It Wonderful to Pickup!!

Saying that I am bad at keeping in touch would be an understatement.! And I personally consider this as one of the biggest virtues a person can have--To be able to keep in touch. Nothing can be worse than genuinely liking/missing a person and not being able to stay in touch with them. I do miss my friends at pune,but I might not be keeping in touch and this is the complaint I got from a friend today:)


I have many friends. But, I have also successfully managed to lose touch with many of those. You tend to be in your sweet little world assuming things havent changed. Life takes over. And you get so involved in your little world that you forget that there is a world beyond. But life doesnt stop. All around you, you have people breaking up, getting married, having children, switching jobs… whew!

Life just goes on! :):)
What probably remains behind are those moments spent with the other person which are so cherishable – absolutely unforgettable.

However, in the stage of life where I am in right now, the best part about the whole thing is getting in touch with old friends – people I lost touch with… It is absoutely wonderful getting back in touch again… It just transcends you back in time. Its like all those years never really passed. All those things never really happened. Feels like it was just yesterday when we discussed the latest gossip and giggled endlessly over nothing.

This week and the subsequent weekend was full of fond memories and I was happy throughout ..Got in touch with so many old friends. It was great – just laughing, just plain talking and sometimes even just listening!

It feels blissful to pick up from where we left Truly blissful

Dekho chaand nikla!!

Indian culture and traditions are lovely and beautiful! I just love them! And more so, the stories behind them!! Today is one such festival: Karva Chauth!!:):)


The whole festival is very beautiful! I would always get fascinated whenever my mom would do it. But today i am a little more excited. Seems di is having the fast for her husband and she is kind of keeping me involved to know more and more about it. A lot of people do not understand the whole concept of fasting. It is done in order to sacrifice some thing (in this case, eating) in order to show your reverence towards any cause! Women want to show their love, affection and the spirit to sacrifice in this way:) on this day..

Karva Chauth is celebrated mostly in Northern India. But thanks to movies, serials these days, women from all parts of India celebrate this festival. The day of karva chauth involves fasting throughout the day without water or any kind of food. It is kept for the long life of the woman’s husband. The food is eaten only after the moon comes out and the women offer their prayers to the Goddess Karva and look at their husband’s face.

Spoke to a few friends who got married recently both guys and girls. I was excited to know how they have been doing on their first karva chauth. Got some interesting insights as well. One guy was busy in his office, but he kept the fast along with his wife. Now that is choooo chweeet ..:)And the other girl ...she was like please Chand jaildi aaja..m hungry..:)

I saw the couples of all ages in my society celebrating this festival once the moon was up and it was really mesmerizing....

So, to all the married women out there, Happy Karva Chauth!! Have a happy and fulfilling married life. :)

Yups Its my new Found Love..!!

Finished reading Ayn Rand’s Fountainhead for the second time. I’m yet to come across a book that can stay on your mind every waking moment for at least a week after you finish reading it.

I want to meet Howard Roark. Yeah, as simple as that. If possible, I want to BE Roark. The philosophy is so amazingly simple! But the simplicity ends right there. There cannot be a more tougher set of ideals (or principles in life) to follow than what Roark does. His absolute love for architecture makes you want to..I dont know, it’s just so overwhelming! That’s the word – overwhelming.

I’m pretty sure I’m going to read this book again. And again. And yet another time. You’ll be forced to, it’s that addictive. You get transported into this surreal world where people can play the most dirtiest of politics, at the same time be the pinnacle of integrity. Your feelings towards the characters changes so many times in the course of the book. One time you feel disgusted thinking about the guy, 10 chapters later you fall in love with that same character.
I’ll just be making a mockery out of the whole thing if I attempt to write about the book. Reading this book should be written down on the things-to-do-before-I-die list. At least thrice.:):)
There’s a reason why a book written in 1943 is still under publication..A part of you changes everytime you read the book. That’s for sure...

I donot wanna be adored...

Well I was watching the movie "If only" the other day and there was this dialog which stayed with me till now.

