My Fundas and other stories

Finance

2010-08-20T21:29:00.000-07:00

Wooow... what a topic to pakao all your heads. What had I been doing all this time not bringing up this topic till now. I know, most of you would be going “aaaaah...., NO not this one”.

Friends, ‘Finance’ or rather personal finance related topics have always been close to my heart since the days I started earning. I always used to think of an optimum way of keeping my finances, making plans in line with what all the financial pundits tell.... insurance, taxes, debt-equity ratio, blah blah.... However, over the years I have learnt that there are two fundamental differences between what we are told in all the financial stuff and the reality. Firstly, the plan not only depends on person to person but also on condition he/she is into at the point of time. Secondly, even if you plan it up completely to the minutest level as suggested by your financial agent, you will still repent some decision thinking what if I had done this and that. However, don’t worry. It is basic human nature to get worried at anything that goes wrong. The point is to keep it in mind for planning next time. This is known as “Kaizen” in Japanese meaning constant improvement (I like throwing off these fun facts).

One of the very basic lesson in finance (or anything in life) is “Don’t ask the barber if you need a haircut”. One needs to see if the person has any vested interest in you going through with the transaction as advised to you. Many a times I have heard that people have invested in things like Insurance Plan with is also a mutual fund and all sorts of such products. Dear Friends, they are called ULIPs (Unit Linked Insurance Plans) and I don’t have anything personal against these plans except that they take away a large chunk of your investment in the first three years after which “you need not keep investing” meaning “your financial advisor will not get a sizable chunk of your investment as his commission after 3 yrs are over”.

Other similar myths are one should keep a lot of money in savings account for contingency (NO, not if you do have a cashless medicare facility, keeping 3-6 months of expenses is fine, not beyond that), one should never invest in stocks (don’t if u don’t understand them or can’t track them regularly. However, Mutual Funds are not stocks. They are people paid to take care of your stocks), taking endowment plans for life insurance is enough (I liked the ad showing KILB Kam Insurance Lene ki Bimari, see youtube for further details), and the list goes on and on.... including some totally outrageous ones like the world will end in 2012 and thus, withdraw all your money and keep all of it at home in form of cash.

If you take a bet on something, remember that you are taking a bet and the chances are 50-50. However, if you keep investing systematically through thick and thin, you are bound to do good (assuming whatever you are investing in is well researched and found to be fundamentally sound).

Finally, let me share a news article: “Recent studies done in an university in the US suggest that counting currency notes reduces any kind of pain you might be having in your body.” J J

Life Reloaded

2010-04-18T08:04:00.000-07:00

Well... Hello to the avid followers of my blog and people whom I have coaxed successfully to make them read it and moreover, to the vella people who couldn’t think of doing anything more interesting than reading my blog.

I had been quite regular with the blogs in the past... maybe a couple of years back... I am not sure what happened. May be blogs went out of fashion or things like Tharoorgate on twitter or growing carrots in farmsville became the in-thing. Well well, life goes on and thus, blogs too must go on. Thus, written below is another dose of my stories and fundas about everything possible.

Friends, in the last couple of years I have become an die-hard fan of HIMYM (How I Met Your Mother). Most of the episodes start with the words “Kids...”. Let me start with “Friends...”. So...

Friends, we have heard this many a times, again and again, in different clichés and different phrases... about Life. It is complex, it is long, it is short, it has bad and good parts etc etc blah blah... but what is it? Do we ever sit down and think if we are on the right track? Things like are we loving what we do or doing what we love. Some people like to plan it up while others like to flow with it and take it as it comes. However, life will always come up and say.... Surprise!!! And then what do you do... sometimes we become so happy that we forget everything while at other times we curse ourselves and others and what not.

Every time you think that you have seen almost everything in life, you will surely see something new, something you would have never imagined u would have seen. In the last few years the world saw something which it never thought it would. The biggest recession since the days of great depression of 1930s. Something which changed the rules of the game and affected different entities in different unimaginable ways including myself. However, having survived through it, I think I have lived a life which I would have never imagined living at any point of time before.

Friends (repeating to make it dramatic), I have always believed that the reason of all sorrows in the world are “expectations”. However, today, sitting in the 2^nd AC compartment of my train to Mumbai, after getting an upgradation from 3^rd AC, I believe that the reason of all happiness in the world are “expectations” as well.

Application of the Moral of the story: “I expect my train to reach Mumbai not on time but in less time than no. of hours it is late on an average”

My College

2008-02-02T23:00:00.000-08:00

          As the vehicle takes a turn to the left, a hillock gets uncovered. Far from city pollution and noise, in a calm surrounding, over the unwinding roads, behind the lush green trees, lies my college; The Indian Institute of Management, Indore. One glance, and you simply get mesmerized by the look and feel.
          The hill is officially known by the name “Prabandh Shikhar”. Quite an exotic name for an exotic place to be in. We know it by the name, “the hillock that never sleeps”, and that’s quite true due to the inhabitants of this place, buzzing with all kinds of activities, submissions, deadlines till late nights.
          The gate is a grand one with the name carved on one side of a wall. It seems so magnificent. As we enter the gate, a line of flowers awaits you. Dancing and swinging in the wind, it gives a feeling of nature to the onlooker. The flowers are of many colors; yellow, red, orange, violet… each one of them so beautiful and elegant, the leaves do not seem to be noticed at all. The road takes us to the foot of the hill where the road keeps moving around the hill to make you reach your destination. But wait!!! Didn’t you notice the scenery on the way? If not, you better go and have another look. As the road climbs up the mountain, the world seems to be a bird’s eye view. Down below, you can see the road coming from the horizon and vanishing into the horizon on the other side. Lush green fields, full of agricultural activities, small huts at a distance, vehicles moving up and down the road… Sometimes I feel as if I am not at my college but at a hill station. In the morning, if you are able to get up really really early, you can be the lucky one to see the sun rising among the clouds during day-break. In case you are not a early person, you always have the sunset to mesmerize yourself with.
          After a small distance, one can see magnificent building awaiting the onlookers. That is my college. The circular structure and grand arches provides it a picturesque image.
          Further down the road, you will find a block of buildings. That’s the place I live in. That’s my hostel. That’s the place which will have a special place in my heart even decades after I move out of this place.

