WhEn GoInG GeTs ToUgH, ToUgH GoEs FoR a CoFFee BrEaK.

How simple & uncomplicated sentence which says it all, Why to take things so seriously in life that by the time we make life uncomplicated we are serious(ly) ill or suffering or just fighting to stay fit. Now isn’t that a thing so boring to think?

Yeah, thought of why not write something easy & meaningful. I know one has got to struggle in life, to dream & then to live those dreams. Oh! you know while writing this what came to my mind just now, Saif Ali Khan from the movie HumTum, saying “Ye Zindagi bahut badi hai aur hamare paas time bahut kam”. Bingo! Incidentally, we all agree to this but we keep forgetting the first half and keep struggling on the later part. Don’t you think it’s been a while & you should have some fun may be a recreation trip, a get together, a novel, a trip with friends or may be something just like that!

The title of this article is been picked from the status message of a friend, guess he must have kept it on an obvious situation at work. But it clicks; I mean there is nothing wrong. Do we actually remember about the last time when we were just ourselves, out of the mad rush of money, status & making a place? I know it’s easier said then done but the point here is how many acknowledge this loss and at least make an attempt towards this. Very few and most of them understand, acknowledge & then get back to work.

Have been reading a lot lately and from no where this thing came to mind, that it’s important & good to realize that making it to it is not everything in life. Living up to it is life. We have been watching our previous generations, getting on the job, reaching a point, saving and settling their kids and then they feel they are done, when their body & stamina tells them its done too and let me bring this here – that their lifestyles were far better then ours so we are more prone to risks and need to be careful.

I don’t say one should stop dreaming. Only point I am trying to make here is realize the hardships to attain those dreams and let there be no cost attached. I remember reading somewhere, ‘Its better to live rich then to die rich’ and I solely agree to it, one must live rich in terms of money, health, attitude & values because that’s what makes a difference. Rich pockets are an important ingredient of a good life but they do not essentially assure a rich life.

Recently was watching one of the SRK’s interview, and when asked about his fitness, he snapped I have been thinking better- thinking positve. Even if one can’t think good things about a certain issue, one must not let the bad things too. Yet again an easy task to do! All one needs is to drain out the negative thoughts, the uneasiness of life goes away with that, try to feel healthy & make an attempt. Think you are happy & make an attempt. Have a routine, have priorities in life and ignore the unnecessary stress and above all keep smiling, yeah always!

Enjoy the Coffee!!

My Experience - Khublei Shillong

Cntd...Picture this...my previous post..

When we are excited, there is a danger that things might turn a little wrong. Exactly, the same way I began my journey. First we went to the bus stand and realized the bus I have got my tickets booked will go from another one, i.e. some 7 kms away. Bingo! We had to rush and we could make it on time. Then while on my way to Delhi, we got stuck into a huge traffic jam. Yeah we were at a standstill for 5 hours and I could hear my fellow passengers canceling their air tickets and some even smiling (though it was tough for them). Of course I was nervous, wondering what next? I called up Rohit to check, whether I too should cancel my tickets – Halo effect I believe! But then as always, he told me to keep some patience. I remember by then I had even asked my neighbor the procedure to cancel my tickets :-

Anyways, I reached the Delhi Bus Stand at around 8.45 am (btw my flight time was 11.20am) and I rushed to home, got ready and rushed again. Thanks to my friend who was there on time to accompany me till the airport and it was fine because I was busy talking then looking at my watch again & again. And believe me having breakfast in the auto is not that bad. Finally I was there at terminal 1 at 10.50am. Huh! I was actually going to Shillong :-). The flight was smooth and nice and we din’t faced much of air-traffic. I reached Guwahati in the afternoon and I was at Shillong at 6pm. It was a beautiful journey but by this time very-very tiring. It was a warm welcome and I was pleased to be there. I stayed in one of the guest faculty apartment. It was a nice and cozy apartment and I was really happy.