"I don’t wanna be adored..I wanna be loved"

At first these lines merely makes you feel as if someone is just overreacting. But when you thought over it.. It has a deep meaning to it. In a relation respecting each other is different and loving is different. We all want our life partner to soldier on. Someone who is there for us as an emotional strength. I know girls sometimes are way too possessive but it’s their way to show their concern. At the other hand boys always keep emotions to themselves. Share less kind of a funda..Always thinking ahead, making decisions .I know they have the best intentions, but this sometimes makes the other partner as if they are just high second priority to them. And that hurts and the worst part is they start getting used to it and sometimes start complaining..

Loving is simple. We just have to find happiness in small small things. And what I think is ..If you enjoy this, then you're living your life fully... it doesn't matter if you have five minutes or fifty years...We will be ready to do anything in a heartbeat if we knew we are really special..

One more thought from the movie and it really touched me..

" I loved you since I met you, but I wouldn't allow myself to truly feel it until today. Samantha if not for today, if not for you I would never have known love at all... So thank you for being the person who taught me to love... and to be love. "

Cheers!!

Alter Ego Anyone?

When I had read the book Tell me your dreams by Sidney Sheldon some 7-8 years ago, it was near impossible to believe that split personalities could exist. The way it was depicted in the book was so surreal… you couldnt believe it even if you wanted to. My curiosity soon got better of me and i started reading more on Split personalities… Without boring u with senseless details, Bottom line is: IT DOES EXIST!!
Off late, i tried to understand a person...I think suffers from the same. He is one person sometimes and a very different person the other times. Now, I am aware that these things can be attributed to mood swings. But, how often do people be someone really really nice and caring and turn into the alter ego suddenly, thereby becoming someone so different… u start wonderin if you do know the person at all! To put it succintly, the person is two contrasting characters… And he switches roles often…. One day, you are very important… While on another day, who-the-hell-are-you attitude… This makes you wonder, since it is the same person giving mixed reactions…. Is there anyway it can be handled!? What part should be taken at face value and what should be considered rubbish?
Any ideas?

Tangles of Relations..

LOL!! I am in a realllyyyyy dangerous mood, so kindly bear with me ...Just had a talk with my cousin and looking at his condition i felt like writing about this...

Every relationship has its own sanctity, be it the relationship of mother-daughter, father-son, sister-brother, uncle-niece, grandmom-granddaughter, between two friends, two lovers – Any kind of relationship between two human beings!

It is upon us to maintain the sanctity or purity of each relationship – It is very easy to get carried away! Both by over-doing or under-doing things, you may be facing a serious relationship problem! I am sure all of us have found ourselves on both the ends of the spectrum!

If you really like the other person, you may tend to go overboard sometimes and end up feeling stupid! On the other extreme, if you r not very fond of the other person, you may end up neglecting even the basic courtesies! Hence, it is extremely important to maintain the balance! – It is extremely crucial to understand where to draw the line!

Let us take for an example, that you are in love with this person who means the world to you. In all probabilities, you will go that extra mile to make this person feel special and good. What is important here is to understand that if the other person doesnt share the intensity of feelings towards you, the gesture, in all probabilities, will not be appreciated. In short, you will end up feeling dejected and stupid. Not that, what u do has a motive. It is just that, you would like the other person to at least acknowledge the effort you are putting in. Hence, to save yourself from any such embarrassments and avoid any messy scenes, it would be great if you decide for yourself, the boundary in which the relationship operates! Only then, can u successfully scrape through it.

What i think is do not burden people unnecessarily with affection, they dont want or cant appreciate! Rather, know when to move out when politely being asked to buzz off! Learn to understand the hints – that you are NOT wanted at a particular place. And take these hints seriously – U owe this much to yourself  

On the other extreme, there are times we ignore people – ignore their gestures and good deeds, simply because they dont matter to us much! We dont realise then, that we are doing to people what we have been done unto and we forget how much we hated it.

Is this human nature!? We so easily forget things we hated and start doing them ourselves!?

Anyways...Its a strange Life..:):)

Silence!!

Some of the best things in your life leave you speechless. You realise the importance silence has then… All of us have experienced times when we just ran out of words and went…Silent!!


