Back on the field!!!

After at least two years since I have played any sport, I finally got a chance to get back to sports and games at my company's sports and arts fest. We managed to find people ... make teams ... play throw-ball, cricket, shuttle badminton and also take part in various sports as part of the floor decor competition.

The throw-ball was lots of fun, though we lost pretty badly the first match, having had no practice and being totally out of touch, it wasn't so bad. We had fun. And we soon picked up the game and won the second- and the opponents being not so great helped ... ;). Then we again lost the next match, but all in all it was loads of fun, and felt great to be out there, feeling the rush and the spirit of the game, cheering each other up ...

Then there was the cricket match for which I bribed my room mate promising her a bar of diarymilk chocolate to be present for the game - and played something I haven't played since 6th standard. It was fun ... though I went out duck, and gave a lot of runs in the one over I bowled (er throwed ... he he). And I need not say the result, we came up as runners up (out of two teams ... :D). Well its not to say we played all that bad - I could have been one of the worst, since we scored 41 runs in 10 overs and took 1 wicket in the second ball of the first over, after which we fielded so bad they won in 6 overs or so. All in all it was lots of fun :).

Then the shuttle badminton matches were really wonderful and though I did miserably in the first match, I had a wonderful partner and my game improved dramatically after a bit of practice, So we managed to bag the gold for badminton womens' doubles.

The floor decor was again a lot of work, late night decorations, and then getting the people to participate, and all in all it was lot of work, and we did have fun, but then again it didn't come out as big as we wanted it to, but that was the best we could do with the limited volunteers ...
It looked nice and we did manage a good show :).

So we had lots of fun and exercise, aches and pains and finally we had the great happiness of our house taking the cup :) ... It was quite fun, taking me back to the good fun I ad in school and college.

Life always teaches you something

I think that as time passes and you see more and more of life, be it a lot more than some, or a lot less than another, you always experience new things, learn to handle those things you once couldn't, achieve new insights into things you didn't understand before, gain new perspectives ...

I am now in a stage, where I believe everything in life - good or bad, taught me something, and well the way I perceive things changes everyday... Some of my experiences that I tried to block out, now I can view in perspective, understand why it was so in a better light ... and not all that I once believed, I now believe to be true...

I now can see that life has more than one path, and there is no right road, just different roads, that show you a different way, there might have been shortcuts you could have taken, but sometimes its better to follow a longer route, if you are not in a hurry. You might lose the road you were trying to follow, when you followed your curiosity and went off to make your own road, but you may still make a path that someone else may find ... if not at least you something not everyone sees.

I sometimes wander in those paths I choose to make, finding new paths, or maybe some long forgotten ones ... but I know that what matters is that I enjoy the road I take, and learn to handle the rough patches, make the most of life, that I do not stand still, because then I see nothing new, and my life sees not what it could see. I would always like to keep moving along, so that I find new road, and see more and more in my one time ticket to this life ...

TV SERIAL - EXTREME ADDICTION!!!

This is something that when I put into words might not be giving you even half the effect of what I had witnessed ... but well its still worth mentioning in a post - so I think you would enjoy it ...

There is this friend of mine, that is half out of her mind ... who watches all the serials from when she reaches back from office till about 11pm ... that would be roughly 3 to 4 hours, that is about 6 to 8 serials... I find these pretty boring and rarely watch ... and often feel watching once in a month could give you the entire story ... anyway people differ in interests ... so as 80% of my PG mates are addicted to serials I do other things which interest me more like reading, meeting friends and so on ...

One such day ... I was sitting reading a book peacefully, when my friend found a particular serial episode hard to digest and decided enough was enough ... she came into the room, and let me also tell you that she hates it when I am lost in my books ... So my dear wild and crazy roommate decided to make as much nuisance of herself as possible in order to disrupt my reading ... my guess is that she was bored without the serial and well unless she is occupied with something, she tends to go on her "totally crazy" mode ...

This was how what I would call "the height of serial addiction" took place ... she began by enacting the key parts of each serial she saw that day, with dialogues (so loud - i think the whole pg heard) and high animation, striding to and fro in the room (and all the while munching an apple when time permits :D ... ). This sure did bring me out of my lost world (book) and well I guess I was laughing too much in less than a few seconds. To her extreme bad luck and my good luck, I had my camera handy, and managed to videotape most of her antics ... This included a lot of giggling, apple munching, each serial enaction separated by her saying - "thadak thadak thadak - change", followed immediately by the next serial (its really cool when there are no advertisements - he he). In the end she even showed how she ran and switched off the TV (due to the really unbearable episode) and ran back to the room as a result ... and the whole thing she snded with a "the end" and then munching on her apple wiith full concentration - which was what made the climax ultimate on video...

Well it goes without saying, I called the rest of my hostel mates to review my new show ... and no one could stop laughing ... and I have to say the theatrics was absolutely fabulous, the apple adding the punch ... it was really a nonstop rundown of all serials that day, in 2 minutes flat ... wow ... he he he ... But since I gave my word of honour to keep that video to myself, I guess I cant share that priceless masterpiece ... sad ...

