Law of Nature

It is funny how everything in life is so dynamic - seasons, weather, climate, planetary positions, cities, roads, plants and sadly, even people. Energy changes form in a jiffy, before you know it, potential energy is kinetic and if kinetic could have been more kinetic, I’m sure it would have been. And when you would so badly want potential to be kinetic, it would painstakingly be even more potential.

Out of these, what affects us the most is when people change…it’s a “who moved my cheese?” moment when you realize that some of the closest people around you have changed – for better or for worse? And if so, for who’s betterment or ‘worsement’? (If ‘betterment’ is a word, why isn’t ‘worsement’? Seriously, WHO invented the English language?).

Sometimes you just wonder whether you were the biggest idiot on earth and had you not been, would things be any different? Or were they just meant to be? 

Random abrupt broken thoughts these were... because I am in the midst of a puzzle, a puzzle whose vital pieces I am still in search of....

So I’ll just sign off with one thought, change is for good and that everything happens for a reason and a good one at that. After all, life is not a puzzle for nature to play with... or is it?

And Back!

 One fine day in office, all cozy and cooped up doing the same old things, with those thoughts hounding you … with the mind multitasking, the cerebrum writing lines of code rolling down the screen, applying logic, filling itself and the .java files with ifs and elses and iterators and dependency injections; the cerebellum or the subconscious mind as they say, trying to figure out ‘what the heck am I doing? And where exactly is my life heading?’, suddenly out of nowhere there’s a ping on the screen, a name popping up and a chat window opening on ocs(which was dead and dreaded each day like it’s user since it had long forgotten what friends in office meant). The heart jumps, you skip a beat and there’s a smile on your face.

After almost a year, getting in touch again with your friend is an absolute joy, especially when you thought you had walked miles apart and were standing on two shores of the same sea, separated by miles and miles, filled unfortunately with water, and the only stroke of swimming you know is not going to help you cross and make ends meet as it were.

And the joy unfolds even more when you are told that at one point you had made that person smile; that’s when you realize how much you mean to someone. J

Smile…

Make someone smile…

Make a child laugh…

Always listen to a child, you will never get those moments back...

Help someone…

Be a friend…in the TRUE sense of the wordJ

Don’t be rude if you can help it (well……., conditions apply* :D, sometimes people are just too stubborn and immature and hell bent on driving you to your wits end! hehe)

Though I might be going through a rough patch, I do realize the importance of these things, and I don’t want to miss out on anything that I might regret later… J

After all, kal kisne dekha hai ;) Live the present!

Of Peshwas, unexercised bodies and the ultimate passion…

This one’s a page straight out of my diary (not that I write diaries :D, but it’s like a wake up call to myself)…

I was up at 6am today, usually the girl who cribs and winces at being woken up at odd hours of the night (tond banda kara…:P, for owls like me, 6am is the middle of the night!) woke up without a wince. At the time, I did not know why I was eager to head to the place where I was headed to. But, now, at 11:24am, I think I know why.

It was a short climb, very short indeed… Last time when I had been there(6yrs ago), it seemed like a small hill; today it was barely a few steps, I bounced and started about… soon I was panting and puffing and cursing myself for not having exercised in god knows how many months… But in a matter of 15mins, I was at the top. As is usually the case, I was not interested in looking around the city. I have done that plenty a times before, and no way can you get a view as great as from on top of Sinhgadh. I really don’t know why I went to this place. I think it was only to get some form of exercise. Last night I was chatting with this friend who’s in the States, and was generally telling him how I want to get started again on those endless games of Badminton/ Lawn Tennis/ Table tennis but simply couldn’t find company. It is strange when you claim to have so many friends around (214 on FB and 207 on Orkut to be precise :D … out of which at least 100 must be in the same city as I am), yet you crave for company for the simplest of things! So may be this little form of exercise was incentive enough for jumping out of bed at 6am (still can’t believe it!).