One of my students of CRM came around 8pm to take me to the IIM Shillong mess for dinner. We had some healthy discussions at the dinner table and I was escorted back to my apartment. Next morning, we had a quick meeting with Col. Biswas who had taken the initiative for SERM course from Assam Rifles. I thank him for he arranged a vehicle for sight scene in and around Shillong. Believe me, it’s a beautiful place. I am sure I know why was called ‘The Scotland of East’ few years back. One of the interesting things I learned about Shillong was about ‘quawaye’ – a Pan leaf with lime soda powder which we refer to as ‘chuna’ in common parlance, is one of the main serving with tea or a gesture of respect to your visitors. On enquiring I found that, at times when poverty ruled the households, the locals over there decided that a person, who is not economically sound to serve delicacies to the guests, can serve ‘quawaye’ with tea as a sign of respect and thankfulness. Interesting & nice concept it is, also a tradition of the common households of Shillong.

I also did some mystery shopping, as that was my plan for the session I had prepared. I had to give my audience some local & relevant examples. I knew those examples would even help them in doing right comparative study.

Now coming to the sessions, they were good and I am sure I could make them interesting as well as interactive. I can say so because my session got stretched from 2 to 3 hours and they were still ready to sit. I was overwhelmed and thankful to all of them. I hope to get even more such chances to help people understand things better.

Lastly, I learned a beautiful word – Khublei meaning, thank you. And with that I decide to wrap up this journey through the memory lane.

Khublei Shillong :-)

"Picture this: Jigyasa teaching Retail Marketing at IIM Shillong"

"Picture this: Jigyasa teaching Retail Marketing at IIM Shillong "
Difficult na ... i also thought so .. untill recently ...

People say that a keen interest and willingness to learn takes you to places. Plus, persistence and eagerness to learn is the key to keep us keep going. Also the past activities bring the effect to them in future – sooner or later.

Well, I guess God considered all the above aspects and when he decided the above mentioned role for me. Yes, I was there for taking two sessions as a part of the corporate lecture series of their Accelerated Learning Program. I was so glad and wanted to give my best shot. It took me few days to believe that I am finally going and have lots to do in terms of the requisites of a proper corporate lecture. Since, my motto was to design a very interesting & interactive session with lots of examples.

Opportunity & a U-turn

Life doesn’t offer a second chance to everyone. I hope you agree to this and eventually I too had the same thing in my mind while preparing through the opportunity after the tiring day at work. Plus, I got a sprain K , God keeps checking his children on their tolerance & persistence. I somehow managed and by the time I was done with 75%of the subject provided to me, it got a U-turn. Ah! They changed the topic!! Incidentally, it was Retail, the one I am always ready to talk & learn for. But it was no pancake; I needed a proper flow, implementation tools etc. I remember I was quite panicky but slowly I collected my positive attitude & energy to go ahead.

Preparation

This was not so tough but demanding in terms of timelines, may be too tough with office and it’s ever increasing issues. I started slow and was trying to excel. I started with a blueprint of the plan, then did some data collection and in 3 days I realized, there is no stop to reading good stuff, so one fine day I decided to stick with the data I had till that day, my job was to get that in good shape & size – to make it more interesting, to bank it with more, relevant examples. I must say, it was too much of reading & observations in detail. I was excited and had to put that excitement onto my slides & hand-outs. By this time I had decided that I will be covering the “Emerging Trends” in retail industry, largely the
Retail Formats,
Visual Strategy & POP – as the face of retail,
Private Labels &
Mall Management in detail.

Now once I was on the job, slowly my concern was the time period allotted per session; I wanted to discuss too many things. That shows – I was gaining confidence. Well, I thought so!

About the entire experience at IIM, you will have to come back and read my next post…..but before I sign off….let me thank my Prof. who chose me for the reason, my friend Hemant for some critical inputs & timely help and my better half Rohit for helping me in domestic chores and then with the preparation. These two people actually made the whole thing like a project work for me. Of course a critical one ;-)

There is more to life then increasing its speed.

This is just an e-mail I recieved but its surely worth a read. Despite some practical truths!!!

A tourist complimented the fisherman in Goa on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took him to catch them.

'Not very long,' answered the fisherman.

'But then, why didn't you stay out longer and catch more?' asked the tourist. The fisherman explained that his small catch was sufficient to meet his needs and those of his family.

The tourist asked, 'But what do you do with the rest of your time?''I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, and take a siesta with my wife. In the evenings, I go into the village to see my friends, play guitar, sing a few songs... I have a full life.'

The tourist interrupted, 'I have an MBA, and I can help you! You should start by fishing longer every day. You can then sell the extra fish you catch. With the extra revenue, you can buy a bigger boat.'

