Milana

I said to Suraj, "Finally ! ". We have said finally before, but that probably signified the end of the ever tormenting examinations. All the more, because it was prolonged because of some back logs. But, this time, we said finally, not because it signified end of pain, but it signified the beginning of hopeful pleasure. We were off to Coorg, finally.

We have been planning something of this sort from quite some time. It happened because, this time, we did not wait. For others. We just went ahead. Being too sensitive to somebodies presence can get depressing at times. We just got on with life. To summarize, we had a lovely drive, we sang along the way, trekked to the most beautiful, secluded (probably that's why it was so beautiful) waterfall I have ever been to, suffered from indigestion, played cards, got high, did some senti talk and most importantly laughed a lot, after a long time. I don't remember the last time when I was holding my tummy and laughing. It was probably when we were preparing for those dreaded (or not so dreaded) examinations. What a trip ! I well and truly realised that I missed these guys so much in my life. They are still around, but what's the point. It's not the same any more.

It is so sad that we have twined ourselves to routine that we are not able to make time for natural fun, which we relish so much. It was unfortunate, in a way that it was not like our last Ooty trip. This was different.  I guess we have tuned ourselves to having smaller number of people. 

Suraj, Adarsh, Rohan, Shetty and Bala - I miss you guys. Yes, you read it right. I miss Bala too. 

Hoping for the next trip, to happen soon. Before life changes us further.

The Karur Trip

I had been to Karur, over the last weekend of August, just to give company to my colleague. He had to take some stuff back home and was driving back alone. He asked me if I could accompany him and I said yes. I was looking for some sort of a change too. It was not only a jolly experience , but a huge learning experience.

First and the most important lesson from the trip, hospitality. I can probably say , quite comfortably, that I have never experienced hospitality of this magnitude. His parent's were so kind and generous , not only with words , but with thought and action as well. I have never felt so important. I don't want to talk about what I ate there , for I lack patience to do that , the list is long :-) But I would just like to mention that some words which are really pleasing can make a guest feel extremely comfortable. The only regret about the food part is that he had to remain vegetarian for the weekend , because of me.

We visited a couple of temples there. Very , old ones , I must say. A Shiva (Pashupatheeshwara - The Lord of the animals) temple, built by the Chola dynasty. Huge is an understatement and that is a common factor for most Chola architecture's. Intricate , another understatement. The main deity is characterized by a Shiva Linga ( A manifestation of the Lord ) being bathed by a cow , by milk , from it's udder. Another characterization is that there are two Eshwari's (Wives of the Lord , there is generally only one) , one who performed severe penance just to marry Shiva and was granted her wish. 

The temple was filthy outside. People having dinner ( in the name of prasadam ) inside the premises. Another food for thought , people's perception of God and approach towards spirituality.

I don't know if evolution and classification of people resulted in Vegetarians and Non-vegetarians. I have a feeling human beings were Omnivores and only later a few fine tuned to being pure vegetarians. I also believe we do follow quite a few practices , without knowing their significance, with the assumption that what our ancestors did were probably right. I am not saying this is wrong , I follow quite a few myself. But , what I want to drive is to approach pragmatically the customs of other people and respecting the possibility that there is probably a good reason for people to do this.
Now, why I am I discussing all this ? I visited my colleague's family deity , a secluded and an isolated temple. Things like meat offerings happen to the God's here. Sounds cruel , at first , ain't it ? But I was just talking to him and he was explaining the reason for why people could possibly be doing all this. Mind you he was not passing a judgment about right or wrong , but was speculating about the possible cause for the custom. He was telling me , we were all hunting for our food at some point in time. At some other point in time , we came across the notion of an almighty. And shortly, we came up with the notion of offering what we eat, to the lord. This is probably exactly what it is , and it seems cruel , since we are 'supposed' to be civilized and killing animals is cruel.Interesting , isn't it ?

I am back home , celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi , after a show of "Rock On" , the latest hindi movie. May God , if he exists , keep us all happy.

Tata.

Are you 'you' or somebody else ?

