Mahabharata - The oldest book on my shelf.

Mahabharata by C.Rajagopalachari

MAHABHARATA written by C. Rajagopalachari and published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan has been in my family since 1970s when my grandfather purchased it during one of his routine visits to his friend’s bookshop. It was then handed to my aunt V and I got it when I was about 8 years old.

Aunt V is an incredible woman and plays a very important role in my life. I have learnt heaps from her. I enjoy listening to her and have done so, for the last twenty something years. During the school holidays, when my cousins and I used to gather at aunt V’s house, every evening after the meal, she used to narrate us stories. She is a master story teller and has a beautiful manner of narrating stories even to this day.

I used to imitate aunt V and pretend as if I was her and narrate stories to my 'virtual' listeners during my playtime. I wanted to be able to narrate stories like Aunt V. She has always been my role model. When aunt V learnt of this, she passed on the book Mahabharata and the 8 Series of  short stories - Krishnavataar by K.M. Munshi to me so that I could read and narrate few short stories to my listeners.

I particularly like the book Mahabharata. It is a small 329 paged book and each chapter depicts examples of courage, strong will and pure mind and ends with a moral.

When  Aunt V gave me the book, it was just appropriate for an 8 year old – educational, informative, and morally rich and presented in simple English that was easy to read and understand.  

I really enjoyed reading this small book. The short chapters of the book, kept me turning the pages one after another without stopping. This was the first book that I read with zeal of enthusiasm and interest. It inspired me to become an avid reader that I am today. It played an important role in attracting an audience especially as I began to participate in story telling club and drama activities in school.

The book is close to my heart and so many fond childhood memories are associated with the book, and for that reason, I have always kept the book with me and I will never let it go off. I have read the book several times now. Each time I read the book, it takes me back to my childhood days and it endlessly draws me in and I like the book even more.

Just like Aunt V who inspired an 8 year old to develop an interest in reading, I would hope to pass on this book to a young and an impressionable mind who loves stories and books.


Mahabharata & Krishnavataar



and I connect with bloggers at BlogAdda.com

Action Replay - light, camera, sound, STOOOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPPPPPP

I visit the bollywood DVD store in my locality once every month to grab the latest bollywood releases. Yesterday, I visited the store with a view to buy primarily Guzaarish. I ended up buying few more. One of them was Action Replay. 

OYEMMMMMMMMMMMMMMGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!! What was the director thinking when he made the movie??? I could not watch the movie beyond the initial 15minutes.

Fine, idea of  'time travel' was ok, although not new. That was the only good thing about the movie. Everything else is horrible. Bollywood certainly needs some good film makers.

Humming today.....

Kuch Tho Log Kahengey.........

…logon ka kaam hai kehna

Chodo, bekaar ki baaton mein

Kahi beet na jaaye raina….

.... …

If you are one of those people who worry about ‘log kya kahengey’ and whose actions are guided by what people around you think or say, then this post is for you.

I am sure, your parents or best friend or other half or colleague or mentor or someone…some..one.. who knows you well has told you at least once, that you must not worry about what others say or think and that you must do what you think is right. Ok, it is easier said, than done.

I was just like you once upon a time but I am no longer affected by ‘log kya kahengey’ syndrome [else  even as I write this post I would  have been wondering ''padhney waaley kya sochengey?'' ].

What got me out of this syndrome is a little (yet an invaluable) lesson that I learnt one afternoon in my office.

A bit of a background before I tell you what I realised that afternoon - My manager K used to be very nasty to me and she used to let off all her steam at me even at times when those things that bothered her had nothing to do with me. Tell me, how fair it is for her to scream at me if her niece broke her sunglasses? Things like this were reasons for her to shout at me in front of rest of the colleagues. K was anyway not popular in the office. People believed she had a sad life and that she was insensitive to peoples’ problems.

Lucky me (or unlucky me) a ‘sympathy club’ had formed in the office that constituted of those colleagues who could not stand K very much. In the name of protection, members of the ‘sympathy club’ were advising me to shout back at K but they were actually fighting their own battles against K through me which I was not aware of.

