Grooming.

Once my education was over, I started working (obviously!!). In school, my teachers, truly taught me, that is, I gained knowledge from them. They were good. I didnt think much of my college teachers. Indeed they were'nt that good either. All of them were just doing their jobs, standing in the classrooms and pointing at some odd figures on the board, explaining diagrams and all that. We, in turn were doing our jobs, keeping our attendance to the bare minimum required in order to pass the year. Teachers were more of a bother to us. We studied on our own, out of books, guides etc. When I took up a job in a company, young and fresh out of college, I had least expected anyone to 'teach' me. It was to be......... that way. They say that experience is the best teacher and so it is.

However, even after being through such 'What-is-a-teacher?' times, I still firmly believe that there should be someone to groom you, throughout your professional life.

There is a thin dividing line between teaching and grooming. When you are in a profession, you're already qualified to do the work and knowledge and experience teach you how to do it. But if you're groomed well, you actually do it with efficiency, quality and 'professionally' at the same level of experience and education.

Due to such limitations as time and manpower, we are plunged into the sea without really knowing how to handle the big waves characteristic of the high seas. All seniors and people in managerial positions seem to be having this attitude. Nothing better, than a kick in the ass of those pesky juniors, who come to us for every little thing. Let them learn for themselves. Throw them into important meetings, discussions with client. Let them sit there, alone and answer all the questions and load them with all possible work. Only then will they learn, how we do it.

I cant quite explain it to you, what I mean to say. But just think about the concept of grooming and you'll realise for yourself.

Queer?

It was raining yesterday, when I went out on a drive via an intercity road. I could see the mangroves along the shores, dark, bleak and the distant mountains pitch black and tall in the moonless and rainy night. Kind of reminded me of maku's village, where its pitch black at night, so dark, that if you hadnt had the god given body co-ordination, you wouldnt know whether the potato crisp you want to eat is going into the nose or the mouth.

He'd invited me there to his farmhouse. One of my friends (IAK) and I were to join him and his group of 2 cousins and a friend, who'd already reached.

Well ya, so we'd reached maku's farm house in the evening. His farmlands are situated right in the valley of the sahyadri mountain ranges. Its a picturesque place, especially in the monsoons with fields of paddy on one side and cloud covered mountains on the other. We had made plans to make a night trek and have our dinner in the mountain air. One of maku's uncle had prepared dinner and was going to be our 'local guide' to the way up to a clearing in the woods, where we would have our dinner. We packed the food, and started off, equipped with battery operated torches and a 'laalten' (A kerosene lamp). The moment we crossed the fence, it was obvious that we would have to stick together to avoid getting lost in the darkness. Maku's uncle leading the way, we passed through the fields, breathing the fresh and cool air. Thankfully, it was not raining at that time. We had a nice one hour trek to the place where we were supposed to be having dinner. We enjoyed our time up there. Maku's uncle downed a full 'desi' liquor bottle and rest of us contended ourselves with cold drinks. Maku's village has a lot of queer stories, the ones which are typical in an isolated village. These stories include ghost sightings, animal sightings and other such incidents. Panther and wild boar sightings are a common phenomenon there. Maku's uncle told us a lot of real life stories that night.

After stories and dinner, we started back. There was a small stream of water which we had to cross. Maku's uncle spotted two crabs in the water (not uncommon, there). He is known in the village to be an expert crab-catcher. True to his reputation, and that too after he'd downing half a bottle of liquor, he swooped his hands into the water and came up with the crab, which was struggling against his firm grip. All this was done in a flash of a second !!. He'd caught the crab between the shell and the pincers.

He took hold of a container and put the 'still struggling' crab inside it, closed the lid and handed the container to me. Thereafter, when I held the container, I could feel the crab knocking against the walls of the container !!!