I have always wondered what's the true character of a person. Which is why I ask the question in the subject. It has always intrigued me to observe people's behavior and it makes it more interesting to observe this in the presence of different people.

I am sure you will all agree that we are all not the same people everywhere. We react to the same situation differently , depending on the situation/people surrounding us. I'll call this environment henceforth. I have even seen people whose accent changes , depending on whom they are talking to , and this happens sub-consciously.We all suffer MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder) of some sort :)

The important aspect I am trying to figure out is , what percentage of our character is well and truly ours? What number is theoretically a good one ? Or , is it valid to define one in the first place?

There are two possibilities , you are inclined to either being yourself or being well adapted to the environment. If you are the former , you are generally more confident with yourself , take quick decisions (the decisions may not all be right), you are more satisfied with yourself and are unperturbed by criticism from the environment. The latter category are liked well by a lot of people , satisfy others needs, can keep everybody happy , but at some point reach a stage where they are not happy with themselves.
I don't know where I fall , but a gut feeling tells me I am in the latter (not that I am unhappy with myself :-P) .

So the 'character' word , I feel , has got so much to do with the environment. Nobody seems to have an absolute pure character. When I say pure I don't mean clean , but nascent , unaffected by others.

No two people will react to the same situation , in a similar way. If they do , we tend to call them people with 'similar' characters. Let us not consider the similar character case. Dissimilar characters will definitely react differently , but some reactions are not welcome by the majority of the people and these guys get categorized as the insane/absurd or just a strange person. People should probably look at the positive aspect and say " This guy is different , he lives for himself , does not care or does not know about what is right or wrong with the others ".

Others who react to the taste of the people are probably consciously satisfying the taste of the environment , they may not be true to themselves or to you. You never know. The world is a strange place , with a lot of strange people , thinking not only their minds but also recursively reading other minds and giving reactions which may be pseudo-genuine. Just enjoy every body's company , grab the positives and live your life. That's the mantra for joy.

PS: If it were so easy to follow , my life wouldn't suck ;-)

Now , what do you think about me ? Until next time...

Importance of Siblings

I have two older sisters. I am the only son , the youngest of the lot. Sounds cool. You are probably imagining how pampered I am. In some sense , I think I am pampered quite a lot , not because it happens consciously from my parents , but more so because I am marginally lucky. Was just thinking about this luck factor and I thought I should word it more formally , in other words , just write up a post here.

I was born in the luxury of a brand new home , unlike my sisters , who were in a company quarters atmosphere. Although not everything is completely negative about it ( the good aspects being lot of friends and a great social life ) , the lifestyle was pretty tough , if you think about it now. Everything from Sofa sets , Fridge , television etc started pouring into my house when I arrived. This is one materialistic aspect about my luck. The other , more important aspect being the age difference between my sisters and myself. It is quite a lot actually. 13 and 6 years. Now how is this lucky ?

Since there is so much of a difference in age , there is not much to compete for. They would give in easily and I almost always got what I wanted. When I got what I wanted , the drive to 'want' actually reduced. This scenario somewhat bought a sense of maturity in me. I am sure many would think of this as a very ironic statement , since getting what you want can make you take things for granted implying lack of maturity. But I did get my share of yells and eye brow raises when I asked for somethings. I must say I have been subjected to a lot of moulding , the best part being I haven't even realised that I was being moulded all the while. That's the ease at which all this was happening.

Siblings always bring in a new dimension to life. They make it more interesting , irrespective of a brother or a sister , younger or older. Each have their own pro's and cons , but it is a new dimension nevertheless. It is a flavor , which is very essential for life , for life without flavor's can get monotonous.

If you thought I am writing all this to praise my sisters , you are right. I intend to. They mean a lot to me.

But more importantly , 'she' will read my blog , whoever 'she' is , whenever the time comes for me to meet 'her' , and I have reasoned what I will tell 'her' , "I am having two kids" ;-)
Until next time... Tata.

