cut-throat competition and pressure on students is pictured really well. Some scenes will take your breath away and dialogs are just too good. For example when Farhan says: “Human Behaviour: Jab dost fail hota hai tab dukh hota hai, par jab woh first aata ho bahut jyada dukh hota hai!!!” :-D. All engineers will enjoy it to its best as they all were once part of it. There is a series of scenes which will leave you burst out in laughter to get a heart attack but then we kept on reciting “Aaaaaal izzzzzzz Welllllllll”.

Apart from comedy, movie gives a very fabulous message in a very simple way: “Strive for Excellence, Follow your heart and Success will follow you”. It’s also an essence of my favorite book: The Fountain Head. World is full of second hander. Be a first hander: Carve your own path, Live on your own terms; this is the fountain head of Success.

There are many twists and turns and surprises in the movie, the climax is also one of the best climaxes, pictured on the beautiful locations of Laddakh (perfectly matching my dream island ;) :)). Last but not the least, the ultimate one “Jahapanah, tussi great ho..Tohfa kabool karo!!”.

We were all speechless. Do I need to say, Go watch it (if you haven’t) ????

© Bridge Soul

Vacuity...!!!

2009-12-16T00:38:00.000-08:00

Noise bursts, cacophony encloses
Dissonance occurs
Many things to encompass
Time goes really fast

Or am I going slow?
Frustration blow
Thoughts inside claw
Answers do not glow

This happens to me
Once in a while
When problems come
They come like a Nile

Sound ceases
Vacuum arises
Movements freeze
Immobility increases

Everything starts to settle down
Becomes calm & silent
Wisdom generates a sound
Easy to be heard in quiet

Things which were annoying
Suddenly become soothing
Energy is felt within
It’s glorious & shining

This makes my soul light
Within I feel so bright
This is so very right
I will always hold you tight.

© Bridge Soul

Aroma touch!!!

2009-12-08T00:36:00.000-08:00

A little try to describe a marvelous creation of nature… a flower named “Parijat”. I don’t know how many of you have actually seen this master piece of Almighty, but one thing is for sure if you haven’t seen it, you have missed a stunning sight!

A topic is in a way very abstract, but these eyes everyday experiences its charisma and these hands could not stop to give it a try to describe it. Parijat flowers have four to eight petals arranged above and a vibrant orange tube in a pinwheel pattern. It is also named as ‘Harsinghar’ & ‘Shefali’. (yes… Shefali means Parijat!! :) )

These flowers are highly fragrant and will definitely catch you breath if you are passing anywhere within 50 meters of radius. These flowers blossom after sunset and its floral aroma reaches to the peak from 9 to 10 PM – a time when I normally come back from walk and my respiratory system is working at its best ;-). I just can’t stop inhaling, try very hard to understand whether am I breathing in the alluring fragrance or is it taking my breadth away :). Its beauty is at its peak in moonlight. No words can describe it. It is completely mesmerizing, rather hypnotizing :).

As soon as the dawn breaks, they drop one by one and literally form a carpet of snow-white petals and orange sepals on the earth (your self won’t allow you to walk on such a beautiful carpet). Some of the flowers won’t fall on the ground and will stay on leaves. 3-4 flowers on a single leaf with orange and white color with softest cover create an awesome sight.

This flower has a divine origin and is one of the gift from “Samudra Manthan”. Although most of the flowers are offered to God directly after picking from plants, Parijat is considered to be the only flower that can be collected from the ground and offered to God. It is also used to produce perfumes and face-packs and it also owns some medicinal properties.

This flower has romantic relevance and there are many interesting stories related to it. One is related to Lord Krishna: Both his wives Satyabhama and Rukmini wanted the tree in their courtyard and quarreled over it. But Krishna planted the tree in Satyabhama’s courtyard in a way that the flowers fall in Rukmini’s courtyard.

There are many other interesting facts about it and following site caught my eye:
http://www.whitelotusaromatics.com/fragrant/parijat5.html - THE FRAGRANT HARVEST – Exploring India’s aromatic traditions (also contains info about some other great floral elements like: Heena, Mehndi, Jasmin, Sandlewood, Kewada and Mitti :) )

So if you haven’t noticed this magnum-opus of nature yet, take some time out to observe its elegant beauty. (if you don’t find its plant nearer to your place, then… well… a good friend is always welcome to my home, ;-) anytime…:-) ).

© Bridge Soul

All thanks to Technology…!!!

2009-12-08T00:34:00.001-08:00

Yesterday in office, we had a heavy discussion on mobile computing. We were discussing some basics of the technology and were confused in some part of Mobile database stations. So I wanted to check it in a book which I had to study as a part of my syllabus during my engineering.

