The homecoming..

Read this awesome article and just had to share it.. Its quite long, but written exceptionally well.. am sure a lot of us will relate to it.. :-)

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/india/papers/Return_to_India.pdf

A Five word Post!

* Working from home seems good.

* I love waking up late.

* Babban treats for Sachin's century! ;)

* Sometimes uncertainities can be killing.

* Switzerland is my dream country.

* Will i visit Switzerland someday? :)

* Bugged with browsing TV channels.

* I miss the girl talk.

* Its such a lazy day.

* I'm dreaming too much nowadays.

* Five word writing is cool.

This seems very interesting.. why not u guys try it out too.. :)

Of books and their titles..!

I have a feeling that authors spend more time in coming up with a catchy title for their book than spending time on writing the book itself. One example that comes to my mind is 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari'.. Most of the reviews for the book have been quite critical and I fail to understand how this book has been in the limelight. I even heard that Tamil comedian Vivek presented this book to former President Abdul Kalam.

Anyways, on a lighter note.. Here are some funny/unique book titles that i came across..

*How to kill your husband (and other handy household hints) by Kathy Lette

* When Your Phone Doesn't Ring, It'll Be Me by Cynthia Heimel

* Women Are from Venus, Men Are from Hell by Amanda Newman

* If God was a Banker by Ravi Subramanian

*How to Write a How to Write Book by Brian Paddock

So, How many such names can u remember? :-)

The Web is Us/ing Us..

Here's something that really fascinated me.. A must watch.. :-)

Chrome!

   I'm not a techie and usually dont go about talking about such stuff.. But there are always exceptions.. :-)

 Presenting Google Chrome! Its the awesomest (Is that even a word?!) browser that i've used so far.. Its fast, looks cool and hasnt given me any problems for the past fews days that i've been using it for..

 Incognito is really cool too. Quoting Google..

‘'You’ve gone incognito. Pages you view in this window won’t appear in your browser history or search history, and they won’t leave other traces, like cookies, on your computer after you close the incognito window. Any files you download or bookmarks you create will be preserved, however’'

Super cool isnt it?! I dont think i would ever miss firefox.. :-)

Kaikeyi..!

Why dont people name their daughters Kaikeyi or Draupadi?
Its sad.. but history has ruined some lovely names.. what say? ;-)

Beauty??!!

The Ponds White Beauty commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LULoHxxsCPs&feature=related
Found this ad on You tube.. Another version of the Priyanka-Saif ad thats being shown on tv nowadays.. I strongly feel such ads must be banned.. What does it portray? The guy likes the girl only because shes fair?

Where is the media today going? While there is little doubt that advertisements help sell products, equally, if such a product exists and if it is being endorsed by some of the hottest film stars, then it is merely a reflection of societal biases..

And Pleeeaaaase! Which girl would wait for a guy who actually left her because of her darker complexion? I guess the Ad-makers of today must realise that Sensible women no longer want to just look like Cindrellas for their men but want to be liked/loved for their smartness and independence rather than being liked for their Complexion! :-)

I've Learnt..

Lets make a difference!

Came accross this wonderful page and thought i must share it..

http://www.morganstanley.com/about/community/littlegreenebook/

Lets do our bit to make this world a better place to live in.. :-)

Natural beauty..

Found this lovely worm today in my backyard.. Never seen such a beautiful creation before.. Am impressed by my own photography skills.. he he.. :-)

My Blog.. My Space..

Just came across this interesting page and this one recently.. People out on a mission for sure.. one of them struck by Cupid and the other asking their readers to vote and decide where they should be staying.. Believe it or not, 4963893 people actually voted!! he he...

Way to go i say! ;-)

Global Indian?

"Bobby Jindal wins the Governor's election in Louisiana becoming the first Indian American to lead an American state.."The moment the news broke on television channels, Jindal’s ancestral village in Kanpur erupted in celebrations, with relatives and friends distributing sweets and dancing bhangra..

India, on the road to being a global super power, seems to be suffering from this disease.. Any achiever whom we come across with the least connection to the motherland makes us feel better, bigger and truly global.. India may not have done anything much in harnessing their talents and helping them grow but we feel so good to associate ourselves with Indians who have achieved elsewhere..In the last couple of years, at regular intervals, the papers have been filled with reports about "Indians” such as Bobby Jindal, Norah Jones, Sunita Williams, etc who have all done the country proud in the USA or in space.

Indian school children light diyas, villages and towns in remote corners of India distribute sweets, dance in joy, and the cameras chase the drivers, aunties, uncles and village postmen for their views — all because the son or a daughter of a former resident who quit the country fifty years ago has achieved an iota of success thousands of kilometers away.