'And after that?' asked the fisherman.

'With the extra money the larger boat will bring, you can buy a second one and a third one and so on until you have an entire fleet of trawlers. Instead of selling your fish to a middle man, you can then negotiate directly with the processing plants and maybe even open your own plant. You can then leave this little village and move to Mumbai. From there you can direct your huge new enterprise.'

'How long would that take?' asked the fisherman.

'Twenty, perhaps twenty-five years,' replied the tourist. 'And after that?' 'Afterwards? Well my Friend, That's when it gets really interesting,' chuckled the tourist, 'When your business gets really big, you can start selling stocks and make millions!''

Millions? Really? And after that?' asked the fisherman.

'After that you'll be able to retire, live in a tiny village near the coast, sleep late, play with your children, catch a few fish, take a siesta with your wife and spend your evenings doing what you like with your buddies.'

'With all due respect sir, but that's exactly what I am doing now. So what's the point wasting 25 years?' asked the fisherman. Know where you're going in life. You may already be there. Life in the present world is indeed a rat race. Many do not know where they are going in life.

-- Words & Hearts should be handled with care. Because words when spoken and hearts when broken are the hardest to repair.

Mein Jigyasa...!!!!

Mein Jigyasa

Mein jigyasa
Sochu apni paribhasha
Kuch sehmi, kabhie nidarr
Kabhi nathkhat, kabhie niraash
Pairon mein zanzeerien par sapna mera chand ke paar,

Aaj khush hun….to jee jaungi..
Kal dukhi to….toot jaungi..
Chahun na koi sahara…samjhu khud ko besahara
Koi shaq nahi khud par…Shaq karti hun mein kismat par…
Udne ko parr failayun….aur hawa ke rukh ko badla paun…
Aasan manzil ho jati hai mushkil….
Jaane jeekar kya ho haasil..
Khushi se jeene ki har koshish…
Upri haansi aur andar kashish…

Chahun sabko hasta paun….
Kayi baar chahe apni khushi gawaun….
Rakhna sabko khush na paun….
Is dukh se phir bikhar mein jaun…
Kuch na kehkar mein gussa dikhaun….
Gar keh bhi du to khud ko akela mein paun..
Seham kar zindagi se; chup ho jaun…
Aur phir jeene ki alakh jagaun…

Mein jigyasa
Sochu apni paribhasha…
Khud mein khud ko dhoondti hun…
Mein murjhayein phoolon ko bhi umeed se soongti hun..
Hansti hun choti si baat par…
Kisi aur ka dukh dekhkar ro deti hun…
Kehti phirun mein sabse….khud jee sakti hun
Sab hote hai sang mere….
Lekin, akele mein khud ko mein tanha paun
Aur is tanhayi ke liye kuch kar na paun..
Thak kar apni in baton se….
Mein phir se khud ko samjhaun…
Khush rehne ki alakh jagaun
Aaankhein moond apni khushiyon ki
Muskaan liye sapno ki duniya mein kho jaun


Mein Jigyasa
Sochu apni paribhasha.......:-)

The Culture, Contempt & Helplessness

Yesterday a quick interaction with a friend made me think hard on our discussion. I was at work, I met the deadlines and finished my days work but at the back of my mind these thoughts were on like the background music score. I had decided that I am going to blog it, once I reach home. And then from last 2-3 hours, I was thinking for the apt title, it has got to convey the message or at least trigger the visitor to read and react to it. Because its everywhere, we have all faced it but just ignored it, may be!

We were just talking about a usual boss-colleague interaction and suddenly my friend

R said: “He was flirting, girl”

Response: Let him flirt then, how it affects me

R: But tell me, does it happens with all girls out there?

Response: Depends if the boss is like that, you get to realize that he/she is flirting

R: But I sometimes wonder, in sometime even I will marry a girl who will be a working professional by all ways, will she be facing the similar things? I wonder….huh

Response: Well might be, but that’s completely fine till the girl can handle such things, stays dignified and confident. I think nothing can go wrong that ways. And in extreme cases, one always chooses to quit.

R: But you know, we men especially Indians, know about the world out there, and feel helpless at times. Basically we want to protect our partner from all such things but then why to take the liberty to work from someone who is not at all wrong.