As I was affected by ‘log kya kahengey’ syndrome then, I could not muster the courage to even have a quiet conversation with K, let alone shouting back at her. After a while, the ‘log kya kahengey’ syndrome began to work the other way round. I mean, if I simply put up with K’s harassment, what will members of the ‘sympathy club’ think of me???? Battling with this dilemma, I finally decided to please the 'sympathy club' members and one afternoon I shouted back at K when she lost her temper at me. Mission accomplished!! But, did anyone gain anything by my screaming? Neither me nor K but others in the office certainly did. It is a joy to watch such scenes. K was hurt though, because I ended up saying things that I would have never even dreamt of saying to someone, let alone K. I hate to imagine, how much it hurts when someone calls a person ‘lonely and miserable’. It was appalling and totally unprofessional of me.

This was the lesson that I learnt that afternoon - When you think ‘log kya kahengey?’ You end up not being able to do what you actually want to do or how you want to deal with a situation. And if you do things only to please the ‘log’, then you end up not being YOURSELF.

Since then,  I have chosen to be myself and to follow my heart . Now I don't do things because ‘log kuch kahengey’. Everyone of us is unique and special - why bother about what others think of us or say about us or anything we do? For, those of you who are affected by 'log kya kahengey' and who do things to please others, apart from sharing my experience I would also like to share with you what I once read - ''Looking back you realise that a very special person passed briefly through your life – and it was YOU. It is never too late to become that person again'' – Robert Brault. 

Zaroorat Hai, Zaroorat Hai.....

        ……………Sakht Zaroorat Hai

Ek Shrimati Ki, Kalavati ki  

Saath de jo pati ki……….

Zaroorat Hai, Zaroorat Hai.

Men - to be precise, Indian men have always wanted, still want and will always want the woman in their lives to stand by them through thick and thin, love them, respect their opinions, accept them the way they are, appreciate them and nurture them and live in perfect harmony with them.

There is a general myth about men that they are strong but the honest truth is that they are like children and they seek love, attention and care and need outright nurturing. They always need a woman who can be sensitive to their needs and who knows just how to deal with them and their weaknesses.

Man’s expectation of a woman has changed over time from being a housewife doing the household chores and taking care of the children to a modern 21^st century woman who is at par with man in every sphere of life, who has the option of running her home or following a professional career or doing both, but who still holds the traditional feminine values and cultural beliefs.

Two generations ago, when men were the sole breadwinners of the family, they preferred women who were strong and tolerant and who could gel well with the man and all the members of the joint family that they lived in. For example, my grandmother was an ‘’ideal’’ wife who stood by my grandfather through joy and sorrow equally. Like most of her peers she sacrificed a lot to be a good wife, good mother, good daughter in law, good sister in law and a good co sister. When my grandfather used to be away from home for months together on account of business, my grandmother took care of the entire household (their 7 children and her in-laws) without the help of a 'kamwaali baayi'. There were no take away services then. Dominos or Pizza Huts were unheard of. She did not have a two wheeler or a four wheeler to run to the market to get something if needed. Yet my grandmother never complained. My grandfather completely trusted her abilities to run the house efficiently while he concentrated on financial responsibilities of the house. My grandfather remembers my grandmother as an exemplar of a perfect woman and describes their life together as hard, simple, extremely content and peaceful.

My parent’s generation did not fit the model of 1950s yet they were not too far from that model. Things were slightly different then. Women had begun to step out of the house too for careers. Yet, they put the interests of the family first. The families in which the women went out to work, they let the household chores slide a bit only to spend quality time with their children and husband. They got home from office and cooked meals while helping the kids with their homework. The husbands concentrated on shopping for food and necessary items for the house. My mother was a housewife. Every morning she prepared breakfast for Papa, bhaiyya and me, and then packed lunch for all three of us. She saw us off and only after that would she have her breakfast. She used to complete all the household chores and daily food/grocery shopping and cooking before the three of us returned home. She then helped me and Bhaiya with our homework while Papa spent time reading the newspaper. In the evening entire family watched ‘Wagley ki duniya’, ‘Malgudi days’ etc on DD1 together. We used to go out for meal on Sunday afternoons so that Amma was free from kitchen in the morning and we could all watch ‘Ramayan’ and ‘Mahabharath’ together on DD1.  A part of the weekend was spent on telephonic conversations with grandparents and uncles and aunts. This was the norm in most of the families. Basically, women still ran the house on their own like the women from the 1950s did but with small amount of help and GREAT SUPPORT from their husbands. They still kept the best interests of the family at the forefront.  Men of this generation respected this very attribute of the women.