Some of the moments could be:

The moment u left your home for the first time and you look back at your parents who have a mix of feelings – they are happy, yet anxious!:)
The moment when your crush looked at you and smiled. All you could do then, was smile back :)
The moment when you got better marks than expected… those numb moments of ecstasy n surprise thinking “Could it be true?”
The moment when you are parting with old friends not knowing when you will meet next
The moment when after an anxious wait, the HR calls u and tells u “You are through!”
The moment when a parent lifts his child in his arms for the first time. He doesnt know what to say. His own flesh and blood in form right in front of him
The moment when you see your loved one breath his last in front of your eyes
The moment when you are waiting with baited breath for the winning run in the India-Pak match.
The moment when one of your closest friends calls u from the US to tell you that one of your wishes will come true soon… Words were simply not enough… I just felt speechless then… Dint know how to thank her! Read here.. :):)

I have always wondered why we never say anything during those moments … as if it is was “understood”… Happiness. Joy. Pain…. all feelings just flowed ceaselessly in the ‘years’ that passed in those flash moments.

Next time u go silent, listen carefully to the hum of your heart!! :)

The DINKs Community!!--Too Much

Some time back,I went to a dinner party at my tayaji's place. During a dinner table conversation, one of my cousin mentioned that one of her friend and his husband had already decided that they did not want to have kids. Ever. ...and i was like why...lot many questions in my mind.....
This revelation was followed by stunned silence by some people and hot retorts by others on that dining table. In short, she was reprimanded for even bearing such an unthinkable thought!

It was only yesterday when a post made me realise that not only do such couples have a name – DINK (Double Income, No Kids), they are actually a community which is fast growing, both in India and abroad!!

Taking decisions!!

Sometimes can be so damn tough! !

You would rather not have options at all  ....

In progress

All smiles :):)

Have we ever thought of all those things that make us really happy? How many of us actually think about it? What do you think is the cost of that one smile on our face?



Most of us are running towards different things in life… someone wants to be rich… someone want a beloved..someone wants to be famous… someone wants a good career… someone wants a loving and caring family… someone wants to see the whole world… And how do these ambitions occur to this little mind of ours? Because either from the outside (influence of external world) or from the inside, something tells us that if we achieved so and so, we will be happy!!

Now, none of this is wrong… It is a progressionist behavior to be ambitious! If we were not that, we wud still be in caves, hunting for a living!

What is wrong here is the propensity to miss out on the little nudgets of happiness that life throws at us in the aim of reaching out for something which we believe will engulf us in profound bliss! Some fortunate ones even achieve what they set out to… And they will testify for this fact! No matter what you think will give you happiness… And no matter how much to try to run after happiness… it will elude you in unforeseen ways!
All of us have heard of the story of the famous deer who would search for a pleasant smell all over the place only to realise at the end that he himself was the source of it, nothing else? It is such an old fable and so true!
So lets find happiness in every small thing that we can..  After all, it is not the destination which matters afterall, it is the journey that leads to it .

Cheers to all you beautiful people!!

[PS I just cudnt think of a more apt title for this post  ]

CWG 2010-- My Prespective

I was born and brought up in India – I studied, built myself a career in India – It was only recently that work took me to different parts of the world, but as they say you can take an Indian away from India but you can not take India away from an Indian. I have and will always be unabashedly, undoubtedly, a true blue Indian!!
You speak a word out of the line, and I will not sit down and listen. I will stand up and fight – defend the honor of the Nation that made me who I am!

So, when media all over the world (Especially Indian media) was thrashing the country black and blue over its underpreparedness to host the Common Wealth Games, it was a surprise (and sometimes a shock) just observing fellow countrymen’s reactions! Ah, not to mention pretty amusing at times! Now, these are some of the things that happen if you are staying outside India.

• You desperately try to fit into the new culture/society. Suddenly skirts become shorter and holding hands/PDAs become more acceptable.
• Cooking your own meals is as rare and uncommon as clean and traffic-free Indian roads - Fridges are stacked with frozen food of all sorts. Who has the time to cook these days?You start alienating/dis-associating yourself from anything “Indian”.