Memorable moments with my friends in Ness ...

Its been just over an year since I have joined Ness, and have been working here. And life here has been good. Lots of friends since we had a training session and over 30 freshers from all over the country ... We got along great ... had a lot of fun and memorable times as we went through the transition of being a college student to a professional engineer ... well I have to say we still haven't completely grown up ...

We had loads of fun, in the Ness Family Day celebrations, on our trip to Wonder La, Our stay at the Shelter Inn during our training period, Our B'day celebrations, Lunches outside, Night strolls in search of sweets to eat, Just being crazy in the hotel and jazzing things up, a lot of fun ...

But then we moved on to different projects and some gone away to Mumbai, the rest in Bangalore, where we do take our responsibilities seriously and do our work better everyday, we still have keep our sense of fun, which I think is a good thing as it would be a good thing to liven up our workplace ...

The friendship that we made during our training is a great boon ... since once in a while we plan an outing for enjoyment and a group of people who still feel like just out of college is a lot of fun ... and as we (me and my roommate) was wallowing in memories we made this collage for the good times we had, with our friends ... so that we will remember the good times, and hopefully get inspired for more such fun filled get-togethers which will continue to make our moments ...

WE MEET TO PART AND WE PART TO MEET

Sometimes I think about how I used to spend hours on end talking to a friend, who seems miles away now, since we parted from school or college. And still one day when we meet again its like we have always been together (at least that's how I feel most often, though its possible that's not how everybody feels ...) and we chat away like always ...

So we do meet one day, become good friends, only to part another day when we choose different paths that will take us in separate directions. But quite often our paths meet again or we make the paths meet, if just for a while, so we could get to know how things are with our loved ones.

Long ago, when there were no cell phones, emails or maybe even land phones ... people had to leave up to chance the possibility of meeting a friend once they go off in their own separate ways ... But now it is easier to find a friend, meet up and generally know how a friend is doing even if we are miles away on totally different paths that we chose to follow ...

So I often make it a point to contact people who mean so much to me, at least sometime when I find the time and space ... so that I could know what their life has brought them and how they are faring in their chosen paths. It might be a month or even a year since I last heard from them but that doesn't stop me from crossing their path when I feel the urge to.

I often wonder why people hesitate to call their friends, just because its been too long since they called them last, or maybe by petty thoughts such as "couldn't they also make an effort to call back?" ... because it always comes to the question - does that matter? As long as you love that friend and feel like speaking to him/her, what does it matter when you last spoke, or who initiated the contact?

So I still float in and out of my friend's lives at my whim, and always welcome them to float in when they feel like taking a glimpse at mine ...

My life is changing ...

There are times when your dreams start coming true ... And thats when you realise your life is changing ...

I am starting to believe that I am going to live a life that is my dream from now on ...

I got a raise in my company ...

I am changing for the better ...

I am making decisions that I was putting off for a long time ...

I know that something good is happening with my life ...

So I will keep dreaming big and see how far it takes me ... I have got nothing to loose by dreaming ... ;)

Someone who is really crazy, but still a dear to me!

Since I am respecting a person's privacy, I would not mention the name or other actual details of this person.

This is someone who does all the weird and crazy stuff in life - has absolutely no awareness about her surroundings, imitates anything and anyone she likes ... can bug you to no extend with her crazy antics such as real bad singing or repeating after you in the same tone and words, or imitating every action you do ... sometimes you feel u are walking with a permanently active cellphone which seem to be walking in another world and you wouldn't get a response if you knocked her down.

She also happily follows all the stupid instructions like dance in your office if you are feeling sleepy, following all weird instructions as per some crazy and mischievous mail which says something like "if you are feeling sleepy at work follow the instructions :

1. your head to the right and then to the left.
2. Lift your left arm and wave it slowly to the left and then to the right, repeat with other hand.
3. Sway your body to the left and right, repeat 5 times.
4. Bang you head on the table till you knock the sleep out ...
5. .... so on ..."

Crazy isn't it ... :P.

She can happily stay obsessed with buying everything she likes till she realizes she is close to being bankrupt. Then in 5 minutes she will look at the shop window at something she likes and say - I want to buy that - to which I end up asking "Do you really want to end up on the road asking for alms? :P " ... he he.

Its fun when she is at her crazy heights - happily oblivious to who is watching and stand in a bus stand as if she owns it, and stays with her arms resting on my shoulder (as if I am a post she could lean on ... ahem), with her legs crossed and chatting away to glory on her phone and laughing non-stop every 2 minutes ... till I remind her where she is ... when she will be like "oh god! I forgot! " and hurriedly stands a bit more normal (not for long ... he he) ... If she is listening to some songs we can see her walking around dancing and most often it is a copy of exactly what the actors or actresses do for that song in the movie ... I am waiting to see her forget that she is on the road and dance one day! :P ...

There were lot more crazy stuff, but I dont remember at the moment ... will update ... and if u guys figured out you can add more info in the form of comments, by keeping respect to the privacy notice (he he :) ...)!