But at some point reality bites.. I get to read about people like Bobby Jindal who has never visited his ancestral home and doesn't have plans too.. Norah Jones Shankar, dropped her last name long back.. Yet we have this new found confidence in us.. For us, the grass is always greener outside India.. We have never acknowledged the achievements of people with greater abilities within our country.. We are a land of hypocrites.. Media has a big part to play in this.. giving hyper and excessive coverage for the smaller achievements and giving more importance to the lifestyle in the west..

Just hoping for a day when this state of our nation would change..

Unconditional love...

Read this wonderful article worth sharing.. Trying to learn and implement it.. Written by Swami Vivekananda..

I once had a friend who grew to be very close to me. Once when we were sitting at the edge of a swimming pool, she filled the palm of her hand with some water and held it before me, and said this: "You see this water carefully contained on my hand? It symbolizes Love."

This was how I saw it: As long as you keep your hand caringly open and allow it to remain there, it will always be there. However, if you attempt to close your fingers round it and try to possess it, it will spill through the first cracks it finds. This is the greatest mistake that people do when they meet LOVE...

They try to possess it, They demand, they expect... And just like the water spilling out of your hand, love will retrieve from you. For love is meant to be free, you cannot change its nature. If there are people you love, allow them to be free beings. Give and don't expect. Advise, but don't order. Ask, but never demand. It might sound simple, but it is a lesson that may take a lifetime to truly practice. It is the secret to true love. To truly practice it, you must sincerely feel no expectations from those who you love, and yet an unconditional caring."
Passing thought...

Pookalam

We had a 'Pookalam' competition at office today.. For those who dont know what a 'Pookalam' is, It is an arrangement of flowers and leaves. Poo - means flower. Kalam means 'special shape'.. Generally during onam, people prepare intricate designs with flowers and decorate their homes with it..

I wanted to break out of the monotony of work and decided to just participate in the competition. This is the first time that i had done something like this.. Though i'm good at drawing, i have never tried out flower arrangement.. What better opportunity, so i decided to go for it..

Then came the BIG question of what would the design be.. and one of my friends came up with an idea of depicting the face of a 'kathakali' dancer. (Kathakali is the most famous dance form that originated in Kerala).. All of us were thrilled with the idea.. Just pulled up a bunch of friends and off we went to the market to buy flowers..
We went to the Tippasandra market, which was filled with flowers of different colours.. bought a lot of them.. roses, jasmines, lillies, marigold...... We were suddenly stuck.. we didnt know what to do for the black colour which would be needed for the eyes...There is no flower which is black in colour..

My criminal brain came up with an idea.. I said, "lets buy a brinjal and peel the skin, carve it out for the eyes of the dancer.." ;-) All of us burst out laughing.. but we had no other choice because the competition would end in an hour and we had no time to argue..Just went ahead with the plan of buying the brinjal..

Reached office in 10 mins and started off.. I was the bakra who had to do the drawing.. :-) Did a free hand drawing of a kathakali dancer's face and must tell, it came out quite well.. much better than i had expected.. Then all of us started arranging the flowers and leaves that we had got.. I peeled out the brinjal and carved the eyes.. silently put the remains of the brinjal back into the bag so that we dont get caught.. ;-) Finally we were done.. We were all more than happy at the way it turned out..

Then came the judge.. I explained to him what a pookalam meant and why we chose the face of the kathakali dancer.. How it takes around 6-8 hours to paint a kathakali dancers face.. how much dedication and effort is needed to do it.. in the same way, we have put in a lot of hardwork and sincerity to this..

He said "you definitely deserve an award for your dedication and hardwork.." I just said, "True. But more than the award and the applause, it was the satisfaction and the thrill of participation in the competition that gave us more happiness.."

Now, that was some modesty isnt it? ;-)

Get out of the 'Work' mode!

Looking out of the window, feeling the cool breeze hitting my face, there i was, sitting in a cab, wondering how the streets of Bangalore are still lit up and live at 12 in the night.. People still fresh with energy, listening to some roaring music on their ipods and working on their laptops, trying to finish some project or paperwork..

I was going back home - Tired after a hard days work.. Suddenly felt a drop of water hit my face and when i turned to look at who it was, i found a colleague of mine, silently brushing off her tears.. I just pulled out a hanky and gave it to her.. "The kajal looks beautiful in your eyes.. Dont let them go away with ur tears" i said.. She just tried to smile and took the kerchief from me and wiped off her tears.. Before i could ask, she replied.. "Thanks! I was just missing someone terribly..". Saying that she started off her story..

Her name was Neha. She was newly married and has come down to Bangalore from a small town in Delhi..Just started chatting with her and she was telling me about how she fell in love and got married to this guy who worked with her in her previous organisation.. Both of them were madly in love with each other and he would take care of her as if she were his precious baby.. Getting her gifts every now and then, taking her out to scenic places every weekend, loving her so much that she would be down to tears.. but tears of Joy..