Man with the MARKER

2007-10-13T21:11:00.000-07:00

        He’s the man. He’s got the marker. He’s the "MAN WITH THE MARKER". Thank him, despise him but you cannot ignore him. ‘Cos if you ignore him, time will ignore you. Yes, you guessed it right. He is the official time keeper of the class.
        Official time keeper, huh…. I wonder how he got this name. I think that was one time the CR of the class mentioned this to one of the teachers. I don’t know if he likes his designation. Seems like a time table. Keen to bang you up when your time is finished. People try to bribe him, intimidate him, threaten him but he has never defaulted on his time (at least he claims so).
        Lets go back in time and see what made him what he is today. It’s a long story, consisting of more than one full term of chipped markers and banged desks and yes, some scary looks and frozen faces as well. It all started when senior faculty of the college came to a conclusion that there should be a Oral Communication class in the curriculum of the first term. The name seemed a bit mundane. After some consideration, it was renamed as Managerial Oral Communication (MOC). It is supposed to be a support to the start of a life where you will be looking at the projection most of the time while the people in front of you will try hard not to go into a deep trance.
        With so many presentations to be dealt with, the subject needed a volunteer who could fight all the boredom and moments of desperate sleepiness to keep a track of the time during the presentations. There was this little guy with high ambitions sitting at one end of the class just under the AC (how he survives there, that’s a separate story). He likes to keep a digital watch with him as he likes digits. Surprisingly, this watch turned out to be the only watch in class which had a timer. Don’t know if the watch was happy to know that it was so lonely. After all, it had been more than 10 years since it came out of the factory. Wonder where it began its journey.
        This guy did not know what he was getting into. Time is a flowing concept. How can anyone keep it? He wondered. Due to lack of other volunteers, the task was assigned to him. “Great!! At least I am doing something for my class”, he thought. He did not know what to do, when to do, how to do. But with experience, comes deftness. With the Watch and Marker as his two well known tools, he had set forth on a journey of the time and terms. A journey, where he has to be the reference point to others.
        About the marker, it was a rather fat one; chosen as a tool to bang as it was robust and had the highest conversion factor of kinetic energy to sound energy. The bang of the marker was enough to stop speakers in between their sentences and bring out “Thank you” from the mouth of the professor. Sometimes it was softer, sometimes it was louder but it was always there to put forth a reference point in the short life span of the presentation. The Man preferred the Marker to be RED. Not sure if he liked red color or if he chose it as a sign of danger, the danger of crossing the stipulated time and losing out on marks. At least he was kind enough to give a warning bang and a hand gesture to indicate “Your time is almost up buddy!! Pack up as soon as you can”. Even videos are not spared from the time keeper. He times them all and sends it to the professor. He also notes down the time of each speaker so that no one may escape the heat (at least he himself escaped it under the AC :) ).
        One question which comes to my mind is that who kept the time when he was out there, stripped off his role as the time keeper, pointing at the presentation and trying to keep the audience awake?? Well he has got a few friends with whom he keeps sharing his responsibilities to provide them with valuable experience and expertise in the art of time keeping. Sometimes they take away his watch and marker anyway, but that’s what he considers his achievement, making the dull and boring job seem so interesting. I think that deep inside, he feels happy to be absolved of his duties for some time at least.
        Terms may come and terms may go but he and his team of friends will continue to bug each presenter, whatever topic the presentation may be. MOC has never been a boring subject in the presence of them who wake up the whole class with each bang of theirs.
        Finally, special thanks to the watch, the marker and yes, the big fat OB book (which had given a deep thud on being banged) which helped the time keeper in his efforts and made this blog a possibility. I think each one of us have a time keeper inside us, just waiting to be awaken. Do you have it in you? Kar lo MARKER mutthi mein!!!!

