Believe and soar higher

I just discovered the fact that eagles know that a storm is approaching long before it breaks! Did you?

What the eagle does is to fly to some high spot and wait for the storm. And eventually, when the storm hits, it spreads its wings so that the storm picks it up and lifts it above the winds. So, while the storm rages below, the eagle flies above it! In effect, this means that the eagle doesn't escape the storm but merely uses the wind power of the storm to lift itself higher.

Similarly, when the storm of life hits upon us, we can rise above the difficulties by believing in ourselves and in that supreme power. We may not escape completely but can sure overcome the difficulties by our strong belief. 

It is not the burdens of life that weigh us down, it is how we handle them :-)

Journey so far this year...

Loads of crap happens everyday in our lives - some professional and some of it personal. Life changes, people change and so does relationships. Either the year so far is bad in itself or maybe the bubble of everything superficial that I had been living in, just happened to burst. It has not bothered me so much as to lose my sleep over it. However, like every trouble that passes, I have faced it head on and also learnt my lessons!!

1. Saving is very important, Your financial situation might not always be hunky dory.
2. When in the office, work. Keep your heart, feelings and emotions at home. Office is not a place to make best friends. But its a great place to build contacts and acquaintances. Ofcourse, this depends on the kind of work environment you have or the kind of people you work with. But if you really want to make friends, then choose another department to do so!
3. Some people backstab. Live with it!
4. There will always be people whom you will look at and wonder, "How the eff did they reach where they are?" You might feel they are good for nothing, but the fact is that they are where they are and they must have done "something" right to get there. Go figure out.
5. Relationships do fail. It happens and most times you cannot do anything about it except to let go and move on!
6. No matter how much we try to tailor our lives, biology always wins. They say that human beings are born to get married, set a family, have kids and bring them up. Try going the other way and people will somehow or the other convince you into it!
7. Small amounts of success brings loads of empty ego and false pride. Always have someone at hand who can give you two tight slaps and bring you back where you ought to be.
8. Indulging in something you really love, occasionally, is necessary to keep you sane and normal.
9. People already have too many problems of their own. Do not ever expect anyone to understand yours. If you need help, then ask for it.
10. Everyone has their reasons for everything. You will also have yours one day.
11. Do not wait for happiness to come by. It always arrives when you least expect it to.

What's in a name? A Lot :)

A few weeks ago, while exiting the cinema hall after watching a movie, I caught a glimpse of a family waiting intently and going through the credits that roll at the end of the movie. I usually watch the credits roll by only if the movie bloopers are shown (Every Jackie Chan movie has one where they show clips of how the movie was made or how the stunts were shot). It is indeed a very rare sight to actually see someone care about the unsung heroes who made the movie what it was when everyone else is making a beeline to the exit door. Probably one of their family members was part of it?? May be...

The long list of names that appear, when all everyone else is bothered about is how to get to the exit door quickly and then to the parking lot, might mean the world to someone. Just imagine the lead actor's spot boy/makeup artist bringing their spouse and kids to watch the movie and then wait till the very end until their name rolls in one corner of the list on the screen. The pride on their spouse's face or the joy on their kids's face would mean so much. That split second of fame might actually make up for the high price tags those actors come with and the unreasonable tantrums they throw. The actors might have enchanted the audience with their performance but for that moment, that man/lady is the real hero atleast for their family.

This incident taught me a valuable lesson in life - It is very important to give credit and to acknowledge people for what they have done. It doesn't really matter how insignificant their effort/contribution might appear in the bigger picture of things.

Exceptions are welcome

Last week while coming back from my native place in a train, I saw a young lady of about 35 years get into the "reserved compartment" with three kids. Even when she was getting into the compartment, it was quite evident that she was confused. By the look on her face, I thought perhaps she was not a regular traveler. Ten minutes later, a ticket checker asked her for the ticket. And as expected, she had the "unreserved" ticket. Her reason was that the unreserved compartment was too crowded and she could not get in there with three kids by her side.