Response: Till the time one is confident about his/her partner, I don’t see a reason to feel contempt about this, because else one will have to change the world which is not as easy as said.

Well, on this note…….we could reach on a conclusion that what we are discussing exists, needs to be corrected or not – I am not so sure about that, but there is absolutely no need to feel helpless about it. I realized that it’s our culture and the values, we have grown up with, the contempt because we would love to be righteous which we know is practically not feasible and helplessness, because we let our self feel helpless for the entire thing, despite knowing the fact that we shall not let this affect us.

I don’t know if I have conveyed the concern rightly but it kept on hovering over my head, that if it is actually a feeling that raise contempt in the minds of Indian men. I don’t see any such thing, because its everywhere. And I believe a girl who takes a stand to move out in that world is well aware, careful and all set.

As for those who feel contempt and helpless, I have a saying I took from R only,

“We cannot direct the wind... but we can adjust the sails.” And I am wondering, we can try to fight them at least!!!

TAGGED OnCe AgAiN :-|

TAGGED - By VS again!!!
This is the Immediate Response to the Tag VS, I hope no complaints now!!

The extra mug of beer....
Na na na na re re.......

The weather here:
Dekho zara dekho boondon ki ladi.....

Waiting for someone:
Nahi saamne ye alag baat hai...
Mere paas hai tu....mere paas hai...
Mere saath hai!!

Life:
Jaane kya dhoondta hai ye mera dil.......tujhko kya chahiye zindagi!!

Just for you:
Koi kahe kehta rahe...kitna bhi humko deewana

Love of my life:
Kabhi neem- neem, kabhi shahad shahad......

Me and O3:
Hans ke tu dekh to ek baar....khud hi aa jayegi bahar!!

Main aur meri tanhayii:
Tanha dil...tanha safar, dhoonde tujhe phir kyun nazar

Some Plans:
Chand taare tod lauun......

My Scooty:(Gaddi)
I walk a lonely road..thats the only main I walk alone!!

This second mug of beer :
No ways!!!

Right now:
So ja....so ja chandni, chand sitare so gaye!!!
Arey bhai........kal office jana hai!!!

Obsolete Dreams.

I am sure you are wondering about the dreams and how they could be obsolete? But its not just a thought, actually this is something which is been hovering over my head from quite few days. Dreams do become obsolete as life grows faster then us.

Yes, this could be said that it’s the impact of few negative thoughts but then it’s a practical truth as well. Agreed or not?

Many a times life introduces such curves and cuts, that one has to take up a different direction. I still deny the death of a dream. Dreams never die; they simply become obsolete. Life keeps on growing at its pace and we grow with life. And this growth makes us leave our dreams and live as per the hour. Time is bigger then everything – I used to argue on this but recently certain incidents made me believe this. One more reason could be change is priorities of life. Now this could be on account of marriage, a death in a family, an illness, an accident, an unexpected responsibility etc. Sometimes it’s just an incident, an observation which changes the way one thinks and that too can leave certain obsolete dreams.

I always used to tell my friends, you never know. And that truly stands right. But dreams give us hope and make the chase interesting, so one should not stop dreaming. But then yes, dreams turn obsolete. I firmly believe that. They don’t die they become obsolete. The end of one dream make you live for another. Chase should always be there or theirs will be just dreams. The Obsolete Dreams.

Change....The only Constant!!!

Change..........is the only thing constant. I am sure you know this but still I felt like writing about this. May be how and when I realised this made a difference to me. Anyways being a taurean..... I dont like changes at all. Being a true taurean I get adapted to them. What I was thinking is this......that no matter how much we are in love with things, with people, with circumstances.....they are ought to change......because thats the only constant. It might be a contradictory thing to say but it happens. And sometimes changes are expected ones but most of the times they are unexpected and sudden. But being so much into the routine life............no one prefers them......because we become used to of our scheduled mechanized life and suddenly the system need change, the technology (present life) becomes obsolete and presses us to move on...........leaving the existing one aside..........I dont have anything specific in my mind as of now but there had been many such instances that made me realise....that change is one thing which can happen anytime with anybody........so we should learn to adapt to them instead of panic. It can be the little one like change in plans of a meeting, change in holiday plans, movie of anything like that.........it can be change in the technology...........or system.........anything but most of the times.................its disturbing and even if it is not we take it that way................and later we realise the actual effect...................good or bad......!!!!!!
It happens naturally also............and sometimes by choice. I have seen people adapting themselves thinking that its for better but actually their innerself never agrees to that. Sometimes its about people......thats very complicated because its easy to adapt to new machines thats materialistic......... but change in people and change in circumstances need inner strength to cope with and overcome. Your brain says that things are changed and you need to move on with them but your heart doesnt allows so..........and thats when the conflict comes......but whatever is the case that will happen what is ought to.....and fighting with innerself and increasing troubles will cause harm to oneself only so the faster we understand and introspect the easier it becomes.......because when the change happens in our life we prefer not to discuss anyways it doesnt makes a difference to others because its us who are effected.....so introspection and understanding is the key to adaptation and then we know that Life moves on.........and the show must go on.......!!!!