I feel like Santa

2006-12-28T01:34:00.000-08:00

      Continuing from my last year's blog, "Does Santa believe in material gifts only?", first of all, I would like to thank Santa to give me better food and lifestyle than what I had a year ago.
      The thought of writing this blog came to me while I was on my way to the supermarket on the Christmas Eve. I thought of taking my bike, but later decided against it as I would not be able to enjoy the air. Sometimes, it is feels great just to take a stroll towards your destination, knowing that you do not have a time constraint. Just walk on, enjoy the scene. The shops, the streets; all were decorated as it was the festive season. I saw a school celebrating some kind of fete. Kids and their parents were poring out of it with a smile on their face. I remembered how happy I used to be in my school fete. You know, smile is contagious.
      I walked on. A florist had put out a shop on the pavement. He had several types of bouquets. Were those flowers real? He had sprayed the area with water to give it a cool feel. I wonder how his business is going on. People who are buying those bouquets, I wonder how their lives are going on? What would be the price of a bouquet? I wonder if I would be buying one some day.
      A few steps forward, I saw a bhutta-wala. No, he was not the boiled bhutta types. Rather, he was the traditional popping in fire types. Some people had gathered around him. I wonder if these people will be eating less for dinner. I wonder if the vendor child will be having dinner. I hope he does. I thought of eating one, but I remembered that I was heading towards a mall and was not sure if I would be able to finish it before I reach the mall. Such a tight schedule you see.
      It is Santa season. I am feeling happy. There need not be a reason to be happy. You can be happy if people around you are happy. The sound of "Ho ho ho...." says it all. You gotta be smiling. A few steps forward, I saw a kid selling Santa caps. The long and tapering one with a bunch of white threads at the end. He was wearing one himself, although his clothes were not in good condition. Still, he had a smile on his face.
      In the present day world, people are so busy that people seldom look where they are going. No one has time to care for anyone. Every year I hear in news about debates over Santa's existence. I wonder if it matters at all. The guy at the restaurant was wearing a Santa costume and welcoming guests. The mothers were showing kids, "See, that's Santa". He was not giving away any gifts but still his looks surely put a smile on everyone's face. I believe that this was the best gift he could have given.
      One day someone told me that one should not cry as other people may be in much worse situation than you are. My experience tells me that it is true. Thus, there is just one thing left to do. Smile. Smile at your problems as they will have to face you. Smile at God as he may have archived your happy moments to be reloaded at a later point of time. Smile at the unknown shopkeeper as he will feel good that you came to his shop. Smile. That's all you need to do to be a Santa.
"You better watch out,
You better not cry,
You better not pout,
I'm telling you why.

"Santa Claus is coming to town!"

Finding Happiness

2006-08-14T04:02:00.000-07:00

          Nowadays, I do not feel like writing any more blogs. I just don’t know why. May be I have turned too much pessimistic or may be it is the guilt of making others pessimistic. I do not feel like going to sleep at night. It seems like once I sleep, one more day of my life is over. In the morning, I don’t feel like getting up and going to office. I do not care if the cook has made dinner or not. People suggest lots of things. Somewhere I heard the term early life crisis. Is it that or is it something else? I just don’t know.
          To keep myself from getting melancholy, I must keep myself busy. I am trying reading novels. The one I am reading currently is “The Cry of Halidon” by Robert Ludlum. But you see, when I try to read it one my way to office, the movements of the bus ensures that I am not able to read more than one page. The result, either I go to sleep or else, I get lost in the dreams of years gone by. I think that I have developed this habit of living in the past. I always worry how I could have made my past better and in the process, I neglect my present. Sometimes I try to give attention the present but before I know, it has already become past. The past, which I remember and smile in solitude.
          In fact, many people have told me personally that they have seen me smiling in solitude with no apparent reason. What do I tell them? They will never understand why I am smiling. It’s just a reflex.
          I believe that every positive aspect inherently brings with it a negative aspect as well. If you have been watching superhero movies, you will see many super villains as well. Well, we do not see both kinds in real life. Thus, when I talk of smiling in solitude, I must also talk of crying in solitude. I have lately discovered that crying can be an art. You can make people think that you are smiling when actually, you are crying. Crying you heart out, but only you can sense it. Sometimes, if it is raining while you are traveling in a bus and you feel like crying, you can try crying while jutting out your head partially out of the window. I know, it sounds very silly. Try it once.
The point to note here is that it is just a part of life. Life will give you sadness and happiness in equal proportions. It depends on you which of these you tend to remember and which one to forget.
          Look at the people around you. You will find loads of happiness all around. All you have to do is just allow yourself to absorb it. Once someone told me that happiness is not an entity in itself. The absence of sadness is happiness. I still cannot decide if this is true or the opposite of it. I hope thats enough of pessimism for today. Watch out for my new blog series at http://how-r-u-doin.blogspot.com. The subject matter will be relationships. Its true, gossips always sell :). But instead, this will focus on the intricacies of various relationships we face in our daily lives. Hope to make you smile.

Leaving my first company

2006-06-22T21:12:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have been much criticized about all the senti stuff in my blogs. May be I am making people too much depressed. Thus, here comes a blog which is a bit out of context. Let me tell you about my first company.

I had been working with it for the last two years. God, I was so happy the day I had got the job. It was my birthday and I got the offer letter in my hand. I feared that I may have to go into a mechanical core company but I was very elated to go into a software one. Time passed, soon I got another software job with much more pay. But I refused it. I had already got my dream job, I thought. The first few days of my joining was not easy going as I had just entered the corporate world. New people all around, tests everyday. But I also enjoyed some nice moments like movies and pizza huts with friends. Had I already told you how much I hated changes. After 4 months, I moved to Mysore from Pune. It was a totally different experience. Serious work. Very less friends. Too much time to waste with nothing to do. I lived in this state for the next two years. I would say the best years of my life (for some other reason...).

One day, I decided enough of this. I cannot be a frog of the well. I will have to move out, see other places, meet new people. I was wasting myself here. Thus I went for a certification program from Bangalore and then on to the interviews. The interview went so-so. Some nice, some bad. Some very bad. But overall, I gained experience with each interview I faced. Finally, it was great to know that I got through in the first interview I attempted. I left after a notice period of 1 month. It was really awkward. I wanted to leave but still, something was holding me back. I will lose all my friends, I thought. But thats the way of life. You meet some, you lose some. The ones closer to you will always get back, no matter how far you go. I thank all my friends who helped my in this two year stay in my company. I went through some really nice times in these years which I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Life

2006-05-16T02:23:00.000-07:00

Sometimes life can be very cruel. You know, it pains the most when life is being at its most vicious form while other people think that you are very well off. Sometimes life makes you move to a point where you are like a Prizoner of War, being shoved into a 2'x2'x2' cell. You are just about to burst; but you can't. You have your social obligations. You can't complain about it to anyone as you can trust no one. You may have lots of friends but you do not have that one friend whom you can tell whatever you want and still expect that you will be consoled and not rebuked for it. Thanks to this concept of blogs which enables those unlucky ones to have a stream of thoughts trickle down from the otherwise tightly encapsulated 2'x2'x2' cell.