I still have kept all my books, even the tutorial files in my cupboard. Other than files and books, I have stored many precious things – every small gift presented to me by my friends, my drawings, crafts everything. These are some of the most beautiful memories of my life, most favorite things existing on the earth.

I can not think of losing any single thing at any cost. While I was searching for the book I found a small cute diary having flowery design on the cover page. As I could not remember what it is, it made me curious. I opened it and… oh! Telephone diary. A typical telephone diary having two alphabets on each page. I used to write numbers of my friends in school (though I rarely used it, having a good number memory B-) ).

This tiny diary made me think how things have changed today. We are so much dependent on our mobiles now. Earlier you had to dial numbers and you’ll remember it after dialing 3-4 times. Today you just need to store it once, i.e. only one person has to mention his/her number, will give missed call to other person. You’ll never have to check that number again once it is stored (Missed call is also a very interesting thing ;-) ). Moreover, no need to remember birthdays. just set birthday reminders. Somehow I feel in the whole procedure, the real charm is lost.

No doubt it has made life much easier, but a hand-made card touches heart more than an E-card. A letter is more appealing than SMS. It reflects human emotions and expresses feelings beautifully. Today emotions have also become digital. No wonder, technology has made it cheaper and easier to keep in touch with dear ones who are away. But neither speakers nor web cameras can give a feeling which is even near to touch. We follow “Walk when you talk”, but can it compare a walk with a friend on a river front? Where you can read all the questions, fears or joys in your friend’s eye without saying a single word? And in chat… due to poor network connections, we miss some lines and misunderstandings take place… aaaaa.. it is so irritating.

Even though it fails to give 100% satisfaction, we can not overlook its advantages and something is better than nothing. Due to technology, we can instantly convey important messages and you don’t need to wait for long to execute your plans.

Techie things are like Maggie, you can instantly cook, tasty to eat and also satisfies hunger and letters, cards, walk, touch are “Chicken soup for the soul” :-).

© Bridge Soul

22 ways for passing time in office...

2009-12-08T00:33:00.001-08:00

One of the funniest mail I've come across: I burst out laughing after reading... Have a look:

If you find it very boring in the office, here are some tips:

1. Form a detective agency to find out who is quitting next.

2. Make blank calls to your Boss.

3. Send mails from lotus notes (outlook) to your internet mail (and
immediately get to the internet and see who reaches first, you or your
mail?) and read them there, and note down the time they take to reach *
there. Then do vice versa....... ...... !!

4. Rearrange the furniture, i.e. flick someone else's chair just to
irritate him/her.

5. Count your fingers (and toes if you still get bored).

6. Watch other people changing their facial ex-pressions while working
and try changing your ex-pressions also.

7. Try to stretch status meetings as longer as possible, just by
asking silly doubts.

8. Make faces at strangers in office.

9. Have a two hour lunch; it's a big social occasion.

10. Learn to whistle.

11. Revise last week's newspaper.

12. Hold "How fast my computer boots" competitions.

13. Practice aiming the coffee cup into the dustbin.

14. Enhence your Literature skills. you can author "1001 innovative
ways to waste your day" to help your collegues.

15. Pick up phone and dial non-existing nos.

16. Have work breaks in between tea.

17. Count maximum no of applications your computer can open at time.

18. For Win NT/95 users....Move things to Recycle bin and restore
them..Then repeat this process.

19. Look at someone & try to imagine how (s)he might have looked when
(s)he was 5 years old.

20. Read jokes and send jokes.

21. Make full use of the comfortable chair and table provided and take
a nap.

22. Send this mail to only one at a time to every one in your contact
list.

© Bridge Soul

Wise to be unwise...

2009-12-08T00:30:00.001-08:00

It is so wise to be unwise,
To fall in love with YOU and Rise.

It’s unwise not to be where I am,
Not to do what I am doing,
I feel wise when I find YOU with me every moment,
No matter whatever is my movement.

It’s unwise if one doesn’t match with the human race,
Don’t need a world and don’t care about the pace,
I feel wise to be in your embrace,
Divinity, tranquility – everything is with me to brace.

It’s unwise to wait for you so long,
Specially when other miseries come along,
I feel wise, I know you are where I belong,
Barriers will not always be among.

It’s unwise to see dreams with open eyes,
To ignore the world and do prejudice,
I feel wise & hope to see YOU near at every sunrise,
That is something which is greater than paradise.

It’s unwise not to use intelligence,
Think only about YOU or have fear,
I feel wise I am not in my senses,
Touch me, destroy me, I’m all yours my dear.

So wonderful to be (un)wise,
Fall in love with YOU and Rise. :-)

© Bridge Soul

Define - Being “Emotional”.