Happiness - the way to live life to the fullest!!!

I just thought I would write about happiness, as I am following the message that I got from "The Secret" and am going full on. I always liked mind games and thinking up ideas and thoughts. So to try out the secret, is to imagine good things, and that's what I am doing now.

Everyone ultimately aims to be happy in life- be it through getting lots of money, the love of their life or their dream job ... But then it is true we can be happy with even the smallest of things - a smile, a nice thought, a rainfall in summer, seeing a friendly face, hearing a joke, going on a fun ride ... many are the possibilities.

But then I thought, if I enjoy every small thing I do, every small sensation, thought, speech, action - get involved in every moment of life, absorb what I am doing and derive pleasure from what small things I get in life, and be thankful that I am receiving this, I would enjoy my life a lot more. And find a lot more happiness in every small thing.

It is something we may have to take the effort and consciously do when we start out, because many moments when we could be happy are lost when we don't recognize what we are getting. We need to be aware of what we do, what we feel, and then appreciate every small action anyone does for us, every small thing we do that is joyful to us ...

This is obvious if we think how many times someone said something nice and it may not even occur to us to be happy about it, or when we get an act of kindness or love from someone we might be too preoccupied to notice the gesture. We also fail often to notice many of the beautiful things in life which we can be happy if we see. It could be different things for different people - flowers, stars, moon, rain, animals, trees, cars, bikes, babies ... any of this could bring a smile to our lips, if we take notice. So when we say live life to the fullest, it means living every moment. Enjoying every moment and making ourselves happy.

It is always up to us to make ourselves happy. Its how we see things. Its how we chose to feel. So all we have to do is chose to live life and enjoy to the max.

Some thoughts on "The Secret"

"The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne is something I am reading right now, and have completed about half of it. It has a real feel good factor about it. Whether you choose to believe or not in what the book states, what it suggests truly would make your life better.

Ok for those who do not have any idea about what this book is about : summarizing the book says that what we think makes our future. If we think of good, good will come to us and on the contrary if we think of bad bad will come to us in life. That is an extremely short summary of the book.

Putting into more frill and fancy as the book does : our thoughts are making our lives and we think our life into existence. And the universe will forge these thoughts into reality. If we think that we will be in debt or we don't want debt(say) both would mean the same - universe would only see "debt" and hence give you debt. If we think money we will get more money. We should believe we already have what we want and it will become reality in our life. We should think happy thoughts and we will be made happy by the universe. In short all our wishes will be true, only if we would dare to wish and believe in the genie which is the universe! Being optimistic is the key!

Anyway I have to say whether all this be true or not, being optimistic definitely makes you happy. And doesnt all people want to be happy? So if one can through reality or imagination be happy that would definitely make his/her life better. So I for one am going to give this secret a shot. I would like to believe in and try it out. If it works for me then - well I am going to be the queen of the universe (:D). He he. Anyway I am sure I am going to be one happy go lucky, cheerful person. So if you guys feel the same, or if you would like to believe in it on your own terms - say spiritual/ religious - what ever the reasons, I personally would say that its cool and should make you a better person. At least you would realize what you want and what would make you happy!

Mustafa

A friend I know from my 12th.

One of the few friends with whom I could talk almost anything with and who understood better than most people my weird flow of thoughts and ideas. We always had a lot to discuss and argue. He tends to be a little chauvinistic, and says that men were designed to be superior to women in the human species and gives multitudes of proof for the same. He kind of gets on my nerves when he does that. Apart from that (irritating topic ... ) we used to discuss a lot of philosophy on a variety of interesting topics ranging from reason for living, meaning of life, is human species superior to the rest of the species, does aliens exist, and many more (many topics lead to heated discussions and it was really great having someone who is in the same frequency as you are).

He is also one of the most sincere , true and genuine person I have met. He is someone who values relationships a lot. There are two things he values most in life : The important people in his life and his bike. He is very caring, understanding and a good listener. He has been my refuge countless times when I was confused and troubled and wanted to pour my heart out. He has also given me countless advice which I heed to sometimes and sometimes not. And I have thought at times that I should have listened to him when I hadn't and ended up in trouble as he said I would.

He is a very special friend to me and I would do my best to help him in every way I can. His friendship is priceless to me because there are few friends who touch your heart and for whom you feel that you would do anything. So I will say that I am lucky to have known him and to be his friend.

A glance at my thoughts ...

In order for us not to regret something in life we have to accept things as they are and come to terms with them. In order to come to terms with something one should be able to look at it from a third person perspective. We should be able to see things with a clear head and without any emotion. We should have an impersonal observation of how things are. All this is never easy and requires a lot of perseverance from our part.

But its not impossible. Though as a side effect to this we may loose our capability to feel. Which is both good and bad. When we don't feel, we can keep out the negative emotions such as pain and anger. But so do we keep out happiness and elation. Its possible to keep out the negative and keep the positive. But I haven't succeeded in that yet.

