Life is whatever you want it to be

Once in a while I pause from all the crazy things going on with me and around me and try to reflect on what happened. Its more like "you had the experience....what does it all mean?" Today, I was thinking about all the incidents that happened that completely changed my life!!

Life is unexpected. It just happens. You think you have solved one problem and try to relax but it presents another one before you can even blink! But I am not complaining at all. I completely believe that when things like this happen and life drops a bomb at your doorstep, it brings out the best in a person. It reveals who we are and what we are made of. There is no point in getting stressed over things you don't have a control on. Whatever has happened in the past, doesn't nullify the person I really am. It has made me bolder, confident and more courageous. I am more than happy to be able to do things which mean a lot to me which I couldn't have done otherwise. I am able to revive my hobbies and passions which I thought I had lost completely a few years ago.

Life is too short to wake up with regrets. There comes a point in life when you have to let go of all the drama that happened and the people who created it. It's just not worth it to carry the baggage forward. This life is all about loving the people who treat you the right way and not giving a damn about the ones who don't. I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive the people who caused so much hurt, but I definitely can forget them! Its all about believing that everything happens for a reason. Nobody said that life would be easy. They just promised that it would be worth it.

Life is whatever you want it to be...make it worth living for!

Oh Oh....what am I thinking!!!!!??

• When dog food is new and improved, who tests it?    I don't even want to think abt it ;-)
• Can we cry under water?    Not sure...may be we can...I've seen a couple of movies where they do! Or may be it's just the acting!!
• Why are the numbers on a phone and a calculator in the reverse order?    Have to ask the inventor I suppose!
• Do the fish ever become thirsty?    Will ask them and get back ;-)
• What should we call a male ladybird?    No comments! 
• Can a person get cornered in a round room?    May be with the eyes! :-P
• When a person owns a piece of land, does he/she own it all the way to the earth's core?    Hmm...tough one!
• Why do vehicles have speedometer which read certain speeds when you legally cannot go that fast on the road?    To break the rules right? ;-) :-P
• If a person suffering from short term memory loss was cured, would they remember that they forgot?    Doctor, please help! :-)

It can't get funnier than this!

English, though has its own rules of grammar, can be sometimes very funny and a language that is very hard to learn. Here are a few examples why it is so -

• There is neither an egg in eggplant nor pine/apple in a pineapple
• If teachers taught then why didn't preachers praught?
• Sometimes there are too many paradoxes in this language - quicksand is slow, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from guinea nor is it a pig!
• If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat?
• In this crazy language, your nose "runs" and your feet "smell" :-)
• Why is it that when we transport something by car it is called shipment and when we do it by a ship it is called a cargo?
• Why do we call the third hand on the clock the second hand?
• If olive oil is made from olives then where does baby oil come from?
• Why does a night fall and never break but a day break and never fall?
• If harmless is the opposite of harmful then why are shameless and shameful the same?
• We say the sun "comes" up and "goes" down whereas the prices "go" up and "come" down!
• When the sun or the moon or the stars are "out" they are visible but when the lights are "out" nothing is visible!
• When I wind up my watch, I start it but when I wind up this post, I end it! :-)

The birthday wish

A few days before his birthday, little Richie came into the kitchen where his mother was making dinner and decided that this was the correct time to tell her what he wanted for his birthday.

Richie - Mom, I want a red bike for this birthday.
Mom - Do you think you deserve the bike dear? (little Richie was a troublemaker both at home and at school. His mother wanted Richie to reflect on his behavior and realize for himself how he had behaved)
Richie - Of course Mom...I do.
Mom - Richie dear, I want you to go to your room, reflect on your behavior this past year and then write a letter to God telling him why you deserve a red bike this year for your birthday.
Richie - Oh c'mon mom...
but then reluctantly stomped to his room and sat down to write his letter.

Letter #1:
Dear God,
I have been a very good boy this year and so I want a red bike this year for my birthday. Your friend.

Richie knew this was not true and that he had not been such a good boy this year. So, he tore that letter and set about writing another one.

Letter #2:
Dear God,
This is your friend Richie. I have been a good boy and would like a red bike for my birthday. Thank you. Your friend Richie.

Richie knew this wasn't true either. So he tore this one too and wrote another one.

Letter #3:
Dear God,
I have been an OK boy this year. I still would really like a bike this year for my birthday.

Richie knew he couldn't send this letter either. So, he wrote his fourth letter.

Letter #4:
Dear God,
I know I haven't been a very good boy this year. I am very sorry. I will be a good boy if you send me a red bike for my birthday. Please. Thank you.