Having said that, m glad not all go through these transitions  while, some very seriously do!
So, coming to CWG, it was pretty interesting to note everyone’s reactions. To put it mildly, “ashamed” and “embarrassed” were the most commonly used words… the others words pretty much dont matter. The message was clear: People were ashamed of being identified as belonging to a Nation where the toilets werent clean and dogs soiled the mattresses meant for the athletes. Oh how tacky! How would they face their firang team mates the next day at work? Oh! India had really put them down!! Oh, how shameful!!

The pictures released by bbc were discussed – Shameful – Corruption was blamed for everything and anything that went wrong – Disgusting – Kalmadi should be hanged – India unprepared to host such a big event – Shameful – Where has the tax-payer’s money gone? – Disgusting – All athletes backing out – Shameful – Not just reading but forwarding lewd insensitive remarks on the situation – Disgusting
At the same, I found many who had complete belief. And this is all they had to say:

Yes, we screwed up. We went disastrously wrong with a lot of things. But, let us stand united, and put on a great show! This is not just my country’s reputation, but “My” reputation at stake now. If I can not actively help in the process, I can do my bit by not bad-mouthing those who are putting in an effort

I have only one question for all of you who felt let down: If you have a grih-pravesh or a house-warming party at your new house, and I come in a few days early, uninvited, click the pictures of a house still being readied for the big show and put it all over the place for people to laugh at. Would you want your family members standing by your side and condemning the act or joining in the ridicule, pelting stones at you?
Am I just being a Indian or does that make sense?

You have a beautiful smile!!

Reading our company newsletter a girl  saw ,one of her co-worker was celebrating his birthday today. Everyone by now knows her fetish for birthdays so, she sent out a note wishing him a happy, happy birthday.She promptly received a thank you note with a little extra.

“Without a doubt you are one of the nicest people I have met here..”
She was over the moon. She replied and said "well thanks !!"  and In return she got this.

“.. you have a beautiful smile…”

The guy was sitting somewhere near to her workspace and he knew her..somehow!!

What more does a girl need on a lovely morning?? :)

Have a nice day everyone

"The Journey of Om" Must read ..

I donot read Indian author at times but i stumbled upon a gem of a debut book written by a young author of Indian origin, Chandru Bhojwani. I bought the kindle version of this book and wanted to read it during my journey while I was traveling back home form Pune to Delhi. The book turned out to be such a good read that I finished reading it before I boarded the plane.
This is a story of Om. Om finds his girlfriend Preeti in an intimate moment with Ravi, one of their common friends. The incident makes his heart break into a million pieces and the journey of healing begins. The world of complicated human relations is told with such ease that it does not feel like there was effort put into thinking about the plot. The story is deep and intricate and leaves the reader empathizing with its characters. There is something about the book that made me feel I knew every one of the characters. Chandru brilliantly blends emotion and humor and makes daily life so real that it is hard to believe that it is a story that is being told. The pace is so exciting that I forgot that it was time to check in my baggage and get my boarding pass.

If you have aspirations of writing a story yourself, I would say start with reading this book. It is a perfect example of how various elements of writing should be blended to make a gripping story.

All i do is Miss you....

I'm beginning to understand why people get 'boring' sometimes....always lost in thoughts. Why butterflies in the stomach 'used to be' that feeling you knew, why it gets harder as time flies by. It was a strange, startling discovery when a song played in the background yesterday - Romeo and Juliet by Dire straits. One of my favorites.. Ive been humming it ever since.

I'm a music person - I had a song for every mood - mellow, happy, sad, sad-sad, happy-sad, melancholy, in love, aloof, spaced out.... I had one playing in my mind everyday and that song defined my mood. I remember yesterday that "Bittersweet symphony" was the song in my mind.I went about the last to last week feeling randomly disjoint and pieced apart. This other time Boulevard of broken dreams was playing on my mind and I had a nasty few days since it reminded me of a friend i was missing a lot... And it was the song for my mood that time. And then Hungry eyes was the song we all friends  danced to once...