30 ka Chakkar from Chakks...

This tag came up from dear Chakoli... and so here goes my answers...

1)LAST MOVIE U SAW IN A THEATRE?

Taare Zameen Par…

2)WHAT BOOK ARE U READING?

The Kite Runner - Khalid Hosseini

3)FAVOURITE BOARD GAME?

Not much into games.....

4)FAVOURITE MAGAZINE?

No favorites as such… but I do read Femina, Retailer, 4Ps etc

5)FAVOURITE SMELLS?

- wet earth during the rains

- Sometimes the smell of paints , enamel

- When my mom cooks food.....

- Smell of Johnson & Johnson moisturizer

6)FAVOURITE SOUNDS?

Sound of teeming when it rains…

7)WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?

Fear of loss.....emotional/materialistic ............any

8)WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN U WAKE?

Action Plan......so that I reach office @ time

9)FAVOURITE FASTFOOD PLACE?

Pizza HUT…Pizza Hut & PIZZA HUT ;-)

10)FUTURE CHILDS NAME?

Thats for future......

11)FINISH THIS STATEMENT---'IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I'D'

I would love to live the dreams which look difficult otherwise

12)DO U DRIVE FAST?

I am planning to learn driving..........hehe

13)DO U SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?

No

14)STORMS--COOL OR SCARY?

Situational

15)WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?

My dad had bought a Fiat, I remember!!

16)FAVOURITE DRINK?

Coffee

17)FINISH THIS STATEMENT-IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD

...love to travel more with my family….

18)DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?

Nopes

19)IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY OTHER COLOUR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?

Have tried 4 of them.........natural is better otherwise Copper Brown!!

20)NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS U HAVE LIVED IN?

Bikaner, Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai, Jalandhar, Chandigarh

21)FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH?

Cricket

22)ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?

About Chaks........Blogger gang ki jaan hai!!

23)WHATS UNDER YOUR BED?

Nothing.....just a clean floor.

24)WOULD U LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN??

Surely, a little more stronger though

25)MORNING PERSON OR NIGHT OWL?

Night Owl

26)OVER EASY OR SUNNY SIDE UP?

More of over easy I guess

27)FAVOURITE PLACE TO RELAX?

Home sweet home…

28)FAVOURITE PIE?

French Apple Pie....I miss the one @ Corner House

29)FAVOURITE ICECREAM FLAVOUR?

Choclate, Black Current or Tootie-Frootie

30)OF ALL THE PEOPLE U HAVE TAGGED, WHO IS THE MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?

Almost everyone has taken the tag…

But still I would like the following to take it up:

- Suddentwilight
- Ellen
- Shoooonya
- Manoj
- Lust4life

Life is short, let's not get angry!!

For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Have been pondering since morning, that most of the times it’s our ‘Good Intentions’ that put us into unnecessary problems. Well, most of the times they do. The bad temper is of course the reason of not being able to convey the right thoughts in right approach at the right moment.
Speak when you are angry - and you'll make the best speech you'll ever regret.”
- Dr. Laurence J. Peter quotes
When you think of good, ought to take a right step, suddenly something irritates you and the good become a thing of past. Emotions overflow (read: explode) and here you are, already a culprit. No matter, what your intentions were. Your anger made you lost the beauty of that moment, that hour, that evening, that day or may be more. And we end up loosing the opportunity to smile, to laugh, to hug and some moments to cherish, may be.