He went after the second crab, which was crawling ahead with great speed. Uncle took one of maku's cousins along with him to hold the torch. He asked us to wait at the very spot. We saw them go along the stream a long way, and finally out of sight as the stream twisted and turned through the woods. After sometime, we started worrying about uncle and maku's cousin. Both were gone for a long time. We were stranded and couldnt move without our 'guide'. We started contemplating whether to go see where they had gone. I said "Guys, if it rains, we'll be soaked to our skin." My friend IAK responded by saying, "It didnt rain when we trekked up, nor did it rain when we ate our dinner, beneath the open sky, why now?".

A moment later, as if someone above had heard our conversation.............it started raining. We couldnt wait there now. There was no shade. Uncle had not come back. So we decided to follow the stream along which he and maku's cousin had gone. As we were walking along, we started calling them aloud. There was no response. After walking clumsily in the rocky bed of the stream, we came up to a point where the stream narrowed and it was covered with an arch of bushes, so that you couldnt see beyond. We must have shouted out for them 7-8 times from there and there was no response. Then suddenly, maku's cousin called back, "We're coming". And then they appeared, ducking under the bush-arch. They had finally caught the second crab too.

Later, when we reached his house, maku asked his uncle...."Where were you?". He said that he'd chased the crab for quite a long distance and had finally caught him just some distance away from the arch of bushes. Maku asked him why he did not answer to our calls. His cousin who was with his uncle told maku that they'd answered aloud the first time they heard his voice. Maku said that he'd called out several times near that bush there. But strange as it seems, maku's cousin and his uncle, heard our voices only once, even though both parties were near the bush.

It could be nothing but isn't it just worth noting that,

-Rains only started when maku's uncle disappeared, compelling us to go after him instead of waiting there as he had told us to? It wasnt raining throughout our excursion....and just started at that time? As a matter of fact, it did not rain again all night and even the next day?

-If we were around say just a few feet away from the bush arch and they were a few feet away too, only on the other side, where we couldnt see them, how could they have heard our voices only once when we yelled our throats out for around 2 minutes continuously?

Was it just be maku's drunk uncle and his non-drunk cousin lying? Or was it simply another one of those queer incident which happened there?

Khau galli and the stain on my shirt.

My friend R and I go out for lunchtime at a place called 'Khau galli'. Now, khau galli is not a very unique name and every 'galli' in India, where there are quite a few 'khaana stalls' with little seating arrangements is called a khau galli. The best part about such 'Khau gallis' is that you get a variety of foods.....and our 'KG' is no different. With the variety of foods, there seem to be a variety of germs. Hygiene is minimum and flies are maximum. Crows may fly and perch themselves on the table next to you and dogs might touch their noses to your feet, when you are sitting, enjoying the food. To counter all these 'anti-social elements' for customers, stall owners put a 'dhoop' or an essence stick on your table, which they think will drive the flies, crows and bees (did I mention bees? no I didnt, well, now I did) away. It definitely DOES NOT drive anything away. In fact, you spend half your time shooing the flies and the other half making the same shooing motion with your hands, only this time to drive away the oncoming vapours from the 'dhoop'. The flies, crows and bees have developed immunity towards 'dhoop' , same way as we have developed immunity against germs, eating the unhygienic food of KG.

My mom makes me a food tiffin and I take this along with me to KG. Here, outside food is allowed, if you place a small order. So, we go there in the afternoons to escape the air conditioned confines of our office and order something like buttermilk or something.

After lunch we have paan, at times. The other day, R and I ordered our custom paan........calcutta sadha paan, with chilkaa supaari and a dash of gulkand. The paanwalla folded the paan into a neat triangle and handed one to me. As I put it into my mouth, the gulkand dribbled out of the corner of the paan, right on to my favourite bright coloured white shirt with blue and yellow stripes. I was aghast !!! It was a huge blot of red guaranteed to leave a permanent stain (gulkand can leave permanent stains) . I applied some water to it and it was worse......it spread!!!. I had to go back to office wondering what to do. Everyone in the office kept staring at my shirt. I told anyone who would listen (no one did), that the boss had 'fired' me and so the blood. But only I managed to laugh valiantly at my own stupid joke. Later, I went to the washroom and put water on it again. When it dried off, I pinned my identity card on my collar end, so that it dangled on my right pocket and somewhat covered the major part of the stain. I hoped that there were no meetings that day and so lucky that there werent any.