Soon, I was meandering here and there, with my bro-in-law giving running commentary about the history of the place. Mysterious dungeons, pathways, artillery, rajas and maharajas fighting for kingdoms and thrones… I transcended into another era, where it was only me and my thoughts (kinda like a cool scene from a movie… everything is moving around you, and only you are standing there as a spectator watching things in brown and white that happened eras ago.. in this case, according to my research, it was the year 1712). It was amazing I tell you. And then… then kya? I was out of the daydream, jumping back... jumping nahi, galloping back down the stairs! Psychologically I was under the impression 15steps kya chadh liye, I am fitter than the fittest man on earth! Not just that, I also went ahead and indulged in Poona bakery’s patties, wholemilk mango milkshake and yummy pancakes (or what my mom would like to call pancakes;)..Ma, if you are reading this, they were yummy!!)

Ab you must be thinking title and meri neend mein likhi hui (6 baje uthi hoon yaar, kuch to mercy karo!) story ka connection kya hai… connection aisa hai ki –

1. You must be thinking which place had I been to? Well, that’s for me to know and you to find out. Two clues – one is in the title, and the other is in the pics… dhondte reh jaoge!
2. Unexercised bodies…. Well, they are no longer ‘un’exercised… I climbed 15steps yaar!
3. ultimate passion… what ultimate passion? Sorry am too sleepy, don’t know why I wrote that…. Will write in next post if I miraculously recall!

Say cheese!

Nahi yaar, main recipe nahi likh rahi hoon… and no, am not gonna be talking about photography either…haan, if you give me a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III, I promise I will! (Photographers, do not ping me on gtalk to ask about this camera, google pe best professional camera search kiya to ye mila… I do not, I repeat, I do not take the responsibility of its credibility :P). But anyway, let me put a disclaimer that this post may contain thoughts full of wisdom + thoda sa grandma type ki lecturing + thode heavy duty humble, sincere and honest thoughts – to soch samajh ke padhna J. Let’s put you through a test .. if you are able to read the next sentence without rolling your eyes and saying Nams has gone mad, then Bingo! You pass the prerequisite to read this blog…. This is for your own safety. Here goes:

Samajh samajhke samajh ko samjho, samajh samajhna bhi ek samajh hai, samajh samajhke jo na samjhe who meri samajh mein nasamajh hai…. Samjhe???

*Actual Blog starts*

You know, of late, I’ve been using a lot of mixed languages in my blogs, so I am gonna try to stick to only English and spare you the Hinglish/ Minglish/ Ginglish (Gujju re :P ) part…

Sorry, Actual Blog Starts NOW .. Promise!

How often do you meet people with an incredible smile? And by incredible smile I do not mean the Ms. Universe/ Ms.World wali smile…. I mean smiling through the eyes… and whenever you do see such smiling/twinkling eyes, you are instantly attracted to it. That’s the power of a genuine smile.

Why I thought of writing this blog is because we come across so many people in our life, but not all succeed in leaving their mark. Why? Because very few have the attributes which make them beautiful people. What attributes you ask? Sincerity, Honesty, Modesty and above all - a warm heart. And warm heart directly translates into a warm smile. When you meet a person for the first time, you try to make the other person feel comfortable, you smile, you strike up a light conversation. You may be a scholar, a genius in your field, an oscar winning actor, a noble laureate or a Pulitzer prize winner… but these things don’t necessarily make you a nice human being. What makes you a nice person is these attributes. I am not gonna say Sachin Tendulkar is God just because he has some xyz record to his name, I am gonna say he is great because he is down to earth despite his achievements, he is humble and modest – that’s what sets him apart, that’s what makes him such a great player. And have you ever seen him smile? It could light up a stadium!