As for my generation, the model that our grandparents fit into so well has diminished yet the social legacy of core value systems that existed several generations ago is still prevalent today. Today, in most houses, kamwaali baayi does the household chores. Husband and wife equally share between them rest of the errands for the house. Take aways and eateries are available in abundance that women can afford to take a break from the kitchen if they wish sometimes. The current generation men, prefer ‘complete women’-  i.e. women who are independent, free thinking, smart and confident; who have tastes and lives of their own, who believe in ‘live and let live’, who have the option of running their house, following a career or managing both, women who can take pride in themselves and the family and yet be able to exhibit balance to care for the men and for the entire family.

Overall, men of all generation have given importance to a happy and peaceful home where they can return to at the end of the day. Due to advent of technology and impact of globalisation, men today have largely been successful in acquiring all the material aspects of life and therefore what they really need is what money cannot buy –  PEACE AND HAPPINESS.

The universal truth is that all the traits and tastes of men are totally different to that of women’s but isn’t that what makes it enjoyable for the two of them to live together? Isn’t that the very reason why the two of them get attracted towards each other? Seriously, would it be fun if men were highly organised and kept the house neat, if they remembered birthdays and anniversaries, if they did not appear strong from the outside, if they did not want to be pampered?? I mean, do both the genders not like those very traits about each other that they make jokes about??

Men may be from MARS and women from VENUS but they have to live together on planet earth and the honest truth is that whatever may be the differences between them, the two species have always wanted the same thing - a sense of belongingness, acceptance and appreciation; they have wanted to love and to be loved  and stay happy together.

Go to www.myntra.com and check out t shirts for men! Also visit the largest community of Indian Bloggers at BlogAdda.com

Wanted for Mars

 

Alliance invited from a modern caring, supportive, understanding and compatible woman with traditional values from Venus for a disorganised, care free, non committal, messy cool bloke from Mars to live together on the beautiful planet earth.

Rani Mukherji describes my species as ‘tauliya lao’ types who throws the Bheega tauliya kahi farsh par and keeps the Toothpaste ka dhakkan kahi. I cannot remember birthdays and anniversaries for the life of me. But I always remember to offer my sister’s bestfriend a lift on my beloved motorbike. I am a couch potato who doesn’t help in the kitchen. I don’t like watching ‘bidaai’ or ‘yeh rishta kya kehlaata hai’ but I would not miss any opportunity to watch Formula 1 grand prix or English premier league football.I love gadgets, wearing Armani suits and driving BMW sports car with a chilled beer in hand.

I am a macho man and regular to the gym but there is also that part of me that needs constant nurturing, and at times outright babying .What I really want is a content and peaceful sleep at the end of the day being fully aware that I have a soul mate from Venus with me.

Go to www.myntra.com and check out t shirts for men! Also visit the largest community of Indian Bloggers at BlogAdda.com

Being nice.....

Few minutes ago, I was having a telephone conversation with one of my colleagues S who has just returned to the town after a few days of holidaying in the Caribbean. While I was updating S with the happenings in the office over the last few days, I mentioned about our receptionist T.

T is a lovely lady. She is very efficient and helpful. There is never a dull moment for her. Throughout the day, there are visitors hanging all over her desk asking for directions and help; internal staff members asking for posts, printer cartridges and stationery; goods delivery guys asking for keys to storage area; internal and external calls waiting to be transferred; arranging cabs and train tickets for staff members when requested - the list of tasks that people request of  T is endless. She is just so busy all the time, in fact very very busy. Yet T is so calm. She never twitches  her eyebrows when one asks her for help. She always goes that extra mile to help the person approaching her. What a terrific customer service! T is just so good at what she does. I would call it quits long time ago if I were in her place.

It is well known in our organisation that T's manager is nasty to her. Perhaps she is envious of T's professionalism and more so, because of her popularity.

T was due a promotion last week to be Facilities Officer. Unfortunately, T's manager has denied this and another lady has been offered the higher up job on the grounds that T still needs some more time to be able to handle the pressures of the new job!!! It is unfair but no one has done anything apart from sympathising with T. The nice person that T is, she has not complained about it. Instead she said, '' I will wait for the right day''. Hats off to your optimism T. I hope that day is not too far.

Coming back to my conversation with S earlier today. I was saying how awful it is that T has not been promoted.

''I am not surprised.'' Said S.

''yeah, P (T's manager) is just so nasty and jealous''. I replied.

'' not just that. It is about T herself. She is just so overly nice.'' Said S.

