I Exist, still! Take 2!

Well i’m lazy enough to count how many months its been since i’ve been here. Someone please do it for me.
All i know is-its been months.

A lot of ‘new things’ have happened to me but i haven’t a clue what i should be writing.

Bye!

Women are from Venus….

Men are from Mars.
Women are from Venus.

A few ‘Women’ posts here have been brought down here due to a ‘Venus’ reaction.
Many readers have liked those posts. Some have shown curiosity to know the rest of the story. But for the first time in the 6 months that the posts have been there, I’ve found someone who felt sad on reading them. Sad is actually an understatement.
Even I’m disappointed to have hurt this someone.
And I’m ashamed to say that er. I’m a lil happy because I have someone who doesn’t like me flirting And I’m more than happy to pull down some posts for that someone.

n now if there’s someone who’s wondering why we’ve too many someone’s around here, all i wanna tell this someone is……..
Someone somewhere is made for u… PPPPPPPPPP Sorry that was terrible.

Gosh, now i feel like someone, i mean, somebody’s angry enough to hunt me down.

I Exist, still!

I can’t remember the last time I came here to write something. I guess it was around 3 months ago. The last post was a copied text One of Chetan bhagat’s speeches. I found it somewhere on the net n i pasted it here.

Well the sole purpose of this post is to convey- I’m alive and kicking.

I’m not ill (Except for the slight cold I ‘received’ yesterday ). I ain’t gone er.. underground (Prakash, underground? huh ) Actually, Prakash called me 2 days ago to check my whereabouts. He asked me if I’d gone underground because he didn’t see me posting since long

Anyways the only reason is Work. @#!$!@#

We guys are working on a new project, with some tight schedules. Since the last 3 months, me n my team have showed up at Work almost all weekends. Did someone ask- What about the weekdays?  Of course, we wud show up on weekdays . For someone like me, who used to be in bed n watch TV the whole of Saturday n Sunday, it was difficult initially. But life teaches you a lot of things, u see.

I’ll certainly try to find time for myself, so that I can keep writing. Actually there are a 100 things I wanna talk about. From what I’ve gone through in the last few months. But time doesn’t permit. To be frank, its hunger which isn’t permitting currently I’m at work n I need to go get something for myself.

Peace!

[Post Edit: 20jun09
Crap eradication movement]

Keep the Spark Alive

I knew he was a good writer. But I now feel he can also be a good motivational speaker. Check out one of Chetan Bhagat’s speeches…. I couldn’t resist putting it here…. because he spoke about something even I believe in.. Dont take life seriously… N never compromise something u r passionate about.. Read on..
Inaugural Speech for the new batch at the Symbiosis BBA program, Pune
23rd June, 2008
By Chetan Bhagat

Good Morning everyone and thank you for giving me this chance to speak
to you. This day is about you. You, who have come to this college,
leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to
become something in your life. I am sure you are excited. There are
few days in human life when one is truly elated.  The first day in
college is one of them.  When you were getting ready today, you felt a
tingling in your stomach. What would the auditorium be like, what
would the teachers be like, who are my new classmates – there is so
much to be curious about. I call this excitement, the spark within you
that makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going to talk about
keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be happy
most, if not all the time.
Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. My 3-year
old twin boys have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make
them jump on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park.
A story from daddy gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for
birthday party – several months in advance – just for the day they
will cut their own birthday cake.
I see students like you, and I still see some sparks. But when I see
older people, the spark is difficult to find. That means as we age,
the spark fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull,
dejected, aimless and bitter. Remember Kareena in the first half of
Jab We Met vs the second half? That is what happens when the spark is
lost.   So how to save the spark?
Imagine the spark to be a lamp’s flame. The first aspect is nurturing
- to give your spark the fuel, continuously. The second is to guard
against storms.
To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve
and achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is
possible for you. It isn’t any external measure – a certain cost to
company pay package, a particular car or house.
Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material
landmarks is success and rightly so. When you have grown up where
money constraints force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big
achievement. But it isn’t the purpose of life. If that was the case,
Mr. Ambani would not show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at
home and not dance anymore. Steve Jobs won’t be working hard to make a
better iPhone, as he sold Pixar for billions of dollars already. Why
do they do it? What makes them come to work everyday? They do it
because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them feel
alive. Just getting better from current levels feels good. If you
study hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to
interact with people, you will do better in interviews. If you
practice, your cricket will get better. You may also know that you
cannot become Tendulkar, yet. But you can get to the next level.
Striving for that next level is important.
Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which
we were born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of
nature’s design. Are you? Goals will help you do that.
I must add, don’t just have career or academic goals. Set goals to
give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before
successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental
peace are all in good order.
There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup.
There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not
enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.
You must have read some quotes – Life is a tough race, it is a
marathon or whatever. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of
those races in nursery school, where you have to run with a marble in
a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point
coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the
marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your
life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling
of being excited and alive, will start to die.