So, life moves on. You meet new people. You forget some old ones and then those old ones come up all of a sudden and make you feel awkward at not recognizing them. But on the way, you will find some whom you can confide upon just because you do not know them well and you know that the things you tell will not get spread across.

The V-day blog

2006-02-14T05:34:00.000-08:00

Hello all,
Here is Dholu wishing you readers (with loads of free time) a very happy V-day. For those who don't know me, I am Rahul's imaginary friend. You must be thinking where is he himself. Last I saw him, he was busy in some damn boring training class. Now, he must be at his home, watching tv or playing guitar. God! What an instrument to play. You can create music which can enthrall all other around you. On some other days, it can generate songs tunes which can bring tears to your eyes. Lets see what will he be playing today. But one thing is for certain. His roommates are sure to throw him out of his room. He he.... he still has a long way to go in mastering guitar.
On this "auspicious" occasion of V-day, let me write some nice quotes which I have been hearing.

The greatest thing is life is being able to marry the person you like

The worst thing is life is sitting next to the person you like knowing that you would never be able to get him/her

And now I present a tune which Rahul surely plays on every guitar session for his Nikki(as he says it, may be an imaginary GF like me his imaginary friend). I have a hunch that he must be playing it at this present moment. What is the song?? Why don't you play it and find out!!!

E ---------------0--------------------------------
B -------0--1-3------3-----------0---3----1-------
G ---2---------------------0--2-------------------
D ------------------------------------------------

E ----------------------------------------------
B ---1---0-----0-1--------------------0---------
G ----------2------------------0--2--------2----
D ------------------3-------3-------------------
A ----------------------------------------------

E -----------0----------------------------------------------
B ----0--1--3--3-----------0--3---1----1----0-----0-1-------
G -2---------------0---2-----------------------2------------
D ----------------------------------------------------3-----
A ----------------------------------------------------------

E -------------------------------------------------------------
B --------------0----------------------------------------------
G -------0---2------2------------------------------------------
D ---3---------------------------------------------------------
A -------------------------------------------------------------

Note: The blog has been written by the author assuming that no one ever reads his blogs.

Life in a Girly Cubicle

2006-01-13T02:05:00.000-08:00

As I sit now in my empty cubicle with a cup of cardamom tea, I remember the last one year in office. I can still hear the voices, "Oh! Ganguly is out on a single digit figure once again." What a wonderful year it has been for me. It gave me two of my best friends.

The year started with me coming to the cubicle. I was a bit apprehensive and it seemed that everyone was senior to me. Soon, people around seemed friendly as I ventured into the corporate world. Swathi was very helpful in making me understand the project and getting on with it. I still remember that day when Prashanth came to us and introduced Chandni to us. Soon, we all were friends. We had a great time throughout the year. Sometimes, I missed being with guys but other times, I felt good when other guys would give me "lucky guy" glances. In fact, letting out a small secret, many-a-times I was asked to exchange my seat with others.

Swathi was a real tomboy. A fan of Dravid, the only girl whom I know who did go-carting and followed cricket so intently. The cubicle erupted on match days when Tendulkar hit a six, or someone (you know who) got out on a duck. Chandni was though, not much interested was drawn usually drawn into the event by us.

Chandni on the other had was as calm and cool as her name suggests, until you spell her name wrongly :). She was the latest entrant to the cubicle, thus Swathi and me liked to pamper her on various topics ranging from "How to do a BCC" to "How to save taxes". In all, you can describe Chandni as a good person.

We had an unsaid rule in our cubicle. If someone brought sweets, that person would save at least one each for the other two people. Another queer thing was that initially, we were in the same project but later in the year, as we went to various different projects, we covered the whole bunch of PLM competencies, namely; Ematrix (all), Teamcenter (Swathi), Enovia (Rahul) and Windchill (Chandni). This prompted me to name our cubicle as SRC (source to the PLM group).

The year went on smoothly with trips, parties, movies and all sorts of stuff. Sometimes though, I got annoyed with with girltalk like discussions on tv serials etc. On such occasions, I did what an average Indian guy would have done. Put on the earphones and pretend that he did not exist. Other times, I joined in the discussion and changed the topic (you know, I am very good at changing topics:)).

The year ended quite abruptly with both of them moving out of the cubicle within 10 days. And although I hate changes, as one of them said, "Change is the essence of life". If someday, I happen to write my autobiography, these two friends (or you may say girlfriends on a lighter note) of mine would go in as my two angels; two individuals who changed a lot in me. With them, I came to learn a lot about the feminine-psyche. How they think and how they approach any situation. If you are reading this blog, I wish you both best of luck in all your future endeavors.

And as my NEW cubicle-mate sneezes WITHOUT saying "Excuse me", I would like to end this blog of mine, as usual, with a few lines.

"Hum, rahe ya na rahe kal
pal, yaad aayenge yeh pal"

The Lilis on my way to office

2006-01-03T02:42:00.000-08:00

Everyday, when I come to office, I take the footpath from the gate to the main building. On this footpath, lies at equal intervals, bunches of lilis. They are usually of two colors; white and violet. Somedays, they are fully blossomed, on other days, they look as if they have not been watered for days. But, I feel that the way I see the lilis on the footpath signifies my mood at that point of time. Let me give you some examples.

I will list down my description of the lilis on some days.