Again, luckily, my mom managed to 'vanish' the stain. My favourite shirt is ready for use again.

Exercising in a 'glassy' gym

Our gym is on the ground floor. It has a glass panel. It offers a nice view of the outside world. Trouble is....we are exposed to the 'outside world' too. Its one thing for us, to look at the beautiful skies from the inside. Quite startling to see people staring at us, while we are working out. In fact, I completely understand how animals in a zoo feel when they are being watched by humans, from outside the cage.

In fact, I can almost imagine people offering bits of crumbs of toast to us through the lower ventilation openings in the glass or lobbing biscuits over the upper louvers !!!

People watch curiously, others point rudely, still others laugh, some others stare with their mouths open staring at the pretty chicks on the treadmills and the stepper-cycle......you'll see all of those and still more outside 'open gyms'

While you might think its a bit absurd, having glass panels for the gym, gym owners think its great advertising. People come to know that there is a 'gym down there'. The 'pretty chicks' are crowd pullers for freaking desperadoes. Quite apart, you generally come to know about the equipment that's there in the gym. I know it sounds quite strange to those hard core weight training fans and body building purists, but the majority of Indians who go to classy gyms....check out the cardio equipment.....and you'll see that against the glass !!! (Of course, no one would keep weights near the glass....for fear of the weights breaking the glass and causing a nasty accident.).

Usernames, passwords, emails and chat IDs

The advent of internet and networking, brought the need to maintain online security and privacy of its users. Experts devised a simple way. The use of 'usernames' and 'passwords'. A username is nothing but an online name.....your intials, your name, first name initials, last name full and various such combinations. Password is a string of characters, which only the user is supposed to know. It could be a number, few alphabets or alphanumeric. Generally, the username becomes your email ID. E.g (username)@website.com. The username used in office is generally more or less fixed by your network administrator. But here I am talking of the one which we create ourselves, the one used on a public website.

I have observed that, at times, these usernames may well be an indication of the people whom they belong to. Middle aged aunties, who've just discovered how the net is used have a very straight forward username, probably followed by the year in which they have created the ID. Most probably, they'll keep the password same as the username, coz they might probably think that it would be better if its the same, so that they wont forget it. Fair enough......however they tend to forget their username as well !!!

At times, the username is same as the chat ID or vice versa. Young guys, who'd love to meet someone online in a chat room would have the typical 'macho' username or chat ID.

handsomehunk or muscleman or imyourman are common chat IDs. People who are willing to reveal their age (or fake it for obvious purposes) keep an 'asl' chat ID (age-sex-location..........the cool chat lingo) . For example, 18maledelhi.......... or a more 'sophisticated' one would be 21handsomemaledilli-6. They'll keep an age which, in their opinion would be the most attractive age to girls, even if they happen to be as old as 28 or as young as 15.

This is not an exception to girls...........sweet16goingon17 is an example of an 'oh-so-sassy' chat ID, guaranteed to pull all the boys of all the chat rooms of a public chat.

Coming back to usernames again, people who have an uncommon name can exercise the best option of a using the username, so that their email address becomes First name.Last name@website.com or firstnamelastname@website.com.

For those who have a common name, would find the above format is not available for them, as their are already people who have that name, and have already kept that email ID.

And so poor souls like my friend irfan, with names common with about a 1000 people in this world, go in for keeping an email ID, which also has their birthdate suffixed.

And for poor soulds like me, with a name common with about 10000 people in this world, go in for an email ID, which has their birthdate, month and maybe even birth year suffixed.

Cant say much about passwords, but a popular password is the name of a person suffixed with something like 123 or maybe their birthdates.

Believe me, its not easy to think up passwords, if your office server keeps asking you to change password on a quarterly basis........after all it cant be xyz123 all the time can it ???!!!

Tumbling like a pack of cards.

They've all been scurrying away, spreading in all directions, tumbling like a pack of cards, falling like dried leaves. Ain't talking about anything else but the people who've resigned from our department in our company in the last two months.