What I have observed is that to be happy for extended period of time, sadness is necessary. OK, it would be great if we can be happy all the time, but then we wouldn't really realize ever that we are happy. We just take it for granted. And maybe get bored of happiness. So if we do feel sad, we understand the value of being happy. So if we try to push away sadness by pushing away emotions, we push away happiness too. But then again pushing away emotions still need not give us peace. We could still feel empty or calm. If we feel empty, we have lost a battle, and we are going to embrace emotions at some point soon. Because we haven't pushed away emotions. We are just drained of them. We just need time for it to be back. If we feel calm, maybe we have found our way of life. But I don't believe any of this is permanent.

Human beings are like chameleons at least where emotions are concerned. They keep changing. They keep phasing. Depending on the twists and turns of life, and what life throws at us, and how we decide to take it, we change - for good or bad. What may seem good to one might not seem good to another. What may be an achievement for one might be a disappointment for another. So what we feel after every decision, every experience, is all how we decide to view it - good or bad. We are capable of seeing good in every action, so are we capable of seeing everything negatively.

I for one believe that good or bad, I am who I am. I believe in taking chances, taking risks, getting hurt, getting drained of emotions, sitting and crying over things I did which turned out bad, then after I had enough crying over it I decide - OK, lets forget it and move on. Then go and do something different, which again might turn out well or might not. We'll never know what will work for us till we give it a chance. And its always a gamble. A large part of the outcome lies not in our hands, but on circumstances, other people, luck, and so on. But not trying just might mean we will never live life, just drag it on. So I like to see life as an obstacle race (oh, I love challenges and obstacle races, and all that ...).

People say when we die we see our whole life flash in front of us ... similarly I believe if we need to get over anything in life, we should be able to view what ever it is we need to get over, from its beginning to the end, and remain undisturbed. Then we are over it. Though I might also think that would mean that that part of us is dead.

By now you can understand that I have a million things running through my head, and just flow from thought to thought when I have time to sit and think. And let me tell you I manage to type only a part of it ... some times my thoughts move too fast for me to capture them here ... I guess I am letting this blog entry a glance into my head ... which I believe is a very confusing one ... let me assure you I am not muddled in my day to day actions ... just in my philosophical thoughts .... and I think I will close the window to my thoughtful and wondering mind for now ...

What do people get out of being sadistic?

I have always wondered what people would get out of being sadistic. I always thought that bringing others happiness might work better at making one happy ... but then as time passed I realized in some minor degree at least every human being is sadistic ... this comes from the inherent tendency of human beings to compete against one another ... survival of the fittest ... So seeing someone else not faring as well as you do would in turn boost your ego or make you think you are better than him at the moment and would give you happiness ...

But to what degree would one go to get happiness at another's expense? Well that is where actually a person get to be called sadist - someone who tends to create more emotional/physical or any other pain to another to gain happiness than majority of the other humans are the sadists ... at least that's how I understand it ... same as how a person who is too different from common people are often called as mad even if they are intelligent and just differ in opinion (again my theory) ...

Well I set about thinking about this because of a particular scenario I witnessed : A particular rift in a relationship between a boy and a girl (names not provided to maintain anonymity), resulted in a very interesting situation. The boy kept trying to contact the girl, but she refused to pick the calls. But the more interesting part was that she appeared quite happy each time he attempted to call her - and she did not pick up the call ... well he is getting hurt by her rejection, and she feels she rejected him instead of being rejected - that could be the source of happiness (again sadistic isn't it?) - again the cause of happiness is speculation - but makes sense to me ... :) ...

But then I did think, if you are given a choice to hurt someone or get hurt yourself, if you think a bit, wouldn't it be better for the other person to get hurt than you, provided you have the choice to make either choice? Again human mind is a complex thing ... so how this plays out depends on the said person's place in your life. If they mean a lot to you then you might not hurt the person and might in turn let yourself get hurt ...

It would be a good thing how ever if you would stop and think ... what if I am in that person's shoes? How badly would my decision affect that person?

Well still your decision is dependent on a lot of factors - and not always logical ...

I think everyone at some point of time would show a bit of sadistic streak at least, and even feel smug about it ... well obviously I have had my share of sadistic deeds which I have to say I wasn't in the least bit unhappy about - rather it was the opposite ... so I would say this wouldn't I? ;) ... But my deeds aren't sadistic by society's standards I have to say ... it was with knowledge that my actions would hurt someone and still it something I wanted to do or thought necessary that I should do ... and well I was pretty gleeful at the time too (oops ... sorry - that is wicked isn't it ... but I am not all that evil, I swear!!!) ...

Just being happy !!!

Happiness - or rather blissfulness - its a wonderful feeling, and I have no idea why I feel so today ...

There were no surprises, nothing new happened in life, just another day like most other days ...

But I feel like humming a song... I feel highly exuberant, and could feel the joy bursting out of me... I feel the dance in every step, and see everything through rainbow tinted glasses - its really an awesome feeling.

I cant help wonder though, why this has come to be ...

I think it might be because I have left all my worries behind ... not bothered about them anymore, come to terms that what had to be done has been done, and what is left are those which I cant do anything to alter. Given that, i no longer have any reason to linger on such negative things ...