SRK – did he have a film background? Did he have a Kapoor dad to give him his first break? No. Yet he is a superstar today. Why? Because he is close to his roots, to his principles. Though he has never shown modesty upfront, yet he knows what he is, who he is and why is he where he is. His greatness does not lie in being the King Khan, his greatness lies in his honesty, in the fact that he is always there for his friends, that he makes his juniors feel comfortable on the sets and above all he is a family man. And……… don’t miss the twinkle in his eye when he smiles. ;)

Kajol – Acts with her eyes, smiles with her eyes. She is a beautiful lady, yet I have never seen her ‘display’ her beauty, unlike some of her contemporaries (read Ms.A Rai B and Ms. K Kapoor)

Madhuri – Bholi si surat, aankhon mein masti, door khadi sharmaye….Aye haay!!…. Her smile kills yaar! Those smiling eyes could light up an entire city! Her smile even made me forget that I had pledged not to use hindi! Again – a beauty who is down to earth.. truly a marathi mulgi! My friend SP would immediately say Kokanasth Brahmin!:P But it has nothing to do with Kobra, it’s her inner beauty that radiates!

The thing is, no matter how learned or rich you are, no matter how many echelons of society you have climbed, humanity is always the highest ranked and most important attribute. 

True, humanity is overrated…. yet, nothing beats it! J

Be nice, be compassionate……….. And say……? CHEESE!!

Arey bolo na! Tan ki shakti, man ki shakti, bournvita!! :D

I miss landline phones :(

Mobile phones, orkut, facebook, twitter, and now buzz… what happened to times when there used to be one landline at home kept on that side table in the drawing room beside the tv, and the phone would inevitably ring when the entire family would be huddled up watching that favorite tv show - swabhimaan/ hum log/ chitrahaar?

You know, times have changed, we have progressed, not only technologically, but also socially (progress or digress, I do not know which word to use L)…. My point being that technology is making us lose the importance of things – relationships, values…

Ye kahaaaaaan aa gaye hum, yun hi saath saath chalte:

1.      Kal:

Let’s say you meet some friends, in turn you meet their friends, you make more friends.. and your friendship circle’s radius gets bigger and bigger… you all meet up for luncheons/ dinners/over a cup of coffee or simply for a game of badminton… fun, right? FUN!

Aaj:

You wanna catch up with friends, you leave a scrap on orkut, a comment on facebook, tweet about what the tutlela nakh of your little finger of your right hand is doing this very moment.

2.      Kal

You wanna meet up with your friends, you would call at their place (or even better, just drop by unannounced) and fix up a time and place and just meet – plain and simple? Ji haan!

Aaj:

First, you would drop an email to all people concerned, then wait for their replies, then exchange 100 msgs about the time and place (jo last moment tak fix nahi hota), then one person comes up with the plan, it is circulated among all friends, then everyone leaves for the destination, again 100’s of msgs are exchanged – “I m stuck in traffic”, “I reached”, “where r u?!”, “will reach in 15mins” so on and so forth……… and finally you meet! Phew! Plain and simple? Nahi na!

3.      Kal:

Guy sees girl, guy likes girl, guy is shy, guy tries to find out more about the girl through friends, guy smiles at girl, girl smiles back, guy gets the girl’s number, guy is afraid to call her, but since he likes her soooooo much, he finally gets the courage to call her (sometimes at gun point from well- wishing friends :D), guy has started loving the girl, he has GOT TO talk to her… FINALLY he calls, phone rings, girl's dad picks up, here’s the conversation:

Uncleji: Hello

Guy: Namaste uncle

Uncleji: Namaste beta, kaun bol raha hai?

G: U-u-uncle, main Raj bol raha hun. Uncle, kya main Simran se baat kar sakta hun?

U:  Haan beta, abhi bulata hoon…ek minute hold karna.. Simraaaaaaaaaaan….

See? Talking to girl’s father - now that is the ultimate litmus test for a guy’s love for a girl!

Unfortunately, Aaj:

Guy sees girl, guy likes girl, guy is not so shy, guy adds girl on FB, writes on her wall, adds girl on gtalk, guy n girl nicely chat, guy can make up all romantic dialogues with some help from Mr. Google, guy asks girl’s number, guy and girl sms, once the girl is all comfortable with the guy, guy asks girl out, girl agrees, guy and girl meet……… you have no idea whether guy really likes girl or he is just ‘time-passing’ with the girl…….. Tch tch tch……. TCHHHHHHHH!

Samjhe?? That is why I say “dislike”, “dislike”, “dislike” social networking sites….