Job shifting is nothing new. People do it all the time. But its one thing for 1-2 people in a single department to go per year and something else when 8 people quit their job (all in a single department) in a space of 2 months.

When recession hit us hard, the people on contract were told to pack up. All others feared for the security of their jobs and even those of the dozy lot were seen working. The older 'so-many-years-in-company-no-one-tells-me-to-walk-off-even-if-I-have-coffee-all-the-time' were finally facing justice. It was'nt long before, people gave better performance for fear of being kicked out. Now that's what's called performance pressure !!

That was a year back. Slowly the market gained. Job availability is better now. And so people have quit !! In need of better jobs, in need of better packages, better work and best of all.....a better boss !!

Now that so many people have resigned, others in the department have started eyeing each other suspiciously. The 'are you quitting?' look has become most familiar. Lot of money is lost for contributions towards farewell gifts, farewell parties etc. And the trend of quitting has grown so exponentially that, I have started wondering whether I'll have to buy myself a farewell gift, if I dont quit soon, myself !!

Appreciation? what's that?

The value of appreciation......

Rarely are we appreciated.....in the company we work for.....for the work we do, for the jobs we have completed, for the problems we have solved, for the positive outcomes inspite of the infavourable conditions.

Its just that we get used to living with the thanklessness.

Money is the appreciation. And every service class man realises this within the first year of his very first job. Think about it the other way. Would you have just the appreciation part of it and not the money? Nope. Nobody would like that, would they?

Plane class.

Ok. So we are busy and all that, both of us (me and dad) with office work and everything. But both of us made it a point to look out for international flight fares to my sister's place. Travelling to a faraway country requires money....a lot of it. And it requires middle class people like us to do a bit of a research on the cheapest flight fares. I always thought that 'economy' class is a great way of saying 'the lowest possible class' in an airplane. And although it isn't quite 'economical' for us poor dingos to travel by 'economy' its always a better way to call it 'economy' as opposed to a commonplace and banal sounding 'second class' or 'third class' in trains !!!

'First class' does'nt sound that great either. But as per my knowledge its the best in both trains and planes (correct me if I'm wrong). Business class sounds truly classy. I can almost picture people sitting in business suits, travelling in style. But again, my knowledge tells me that business class is below first class in an airplane. No one's heard of a business class in trains and the only guy who would be wearing blazers in the train (most of the times) is the TC. There are some other classes like premium class and other show - shine names that airline companies have given but strictly speaking, nobody travels like the President of the United states or a sheikh from Qatar. I've heard of a term called 'cattle class' in planes. Made me think whether booking a cattle class ticket gives you a license to sit amongst mooing cows or bleating sheep?

Apparently, no. Cattle class is just another name for the poor old economy class.

Talking about seats, in international flights, never take a front row seat in any section of the plane....coz you might be near a baby bassinet.............and god save you if the baby in the baby bassinet starts bawling at the top of its voice, acting like a monster. People with long legs have good leg room if they take a front seat.....compensation....they might have to stuff their ears for fear of noise pollution of the baby bawls !! And, if you think baby bawls are bad.....the extreme back seats are worst.....coz there it is the air pollution which will kill you, in a long distance flight.

I always find that the window seat behind the wing is the best. I love that place.

Happiness of the stone age man !!!

Sometimes, I wonder whether technological and scientific development are so important ?
No doubt we have all the luxuries and the tools and techniques of doing work quickly, but then do we have to actually 'work' less even if we have all the necessary appliances? It is obvious that this is not the case. On the contrary, work has increased, lifestyles have changed for the worse, have become more hectic and tiring, relationships strained, overall health has declined, even though recorded death rate has decreased. Our happiness has become materialisitic and whether you like it or not, it has to be that way, if you want to stay in the race. We have even started spoiling nature and its resources in the process. We have evolved so much , yet, looking at the bigger picture called life, we have gained little and are fast approaching nothingness. It makes me wonder....Was stone age man happier, even though he probably didnt know the meaning of happiness?