One last thing about nurturing the spark – don’t take life seriously.
One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes.
One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from
the yoga practice. The teacher said – don’t be serious, be sincere.
This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my
job, my relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions
on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense
criticism. If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather,
how will I live? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really
temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If
we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500
weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It’s ok, bunk a few
classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not
programmed devices.
I’ve told you three things – reasonable goals, balance and not taking
it too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four
storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame.
These must be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration,
unfairness and loneliness of purpose.
Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the
expected return. If things don’t go as planned or if you face failure.
Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out
stronger. What did this failure teach me? is the question you will
need to ask. You will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I
wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians
kill themselves over low grades – how silly is that? But that is how
much failure can hurt you. But it’s life. If challenges could always
be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge. And remember – if you
are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or
potential. And that’s where you want to be.
Disappointment’s cousin is  frustration, the second storm.  Have you
ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is
especially relevant in India. From traffic jams to getting that job
you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don’t know if you
chose the right goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for
Bollywood, as I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely
lucky, but it took me five years to get close to  a release.
Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into
something negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with
it? A realistic assessment of the time involved – movies take a long
time to make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain
enjoyment in the process rather than the end result – at least I was
learning how to write scripts, having a side plan – I had my third
book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions
in your life  – friends, food, travel can help you overcome it.
Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign
somewhere, you took it too seriously.
Unfairness – this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is
how our country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful
faces, pedigree find it easier to make it – not just in Bollywood, but
everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few
opportunities in India, so many stars need to be aligned for you to
make it happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to
achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high,
and ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some
people luckier than you. In fact, to have an opportunity to go to
college and understand this speech in English means you are pretty
damm lucky by Indian standards.. Let’s be grateful for what we have
and get the strength to accept what we don’t. I have so much love from
my readers that other writers cannot even imagine it. However, I don’t
get literary praise. It’s ok. I don’t look like Aishwarya Rai, but I
have two boys who I think are more beautiful than her.. It’s ok. Don’t
let unfairness kill your spark.
Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is isolation. As you
grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all
kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you
still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize
you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you
feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can
create conflict as your goals may not match with others. . And you may
drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop
playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give
up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family.
But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise.
Love yourself first, and then others.
There you go. I’ve told you the four thunderstorms – disappointment,
frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like
the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You
just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.
I welcome you again to the most wonderful  years of your life. If
someone gave me the choice to go back in time, I will surely choose
college. But I also hope that ten years later as well, your eyes will
shine the same way as they do today. That you will Keep the Spark
alive, not only through college, but through the next 2,500 weekends.
And I hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that spark
alive, as we really need it now more than any moment in history. And
there is something cool about saying – I come from the land of a
billion sparks.

Small acts which can save on your time, big time

I’ve been bugged by a small cold. Not in the greatest mood to write. But still, I just wanted to complete this draft I started 2 days back…

These days everyone who sees me smiles at me. In fact, at work, people whom I’ve never spoken to, give me wicked smiles No, I haven’t done anything incredible at work. You’ll find out the reason soon…

Well I’ve a newfound time-saver tip to boast about this week.
A closely shaved Haircut….

The benefits:

• Getting ready for work in the morning just demands a bath. No hair conditioning, no hair dressing… (Sometimes even the ‘bath’ is an option for the brave :D )
• Bath is a jiffy too. No shampooing, no hair drying either.
• You don’t need to carry a comb. (I don’t remember the last time I carried a comb on myself. I guess it was when I was in 12th grade)
• You don’t need to stand in front of the mirror ten times a day at work, to ‘check’ your hair.
• You aren’t recognized easily. By people whom you owe n by your sick fans

Well I’ve got rave reviews for this, the worst being ‘Nice haircut. It suits you.’