It maybe that I am inherently an optimist, and hence has pushed away all my insecurities, tensions and worries and decided to have a care free day ...

It may just be that I have had enough worrying or staying depressed and feel its time to give happiness its turn ...

It may just be that I have run out of depressing thoughts and sadness ... and am only left with happiness which decided to break loose and run free within me ...

What ever it may be ... its something that feels so good...
And I would always know that if it weren't that I have had my moments of extreme sadness too, I wouldn't be appreciating this much the value of an extremely happy day!!!

Anyway cheers to this feeling ... and may it come again ...

Abhijith - the "Dodo"

A friend who helped me get my current job.

He is the one who told me about the employee referral program and helped forward my resume through a friend of his working here. He also helped me make up my mind to come all the way to Bangalore for the tests and interviews ... how that came to be was because initially I wasn't even going to consider coming thinking I haven't heard of the company and its too far to come just for the test and interview, also since I was preparing to attend a few tests back home. But then he was like after he had gone to all the trouble, I should at least consider it properly - which made me enquire about the company through a cousin of mine, who told its a very good company. And after all the tests and interviews, I am here, having completed my probation - a permanent employee ... :).

He is quite sure of himself and can talk himself into or out of anything he wants ... quite a talent. His day starts only after 10am or possibly even 11am ... he might belong to the vampire family - usually can be seen online all night long ... He is quite ambitious and strives to get what he wants when it comes to his work ... and in the career point of view, I do look up to him.

He loves playing video games, he is addicted to the net (which was how we became friends - orkut ... :D ) ... He loves movies, he is into blogging and strongly protests for causes he believes in ... he is an atheist (so am I and many of my friends ...) ... He hates religious intolerance and oppression against the weak ... loves to travel ... and cares a lot for his family. He is also very caring and a bit over protective of his friends ... and is a good company. He isn't normally very open nor very good at speaking his mind out, except with real close friends. On the negative side, he could be real rude, and well is often trying to compete for "The Rudie of the year" title, and his favorite expression could be "JITL (Jump In The Lake)". He is also very sensitive and gets riled up over small things. Anyway I am glad I met this guy because he has become a real good friend of mine, and I really enjoy his company... :)

Ashish Bohra

Fellow trainee and colleague at Ness

This guy is someone whom anyone would notice in a crowd. Very smart and outgoing ... full of energy and easy going. He is very friendly and talks easily and is also very open and straight forward in his approach. He also makes a lot of noise where ever he goes, pulls everyone's leg ... jokes and in general has 'masti' most of the time.

He does occasionally go off into a moody state, and go all silent, when people really do notice, because its quite opposite to how he is otherwise. Still no one is the same at all times, and he might be one of those people who always like to share his happiness and keep his sorrows to himself.

He likes sports - cricket, football. Loves to dance. He likes to go out with friends and have fun. Generally a fun loving guy. But he keeps his own council, and in spite of all the fun and masti, people don't really know him deep down. He is a really nice guy and a good friend. He is caring and supportive and will always be there for his friends ...

*masti - hindi for fun

Shirish Katti

Fellow trainee and colleague at Ness

Shirish is someone I found to be very quiet ... who is reserved. He has a calm way of handling everything. During our training he knew many of the things already, and would always be willing to help if you ask him. He is quite hardworking, and really good-natured and helpful. But people tend to not know of his capabilities due to his quiet nature. Personally I do not know much more about him as I have limited first hand knowledge. But he isn't one to shy away from friends and company, and he does like to hang out, though he tends to listen most of the time than contribute in discussions. I hope I would eventually get to know more at some point of time, and will add more about this guy ...

Pragyan Mohanty

Fellow trainee at Ness, colleague at Ness

Pragyan is the kid in our training batch, the youngest. She has a great passion when it comes to photography and have taken a lot of quite amazing photographs. She is also very creative and made an album of photos with autograph pages for our friends in training who had been posted at Mumbai.

She is also extremely fond of good food and love to find good restaurants. She loves sweets and chocolates and always feels the urge to go out and get some after every meal ... She was there fore called chocolate vali bhai by our batch. She likes to go out and see places, enjoys traveling and loves to read books.

She is also very enthusiastic about social service and had actively been a member of a social service NGO while she was doing her b-tech. She is still in touch with them and would like to continue the good work when ever possible.

She is not much into dressing up and almost has no interest in make ups - some degree of tom-boyishness you could say. She tends to be serious in discussions at times and tends to give Vipin a hard time when he starts off with his Poor Jokes ... Anyway she is an interesting person I have met ... :)

Anjana Kumar

fellow trainee and colleague at Amadeus, Ness

Anjana is someone who is innocent, who loves movies, and who is quite open and speaks her heart (which Vivek might not digest at times, especially when she speaks about admiring someone else ... he he) ... She is still a kid at heart and often takes things too seriously. She does have a habit of worrying too much, no matter whether it is a big problem or a small one, and is a bit tensed about things in general. So we kind of don't take her seriously when she does tell us things with high degree of agitation ( well I believe she does know this too ... I guess we are too easy going, and don't scare easily).