The not so green thumb.

So I saw this kid watering the young saplings which are planted in our building compound. He was being advised on how to water them by his grandpa ("Lower the hose, son....dont spray a jet near the base, you'll damage the roots"). The kid, for fun, or because he was annoyed with his grandpas constant lecturing.......sprayed some water on grandpa's shirt. I was passing by and smiled.....smirked, rather. This was the same old fellow who had stopped us from playing cricket in the building premises when we were young !!! Anyone troubling him makes me happy and I feel a natural bond to the person who troubles him !!! I mentally made notes to give the young kiddo a huge bar of chocolate later on !!!

Seeing the kid water the plant I remembered an incident. When I was in the 3rd grade, one of our teacher had asked us to plant a small sapling in a small pot at home (Instructions were pretty much basic. We werent told what to plant, that was for ourselves to find out. The pot was to be a small cup....An ice cream cup would do.). We were asked to record the growth in its length every day and its overall progress. The small plant was to be bought to school and shown to the teacher. Marks were supposed to be given on how healthy the plant appeared and how much the growth was. I was very excited, initially, and was looking forward to planting. However school time enthusiasm was forgotten once I got home. In fact, I forgot all about it until the very last day of the 'dead line' of 'submission of the sapling', which was some 15-20 days from the date on which the teacher had given us the project. Now, its agreed that you can't grow a 'tree' in 15-20 days, but I know (now, of course) that mustard seeds if planted in soil can grow quickly. However knowledge was of no consequence !!! The reality was that I had totally forgotten about it. Even if I did know it then, what was the use, if it had slipped completely off my mind? The teacher reminded us once a week, but even then I forgot. Then one day the teacher said, "Children, bring your plant tommorow, I hope they are growing well and you are watering them regularly."
It was then that I remembered !!! Oh yes, the plant ! I havent planted them !!! Oh what will I do?. And while everyone was happily discussing how well their plant had grown, I was left pondering on how to achieve a miracle. Usually mom was more 'demonic' and less 'angelic' when such kind of careless situations turned up....(I am sure every mom is.) and I wasnt exactly willing to tell mom to perform some kind of miracle.
I had an idea, of course. Next day (On day of submission.) I went downstairs and brought some 'soil' from the very place the kid was watering the plant today !!!
I remember scooping a handful of 'soil' in an old ice cream cup. So, I said to myself, "There's the soil". Now comes the plant. So I simply uprooted a weed-like thing from the ground, kept it in the soil collected in the cup and just packed some soil around its base. I put some water on the soil....and sprinkled some on the plant....it had to look fresh. It looked like a plant to me.......all fed and watered !!! The soil looked a bit more light coloured to me.....maybe it was because it did not have enough water, so I put some more. I punctured 5 holes at the base of the cup so that the extra water would drain off. And there it was....a nice plant. Grown by a cheat. I was proud of myself, even somewhat confident that I'll get good marks off it !!! I took the plant to school and showed it to the teacher. The teacher took one look at the plant and understood, of course. She simply pulled it out easily (of course.....if its not actually planted it comes off easily, isnt it?). She simply asked me, "What is this nonsense? Didnt I ask you ages ago to plant something? You havent done it and dare to bring this .....this 'fixed' plant to me? you'll get a big zero!! Get out of the class and kneel outside." So there I was, kneeling down outside the classroom, caught cheating and then 'humiliated' in front of my classmates !! Later on, I learnt that even the 'soil' I used was not soil,actually, but rather the loose gravel, used by the construction workers, who were repairing the building columns, at that time !!! Whenever, I think of this incident, I laugh. One things for sure, though. I never did have a green thumb anytime in my life, not then and not even now !!!!

Shape of the clouds and the dark sieve !!