Today on my way to work, I realized how the music in my life has been replaced. Slowly, without realizing the transformation I was talking to myself each day - debating the outcome of my day, the code I am supposed to make, that conversation I had last night, the emails I need to reply to, where my relationship is going, what I m going to write in my resume application... its all getting thought without a background score in place.

It was after that I hooked up my laptop and played back some of my favorite music - Mark Knofler, Coldplay, maroon 5, Floyd , West life... its safe to say that the state I m in currently could be called "on a trip" or some other such vaguely intense definition "missing someone".

Each song hides moments, memories - nestled in the notes, the lyrics. Its like Mark Knofler said "All i do is miss you - through the bars of a rhyme". I've hidden so many stolen moments, hugs,glances, rides, tears, fears in the folds of so many songs... and discovering them sometimes by accident is just a delicious tingle - a feeling so infinite, of being able to travel time and 'relive'.

Moments have a way of shrinking when put into words - but they magnify when romanced with music. making me smile out of nothing at all.These songs sometime have the immense strength to make me cheer up out of nothing..

I am listening to "You sang to me" by Marc Anthony right now..it has a special place in my life......love this song....

The tales of wait.

This happened when i was a little kid of 5.

My Mother had gone outside on her usual evening – trip  and i was watching cartoons in my room. I was waiting for my mother to get me something to eat.My hunger was increasing and not able to control i ventured into the kitchen. I could see a packet of biscuits above, but could not reach there with my hand. I jumped higher and higher and my hand finally landed, not on the biscuits but on the glass crockery just besides them. All the crockery came crashing down and was broken into million pieces.

I was scared and shocked to my last nerve. I was afraid to face my mother’s anger . I finally ran to the roof and hid myself into a small alcove in the upper room. I hid there in the darkness, scared of what was going to happen.

My Mother returned and could not find me in all of the house. She searched all the rooms and called for me loud. I could hear her but would not come out. Soon she was in tears and was searching for me everywhere.

“Come Sona Pleaseee, Come to your Mother!”

By now i  wanted to come out but again was scared, now not because of the glass I had smashed but all this confusion and tears I had caused.

Only after15 minnutes, when my mother had come on the roof for almost a 5th time to look for me did she heard my faint crying. She found me and dragged me out of there and hit me hard on the face. She kept crying and then hugged me tight. So tight that it felt like she will never let me go off her.

I too cried because of the pain but today when i called her and she said she is missing me ,i felt this feeling very clearly again– I am everything for my mother and she will never let me be alone.Love you mom...

We do not remember days; we remember moments

Memory. ..It never fails to amaze me. Deep within the recesses of our grey matter, there lies this vast cognitive ability that allows us to remember.

I find it incredible that I can be sitting at my desk and suddenly I’ll be transported to the time I cut my foot open on a shell at aged 8. Or I'll be watching rain fall from the grey sky and instantly, without force, I can feel the gust of heat and humidity as I stepped off the plane in Delhi the last time you visited home. Memories are that powerful.

So I find myself wondering; why would anyone want to rid themselves of such power, such capacity? Astonishingly, there are some who do. few days back i read a news of a memory-erasing pill, developed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. The idea is that it will expunge the sufferer of any painful memories thus allowing them a happy and fulfilling life.

Quite frankly, I’m astounded. Do the decades worth of research count for nothing? What about all those patients, people who lost their ability to remember? Take H.M for example. Henry Molaison was a 27 year old man who underwent brain surgery to correct epilepsy and developed amnesia. For over fifty years, until his death, he could not form new memories. He spent those five decades in an institution assisting scientists’ research on memory.

This case study doesn't bear thinking about. It's heartbreaking to know that one person can live such a life, so unfulfilled, simply because he cannot remember. I’m pretty certain that H.M would have given anything to lead a vastly different life than the one he lived. The chance to form new memories and remember old ones is a like a basic human right. No one should live without it.

And yet there are people willing to do so!

Memories are there for a reason. Yes, some are bad. But the bad ones are like mistakes; they help us grow. We learn from them. We become better people because of them. I don't understand why anyone would want to throw such potential away.they will be always close to me even if they made me cry sometimes..