I have been coming across many presentations, articles and discussions on Anger Management but then do they really help us in someway? I was thinking that any therapy of this kind is more mental then medicinal. If one thinks one can control oneself, he/she surely can. But when one doesn’t even try to understand and denies listening to the other person the problem increases. People get angry on petty differences of opinion, view, choices etc.
When anger rises, think of the consequences”
- Confucius
Worst is when that a situation is stretched and stretched for a longer time period. We forget to realize that, to show 1 minute of anger we are loosing 60 seconds of happiness. And this 2 digit number makes a better impact. Anger is also a cause of stress, high blood pressure etc which again gives more moments of panic and suffering. Where as, if we plan to sort out the differences in the soonest possible time and get ready for more smiles, life will be easier. All one needs is acceptance & patience.
“Anger will never disappear so long as thoughts of resentment are cherished in the mind. Anger will disappear just as soon as thoughts of resentment are forgotten.”
- Buddha

Nothing is serious!!!!

Life a bed of roses. Having read a post by Ellen today morning, I have been wondering that Life is a bed of roses.

Did you say - not always??? Well it is indeed.

I liked saying that, as it leave me with a positive note. And otherwise also I hate myself for being negative at times when Life pushes me too much.
Life is a bed of roses. Only the color of roses keep changing. Remember, Roses are in white, pink, yellow, orange and red color. But don’t you miss the Black Rose. Similarly, life has got different colors and the situations & circumstances keep on giving it one and another shade thereafter. And then roses have horns too. That could be taken as a life’s decision to push one so hard that ultimately one bleeds.

I remember a brief conversation here, when I had asked about the well being of a friend and since its so recent, that my thoughts flew in that very direction when I pondered about Life & Roses.

Me: Hey how are you? You look sad. Is everything fine. I hope nothing is serious.
Friend: nothing serious......its just a change which is sometimes undesirable, expectations unmet and some general things giving a feeling of disrespect to myself, sometimes a little guilt and sometimes too many tears in my eyes confuse me about my existence.
But don’t you worry. Nothing is serious.

Now I am not worried, its just that I could not reach to an answer as to, how a rock solid person like my friend could end up fighting tears. A person so strong, tough headed, so learnt from life not to get welled up easily and now struggling to fight her own tears. This raises a question to me. Even though, I am told that she is determined to be happy (she says determined, not destined) I still feel some loss for this. Because some loss has happened to a person, to a soul, to someone’s respect and to someone’s trust. Also I have a feeling that may be she is taking it just too seriously and she doesn’t needs to. May be its because almost everybody feels that way.

People tend to take it so normally as nothing has happened. People don’t feel bad because they are used to of changes, yes I mean the undesired changes. They do not know the words dreams and expectations for their own self, they believe that its their duty to live up to the expectations & dreams of their surroundings and they are fine spending (did you read wasting) a life for this. Now still what is itching me here is, a strong headed, self-motivated, almost self-earned person is telling me that I pray to god for peace or to rest in peace. I did see tears in her eyes!

People who are change averse face this kind of a situation. I will be wrong to say this. I guess it happens when a self-driven person who has learned this art after too much of effort is been told to hand over the steering of life in someone else’s hands. And even then, is required to be a silent observer all through the ride.

I don’t know. I am myself trying to find out all these answers for my friend. I want her to be happy as always. She is my best friend who I always relied. I want her to be a free-spirit again.

I wish her more smiles. Amen!

Tag of Eight....:-)

Tagged by Kaua.....Thanks to her for so sweetly she left a sweet reminder on the review panel....

Eight things I am passionate about

1. Writing....I wish to improve myself each day
2. Movies....
3. Fun-outings.....even if it is window shopping I am fine...
4. My home.....has to be organised (I dint say my room ;-))
5. Travelling... I truly enjoyed exploring new places whichever I have till date
6. Pranks.........I love teasing 'few' friends till they say please.... to me
7. Long Drives - Be it a bike ride or a car......
8. Music & Dancing (Though I am not gr8 at it....)

Eight things I want to do before I die

1. Learn Salsa...
2. Go for a world tour with my hubby.....even if its @ d age of 60
3. To be successful in the world of brands & marcomm
4. To join an NGO and to take charge of an unprivileged child (a girl child)
5. To be an established writer....
6. Buy my own car and to gift one to my hubby
7. To see my l'll brother taking my Dad's business to gr8ter heights
8. Have a coffee with Madhuri, Kajol, Barkha Dutt, Prasoon Joshi.......arey it can be a get together also.....