''that's why I am saying she should have been offered the promotion.''. I said ( thinking, what is S taking about?)

'' Well, don't you know? NICE PEOPLE ALWAYS END UP LAST. To get moving higher up in jobs, one needs to forget being nice''. Said S.

I was dumbfounded to hear that. I just left the conversation about T at that. S and I spoke about other things and we dropped the call soon.

But since then S's words are resonating in my ears. ''NICE PEOPLE ALWAYS END UP LAST. To get moving higher up in jobs, one needs to forget being nice''.

I do not agree with S at all.  But is there some truth in what S has said? Does being ''nice'' not take one anywhere??

Lazy Sunday Morning

I am up so early today though there is no crazy schedule for the day, no rush to prepare and finish breakfast, no meetings, no urgent emails to attend to......probably I am just hardwired with hint of sensing the daylight that causes my eyes to open even before the alarm goes off. ....strange! this doesn't happen on weekdays though. I always snooze the alarm and go back to sleep and that is when I get the best sleep... only to be woken up again in 5-10 mins time.

As I type this post, I am listening to some music. Randomly this song has popped up in my playlist now:



The song does not apply to me in anyway but just feels good to listen to....will read the top stories from across the world in a minute....then am off for my morning walk.

Later in the day, I intend to do a bit of reading, chatting and perhaps watch a bollywood movie...want to watch khosla ka ghosla for the nth time again.

Have a good day blogdosts.

I've Got Mail !

 

ooo...I have received an e-mail!! 

This was my reaction when I saw J's email in my inbox this morning. J and I are friends since our school days. We used to spend a lot of time together chatting about anything and everything under the sun. Now geographically  J and I live far apart. It has been ages since I saw her. It was really nice to read her e-mail after several years. It actually made my day.

It is amazing to note how things change. One of my Social Studies assignments in Class 1 was to write a letter to a friend and post it (with a view to make us all aware of the different modes of posts, stamps etc).  We were advised to use an INLAND LETTER (inland letter? what is that???)....oh that seems to be a different world now.....I wonder if post offices still do sell inland letters?

Whenever I changed schools or when any of my classmates changed school, we promised to keep in touch by writing to each other. We religiously wrote letters and kept in touch. I had some pen pals too. Over the years, this changed and instead of sending lengthy letters to each other we were just sending greeting cards for Diwali, New Year, Birthdays and other important occasions.

Then began the era of E-MAILS. I created email accounts on sify, yahoo, hotmail, rediff, gmail etc. When friends parted we promised to keep in touch via emails. I must say, it went well for some time. After a while, we shared only e-cards via 123greetings, Anne Geddes, and Hallmark.

This era was soon replaced by the era of  MOBILE PHONES. All my friends had mobile phones. Thanks to the attractive mobile tariffs – free unlimited texts to any network anytime, 300 mins free talk time etc etc – we used to call each other to do justice to the free talk time. Once we exhausted all the free minutes, we used to text each other.  Initially, we made an effort to type meaningful texts. After sometime, it changed to sending only forwarded SMS friendship jokes . Few years ago on my birthday I received SMSs like – happy budday, hv a blast ; for Diwali and New Year I got some standard forwarded SMS greetings.

Whether it was letters, emails or SMSs, J and I always kept in touch. But when J decided to change her mobile network, she forgot to pass on her new number to me. We were out of touch for a short period.

Thanks to Orkut. We found each other again. It did not take us long to realise that the ‘IN’ thing was FACEBOOK. One fine day, when I logged into my Orkut account, I saw J had written on her profile – ''See you all on facebook’’.

I created a Facebook account too. Posting on each other’s WALL went well for some time. Gradually, as our friends list on facebook grew bigger, we resorted to MESSAGING on facebook. As the multifaceted social network site grew in directions, our communications changed directions too. We began doing complete justice to the ‘COMMENTS' and ‘LIKE’ applications on facebook. For a long time, we were just commenting on each others’ photos in facebook which needless to say was mostly – you look good, nice pic, thnx, :) etc. This was followed by a phase where J and I just kept 'LIKING’each others’ photos and status updates. Conversations were just fading so rapidly. Soon we were only helping each other in farming on FARMVILLE and adopting ‘ugly ducklings ’and ' lonely black sheeps ' from each other’s farm.

 

Shortly after that, J began to contact ‘Anita the Psychic’ and trust her forecasts. I still kept 'liking' those forecasts.  J  was perhaps very busy for the last few months. We had just been ‘POKING’ each other!