Career foresight

A person intending to take up a professional career , almost inevitably screens himself/herself through tons of entrance examinations. Starting from a Standard 10 examination all the way through competitive ones for under/post graduate courses. Most people (including me) unfortunately go in the direction the wind is blowing on what's their career going to be , at least the folks heading towards under graduation. And this wind direction is determined by the people you are around including your family, friends and the atmosphere in general. Now , this sounds like your career is almost your fate. It may/may not be true but, very few are unconventional and do something totally different. And fewer succeed.

It's my opinion that this is in a way a way of life. Few are precocious enough to forsee their wants so early in life. Fortunately education is structured conically and you are traversing your life from the base to the apex , focusing gradually on what interests you. It so happens when people are in the middle of the cone (and the apex is not yet visible) , there is apprehension about the future and to make matters worse what comes free with this are the frustrations that accompany your past decisions. I think it is this retrospection that brings all the pain.


While climbing this cone of life , it is important that one notes which part of the cone he/she enjoyed climbing , for the texture keeps varying. Some like it smooth and adventerous , while the others rough and secure. Based on this , you have to get a move on in life and do what you want to. The million dollar question remains , " When do you know what you want ! ".


I am going through this phase myself , and deemed it ideal to put up a post. Since comments are what I expect (let me say request) to flow in , it will hopefully turn out to be a brainstorming session rather than an introspection. More during the weekdays, until then Bbye.

Dwitiya Vighna

Intended to have posts regularly (that explains the post title, which means an obstacle happens the next day you start something ), but could not muster a post , post my birthday , which was a truly eventful day. A lot of calls , spent a good percentage of the day on the phone. Felt good , just to know you have earned quite a few who really care and remember to wish you. I have this very bad habit of not remembering birthdays. Kind of made me realise , it is indeed a special day for most and a call can mean a lot.

Was gifted a beautiful leather wallet , a Lux soap , a clinic all clear hairfall control shampoo ( how thoughtful ) a printed photo( I even have the soft version in my Orkut profile ) in which I pose with Katrina Kaif's poster in forum ( The best gift ! :-D ). Most of the day I spent preparing for a certification. This must have raised quite a few brows. No regrets though. It was fun at work and then back at home. No dinner , no partying. Will push it to another day. A memorable and an unforgettable day on the whole. Birthdays should feel like an ordinary day and be just slightly special is what my opinion remains. That's exactly what it was.
Next best part of the week , cleared the certification. All the effort did not go down the drain. It was truly worth it. Learnt a lot , got a broader perspective to work , which I will unfold gradually in my blog. Not that it is a suspense but I fell in love with this concept of doing things gradually. Read a mail about how Europeans do things slowly. We hear of deadlines like " Do it by this time ... " , but have you heard of " Do it not before this time ... " ? This attitude has a tremendous positive impact on the quality of work that the Europeans produce. See if you can do things gradually , if yes and it works let me know ;-) Now , that explains to Pramod , a blogger I have learnt to respect , why I was vague about my organization. It is just to add that finesse and the tinker to the writing which you pay so much attention to only in the initial stages :-)
Well, further posts will fall inline with the blogging conventions. Will try unfolding myself , what I do and what I opine about the various events happening around me. Eager to know what you think. Tata.

Prarambha - The Beginning

Blogging , a useful hobby. A means, which serves purposes as simple as voicing opinions to as complicated as forceful introspection. I begin it on a special day , a day which signifies another beginning. Myself. When you start blogging , the toughest part seems to be picking up a URL , which , in the future becomes such an important part of the blog. I have picked usernames for other's blogs , but this one I did not think too much about. It occured to me, in a few seconds, like a flash on the screen from an angel and I just decided that would be it. Kind of describes me well I think. Cryptic in the beginning and obvious later. Now, that answers some questions about the URL.

A memorable evening to write about on 9th August. The evening of 8th August. My organization ties up with a lot of charitable organizations and one such NGO for the physically challenged came with an agenda to let us know what they did. And , entertained us too at the end. Some phenomenal talent was under display. To drag people from the brink of suicide and changing them to the extent that they inspire lives is amazing. Not many can achieve this. Kind of urged me to be part situations that can cause so much joy, though charity and philanthropy does not come so naturally to me.



Keep coming back, post your feedback and await posts which can be drastically contrasting and hopefully not contradicting - Adios.