Virtual social networking  - thumbs down!

Physical meet – thumbs up! (zyada mat socho, mez talking about handshake :P)

Ab aapne meri theory to padh li (yahan tak padhne ke liye congrats!), ab corollary suno:

Corollary #1: If a guy likes me, FB is not the way to break the ice :P

Corollary #2: All my school friends who don’t hestitate in calling up directly ghar pe and saying namaste aunty, namaste uncle – thumbs up!

Corollary #3:  Mes Amis - Thumbs up for calling up mom and saying “Aunty, Namita phone kyun nahi utha rahi!” :D

Corollary #4: Dil Chahta Hai & Lakshya – thumbs up for showing friends who directly call up ghar pe!

Waise to mere corollaries ki list khatam ho gayi, but 4 is not my lucky number, so here are 2 more:

Corollary #5: Stop asking each other “how r u dude” on FB and go play badminton (jisko tennis khelna ho woh tennis bhi khel sakta hai… meri height thodi kam hai for tennis isliye badminton –  waise coaches ne bahut try kiya tennis sikhane ka, but some things are out of control !!)

Corollary #6: I am out of corollaries, khud kuch add karlo yaar…:D

My dream is to fly
Over the rainbow so high....

Of clients, Mumbai and chai wale kaka…

Mumbai – the city that never sleeps (or maybe the city that sleeps only after the ek chaalis ki last local ;) ), has never been the way it’s been in this trip. I am ‘onsite’, sadly it was neither LA nor the big apple! Nevertheless, this trip will be special… for it is my first official trip.. and to the client’s office at that!

Excitement, apprehension, anxiety, joy – to name a few emotions that I felt (and still feeling) when I first came to know I would be travelling to client’s office in 2 days. That was 4 days ago. Today, 2 days into the trip, I feel both exuberant and restless at the same time. Exuberant because it’s been a confidence and morale booster trip and restless because I long to go back to my city, yes, my city – Pune. :)

Mumbai or Bengaluru or Chennai - it would’ve been the same had it been any other city in place of Mumbai, because frankly all I’ve been doing is waking up in the morning, taking a rick to office, sitting at my desk and working for 10-12 hours, living upto my company/manager’s (and my own) expectations, taking a rick back to the guest house, sending out status emails, watching a movie and going off to sleep.  I don’t have a clue as to what this place looks like in the light of the day, what shops sell what stuff or which restaurants there are in the neighborhood…

But what I did experience or rather what touched me was the daily cup of chai that I was brought to me every day without fail! :)

The day I reached here, I asked for a cup of tea – it was prepared and brought to me. I thanked kaka and graciously drank it –amrutjal! (when you’ve slept for hardly 4 hrs in the night and woke up with a wince at 6am, then walked for half a mile, then travelled in a bus for 4.5hrs, trust me, it is heaven!).

 Next day, without having to ask, kaka brought me a cup of wonderfully intoxicating smelling tea. I was pleasantly surprised! I thought he must’ve gotten it by mistake. But when he gave me another cup of hot piping tea in the evening with that smile on his face (a smile which closely resembled one of an ajoba looking at his grandchild), I was so deeply moved that I can’t express it.

Here’s to you kaka! You made me feel at home... :)

Ye Tumhari meri baatein hamesha yun hi chalti rahein…

Music is the food of life. Ok if not life, it certainly is the food for thoughts. I mean every song that we hear has some or the other memory attached to it… no kidding… the other day I was sitting with a friend and I played Ajeeb daastan hai ye and he went into a trance thinking about his girl friend!

I listen to Gela gela dil gela or Dhoom machale and I am instantly reminded of dahi-handi and rain-dancing in first year of my engineering college… o what fun that was!

Or Page 3 – kitne ajeeb rishte hain yahan pe… this is one song which makes me relive my entire first year in college. Right from the time I came to Pune to pursue engineering, to making my first friends in Pune to attending all those Engineering Graphics classes of JVK sir to becoming a ‘mau (read maushi ;))’ for the first time and experiencing the exhilarating joy of holding a new born!