Eight things I say often

1. Too much
2. O really
3. Shut-up
4. Not fair
5. You never know!
6. Keep Smiling
7. Gawwd...
8. Hello...

Eight books I've read recently

Have been irregular from quite some time but anyways....
1. Doctor Zhivago
2. A book on Advertising
3. Somewhat read, The Golden Gate
4. I think it was, Screw it - Lets do it!! Lessons of Life from Richard Branson
5. The Class
6. Blue Ocean Strategy
Now I dont remember the sequence, currently reading The Fountain Head!!! Did try Robin Sharma in between ........seems like I am more of a self-motivated soul..

Eight songs I could listen to, over and over

1. Nahi Saamne .............from Taal
2. Na tum hamein jano......
3. Boulevard of Broken Dreams.......Greenday
4. Jaane kya chahe man banwara.....Pyar ke side effects
5. In dino ...............Life in a metro
6. Tum pukar lo ...........Khamoshi (the B/W one)
7. You are beautiful.....James Blunt
8. If you really......Bryan Adams
Guess we could have an 80 tag for this....

Eight things that attracts me to my best friends

1. Same mental pedestal
2. Jovial
3. Good listening skills......my best friends say so!!!
4. No gender biased attitude
5. Caring
6. Honesty...could be read Straightforward
7. No double standards
8. Respect humanity, before any class, religion etc.

People I think should do this tag

1. Lusty aka Lust4Life
2. Suddentwilight aka Paro
3. Shoooonya
4. Manoj
5. Ellen

Keep Smiling!!!

Lessons Life taught...

1. I have learnt that running from life isn’t a solution, it only makes you breathe heavy in the long run.

2. I have learnt that life is just too complicated, even at times when I think its not.

3. I have learnt life is so simple, mostly on the celluloid.

4. I have learnt money & not life becomes the sole motive for everything we do.

5. I have learnt dreams are good only if they are realistic.

6. I have learnt sometimes it’s a stranger we need for help then a friend or relative.

7. I have learnt ‘words of wisdom’ could be reached anytime, anywhere from anyone.

8. I have learnt books are actually the best friends, for they are always in our reach. And they never leave us too.

9. I have learnt education grooms us into a better person, but it has got too many side effects.

10. I have learnt not everything could be left on others, just to make them happy. You have got to think for yourself.

11. I have learnt that at the end of the day, I am myself is my best friend.

12. I have learnt that sometimes you have got to trust your instinct. Only thing is you should not ignore the doubts.

13. I have learnt one should have priorities but don’t let a person become your priority.

14. I have learnt all I need at times is ‘Solitude’, to get the peace of mind.

15. I have learnt if I smile at myself in the morning it becomes easy to smile during the long day.

Life goes on….and so does its lessons!!!

Keep Faith - Keep Smiling :-)

Obsession called NRI

Alas, I am here for writing about this phenomenon or anomaly which I found highly irritating at times. Recently, life brought me to one of the most developed and advanced (read pompous) state of our country, popularly known as Punjab. And this is what I see here, Mr. A’s daughter is not very well educated, she cannot frame general English, she isn’t aware what fluency is? But her long cherished dream is to fly abroad even if it’s through her marriage. The children are brought up with a dream to fly abroad to be rich and if they couldn’t manage to get a visa, marriage is the visa fro them.

People have only one dream for their children, i.e. to fly abroad and to get settled over there, no matter its education or a bribe, the ultimate goal is to settle in a foreign nation. But, but they never skip from making it clear that there spices in the kitchen, utensils, clothes, slippers, oil, toothbrush etc blah-blah and even wives have to be Indian. With some is the cost factor involved and with others the culture. There are rules devised for the family members which could be loosened or broken when an NRI relative visits them. Surprised! O man, understand he/she is from Canada/US, New Zealand or whatever…

The show & pompous which this status brings in is again magnificent. There has to be a Limousine arranged to pick up the NRI from airport. No less then that, a car will work. You can easily see the difference in a Indian –dressed casually depicting the westernized impact on our population and a Non-Resident Indian dressed in a ………..oh m wordless…ok lets say, dressed in a way depicting a fine (no that’s too good a word) fusion of desi (local) and pardesi (foreign resident) culture.