But little Richie knew this letter won't get him his bike. He was very upset. So, he went down to the kitchen and told his mom that he wanted to go to the church. His mom was very happy thinking that her son had finally realized what she wanted him to. So she asked him to be back home before dinner.

Once at the church, he looked around to make sure no one was watching him. Then he went to the altar, bent down, picked up the statue of Virgin Mary, hid it inside his shirt and ran back to his home, rushed inside his room, locked it and sat down to write another letter.

Letter #5:
God, I HAVE KIDNAPPED YOUR MOM...IF YOU WANT TO SEE HER AGAIN, SEND ME A RED BIKE!!!!
-Richie

Road-o-mania(c)

Travelling on our roads is like watching an adventure movie which guarantees loads of sound, spectacle and experience. It can be sometimes hilarious, mostly exciting and always unforgettable. This is what I observe everyday -

• Every person assumes that he/she is immortal before stepping out of the house.
• Our traffic is structured like our society's caste system. You have to give way to cows, goats, buffalo, dogs, heavy trucks, buses, light trucks, official cars, jeeps, private cars, motorcycles, scooters, autos, cycle-rickshaws, bicycles carrying goods, bicycles carrying passengers and finally the pedestrians. Well, did I miss out on something ?? I hope not!!!
• All vehicles with wheels seem to drive with the following mantra - to slow down is a punishable offence, to break is to fail and to stop is defeat.
• Short honking is used to clear the animals, rickshaws and pedestrians and long blasts of horn is mostly for the oncoming truck or the bus telling them that "I am going too fast to stop, so you better slow down or else you will get both of us killed" and in frantic situations the horn is followed by the flash of the headlights.
• Sometimes some people honk just once to say "Hey I recognize that fellow by the road side" or "Man..I'm bored...haven't blown my horn in a while".
• Heavy vehicles sounding horn implies that they have no intention of stopping even if they could and this sometimes is emphasized by the flash of headlights.
• Traffic entering a road from left has priority. So has the traffic from the right and also the middle.
• All the traffic irrespective of the direction of travel occupies the center of the road.
• All maneuvers like the use of horn and the hand signals or the direction indicators are used only at the last moment.
• Overtaking is mandatory. All vehicles overtake every other moving vehicle irrespective of the fact that it has just overtaken you. It is mostly done when there is a swarm of oncoming traffic or at blind bends or at junctions.
• And finally "Nirvana" may be achieved from head-on collision.

Chaos on wheels!!!

Wondering what the title is all about? Let me not keep it a suspense. Its all about our very own "shared autos" :-)
These are not so uncommon right? Well, a trip to Bangalore, especially the areas where there is a large IT population, schools and colleges, and you will understand why I am writing this! Better, be forced to live and work here and you will definitely find out!

I regularly take the shared autos to reach the main road which is about 2-2.5 kms from my workplace and vice-versa to reach the workplace in the morning from the main road. The same applies to reach my home from the bus stop which is about 1.5 kms. I know its a bit too much considering the fact that I own a car! But its too dangerous to drive on the highway during the work hours especially in the "oh so famous Bangalore city traffic". So its either the car or the chaos-on-wheels!! Like everything else you have to experience them to believe!

Take a medium sized auto where usually 3 healthy people (sometimes 4 if you are slim) can sit comfortably. Now, stuff such an auto with 5 people in the back with their bag, baggage and everything and 2 people in the front on either side of the driver (sometimes if this were not enough, the drivers even push school kids inside the chaos), add some dink-chak dink-chak music and bingo - you have your shared auto...everything fits and how! The "shared" part of the auto comes from the fact that there needs to be more than one person inside for the driver to start! So, here, unfortunately more than one person equals a minimum of seven!! So, a half empty auto always angles near each pedestrian especially the women almost intimidating them to get into the auto. No amount of pleading or coaxing will get the driver to move a bit faster.Time constraints?? Whatever is that???

The only mantra on which these shared auto guys operate is - "Must pick up passenger and stuff him/her inside" :-)

Thoughts about The Divine

Today, I was surfing the channels on TV and came across this particular spiritual channel where a guy was telling the crowd that he knows what God has in store for him in his life. Now that is what has triggered this thought.

If God were talking to you, how would you understand that you have to listen to Him? How do you listen to God, when you don't really understand how to understand when He speaks or do not speak the same language?  Do we really listen to God (If you are not an atheist that is) or do we just follow what we feel is right...you know... like just wait to see if it all lines up right or if He puts up a road block?

Just wondering...