I listen to Tujhse naraaz nahi zindagi and it takes me back to the evening when my family was watching masoom on tv. I don’t remember the year or the date, but the emotion of watching a movie with your family is one worth cherishing!

Jab we met is yet another movie whose songs will always build up memories, for it is a movie very close to my very close friend. In fact, not just one, but two of my friends go into a flashback listening to Jab we met!

Songs/music not only manages to give you Goosebumps, but some songs also help you come out of the gloom and cheer you up to the soul.


Pyar kiya to nibhana is a song close to my heart even today, for it was when I had my first crush (though till date I have absolutely no clue as to what that person’s name was or who he was!), but the song I shall always remember!!

Aye udi udi udi reminds me of 12th std prelims! So does Cigarette ke dhuen ka challa bana ke from Kaante… ji haan, jab mann laga kar padhna chahiye tha, tab we used to watch movies! Now you know why I didn’t get 95% in 12th? ;)

Even today the charm of DDLJ is not lost! The other day I was listening to Ho gaya hai tujhko to pyar sajana, and it just brought me back to my cheerful bubbly state in 10seconds flat!

Old songs shall always remain classics… I can listen to Ye raatein ye mausam, Dil ki nazar se, Kisi ki muskurahaton pe ho nisar, Pyar hua ikraar hua anytime anywhere…

And some songs have so many emotions attached, that they can’t be described! Like the title of this post :)

What’s the definition of a ‘Maharashtrian’? / Where are we heading?

Credits – Shobha De (Great bhet, IBN Lokmat)

                Rajdeep Sardesai

This blog has two titles. Choose the one befitting. :)

Who am I? After the self-proclamation of being a Maharashtrian-to-the-core in one of my previous blogs, the Govt. of Maharashtra or rather the DTE is hell bent on proving otherwise. Confused, are we? Well, I was filling this application form today and believe me, it had FIVE types of candidatures, which means I was given five chances to prove that I am in some way a Maharashtrian, yet not one of them applied to me. They were successful in proving that I am an outcast.

All my previous generations have been maharashtrians, I eat maharashtrian food, I love thaalipith, I like pithla, and man do I love puran poli… I speak my mother tongue(marathi, in case you hadn't guessed that yet :P), I follow our culture, I love Ganesh chaturthi, I live in Pune, I did my engineering from this city, I like every aspect of this city (well, some of them need improvement :P ), but nevertheless, I like living here. Now WHAT more do I need to do to prove that I am entitled to a seat here as much as the others?

Incidentally, today, I happened to watch this interview of Shobha De’s where she was asked “Do you consider yourself a Maharashtrian?” and she was astounded at being asked such a question. And she replied, “Of course I am a Maharashtrian, 110%! That is not even a question”. And I feel the same way.

It’s saddening that a city like Ahmedabad or Delhi would welcome me with open arms, but not my own state. :(

Despite all this, despite having selected the “Outside Maharashtra Student” category on my application form, I stand firm on my statement that I am a Maharashtrian to the core and would like to see my state (where my roots lie) progress and prosper.

There have been a lot of agitations, morchas, a lot of 'dadagiri' by some sections of the society who claim to be pro-marathis (people who would like to see their people grow). I am not against their thoughts, only that their adopted methods cannot help them achieve their goals in the long run.

I agree with Rajdeep Sardesai when he says, “I too am proud of my roots. I too, would like to see the cultural identity of Maharashtrians preserved and the economic well-being of our community assured. Where we differ is that I am a citizen of the Republic of India first, a proud Goan Maharashtrian only later.”

For us to progress and to develop, we need to adopt better ways and come up with better, more constructive ideas than beating people up and forcing them to leave the state.

What we need is a medium to promote our rich culture (remember Tilak and the Sarvajanik Ganesh festival?) and polish the diamonds that we already possess.

Make love not war :)

Special credits - Rohit K :)..... happy? :P

  

What’s behind that smile?