So, tell me, do I not have a reason to be excited today when I’ve got Mail?

The world of communication is changing so rapidly. Popular fads are created almost every other day. I wonder what's next??

To the man in the Black Volkswagen Golf

 

It was very foggy this morning when I was driving to work. Hardly anything was visible on the road. At one point, I thought may be world had come to an end last night and I was the only person alive in the world this morning (yikes...scary...perish the thought).  That was until I saw this Black Volkswagen Golf approaching my way from opposite direction, from behind a parked van, exceeding the speed limit on that road.

To the man in the Black Wolksvagen Golf - Try not to die on a foggy day like this, and if you must, then try not to take me with you.

Sunday Relaxation

It's back to work tomorrow after a week of sick leave. It is always hard getting back to work after taking some time off. Oh well, atleast next weekend is only 5 days away!

Had a relaxed day today.

Just listening to:



What a good end to a good weekend.

Hope you had a good weekend too.

Wah Re Masterchef/s !!

I just watched an episode of Masterchef India. I found something funny there. One of the tasks for the contestants was to prepare the perfect dough for Malabar Paraathas. All the contestants seemed to count stars when they heard the name MALABAAR PARAATHAS ! Some of them said, they never heard of the Malabar Paraathas, one said she knew it was a South Indian Speciality but didnt know how to make it. etc etc.

Another task was to prepare a crispy Dosa. None of the contestants got it right in the first instance and so the judges had to give everyone a second chance.

When it came to inventing a Paneer dish, people came up with dishes such as Paneer LASAGNA, CANNELLONI and ARGENTINEAN BONG MEAL that are NOT native to India. Fair enough......the task demanded invention. But why did people not come up with some Indian Dishes? No offense to anyone but it really makes me wonder....One has never heard of a South Indian Paraatha and if one has heard of Dosas, one does not know how to prepare them!!!! How is it that people have heard of  Italian /South American dishes and know how to prepare them even???

Wah re MASTERCHEF/S!!

Life this week - Recovery

I was down with flu this week. Taking time off work helped. Watched few bollywood movies such as Lakshya, Rocket Singh, Anjaana Anjaani, Emotional Atyachaar; Caught up with few recent episodes of Master Chef India and Sasuraal Genda Phool.

I have now recovered from the flu and I feel like a normal human being again!

Back to the grind on Monday morning :( :(

My Shortest Speech....''I Came Vatican''

 

 I always loved to speak using a microphone. Growing up, I wanted to be a TV presenter or a radio jockey. But somehow I ended up opting for a totally different career. I am happy with what I do currently but I still have a little vision that one day I will be a radio jockey….Good Moooooooooooooooooorning India. Where did this ambition come from?

I vividly remember a particular incident, as though it was just yesterday. I was 3 year old and studying in LKG and my Bhaiya who is an year older than me was studying in UKG in the same school. As part of the extra curricular activities in school, there was a fancy dress competition. Bhaiya was taking part in the competition. Papa decided to dress Bhaiya like Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and prepared a speech (primeminister's address to the nation) for him. Papa really worked hard to get all the fancy dress requirements. On Sunday, the previous day of the competition, Bhaiya’s costume and speech were ready.  The rehearsals began in the afternoon. By evening, intelligent Bhaiya, was doing complete justice to the speech. Soon our next door neighbours and close family friends were also accolading at Bhaiya’s rehearsals.

An enthusiastic or may be a little jealous me, wanted to take part in fancy dress competition too and make a speech. Not knowing what it was like to stand on that stage and deliver speech, I demanded to be dressed too as someone famous. I just knew I wanted to make a speech, get the audiences cheering and make Amma and Papa proud.

Amma and Papa did not want to discourage me. They agreed that I could take part in the competition too. Papa was to decide, who would I dress up as. Why on earth did he not think of anyone else? He decided to dress me as the Pope. The costume and props were put together in a rush. By 7pm on Sunday evening everything was ready including a short speech. The speech was in English. I had two hours before bedtime to mug up the speech (I had only just learnt to speak my mother tongue, let alone English!). The speech was apparently something like ‘’I am Pope John Paul. I came from Vatican .....

On  Monday morning, Papa, Amma, Bhaiya and Me went to the school. Bhaiya and I were dressed in our fancy dress costumes. I was still mugging up the speech.