And today here she is, with tears in her eyes again, but because she is craving for his love and time.. He is busy trying to get his career right and slogging day and night to meet his deadlines.. He works so much that she hardly gets to even see him when shes at home. She has taken up a job now.. so that she could keep herself away from her pain.. All i could tell her was "Dont worry! Things would be fine soon.. Just speak it out to your hubby"

Left me thinking.. Whats it like to be working 24/5? To be answering customer calls and handling irate client e-mails??To get into a world of mails and processes and applications and not have time for family or friends?

A lot of us get into the 'work' mode and refuse to come out of it.. We find so much pleasure in trying hard to meet/achieve a deadline or a target that some one has committed to some one else for his/her benefit.. Little do we realise that theres a bigger and a better world beyond work too.. There are people who need us and our time and presence.. May be an ailing mother, a newly wed wife, a friend, a brother, a neighbour or even a pet... We may be struggling hard at work to keep them happy, but most of the times what they need is our care and support and not money..

A Gentle reminder: Please make time for your loved ones.. No matter how busy you are.. Show them you care.. "Kya pata, Kal ho na ho.."... :-)

Indian 'Idol'??!!...

"Prashant Tamang crowned Indian idol..." The headlines today in every single newspaper in town.. Prashant is the winner of the popular reality TV show 'Indian Idol'..

Music is one such blessing that can soothe, energize and make one express things that words can hardly do.. It can heal the most bitter of human rifts and create a strong bond forever..
Prashant is not the sole example of this.. there have been a lot of others like 'Abhijeet Sawant' - the 1st Indian Idol, 'Shreya Goshal' - a SaReGaMa finalist,'Sunidhi Chauhan' - part of the 'Meri Awaaz suno'... and lots more.. These talent shows provide a platform to the young and the talented to do well and excel in their respective fields.

Makes me think.. whats it that has brought such a big change?? From where does a shy, unheard of, simple person from a small town in Darjeeling get the confidence to face billions of people, to cheer them up, to bring them all together in unity irrespective of their caste and creed? The only answer i get is "MUSIC"

A lot of reality shows prove just the same.. The show "Indian Idol" has become such a rage everywhere.. I could never even imagine a Sepoy, from some corner of Nepal would become one of the most sought after singers in the country..
A person who was hardly recognised in his own neighbourhood a few months back, is now a person who's recognised and cheered worldwide..
It is not just the hills and valleys that are live with his music.. Its a craze in most of the other parts of India as well.. The programme has got young and old alike - glued to the TV sets and getting them vote and send SMSes in huge numbers to exercise their freedom of expression..

However, I just wonder, If Television and Music have so much of an influential power, why don't people make use of this for the social good? How would it be if people took a similar interest in our elections... If they 'voted' in lakhs and crores to choose an able leader!! If only our idols were more than singing or dancing sensations..!!! :-)

DD and Nostalgia....

I was just surfing a few channels today and suddenly got reminded of the good old doordarshan days.. the late 80's and early 90's when we had just two channels DD 1 and DD 2.. we used to be so thrilled to watch our favourite serials/programmes..

I remember waiting for friday nights just to watch 'Chitrahaar' - a programme that showcased hindi film songs.. or wake up early on Sundays just to watch Mahabharat.. There were a lot of children's programmes as well like 'Jungle Book', 'Malgudi Days' and informative programmes like 'Surabhi' or 'Turning Point'...

A lot of TV characters like 'Vaagle' of 'Vaagle ki Duniya or 'Byomkesh' from the serial 'Byomkesh Bakshi' or Karamchand became household names... It would be so difficult to imagine life without these people entertaining us then..

What surprises me is the fact that TV sets werent too popular then and could be found only in a few urban households.. may be because of the cost and the lifestyle that existed.. But there definitely was a strong family bond and a bond of friendship that Doordarshan had created amidst people from the same colony or neighbourhood .. I remember watching serials at my neighbours place with both our families happily laughing together or arguingabout what a particular character in the serial should have done.. Cant even imagine things like that happening today..

There was a time when one could hear kids say, "Ma, even i want to fight Sher Khan like Mowgli...", Such was the impact of DD on peoples minds.. It was an era when people used to watch TV with rapt attention.. A time when the entire nation would come to a standstill for a few moments.. We can hardly find that in the programmes that are telecast today inspite of the innumerable number of channels broadcasting a lot of serials..Whats predominant now is 'saas bahu ka jhagda', jealosy, failing marriages, violence... Thanks to the likes of Ekta kapoor..

Wish time could just stop at that Golden era where spending time with family watchin DD was considered much more enjoyable than any other activity.. The innocence and beauty that DD brought remains something that i would always cherish.. :-)