Before someone accuses me of plagiarism, I would like to give the due credits of my blog to one of the Times Life authors (no hidden remarks on either Chetan Bhagat or Chopra here. I am sure they have received ample publicity and don’t really need my help  ).

Coming back, The Times of India has been the newspaper of the family for the past god-knows-how-many years. When we were kids, on Sundays, my sister and I would fight for Times Life – the only supplement that used to come in brilliant colors and a smoother-than-satin paper. It used to be fun reading the articles on human experiences, book reviews and food!

The level of excitement does not match that of my childhood anymore, but I still love reading the stories and experiences people have to share. Today the cover article was so simple and touching that I decided to share my thoughts as well.

A very simple question was put forth to some of the celebrities – what makes you happy? (Actually the whole point of the article was that women find more pleasure out of life than men, but that is something I would disagree on because every person is different and every person finds his own reason for happiness, be it a woman or a man)

Until this point, I really hadn’t given it much thought. In fact, such a question never even occurred to me. Happiness was something I experienced while the moment lasted and then forgot about it. But how as simple a question as this could have such varied answers tells that it really is not that simple. Man that was a complex sentence to write!! :D

But reading some of those answers made me realize it really is up to you to find happiness and gain strength from situations. There are going to be moments – some nice, some not so nice. People will come and go - some will stay, some won’t, but you will always be there – happy or not is up to you.

“Women and food make me happy”, says Vir Das. Cyrus Broacha says he avoids people and that makes him happy (it took me by utter surprise that such a great TV personality and comedian stays happy by avoiding people!). A few more men had some more thoughts to share. But my point here is, one is happy if one wants to be. Like say you’ve been bogged down by work pressures and in the end you don’t get the due credit for all the hardwork – what did you get out of it? Baldness, high B.P. and an unhappy family? I say just put the damn glass down once you come home. Don’t let office bother you at home. Spend time with your family and kids. They’ll make you happy and in turn you will reach office in a considerably better mood the next day. And who knows, your boss may actually think “Boy! Here’s a guy who can handle the pressure well, maybe I should promote him!”

Or say there’s this really cute guy at work who you really like but he does not like you. You may be his best buddy, you may even be there for him whenever he needs you but you are just not girl he was looking for! Don’t sit and fret that you don’t have a nice figure or you are not as beautiful as the girl in the next cubicle… forget the idiot who does not even realize your importance. Why the hell does your happiness depend on what that jerk thinks of you?! Be happy for who you are, be happy for how nice and helpful a person you are and be happy that you are you! Get your own identity girl! (ok ok all this because I was watching this show ‘Mahi way’ on TV yesterday and thought half the girls on this planet must be another Mahi and could do with some of my advice ;) )

Be happy for the person that you are and try to find happiness in the little things in life. Do something you like, help someone, bring a smile to someone’s face, appreciate the niceness in someone, appreciate all the people who are there for you today rather than fretting about the fact that a person who was in your life once, left you. For all you know, you might be looking into the past and the most beautiful person is standing here but you can’t see because your back is turned to the present and future!

A quote from one of Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s movies:

It is simple to be happy but so difficult to be simple...

2010...

Hope this year brings joys, happiness, health, success and yes, the strength to face the tough times. I can't say let the tough times not be there (that would mean living in a dreamland :) ), after all isn't it the tough times that make you appreciate the beauty of the good? or is it just another one of those wise sayings? :D

Every year brings it’s share of joys and sorrows, highs and lows… for me, despite 2009 being a quiet year, it couldn’t have been more noisy! Contradicting myself, am I? J

Well, let’s just say I was a duck; appeared to the outer world as calm and serene, was infact paddling furiously within. Some thought processes were known to some around me, some were hidden and known to me alone. Though the thoughts were dime a dozen, most of them didn’t make any sense at a latter stage when reflected back upon and some of them still continue to endure. The mind is a strange thing, never gets tired of thinking, does it? My friend had once told me a scientific fact that there’s not a single second when the brain is not at work and I didn’t believe her. Today, I couldn’t agree with her more.

Nevertheless, hope the thoughts manifest into actions this year and bring with it the sweet fruits of success and joy!

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!