But she is a real sweetheart and I will always remember that she made and brought me Palgoa ( a sweet made from milk) when I got a craving for it and had been searching for it for three weeks without success, and was sitting dejectedly over it ... she really made my day!!! She is quite helpful, and sincere, and a very nice person. She is also strong and I believe was tomboyish before. She had also learned Karate during her school days. Dear Jahnavi is in her team, and sits next to her, and often bugs her to no extend, especially when Janu is in one of her crazy moods. I am waiting to see Janu getting kicked one of these days.

I have to say she is someone I like very much, and is always true at heart. So you would have a friend you could trust, even if she might not join with you in making mischief. :) ...

Mouli Chakraborty

Fellow trainee and colleague at Amadeus, Ness

She is our delicate darling, highly sensitive to everything, cant shake hands hard, she cant stand too much sunlight, all together too vulnerable to the elements of nature and other people. So one has to be careful not to hit her accidentally or anything ... or you would be responsible for black and blue marks where you hit her.

Anyway during our initial training program she was sitting next to me and had suffered a great deal of my craziness. I had bugged her and played a lot of pranks on her (like suddenly pulling her chair, disturbing her while she is half asleep in her seat listening to lectures, sing horrible songs, and so on ... :) ..). Therefore I have to say she's got a lot of patience at least with me.

She is a good dancer, and loves to have fun. Loves good food. Loves to travel. She also reads a lot and we have discussed about quite a few books. She also endeavored to teach me Hindi, though I have to say since we don't meet as much now, the learning hasn't progressed much.
She also has got a good fashion sense and loves to dress up.

Now on the negative side, she is a bit short tempered, and might tend to get offended quickly, especially when boys tease her too much. But unfortunately she is an easy target (or maybe they are finding teasing her as an opportunity to talk to her - wrong method dudes!) and ends up in the receiving end of a lot of teasing. Most of it has to do with her affinity towards saying "Oh my god!" whenever something goes wrong and her highly expressive personality, where by she tends to enact what she says with her hands ... but well I think expressing using hands is a general Indian trait, where each person varies only in the degree of expressing.

She is someone you would definitely like as a good friend ... more on this dear girl later ....

Sanjeev Kumar

Fellow trainee and colleague in Amadeus, Ness.

Sanji is someone who is calm and cool, quiet and a bit reserved. He would talk a lot when he feels comfortable with company, but mostly takes his time to get settled with the people and surroundings. We have had a good rapport from the start, since we both happen to be big fans of a Japanese Cartoon - Naruto. So starting with that, I got to know him real well and he is a real good friend of mine, though we don't hang out all that much. He is really interested in sports, cricket in particular, listens to a lot of music, loves manga(Japanese cartoon comic) and is very helpful and friendly. He also has a good sense of humour and observation skills, and did demonstrate it by imitating several friends - mainly mouli and jahnavi ... :D. From what I know he is a very sincere person and loves to do things differently. He loves his family a lot. His favourite food is Aloo Paratta. And from what he has been saying he can cook well too ... And he loves to share poor jokes!!! I really do think he is a real great friend to have ... :).

Vipin Jain

Colleague of mine in Ness,
fellow trainee.
This is in tribute to today being his B'day : 21st Jan - :)

Vipin is quite a character - and the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about him is a running race : we had it during our training period - very interesting incident. He was being chased around by my then roommate Sushma, who later moved to work in Mumbai, for some evidently inflammatory comment .. :D ... when I felt a sudden inspiration to challenge him for a running race.
He lost the race ... to his extreme surprise ( he kept saying - i never expected - u are too fast - i tried my best - etc etc immediately after the race ... guess he was taken too much by surprise to think ... ;)). But ever since he recovered his senses keeps giving the reason that he lost on purpose to hold the honor of women ... an interesting theory :D.

OK so we'll leave his embarrassing stories for now ... and continue with who he is ...
He is someone with exceptional observation skills, who notices everything from who goes where, what each person wears, and the list is endless ... He is also a very cheerful person, with a perpetual smile on his face ... He loves to have fun and go out, but also knows to take responsibilities seriously. He is also very caring and sensitive to people, and a quite good friend, who will always be there for you. He is an exceptionally good singer, and that should have been the first thing I wrote about him, if the running race hadn't happened.

He is also good at telling jokes ... (you would get to know when u meet him ... :P) ... and he claims dancing is the only thing he can never master. Anyway He is quite an interesting guy, who is real fun to hang out with ... and loves visiting new places, and music. He is now planning to start with guitar classes... will have to see what more interesting things he would do with his life ... :) ...

MYSTERY OF ATTRACTION

Its always a mystery, why we meet the people we meet in life. Why we feel different towards each person we meet.

Why certain people have more appeal/attraction to you than others. Why different people feel this attraction differently and upon different persons.

We never completely understand why we like certain people a lot in a very short interval. Why certain people could mean the world to you even before you realize they do.