Its been a very hot summer and hence cool beers or cool breezes are a pleasure. Since I dont prefer beer, I suggested that we ride down our bikes to the nearby 'hilly place' to enjoy the latter. Two of my office colleagues + friends were game. So we set off after office, SSR sitting pillion with me and RAA riding single. The ghat to the hilltop is always an enjoyable drive or ride, depending on whether you are in a car or on a bike. We reached the hilltop, parked our bikes and started the small trek to the peak. And we were glad that the cool breeze, we had come for was indeed there !! We reached the peak. While the other two of my friends were enjoying the scenery,
I took off my T-shirt, kept my bag on the ground and using it as a pillow, lay down on the earth. I closed my eyes for a moment and opened them again, and saw the vastness of the sky above. The soft cotton balls (the metaphor is commonly used) were far off, moving at a swift pace. I tried to imagine their shapes like I used to do when I was younger. But I couldnt make anything out of them. Nor was it a rabbit, nor an elephant, nor an old man, nor a house. Didnt think much of that then. What's there in a cloud anyway? They come, they go......they bring rains at times...Whats the big deal if it doesnt seem to be shaped like a monkey? When I sat up I saw a truly wonderful sight of the sunrays being filtered through gaps in some of the dark clouds. I was mesmerized by that lovely light amidst the dark sieve of the clouds and so were my friends.
Now, I dont know whether I am stupid to say this or anything, but later on for a moment, I actually regretted not seeing the clouds shaped like something. Am I losing my creativity or imagination, which was stronger when I was young? It was fun back then, seeing the cloud form some shape, letting your imagination run......is it not fun anymore? Has practical life taken away all my imagination, aspirations, dreams?
I saw the sunrays being filtered.....and thought of how wonderful the sun was........and then I completely missed the thought of why those sunrays got their identity and the focusing effect......it was due to the sieve like dark clouds !!!
Sometimes we are so overawed by the bigger picture that we totally miss the finer points which makes the bigger picture so much worth its value !!!

Lectures = meetings / presentations

Its one of those things that you remember out of the blue someday. It used to be mom who used to teach me marathi subject. My mom is one of the best teachers of the subject. That's what I used to hear from her tution students. Thats because I used to close my eyes while pretending to hear mom explain. I used to tell mom that I am listening to her and just that I can concentrate better if I close my eyes. After I closed my eyes, I would, of course, fall asleep. Mom isnt stupid and she used to make me get up, sit upright and ask me questions. Mom has a golden heart too.....and was at times content to see me sleep!! She let me sleep for about half an hour and then used to wake me up and start explaining chapters. Although I did sleep during the explanation time, it wasnt because mom was a bad teacher or boring or anything. It was just that I would feel sleepy after my lunch.

I remembered because, even today, if there is an important meeting going on, with a dead serious topic of discussion....I cant help but feel sleepy, restless and bored. No matter how interesting the presentation, how good the presenter, however good the length of the presentation / meeting may be.

Good luck and bad luck.

Luck never takes sides. Everyone has equal distribution of luck. If I am out of luck today, its just that my time is bad. Tommorow, if the times are good, it does not mean that I am just plain lucky. Conclusion .....

Luck is fickle,
But Luck is fair,
Good luck, while it lasts,
Enjoy your share.

Nirlajam sada sukhi

There is an old adage in marathi..... "Nirlajam sada sukhi". It means that people who are shameless (not in the 'physical sense of the meaning', of course..) are the happiest. If the reverse of this is true.....I am probably the most shameless person in this whole wide world !!!
Yes, its probably the fact that being shameless upto a great extent protects my sanity and my emotional balance !!!
At times I feel grateful that God's given me two ears. One for listening and other for letting out the filtered information !!!
As kids, we were often scolded by our school teachers....." Dont just stand their laughing shamelessly." or "That was a shameless lie, you idiot." etc. I remember that children who were shameless were happier, even that time. Those who werent shameless, cried like wimps.
Agreed, that its not good to be entirely shameless, but some shamelessness is required. This world is a bad and cruel place. It contains evil people. Everyday, there are people who will talk harshly to you, hurt your feelings, and sabotage your public image, even if you are doing no wrong. If there are people like that around, its quite ok to be shameless.

Cleanliness mania..