2009-12-08T00:27:00.001-08:00

Last week proved to be really busy for me. As word “uncle-aunty” doesn’t really feel comfortable, I will use word “kaka-kaki” only ;-). So my Kaka, Kaki and two cousins were permanently going to US on Immigration. (Idea here is not to show my US connections ;-)) This may not a big news for all probably because:
1. Recession hit US
2. Today, most people even in India live in nuclear families where you are not so involved with your extended family. (But we are a “Joint Family”).

From baggage and package everything went well. The “Real” dilemma began when they started leaving for the airport. Including their friends and relatives, there were around 40 people. At this point I would like to mention some of the points:

• Whenever people come to see you for some of the reasons like this (Going abroad, getting good marks in exam etc. etc.) they give money to kids. I really don’t see any point doing this and I guess it is the same case from their side as well. There are many such other traditions where we don’t know the logic but doing in merely because of tradition. Rightly said by my friend “Outer Souls “ – ‘An old belief is like an old shoe. We so value its comfort that we fail to notice the hole in it.”. ( I know I am deviating from the topic, so coming back to second point ;) ).
• As everybody became free from the work, they realize they now have to leave their humble abode. This also indicates a very fact that at some point of time it becomes good to keep yourself busy to avoid negative thoughts and negative energy.

Let’s come back to the original point.
They started leaving and tears rolled in their eyes. (Especially Kaki – It is said girls are really very emotional (???)). Gradually everyone, one by one became part of the same category excluding me. (Again a funny note: sometimes people worry what if they will not be able to cry on such occasions – biding adieu to somebody, death of a person (not so close in most cases), “Bidai” of a girl, list is looooong… And generally such people who cries (honestly or dishonestly) are considered to be “Emotional” (which may be right also according to their definition).

I normally do not cry on such occasions (barring some – exception making ;) ). Some people say I am strong, some say I am quite “practical”. “Some” say “ I am not at all Emotional”. :-) Initially I didn’t like such comments. But then after I realize that they think this way only because my definition of “Emotional” is different from theirs.

According to me being emotional does not mean to weaken yourself when destiny temporarily separates you from your dear ones. It means to smile and circulate positive energy around. It makes the procedure easier. And if somebody is meeting you for the last time, he/she will carry an image of a smiling face with him/her and not a sad face. It may not be so easy, but what is the point in being sad when it is anyhow not going to make any difference. And if somebody is going for a better future, why not to say “Good-Bye” with a smiling face???

Honestly speaking it is not as easy as it seems, but this is the “win-win” situation. And as said by my friend “Inner souls” ;) – ‘People always come into your lives, they never go!’ Cherish the moments you have spent together. Go out of your way to help them. Lend an ear when they need it. Melt differences of time and space… That’s how I define “ Being Emotional”. :-)

© Bridge Soul

Give me One more Life!!!!

2009-12-08T00:21:00.000-08:00

JUST WANT TO ASK A QUESTION TO ALMIGHTY,
CAN'T YOU GIVE ME ONE MORE LIFE ??
YOUR LIFE IS JUST NOT ENOUGH....
WHEN WILL I LIVE MY DREAMS??

LET ME LISTEN TO MY SOUL AND SING..
GIVE ME WINGS, I WANT TO FLY.....
GIVE ME TIME I WANT TO MEET MY FRIENDS..
MAKE ME FREE I WANT TO SHARE SOMETHING WITH MY MOM....

DNT MISUNDERSTAND ME
DNT THINK I AM SAD...
COZ I AM ACTUALLY NOT...
WANT TO CREATE SOMETHING NEW
WANT TO TALK TO SOME ONE NEW
WANT TO SAY SOMETHING NEW TO OLD FRNDS
CAN'T I GO BACK CAN'T I MOVE FORWARD
HEY GOD... PLEASE BRING MY WORLD RIGHT HERE..

I WANT TO BE WHAT I REALLY AM
I DO NOT WANT TO ACT THE WAY I THINK I AM ACTING..
I I I...
I ALSO WANT SOME ONE ELSE..

WITH WHOM I SHARE MY STUPIDITY
WITH WHOM I CAN BE AS COMFORTABLE AS I BE WITH MYSELF
I WANT TO LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF STREAM & BIRDS
I WANT TO SING WITH ITS MUSIC...
I WANT TO TOUCH THE SOFTNESS OF FLOWER & SEE BUTEERFLY.....

DIRECT ME THE PATH WHICH REACHES THIS WORLD........
THE WORLD WHICH WILL SATISFY MY DESIRES...
THE PLACE WHICH WILL MAKE MY SOUL UNRUFFLED..
WHERE I CAN SAY WHAT I WANT & EXPRESS MY EMOTIONS..
LITTLE MISCHIEVOUS AND LITTLE MATURE I AM..
WONDER!!!! WHERE I WILL GET THE MEANING OF "I".....

© Bridge Soul