Why many a times the world conspires in a such a way that you will be forced to abandon some of these people who means the world to you for some others who also mean the world to you.

Why is it that you always have to make extremely hard choices at times about which world you want to loose, which of those dear ones you would have to hurt - and either way feel helpless and hurt yourself.

Why do we always hurt ourselves and no matter what, not bear that we ended up hurting someone we never wanted to hurt, and whose hurt will hurt us too.

Why do we choose to hide to the world the pain we feel, so that others who are dear to us do not suffer along with us?

Why do we not have the strength to stop ourselves from loving those we know would lead us to this heart wrenching situation later on?

Why is it that when we know deep in our heart that we made a choice which was the best we could make given the situation, we still feel lost and broken?

Why do we end up losing the meaning of life in the end and decide that since our happiness longer matters, let us at least give those who love us the most and those we have chosen to keep happy, what happiness they desire, by letting them do what they please with our life?

I know not the answers to all these questions ... but though I do not know - I feel better every time I ask myself these questions and more ... And maybe someday I will answer them in someways ...

Anyway I have to conclude love is one of the most dangerous element we have in life, which one can never control, and which completely rules our happiness. And no matter what those whom you love will always hold the power to make or break you. And any one of them can break you, and once broken it will take many of them quite a lot to make you whole again. Time as always is a healer to any one when they breaks. But scars from love will always be there in the hearts that were broken. Though we may choose to see the scars the way we wish - as something that will always be a hassle and pain or something to prove we have survived great disasters, we are brave and we will brave more as needed ... I hope I would always be able to see the latter and never fear the pain and the hurt - because love is a risk we will have to take and surrender to, willingly or unwillingly ... so isn't it better to be willingly go forth and take it head on and play a part in choosing our destiny rather than destiny hunt you down and make you miserable because you choose not to accept it but you still have to ...

My musings go on and on ... and its in my nature that I shall always take risks no matter the scars ... so I will take my time, absorb the pain, get over it and move on towards happier moments ...

Jahnavi Mohanambika

My training batch mate at Ness Technology,
Colleague and room mate as of today.

Let me see - Jahnavi or Janu as I call her is really someone unique ... on a general note she is a superb dancer - with a talent to memorize steps after seeing it just once, and she has a real good grace and style.

A reasonably good singer, with a love for melodies - mainly in Telgu but also in English and other languages ... An artist too who can embroider her own clothes ( shall i say fashion designer??? well a little too big a word, but well she does have a good sense of fashion) ...

Not usually someone I would hang out with in first appearance - since she is extremely interested in dressing up, jewelery and well in short a typical dainty and beauty conscious girl one would think, with a craze for shopping( naturally) ... but well all this being true I still find her a real great friend to hang out with - and we get along great ... and I am surprised but I really am greatly fond of this girl.

There are more to her than all this - she is quite understanding, doesn't interfere in anyone's personal life unnecessarily which is something I prize highly because I like people who respect others right to privacy ... a good listener, one can trust her with things ... and one I could confide in if needed ... she is very caring and loving, loves her family a lot ... she loves to enjoy life, go out and have fun ... very friendly and makes a lot of friends ...

Loves chocolates - and well you should see her face when she sees chocolates to understand exactly what I mean ... has a very good humor sense and really fun to hang out with ... She even tried her hand at drawing and drew a pencil sketch of me with a little help from me - which was not that bad, kinda came out good, and well again she also seems to try reading books (am not sure if I was the inspiration, but if I am, i think that's a good thing ... he he) ... so definitely she is open to changes ... if she feels its a good change ...

Only draw back I can tell you is her sense of time ... (again typical of many females who loves to dress up!!!) - if she says we'll go out at 8, expect her only by 9 ... ;) ... but that is something I am used to in many people, so if i want her out by 8 i would say 7 ... :D ...

I think there are lot more to write - u stay with a person you get to know them real well ... but since I think this is enough description of her to put here in a blog ... I think you should meet her and get to know her better if u need to know more ... Anyway I am real glad I met her and she is my friend ...

The Marrige Hungama

Well I thought I'd put in the new latest development in moi life ... The Marriage Hungama ...

Yeah, like most girls around me who is my age, I am now up for sale in the marriage market, my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and god knows who else all trying to get me sold - for what I do not know. I am kind of resigned to the fact that for their happiness I will have to endure the prospect of seeing guys, and well I do not exactly look forward to this prospect.

I have convinced myself that it is inevitable. But unfortunately I am not liking most of the options am getting. Its not about money, not about family, I wish I could say its not about looks, but unfortunately I cant help that one, the guy should appeal to me - but still I do want to see the guys character and try and put that ahead of looks - lets just say by principle. Then again I don't think I look anything great - so by saying looks do matter I don't mean I need some prince - just someone I feel looks appealing to me - and by how my taste goes I would fall for mostly the hippy kind or the neanderthal kind - guess am still immature or I got unique taste - I don't know.