Ever wondered whom to blame for, your mom's cranky and ever paranoid nature, at certain times? Blame it all on house cleaning and keeping. Its otherwise, hard for me to worry about that tiny speck of dirt on the table, or shoes kept out of their fixed position in the shoe cabinet, or the slightly tilted photoframe hanging on the wall, or the teensy weensy black spot on the white refridgerator !!! However, since the time I am 'home alone', I find myself stepping in mom's shoes of crankiness. I often find myself telling my friends, who come home, that they shouldnt throw their shoes around the place, keep the newspapers in a neat pile or things like that.

The reason being is that whoever does the house cleaning feels the 'pain' when someone jeopardizes the neatness or the orderliness with which things are maintained.

Then of course, the levels of fanatism and tolerance in terms of home cleanliness and tidiness for different people are different.

As days go by......Home alone.

Been getting used to a new life lately. A life of living home alone. Living alone has its upsides and downsides. Upsides include some factors like getting an 'off' from everyone's nagging and pestering. You are your own master, you are at no one's mercy. Do what you like, eat what you want to, sleep whenever you want to. You can play the music at loud volumes, scream and sing, shout all you want. You can even dance naked, run around the house wearing only underwears and throw your clothes here and there (Please dont think, that I would do all this stuff. I am only saying that when you are alone, it is practically possible to all this stuff !!).
If you are going to live alone for a long time...........the above upsides will eventually lead you to doom !!! (Yeah, but not all, i guess, eg nothing would happen if you continue running around the house wearing underwears. As long as you are alone, its not a problem!!!)
I'll not talk about the downsides..........cause there are many............one of them namely....loneliness. It can be a killer. I'll write about the other downsides when I start realising what they are, as my days go by, home alone.

Be who you are and say what you feel.

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those that matter don't mind."

Have read this quite a bit of times now. It seems to appear on many websites, blogs, calendars, inspirational novels and management books. Nice saying. I tend to agree to it and tend to be like that.....most of the times.

'Part' is parcel of the game of life.

There are people who come and go in your life. Yet of those, there are special ones, who leave a permanent mark in your memories, which you carry on throughout your life. Parting with them drives an arrow through your heart, and yet you learn to live with it, wishing for the other person's happiness and prosperity, wishing the world for him. Later sometime, those memories come back to you, and you find yourself willing that things should have been different. Still the past cannot be changed.
I know I ain't any good at writing this sort of stuff. I would just like to dedicate this post to one of my best friends, who had many special ones come and go in his life.......Hes had his failures, and downs. In fact, hes had so much of the parting stuff, that he swears he could write a book on it!! Inspite of all this, he is a perfectly normal person. I wish him all the best in his life.

My dreams and my present.

I had dreamt of becoming a pilot................ended up playing Microsoft flight simulator 2002.

I had dreamt of becoming a dancer...........was picked up only once for a dance program in my primary school days..........unfortunately the dance program got cancelled because my partner and three others fell ill.

I had dreamt of becoming an archeologist..........dug up a hole in the compound lawn area, only to hit the underground piping which unfortunately sprang a leak.

I had dreamt of becoming a singer.....had a wonderful voice when I was younger.............then my voice broke......and i began to croak.

I had dreamt of becoming a local train driver........at least they get to stand conveniently in the local train !!

I had dreamt of becoming a famous actor...........but everyone used to tell me ........dont act smart.

I had dreamt of becoming a comedian.........but sentences like the last one made me a PJ KING.

I had dreamt of building a fast and a reliable PC which would never crash and never be infected by viruses...........I had realised it then and there itself that it was just a dream!!!!

Tax.

There is a dialogue in the hindi movie 'Lagaan'. It goes this way...........

Man katata hai mora jab hum raja kaa lagaan bharat hai

Aur woh phirangio ki ghandi hateli par dhar dete hai

Tu bol maa.....

Dharti ki chati phad kar beej kaun boe? hum boe.

Phir sicche kaun hai? hum hi.

Phir lagaan unki gaat kahe baande?

Good question was'nt it? I feel like asking the same question at times. Tax has always troubled people !!! Its really horrible to see the 'TDS' column in your salary slip.