The competitions began.  All the participants fared well. Bhaiya pulled it off very well too. Audiences applauded  his performance and I vividly remember how Amma and Papa were bursting with pride. As the competitions were drawing to an end, Papa and I went backstage to register my name for the competition ( you see..I had decided to participate only on the previous day).

Finally, it was my turn. Miss Geeta called out my name and I entered the stage. My first ever public performance…The kind public (mainly teachers, fellow students and their parents) cheered me. 

I was on the centre stage. Now all the eyes were on me but I was trying to look for Amma in the audience. There she was.. ..sitting next to Hemanth’s Mama. Papa was standing near the right hand side of the stage. I looked at him before starting my speech. He showed me a thumbs up.

I began my speech.

Good morning.

I came…hmmm…I came….I came Vatican………

(let me start again) Vatican…I came….

(may be it was) I came…came Vatican....

That was it….complete blank…could not remember a word of what I had been mugging up until then. I tried all the permutations and combinations of the words ‘I’, ‘Came’ and ‘Vatican’. All in vain. For the life of me, I could not remember my speech.

Fellow classmates were all chuckling by then. But that did not deter the stage and microphone lover me from leaving the stage. I was still trying to say my speech. Miss Usha came to my rescue again. Patting my back, inferring that I was good (of course, I was good!! After all, I had repeated the first line of the speech at least five times!!), she held my hand to walk me down the stage. But I resented. So the audiences decided that perhaps if they applauded, the three year old might leave the stage…soon there was a loud applause…. but nope…even that did not work. I just did not want to leave that stage. I was determined to complete my speech. Finally, Papa came to the stage and gave me a warm hug and said I had done a very good job. He took me in his arms and walked down the stage. It was only then that I left the stage.

Whoa! What a sight we must have been! A small child, proud for her performance and a slightly disappointed yet a proud parent walking his child down the stage. The kind audiences still applauded as we left the stage!!

Shortly after the competition, the prizes were announced. Bhaiya bagged the first prize, Suma second prize and Akhilesh third prize. I was given a consolation prize.

Twenty something years later, when I look back, I feel glad that I participated in the competition that day. The consolation prize meant as much as first prize or even more to me. It boosted my confidence. I have never had stage fear since that day.

Papa and Amma fondly remember that day. They say they were proud of me as much as they were of Bhaiya. Papa says it is important to try. Winning or losing doesn’t matter.

So, that was my first speech…albeit short and incomplete but it did play a part in my life. Every time I have a presentation to make or any new task at hand now, as long as I know I have tried and I have done my best, I am happy irrespective of the results. This is what I want to say to everyone. Be yourselves. Live your dreams. Do your best and don't worry about the results.

As for my dreams of being a radio jockey or TV presenter, I hope some day I can live that dream too. For now I am glad that at least I bear the  precious gift of sharing one of my fondest childhood memories - My shortest speech - that was not on TV or radio but every bit of that performance was as important to me, in its own little way.

Blog Status Message

just like Facebook status message....

Always Happy: Is feeling under the weather. Has taken the day off work. Plans to take the rest of this week off work and return to work on Monday.

Sardi , Zukaam aur Lakshya

  
Aaachoo.....Aachooo......

Streaming cold, sore throat and slight temperature - that pretty much describes my situation since last two days. Normally, I try and battle with the cold monster by taking medications promptly but this time around I fancy some time off work...I havent been taking any medications so as to prolong the recovery ..I know it is bit naughty but hey, hey I have been going to work....only to be sent back home by my concerned colleagues. It's not so bad then, is it?

Nicely tucked into bed I have been blogging, reading other blogs and watching movies.

Last night I watched Farhan Akhtar's LAKSHYA. The happy-go-lucky dude Karan Shergil (Hrithik) has a laid back attitude towards life until that one impulse moment when he decides to prove his Dad wrong and decides to join the Indian Army. Karan's life changes forever. His only Lakshya then is to free the land of Kargil from intruders. Karan succeeds in the end. Like most other films, this movie had a happy ending too. Ok nice.

But the movie has left me wondering - What is my LAKSHYA? I have been aiming for an MBA from a good business school for sometime now but I havent been preparing seriously for the GMAT. May be its time I got back to my books and put in some good efforts. Like VV says ''do your best, do not worry about the results''. Ok, I shall get started from today.

Chalo kuch tho faayda hua is sardi, zukaam, office se chutti aur Lakshya movie ka ...

You can either do this or that ......