Character wise again I am not sure what I am looking for - I just usually go by instinct on most things. So if I talk to a person, I let my instinct take over and it decides whether I like a person or not. Then again what will u know in just a few conversations - not enough to spend a life time with. So that just again helps little. But at least something is better than nothing. This is actually making me think a lot about life, and the more I think the lesser my interest in getting married. I just hate the idea of giving up my freedom for some stranger whom I barely know. And the only reason I have agreed to do this is I feel I owe my parents. Why did I have to have a conscience???

Hmmm I guess now I will end up writing more of these self musings in here as I am completely feeling like I am back again in a storm and I don't know if I am going to drown or somehow survive.

Kyokushin Karateka - my experiances ...

After joining for the karate class in October - I put in my 100 percent ... in observing and learning as much as possible. I always had wanted to learn karate and so this is the start of realizing a dream. It takes a lot of dedication, and perseverance, as at times you feel you cannot do anymore but you still go on ... its not that you have to, lets just say I just didn't want to give up ... so after a lot of body pain and muscle catches, I ended up getting used to the routine ... and its such a passion for me that I wake up at 5.50 in the morning on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, which may not be much for many, but if you consider that I did this only if I was going for a tour before, and never for my exams, it really proves how much I am in love with karate.

And as I started learning, I have to say it is the one place I find peace of mind and its great for me to get stress free, not to mention healthy and fresh ... and also my appetite has shot up and I did gain weight and crossed 50kg - an achievement, and that too healthy weight ... :D ...

In a way its like a dance form, with rythm and steps you repeat again and again till you perfect them, but also it is a lot more physically challenging.

On the grading day, the routine was really something :

• Starting with about 4km jogging.
• Then a set of warm up exercises with make the arch where u throw ur leg up in an arch, then in an arc from left to right, then reverse and so on - each 10 to 20 times in number
• Push ups, then arm rotation, wrist rotation and the usual routines.
• Then stretching exercises.
• Different punches, kicks, blocks, movements, stances each about 10 or 20 times.
• Katas (routines for each belt involving stances, kicks, punches, blocks etc).
• Sequences (which are again routines for each belt to perfect kicks and punches)
  
• Then there were ape walk, frog jump, duck walk, so on for about 150 meter each
• Then there was fighting - and well each fight lasts for barely a minute, but well I too had my first fighting experience with a brown belt girl, was really a great experience and I loved it (though I got a lot of kicks and punches and so did she :D )
  

... and surprisingly I didn't have much body pain after all that ... phew - awesome! That resulted in getting a double promotion to Orange senior.
And I still continue with the same passion I started out with!

Looking back at the year 2009 ...

I just thought that since new year has arrived - year 2010 ... I should look back and atleast briefly enter the changes that went in on my life - and yes I have been ignoring this blog for a good five months now - and well a lot has been going on in my life too which kind of kept me busy ...

So let me start with what kept me away - I landed with a job in Bangalore, in the IT industry as a software developer ( OK trainee now ... but am hired for a developer post). It all happened fast - and so have been in Bangalore for the past 5 months since July 21st.

Life here has been going good - in my first month of training 17 of us new recruits planned and went for a trip to Wonder La - a water theme amusement park in Bangalore. It was an awesome experience - got into most land rides save 4, and well these rides we missed were just because too many land rides kind of get you feeling uneasy - and we were also hungry by then ... then went for almost all water rides, the rain dance was superb - for which we went 3 times and had a lot of fun. I couldn't move for two days after all that exertions.

The training got over well and then of the 25 freshers, 10 went to Mumbai as they were recruited for jobs there - and the rest of us were put into different projects and I had another 4 with me in mine. Now we started of with the next training on the job here - had food outside - got first salary, bought dress for mom, brother and grandparents, life went on ...

Now by October I joined a karate class, Kyokushin - under Sensei Ravi Carvalho, and though it was a bit hard at first - primarily body pain due to sudden exercise - I continued and after a grading on December 13th I received a double promotion to Orange Senior. Thus I am now fulfilling a dream to learn Karate which I had from when I was a kid.

Then I also celebrated our company's annual celebration and danced at the disco party which started as part of the celebration ... had lots of fun. And finally on new years day I went on a trip to mysore, saw many wonderful places about which my friend - Pragyan has written so well ...
here is the link : Mysore Trip ... :D

So thats all that had been going on in my life so far ...

Anand Satish

My tuition mate in 11th and 12th

This guy again is someone I am writing about here because even though we studied together for tuitions and only for two years, his parents were my teachers then for entrance coaching, and then they taught my brother too - so our families are always in contact ... and again we are still in touch though its random and usually after months of no news about each other ... He was always good at studies, and now is doing his masters at IIT - so you can guess ... He always has a hundred watt smile on his face and a very pleasant nature ... and though we usually only about each others welfare I always did like the guy - in personality. So its good to have him as a friend and keep in touch ... cant say much else about him first hand, but through observation he is turned into a fitness freak, now changed his look and has a "yo" look :D in my college terminology - and is also travelling around and enjoying his life a lot ... he also likes to read and listen to music ... I know, this is not all that much but well ... knowing something is better than nothing - isnt it? ;)