Another review I recollect is the one I got at home… ‘How will you face people now?’ :P
I’ve always wanted to have my hair real short, but I often dropped the idea thinking what others would say. I was afraid kids would get scared on seeing me..

But then what gave me strength was reminiscing a promise i made to myself a few months back,
‘If you are really passionate about something, indulge yourself. Come what may. Don’t care about the rest of the world.’

So now every morning I get up, I feel satisfied looking at myself

(Post edit-18Oct2008

Today I came to my blog after a long time. N I realized I had written crap here. Also the snap looked terrible. My apologies to everyone who had to bear it I tried to correct what I could in the little time I got)

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Being Reachable… Again

 

I finally reclaimed my old phone number last night.
I enjoyed the ‘Not Reachable’ experience for 37 days. I was still enjoying being ‘undisturbed’, when I started getting credit card calls again this afternoon. Phew!!!

I went to the Airtel Customer Service Center on Saturday. As I was afraid they might assign my number to someone else, due to lack of activity.

One of the gals ..er.. Customer Service Executives asked “Yes Sir?”
“I lost my cell and I wanna get a new card with the same old no and….” I tried to start my story.
“Fill out this form and give one Identity-proof Xerox” she interrupted me. It seemed like she did that 100 times a day. May be crimes in Pune, especially mobile thefts, are too common these days. And may be I’m not finding enough time in the mornings to read newspapers.
We exchanged some crass jokes. I then filled the form in a jiffy, left the Address field blank and returned it to her. I hate filling out forms especially the Address fields.

“Address ain’t a required field right?” I asked cheekily.
“That’s fine.” She replied with a smile, while stapling the form and my ‘Xerox’.

She took out a new card, noted the card identity number and gave it to me saying “It’ll be activated in 48 hours.”

“Thank You” I smiled and got out, my job done in 5 mins flat.

I love female Customer Service Executives They are so friendly

Dream Recall

I finally resumed my gym services. There are a lot of changes at the gym. Some rooms have been converted to store rooms. The gym owner ain’t there; so no one’s swearing at me or asking me to pay up first. There are several new faces (or bodies) I can see.

If there’s someone who’s happy reading this, then do care to read the next sentence.
What you read above was just a small snippet of a dream I had 2 nights back.
The fact is-I’m still reluctant to restart my workout counter. This time, thanks to the frequent rains.
I seriously wish someone would bless me saying ‘May all your dreams come true’.

I was wondering why we can’t recall all of our dreams? If you’ve noticed, we tend to remember only a small fraction of our dreams, if at all any. I found an interesting article and here are some excerpts…

“Dreams are a very important part of us and affect our lives whether we remember them or not. And by tapping into them, we can explore and work through issues before they have even come to light. One of the great benefits of dreams is that they can show us what we are thinking about or are concerned with in our lives, often at a subconscious level.”

If this is true, then why didn’t I dream about my ‘girlfriend’?
And what about the nightmares I sometimes get, wherein me or my friends get into fights, accidents and all sorts of problems? Sometimes people I know, even fall into wells accidentally.. LOL…
You might think that was juvenile, but sometimes I do get real crazy nightmares.. hehe

“Most people remember dreams, or at least remember dreaming, when they awaken in the morning. The reason for this is because the vast majority of dreaming occurs in the last third of sleep. But if you have little or no dream recall, here are a few tips that could help:

Learn how to “wake up slowly.” When you first wake up in the morning, lay quietly in bed and don’t immediately start thinking and worrying about the day ahead. Try to concentrate your mind on whatever it was that you were just dreaming about – even if at first you can’t remember dreaming about anything.

Many dreamers who practice this “slow awakening” technique say that it is important to lay still as they are waking up. Moving their bodies distracts their mind from being able to recall the last dream.”

Here’s the link, if you wanna read the whole article.

Wow. I’m gonna try this tonight or may be tomorrow morning. Pray that I do have a dream tonight.

My greatest fear is that I might doze off again, under the pretext of ‘slow awakening’.

MAY ALL YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE!!!

[Post Edit] 15/07/2008

Last night I dreamt something related to ‘horse-riding’. That’s all  I can recall.
I don’t think you can practice ’slow awakening’ when your mom almost kicks you out of bed to wake you up :)