Let us face it - not always all things that we plan goes as per the plan. But that is the beauty of life. It is full of ups and downs. Life is never fair. Kuch paane ke liye kuch khona padta hai. Like my friend AC says, when things go wrong you can either do two things:

1) Be sad and brood
2) Accept the beauty of spontaneity that life presents and move on.

Second option sounds better. It is easier said than done... but that is life. It s all about embracing  the imperfections and taking each day as it comes.

Nosey Little Facebook Friend/S

Some People like to know about others' holidays and weekend parties

I am a facebook aficionado. I think Facebook is a great place to keep in touch and share information with friends and may be your neighbour's relatives too! Wondering what that means?

Let me give you a bit of background before explaining what I meant.

Apart from a profile picture, I have no more photos in my facebook album. That is mainly because I don’t think I am very photogenic. But today, I have found another reason to not to post any pictures on facebook.

Why should my photos be a source of timepass for my neighbour's relative who I dont even know?

Ok, so introducing my neighbour's relative - He is one of my friends (well, not really a friend but Facebook calls him my friend) – For sake of convenience I will call him Nosey. Nosey is my neighbour's relative and I met him at my neighbour’s house warming ceremony 2-3 years ago. At the evening reception, Nosey was assigned with the responisibility of welcoming the guests and as far as my memory goes, I think Thank you (for greeting and welcoming me) was the only word I ever spoke to Nosey.

Few days later Nosey sent me a friend request on facebook. Being the nice person that I am (ahem ..ahem..), I accepted the request. After the initial few posts such as do you remember me? Of course, I do. We met at Bhat uncle’s house right? - I totally forgot about Nosey.

Couple of weeks ago, Nosey posted on my wall - ''how are u?''

I replied in a very facebook ishtyle – ''I am fine, thnx. How r u?'' ( to be honest, I wasn’t actually interested to know about Nosey ...I am not being rude here but seriously why should I even bother?)

I did not hear back from Nosey until last week when he posted a wall message asking me ''how come you haven’t changed your profile pic in a long time?''

I was a bit annoyed to see that message. I decided not to respond.

Today Nosey has posted a wall message ''Do u not go for holidays or weekend parties? Y no pics of u? plz post some pics na''

Yeah, right!! Just because nosey wants to do some time pass by viewing my pics and pressing the facebook LIKE button and post comments like ( you look lovely as ever, beautiful, cool, gorgeous etc), I am not going to post my pics there.

Easy...facebook offers solutions to such problems...remove Nosey from my friends list, lock albums, tighten privacy settings etc but I wonder how many more Noseys are in my facebook friends list?

Sorry mate Nosey….you will have to find something else to do or find someone else’s profile for time pass.

I have now decided to purge Nosey and a few other facebook friends, namely the one who used to go to the same tuition centre as I did (that’s it....after school days, I saw this person again only on facebook when she sent me a friends request and even after that we never communicated),  my junior in college who I never spoke to but who is my facebook friend, so on and so forth.

No doubt they will LIKE it and I will get to hear that I am Gorgeous, Lovely as always and beautiful but I should share pics from my holidays and weekend parties with my neighbour's relative, my tuition mate and my junior in college because.............................????

Life this week - Memories of Diwali

This week, I have been drawing on diwali celebrations of my childhood days to make the best of present Diwali.

Jab ghar ki raunak badhaani ho...
Deewaron ko Jab sajaana ho
NEROLAC NEROLAC..
Rangon ki Duniya mein Aao
Rangeen Sapney Sajao
NEROLAC NEROLAC.....

This particular DD1 commercial and the Asian paints commercial where a war soldier returns home to his family for Diwali - every year these two ads used to be aired several number of times just few days prior to diwali. My enthusiasm and excitement for diwali also used to begin around that time.

Decorating the house with lamps and candles, tucking into sweets, bursting firecrackers, visiting relatives and friends- every diwali was filled with so much of fun and excitement.

I remember a particular diwali. I was 9 year old then. Even to this day I wonder why I fancied buying that red cotton lantern that I saw at the shop across the corner of the road. Papa had bought a yellow lantern that we hung in our sit out. It was a simple  paper lantern unlike the big red cotton lantern that I liked ....it was decorated with star motifs, rhomboid and round mirrors and long hanging threads.

I was naive. I did not understand the value of money then. My Papa, being the eldest of his 7 siblings, had several family responsibilities and monetary commitments. That is why Papa used to carefully spend every single penny.