I can see only the flowers, the bright ones, full of colors. Looks like God himself painted them. In the morning sun, they seem to glow. I cannot even see the footpath, all I see are just the petals of the flowers. I cannot find a single one which is withered. The road looks "flowery"!!!
I can only see the thorns. Just the thorns. There are flowers as well, but not many. It seems as if the caretaker has picked up the flowers and did not care to trim the shrubs. It seems all brown with the dry twigs and mud which have covered them probably due to over-watering it. In other words, the path is "muddy"!!!
I can see only the leaves. Just the leaves, neither the flowers nor the branches. If you see anything else, try reducing the focal length of your eye and you will see nothing but greenery. The path is green and flowers are about to bloom.
Now, arguably the best one. Today, the path is full of flowers. White ones, violet ones. They seem in good shape. But some of them seem to be withering away. They look nice. But on the back of my mind, I have the thought that a few days later, they will wither away. Nothing will remain but twigs and some soiled leaves. "It is very difficult to hold time, isn't it"!!!

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
- William Wordsworth

2005-12-23T11:05:00.000-08:00

A very Merry christmas to all reading this blog of mine. Its festive season again. Santa is coming "knock knock" knocking on your door. Bringing presents for the children and joy to everyones heart. Really, we desperately need a Santa in today's world.

So what are you people going to do this christmas season. Make a christmas tree? Bake a cake? Clean the house? Or just sit in front of the idiot box and relax on the couch all day, thinking about all the good things other people have in their lives and you don't. Well, this is not the way to celebrate an off day from office. But who cares, it is just a sunday and I am not getting any extra holiday. But what would I have done if I got one. Passed it away sitting in front of the idiot box on my couch. Ya, that's what I would have done.

Hey Santa. Are you reading this blog. Nah! I don't think so. I never believed that you existed in real world. Moreover I doubt if you have net access :). Anyways, even if you are reading this, what can you give me. Can you give me a longer holiday with my parent at my native place? Can you give me better food to eat everyday? Can you give me a better luck in all the things I do? Can you give me friends who are always there when I need them the most? Can you give me ........? Well the list goes too long. And it may turn controversial in the end. Santa, I think you must be dealing with material things. But what is the use of such things if you cannot enjoy them.

Well Santa, even if you are reading this blog of mine, you must have got really bored and thinking of skipping my chimney. Not your fault Santa. "Main pessimist nahin hun, haalaat ne mujhe pessimist bana diya hai :)". Well, now lets see at the better things

Another free day. I can learn to cook a new dish. I can learn a new song on my guitar. I can ride my bike through the city with my friends. I can check-out a new restaurant in town. Or, I can finish a novel from the set of novels yet to be read. Oh yes, I can even come to office and write a blog.

At last, I have reached a decision. I will be bringing the CD of my favourite movie "Love Actually" and watch it at a stretch. It also has a nice song related to christmas which goes like this.

"All I want for Christmas
is you"
May all your wishes come true (including mine :)).

2005-12-12T13:12:00.000-08:00

The Butterfly Effect

Hey butterfly, why are you flying around. What are you doing in my garden. Everyday, I watch you flying into my garden like a thief or may be an angel (quietly and unnoticed) and fly around for quite a while. Oh! I guess you have come here just to have some nectar from my flowers. My garden is nice, isn't it. But, you too look so pretty in those colors of your wings. Hey butterfly, come near me. Why are you afraid. Oh! You must be afraid. No one can be trusted upon nowadays. They may catch you and keep you keep you locked up in a cage. But is it always the case!! Hey butterfly, take the sweetest nectar from the sweetest of my flowers. Its all yours. After all, nature has chosen you at this stage of the food chain. But why do you always fly away from me when I get near you.

I seem to spend more time in my garden just to have a glimpse of your act. It seems that I am taking less care of my flowers as have been devoting more time to you. But, I think that nature has this in store for me. It seems as if nature has put a blindfold on me and asked you and all beings of your species to fly around me. But as I grope in darkness to have a touch of you, you seems to fly away. The more I try, the farther you go. Hey butterfly, why do you fly away?

I seem to go back to the deep and pensive mood where I have always been. But, sometimes, the beauty of your wings puts back a smile onto my face. You seem to me like a television or else GOD, who can only be perceived but not felt. So, what should I do? I promise to grow more flowers in my garden so that you do not have a shortage of nectar even on the toughest of the days. Hey butterfly, in return I want only one thing. Promise me that you will keep visiting my garden till the day flowers keep growing in it.

Oh my, I realize that I may be unknowingly killing your aspirations of moving to better, more colorful gardens where you will enjoy more. Hey butterfly, seek more destinations. Move on; because that's life. Enjoy each day to the fullest. But remember to remember me whenever you come across a garden like mine. Hey butterfly, remember the days when I worked hard to grow flowers to feed you with the finest of the nectars. Remember the days when you used to visit my garden.

Hey butterfly, open your wings and soar high in the air. Reach the top of the world. I pray to GOD.

2005-12-12T11:25:00.000-08:00

"Oh, Think Twice, Its just another day
for you and me in paradise"

We live our life as we want to live. Actually, most of us do so. But have you ever thought of the less fortunate ones!! This blog goes as a tribute to those who are less fortunate and would see our lives as living in paradise (really!!).

The story goes back a few months back when I was in bangalore. I was in a melancholy mode as something bad had happened. (Not to be mentioned here as it would be out of context). I was just staring out of the window. Looking out to the people of the world. They seemed to be so happy. It seemed as if I have been assigned the responsibility of carrying all the sadness of the world. Oh! it was so depressing. It become more so depressing when you cannot tell it to anyone and if you do, you are sure that nobody will be listening to you.