It might be difficult to explain but her reason was genuine. The ticket checker who had fined another man in the same compartment for ticket-less travel, let the lady go. The fellow passengers who overheard the conversation between the woman and the ticket checker also supported him and said that he did the right thing. Thankfully, the ticket checker was a kind-hearted man unlike some of the heartless automatons we encounter sometimes.

So, this incident made me think - perhaps everything that's meant to be rigid comes with its share of exceptions. Rules are important, but it's even more important to stick to the spirit of the rule!

Contact-less and how!

Yeah it happens to everyone and it has happened to me too a couple of times. Your trustworthy mobile phone sometimes cannot handle the work pressure and decides to go into hibernation and comes back to life but with no memory whatsoever of its earlier life or just decides to take off to another world (read dead or stolen). A friend of mine buzzed me today to ask my phone number as he had lost his mobile. That's when I started thinking of a life without the contacts, since contacts are supposed to be a person's backbone (really?).

But its not at all that bad you know. Like some long lost philosopher who said something about dark clouds and silver linings, I feel that this one also comes with its own share of benefits. Some of the positive points of losing your phone book numbers -

• In this age of Facebook, Gmail Chat and Skype, getting back the numbers is not that difficult. One common mail or a status message is enough to get them back. And if you think you are a person who has "important" contacts saved on their phone, well, everyone has them. Just ask the person sitting right next to you at work!
• You come to know the actual number of people who exist in your part of the stratosphere. The phone that is otherwise filled with so many random numbers and names that you might not even remember now but just ended up saving thinking they will be useful in the future, now only has the contacts of the people who matter to you most. And yeah you would be surprised that you can actually count them and really tell how big your world actually is.
• Most importantly, it serves as an excuse to think of those people who you would really want to stay in touch with, but perhaps did not take the initiative to do so or may be just played lazy. You get to touch base with them once again and hopefully this time, you would value the second chance you had got and ensure that the person is more than just a number in your contact list.
• When you start saving the numbers yet again, you take time and observe. Sometimes it so happens that the name that goes with the number may not be the same as what it was earlier. For example, a friend whose name you'd earlier saved as "Laxmy.XYZ" since college days, would now be saved as say "Lax" ;-) Earlier in my college days, I never bothered to save the person's last name. But not anymore, considering how I always come across people who have very common names that most probably already exist in your contact list. All colleagues and ex-colleagues are saved as the person's name followed by the organization name. So, do these changes say something about me? Well, I have changed. Go figure how :-P
• And last but never the least, if someone complains later how you never stay in touch, you can always say, "Arey yaar, my phone crashed/ I lost my mobile! What to do? You didn't call either!" ;-)

They said "it's up to you"

When I was growing up and was going away to live in a hostel all by my own, both my dad and mom told me a few things which I haven't forgotten even now. Those words really keep me sane always. Dad was in my thoughts throughout the day and I really miss him. Just decided to share the golden words -

We gave you life, but we cannot live it for you.
We can only teach you things but we cannot make you learn.
We can only take you to temples, but we cannot make you believe.
We can only teach and assist you to differentiate between right and wrong, but we cannot decide for you.
We can only teach you respect, kindness and honor, but we cannot force you to show it.
We can only advice and warn you about bad friendship, drugs and alcohol, but we cannot prevent the possibility.
We can only teach you about desire to excel, goals and dreams, but we cannot achieve them for you.
We can only warn you about committing grave mistakes and sin, but we cannot make your morals.
We can only tell you how to live, love you loads as our dearest daughter and pray for you and your future, but IT'S UP TO YOU

Love you loads mom and dad for making me the person I am today.

Happy Teachers Day

Its Teacher's Day today and I take a moment here to express my heartfelt thanks and love to all my teachers right from my kindergarten days to my engineering who have been so wonderful to me all the time and who have a big role to play in whatever I am today.

Happy Teacher's Day :-)