Papa, brother and me went to the shop that was located at the end of the road to buy sweets and firecrackers. Bhaiya was just interested in the crackers but I was interested in the red lantern. I simply wanted that lantern for our house.

Papa bought us pedas, jalebis, pista chios and the firecracker package that consisted of my favourite sparklers, ground wheels, flower pots, the high flying rockets. But I was still staring at the red lantern in awe.

Me: ( pointing at the red lantern) ''Papa, can we also buy this red lantern?''  

Papa: ''Why do we need another lantern?''

Me: '' I don't like the yellow lantern. I like red''

Papa: ''Colour doesn't matter. Let's get started with the fireworks''

Me: Papa, please

Papa: '' Rs 175 is a lot to spend on a lantern especially when we have one at home''

Me: Papa, please please?

Papa gave in to my demands finally. That was very unlike him though. He would normally explain me the value of money. Probably Papa's heart melted when he saw my eyes and learned how badly I wanted to have the red lantern for our house.

Papa bought the red lantern and all three of us set off for home. I was jumping with joy on the way.

That turned out to be my best Diwali ever. The red cotton lantern played a great part in our diwali celebrations that year. But more importantly I realized how much my Papa loved me.

As I write this post, my lips are humming Jab ghar ki raunak badhaani ho..., my eyes are misty.

This precious memory and love of the family , is to me, what makes Diwali so special.

Happy Diwali.

 

Go to http://www.myntra.com/ and check out Myntra Diwali Offer. Shop for Rs 500
and get Rs 500 off on your travel with Cleartrip! Also visit the
largest community of Indian Bloggers at BlogAdda.com

Happy Diwali

 Best Wishes for a happy and jubilant Diwali and a Happy New Year filled with joy, peace and prosperity.

Missed calls

 

Few missed calls over two days..yet no response from my friend...is she really busy or is she just ignoring me????

I shall try her number again tomorrow. Do baatein ho sakti hai- ya tho woh mera call answer karegi ya phir nahi.. Mera phone answer NA karnekey uskey paas do reasons ho saktey hain...ya tho woh busy hogi ya phir woh mujhey ignore kar rahi hogi.....

Fultu Bakwaas...Cooker aur Kadhai

When I was cooking my dinner earlier today, I got reminded of a joke that I watched ages ago on Great Indian Laughter Challenge on StarOne. The joke was about a pressure cooker and a fryiing pan.  

Double burner ka choolha

Ek mein rakha that cooker

Aur ek mein kadhai;

Cooker bola kadhai se

Tu tho tavey ki saali hai 

baahar se bhi kaali

aur andar se bhi kaali hai!

Kadhai ne cooker se bola

Re Cooker tu apney gorey rung par itna kyon itraata hai?

Re Cooker tu apney gorey rung par itna kyon itraata hai?

yadi main kaali hoon

Tho mujhe dekhkar seeti kyon bajaata hai???

Username: **** Password :******

username: *****************

password: *******************
Sorry the information you entered is invalid. Please try again.

OK.....here we go...

username : *****************

password: **********************
Sorry the information you entered is invalid. Please try again.

huh......OK....once more.........

username: *****************

password: **********************

Sorry the information you entered is invalid. Please try again.

Arrrrgh..........

username: **************
  Invalid ID or Password. You have been locked out of the system Please contact the system administrator.

Ah! Just what I need on a Monday morning.......

But my memory is not the one to be blamed for. If at all someone or something is to be held responsible, then it is got to be the www world.....a password for safeboot log in, netwrok log in, a password for Orkut, facebook, twitter...a password for blog, Indiblogger, Blogadda, a password for yahoomail, gmail, rediffmail, a password for GMAT online study companion....a password for this, a password for that, a password for anything, a password for everything....

I had written all my passwords on a piece of paper so that I never have difficulty in recollecting them but I kept the piece of paper in a very safe place that now I cannot even remember the place!

I had saved all the zillion passwords that I use, under 'notes' in Microsoft outlook but if I cannot log in to computer, then having the passwords in outlook is no good.

Previously, I used to have one universal password for all the various different log ins but remembering different usernames for different accounts was a challenge...so that idea failed too.....so, what is a best way to remember the passwords then??

Still on the phone waiting for IT guys to fix my password for me...........Apparently all the customer advisors are busy and my call has been placed in a queue...Thank God for the lovely music else it would have been so annoying.