Lets get back to the topic. So, I was just staring out of the window and I saw a woman walking on the road with three of her kids. The woman had some "potli" on her head which she was holding with one hand while clutching to the hand of the smallest kid. The rest of the two kids were just walking along with her. I noticed that the whole group stopped at regular intervals and then started again. I was amazed by this act. I thought that I should see why they are doing so.

I saw that they had only one pair of slippers in all and they were taking turns in wearing it. My heart went "Aaaaaaah!!!!". I felt like donating my slippers to the group. But stop, what about me. Am I really living in paradise???? It seems so. So, why am I sad???? Seems no reason. Hope someday I will be able to solve the puzzle. Till then, whenever I am in lonely and pensive mood, I look at my feet and say yes, I still have them covered with shoes. Thank you GOD for this day in paradise....

2005-12-10T05:22:00.000-08:00

SOUND

Various people hate various sounds. Do you know which sound I hate? I hate the sound of shutting down of a CPU cooler fan. Ya its true.... The sound seems like end of the world. As if, I have gone deaf or the world has just been destroyed.
Gotta go...Baaki baad mein. Bye.

2005-12-01T03:45:00.000-08:00

Hi All, this is Dholu back into Rahul's space. For those who do not know me, u can think of me as Rahul's guarding angel (introduced in a previous blog). Let me tell you a story about Rahul's childhood. Very few people know about it.

Rahul was very fond of crayons as a child. He drew many drawings and aspired to be a painter. He drew mainly scenaries. The one most children draw. A hut with mountains in the background. A river flowing past the house. A tree standing beside it. The sun shining in the middle of two conical shaped mountains. Ya, so conical that one would not be able to sit at its peak (people joked). But, one thing Rahul never missed was smoke coming out of the chimney of the house. Some clouds and birds were also added for the sake of completeness. One thing Rahul dreaded to draw was living things. How hard is it to draw people??? Well, you will not be able to find a single on in Rahul's drawings.

But Rahul was never satisfied with these petty drawings. He used to think big. Think of something more. Something which people will not be able to ignore. In those days, we used to live in a rented house which had painted peeling of from all places. Ya, it was painted long back. An idea struck Rahul soon. He thought that he can use his crayons to paint the whole house. This way, he will be doing something useful and it will be grand as well. He discussed his idea with a few people in the house. Everyone said "nice". Who will believe a 5 year old if he tells you that he will be painting the whole house for you!!! The point to note was that no one thought that painting can be done by crayons ;)

Rahul took the comments of his elders as motivation and chalked out a plan to paint the whole house. "So, which room to start with", he thought. He chose his own room as he used to spent most of the time there only.

It was night. School was over. Homework was finished. Dinner session had been completed. Now, sleep time was approaching; but Rahul had other plans. He took his box of crayons and chose a color carefully. "Should it be green or blue?", he thought. Finally, he settled for yellow. The painting began without much thinking. Just move to a wall within your reach and start painting. The painting could not continue for a long time as a shrill cry was heard from someone around. Rahul was startled by that. The crayon fell to the ground. Then started a round of beating and cries. The painting job took a break and the break seemed to last forever. ;) Rahul remained in the same house for the next 10 years and the markings on the wall remained with him, reminding him of his determination to do something big in life. May God help him do so.

2005-11-27T16:55:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I saw the movie "Deewane Hue Pagal". For those who do not keep up with every movie releasing in Bollywood now and then, its just a copy of "There's Something About Mary"; of course with some goon masala and extra comedy filled in by the production team. The best part was that I saw both these movies one after the other. It was really amazing how perfectly the copying was carried on. In our lingo, we call it topo. Even the songs by Anu Malik had melodious tunes of the english songs in them. On the whole, it was a comedy movie, a one time see, filled with gags, keep the brains at home types.

              The movie was nice, but I did the mistake of applying my brains in investigating the whole storyline. It reminds me of one of the postulates of my fundas. In hindi, we call it "ek anar saw bimar". Ya, it also seems similar to the Alpha theory of Dr. Nash in "Beautiful mind". Lets not go deep into this and pakao our brains. I have some food for thought for you people.

              In the movie, when Shahid finds Rimii in Dubai, he almost goes back. At this very moment, his friend Johnny Level shouts "Tanya". Just think where would have the story went if he had not done so.......

              For the quote of the day, I would like to quote another of Akshay Kumar's movie which I saw recently.

Jo humein chahiye
Use hum nahin chahiye
Aur jise hum chahiye
Woh kise chahiye!!
- GARAM MASALA

2005-11-21T20:15:00.000-08:00

Yet another day, yet another blog. But this one will be a bit different as the other ones have been from each other. As I am free nowadays, I have been thinking up of doing some new things, meeting new people, making new friends. Suddenly, I realized that I do not have a friend. A friend whom I can confide upon my deepest secrets. One who would support me whatever may befall on me. One who would give advice from time to time and never be tired or bored of it. Hey, I am forming an image of such a friend. A chubby faced, average looking person. There has been a lot of movies in both hollywood and bollywood about imaginary friends. Why can't I make one. I will have to think of a name. Lets call him Dholu. Dholu will be with me wherever I go (Ya, just like a guarding angel). I would be asking him whenever in doubt about anything. Lets fix his height to 5' 7" and weight to 75 kg. I think I am getting to mathy on him. Hey, I can hear him saying that he is planning to work out to loose some of his fat. Dholu is a very energetic person u know. He likes to dance and play various instruments. By the way his favorite one is walkman. :) He never fears anything and always raring to go into any situation. He is sort of naughty as well, trying to play pranks on me. Hey Dholu, can't u see, I am writing this blog. Stop hanging that spider in front of me. I am trying to write something nice about you. Hey, hey its my blog. Let me write. Hey guys, I think that Dholu would not let me write much. Over to dholu (Hey, stop peeing over my back. Sit and write whatever u want).

Hi people, this is Dholu. I am a friend of Rahul. As I cannot be heard by anyone except Rahul, this blog gives me a medium to talk to you people who have got out some time of ur supposedly busy schedule to read Rahul's blog. Don't u people have any other work??? May be my friend captivates u people with his writing. Ha Ha. Good Joke. By the way, the point I would like to draw home is that from now on, I will be co-authoring Rahul's blogs. So, whenever u see a line out of the blue, assume that I just sat on the keyboard as Rahul was about to type another line of his blog. Hey, I see rahul coming back from the canteen. Time to say goodbye. U have been a wonderful audience. I love u guys.

Huh, Dholu what have u done to the people. They look like zombies reading this blog. Hey readers, if you don't believe me, have a look in the mirror. Coming to the point, my last mail said something about a friend going away and all that sort of crap. Let me give some advice which I gained between my last post and now. When u know a friend is leaving you, remember that at that moment he/she is still with you. You may never know what tomorrow may bring. Live for the day. And when the friend goes off the next day, invent a friend like Dholu. I assure you; life will be much better. And you will never know how soon Dholu will make you meet his other friends.

" Want a friend, go get it"

-Dholu.

2005-11-10T06:57:00.000-08:00

CHANGE. A word I dread, probably the most. As a matter of fact, I don't like changes. One may say that changes are basic essence of life. The way in which life progresses and the way in which each day is different from the other. Let me be more specific here. I am specifically talking about only those changes which result in a change in my daily routine. You may call me Narayan Shankar or may be any other name you may find suitable, but changes are more often saddening than the ones bringing happiness. Lets take some examples.

You are sitting next to a friend. You are enjoying his/her company. You are thinking that you are so lucky to have a friend like this. The next day when you meet that person, you discover that the person is going away for some reason or the other to a far of place. Probably, you may be meeting that person for the last time. You do not know if you will ever have a chance to meet again. You tend to think of hindi songs which say that people come and go in your life. But life must move on. You tend to think about the new friends you are going to meet in the years to come. Will they be as friendly as this one?? You are holding the hand for the last time. Your friend is getting late. Time has almost stopped. You see a hand waving at you. You hope that you were not there to see your friend depart. You should have had a fight so that separation was not so depressing.

Lets look at a brighter aspect now. You come to office, suddenly you hear that you have been transfered to New York. You are so happy. You will get to live in New York!!!! Can you believe it???? Now, lets see some other aspects. You will have to packup all things here. You will have to plan your journey. You are worried about the place i.e. if it would be suitable for you. How will you manage to adjust there?

Now for the bottom line. Changes come and go. They make you happy and they make you sad. But without them life will be bovine. Trust me. Someday, you will be able to understand why have God inflicted so many changes. Now, as the mood is a little melancholy, let me end this blog with a song.

"Kya kahoon, duniya ne kiya, mujh se kaisa bair
Hukam tha, main jiyun, lekin tere baghair
Naadaan hai woh, kehte hain jo, mere liye tum ho gair
Kitne sitam, hampe sanam, logon ne kiye
Dil mein magar, jalte rahe, chaahat ke diye
Tere liye, tere liye"

2005-10-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

LOVE STORY

        Enough of fundas for now. As u must be knowing, the link says stories 'n' fundas. But where is the story part yaar...... The last blog was a bit too serious. To balance out things, let me tell you a story. A story about true love........Hey, hey, u people. Don't jump to conclusions so soon. By this time, u must be knowing that every blog of mine has a hidden meaning. So, fasten your seat belts. Here we go..........
        This story takes place in a small place called Kahalgaon in Bihar. Its a village with a thermal power plant. So, some may call it a town as well. A nice place with a lot of beautiful sceneries. Now, the question is what was I doing there!! I had gone there for my summer training program during my engineering studies. I stayed at a guest house in town. Everyday, I had to walk 1 hour to reach the plant. So, if you consider that I came back to have my lunch, you can easily calculate that I walked 4 hours each day. God!! Who needs a gym with some much walking each day!!! Being an industrial area, outside vehicles had to be registered beforehand; which was a long procedure.
        My day started at around 8 am and finished by 6 pm. Every morning, my breakfast was usually a packet of chips and some cake. U people must be thinking where is the love part. Relax guys...... On a particular day during my training program, I had to report to Mr. Sinha. He was a nice guy who was concerned with the exhaust area. We had a discussion on the plant in his room. Then, went out into the plant. He showed me a lot of things like turbine bearings etc.
        The sun was scorching hot and I did not have my breakfast that day. After about half an hr. of studies, I felt that I am going into deep sleep. I told him that I am not feeling well. The next thing I know was that I was lying on the ground with a lot of people around me. Ya, I had fainted. The culprit must have been the empty stomach, I thought. What to do now?? I did't even have a local guardian. In the mean time, Mr. Sinha took me in his arms and went to his office. There after some time, he said that I should take some rest. Mr. Sinha took me to his home in his car. There, I slept for about 3 hours. On waking up, I saw that he was back from office. He had a wonderful family. I felt as if I have gone back to my home.
        Later in the day, I came to know that he lived with his wife and two sons. They were "Neel" and "Deep". (Ya, the names seem so similar to Jhankar Beats characters). They were in primary school. In the evening, Mr. Sinha dropped me to my guest house.
        The next day, being a holiday, I decided to spend the day with my new found friends. Mr. Sinha's wife insisted on calling her didi as she had a brother of my age. The kids were asked to call me "uncle" (Uncle!!!!) but they called me bhaiya :-). That day was the best spent day of my stay in kahalgaon. We played many games, went on a walk around the plant, chatted about my work. By the end of the day, they had become almost a part of my family. In the evening, we went to the club where we had dinner. I was feeling a bit embarrassed. How great a person was Mr. Sinha. I only thing we had in common was that we both were bongs. That day, what would have happened to me if he had not helped me. He had come as a real angel. God had come to me in the form of an angel. What did he know of me? Just that I was a human being who needed help. Isn't this a true love story!!! A love for humanity.
        In the end, he dropped me at my place. Soon, my training was over and I was to leave in a couple of days. I went to their place with some chocolates for my nephews/brothers (whatever u may say). I left the place with a heavy heart. I had found true love. Love......which does not apply reason for its actions. It is driven purely by heart. This story of mine is a tribute to the great man who helped me in my time of need. Sir, if you are reading this blog, please contact me. I owe you one............
"Do to others as you want others to do to you"

2005-10-19T13:18:00.000-07:00

LIFE

Let us talk about life today. Sometimes I begin to wonder what is life? Why am I living? Why am I on this earth? Has GOD put me here for a special purpose or its just sheer turn of events which resulted in the creation of myself. Life is as mysterious as living. Some say that the chief aim of life is moksha. Others say its reproduction. Some even say that some lifes are there to help others live better. The more people you ask, the more variety of comments you will get.

Lets put life in a brighter perspective. Life is there to be lived. Now the question comes, how can you define a life as a nicely lived one. Various people may have various points on this topic. I leave this to the comments on this blog. Talking about what I believe, I believe that Life is supposed to be fun. Now how do you define fun. It is anything which you like to do. For some movies are fun. For others, travelling or spending time with loved ones is fun. It can be just anything.

It is written in Bhagwad Gita that One should go on doing ones work without worrying about the result. This phrase seemed very wierd to me from childhood. How can anyone keep on doing the work without a fixed goal or purpose. It can be taken in another way that one can do anything without caring about the consequences of his work. These are just interpretations of an immature mind. If we go deep into the meaning of the phrase, we find that it has much more hidden in it that what can be seen superficially. It shows us the path to happiness. It says that the goal we reach is of little consequence as we will be there only for a short time before moving onwards towards the next goal. We spend most of the time trying to achieve these goals. So, life is comprised not of goals but of paths we take to reach them. Thus we should not care about what we are getting but how we are getting. This reminds me of another phrase. "Alls well that ends well". No, I am not talking about the end of life but about the end of the goals in life.

Ever seen a little child crying. Ever seen a bitch feeding its little ones. Ever seen a monkey removing insects from the skins of its family members. Ever seen a herd of elephants protecting the members of its herd from carnivores. Ever seen a coolie lifting loads on his head to make his and his family's two ends meet. These are all different aspects of life. Life gives you hardships and sweet moments. It is upto you how you view each event and react to it.

Sometimes it feels as if there is nothing as happiness in life. This may be true to some aspect but this is because the person concerned is not letting happiness into his life. There is nothing as darkness. The absence of light is darkness. The same funda applies to heat and coldness. Similarly, when we view life in this prospect, we see that the absence of happiness is sadness. So, if you keep happiness at a hands distance from yourself, you will definitely feel sad.

So, the question comes what should we do about it. I think that we should do what we want to do as long as it does not become the element of sadness for another being. If you wanna dance, dance like no one is watching you. If you wanna sing, sing like you have the greatest voice in the world. I like to write blogs. So, I am writing this blog....not caring if you are getting bored reading this stuff. It is all a matter of option. If you like reading it, just read it. If you don't, close the window or else put some suggestion on my writing and the other philosophical topics I should touch upon.

And as usual, to end with a quote.... The quote must have something to do with life. Cannot think of one fast. Hmmm..... Let me think. Yes!!! Got it.

"Har pal yahan, jee bhar jiyo

Jo hai samaa, Kal ho na ho"

(Live every moment to the fullest,

Who knows what tomorrow may bring)

2005-10-17T22:20:00.000-07:00

       A big hello to the world of Blogging. Here I am, writing my first blog. Just can't decide on the topic. What should I write. Should it be fundas....as indicated by the topic, or should it be my present state of mind. Or may be something altogether different. I am just so much confused. Anyway, lets get on with the job.
       I will write about the present. I am a young guy, working for an MNC, far from home, getting a so-so salary. Two of my passions are girls and comps. Hey people....it is not so as it seems. They really are passions of almost all guys around me. Moving forward, I am all alone in my cubicle, waiting for my friends with whom I will be going home. There is no one......absolutely no one around for cubicles away. If I stop typing for a moment, I may hear a mouse scroll and a telecon going on at a distance. Someone is speaking in an american accent. Must be a client. I tend to think that we change our timings to suit our clients. Do they ever do so for us? Why should they??? Here, they are the client and we the service providers.........Just a thought came to my mind that at this time, I could have watched TV or did some study if I were at home. Lonely me. Poor me. Having almost the worst times of my life. Almost......things are getting better now slowly and steadily. When I look back, I see a storm passing by me. Thank GOD for helping me face this storm.
       I have heard man-a-times that the more we tackle hardships, the stronger we become. But sometimes I think that what is the use of being so strong if we have to face hardships all our lives. We will the time come to cash in. In hindi, we may say "Mera number kab aayega...". The answer does not lie anywhere but inside your own heart. I do not know what your heard says, but mine says "Very Soon".
       I have written quite a lot till now. So, if you are still reading, I consider myself to be an ameteur writer. Now while ending this blog, lets put a comment out of the blue. This is the cutest comment I have ever heard from a girl.....not one that I know.....just while walking on the road.

"Cute, ye cute kya hota hai.........

.......koi mujhe beautiful kyon nahin kahta"