Though I am glad that the educated lot did realized the upswing in Indian economy and has now started considering Hyderabad, New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai, Chandigarh etc in place of Canada, US, New Zealand. Having been stayed in metro’s and cosmopolitan cities around the nation, I have seen the development happening in terms of jobs, careers and education and also the reverse brain drain but after coming here it seems like many in the state are still unaware of all this. For them it’s only abroad where they will find a rich, classy (they have a different definition of class) life. And to that also, I got to learn a sad fact that many of these, who parade their richness and NRI status in the home country are actually doing the laborious jobs there. And then I felt sad and also helpless about the misconceptions people are getting carried away with. Its purely illiteracy, ignorance and lust to get a status (rather) tag of NRI.

What’s disheartening is people do this just for the sake of tag, class and quick money. Its disgusting that this also fetches a bad name to those who reach there out of education, qualification and quality. Those who still let the dream of coming back to home country flourish deep inside their heart. Those who believe in doing good for the nation despite being staying far away. And those who just want to earn a status tag called NRI.

Intransigence

Intransigence is all what a person needs most to live. When I say ‘to live’, I mean not to be ‘undead’. One has to understand that the priority always should be ‘To have a happy oneself’. If one is not happy from inside, he/she can’t be a better sibling, a better partner, a better child, a better professional or even a better person.

Intransigence is something which never lets you feel low, feel inferior and feel forced. I know, the word may sound derogatory at times, but the word is powerful as it tells us to withstand to self beliefs and values.

Imperfections are good when one needs to know the weaknesses and realizing the imperfections becomes the strength. But before that one needs to find out the problem, sometimes unnecessary problems occur when we start underestimating ourselves under the influence of others. That time what helps is self-talk. This could be done if one practices what Lucille Ball once said,

I have an everyday religion that works for me. Love yourself first, and everything else falls into line.

I have always been saying in my previous posts (On, http://o3.indiatimes.com/learnwithtaurian) that, Love is a misused word. I still go by that. In a relationship, many a time love is just not enough. A relationship needs things which are beyond love. No, I am not saying ‘Devotion’, in the practical world, nobody expects that actually. It’s more of give 'n' take these days. You respect someone- you deserve respect. You love someone – you expect love and if you care- you need to be cared too.

Changes occur and few of them are inevitable. What matters here is, that one needs to appreciate the conscious/unconscious changes which life brings in, and most of the times these changes force one to change the life philosophies and if one is not able to do so, that signifies that life is loosing the purpose or may be the person starts loosing the purpose of his/her existence. This is the time one needs to be candid, plain, one needs to be Intransigent.

In short, as Janis Joplin once said, “Don’t compromise yourself. You are all you've got.”

And remember, Joseph Campbell’s words, “Your sacred space is where you can find yourself again and again.”

Keep Faith, Keep Smiling!

Waiting for someone..!

Waiting for someone…

Kehte hain intezaar mein bhi maza hai? How it feels like waiting for someone? Is it really fun or just an itchy & irritating feeling that not only spoils your plan but also your mood?

Well, depends on whom are you waiting for, why are you waiting for and in what circumstances are you waiting for. Let’s consider some of the circumstances which we all must have faced sometime or the other.

Waiting for an interview, its like breathing normal, telling ourselves that I am fine, I can do it and then taking a deep sigh, praying, God! I know you are there. Help me present myself more confident than I actually am.

Next could be, waiting for your date at a restaurant or a multiplex. Ah! Sleepy eyes being decked up, looking for someone with a nervous heart making one feel hollow within. Wow! The fear of shoes getting dirty or the hair gel loosing its effect…damn, he/she will be reaching anytime.

What else do we wait for most?

Oh, A Bus or may be a local train, which is the medium of to & fro in our everyday oscillating lives from home to work & vice-versa. This one is little tricky to follow because at some point of time it becomes part of our everyday routine and we just keep following the routine. And when the everyday wait stretches for say more than ten minutes, we start becoming panicky thinking, if we have actually missed the train/bus and going to be late today. But in this process, we make new friends who are called, the train friend, and the bus friend or may be the bus-stop friend.

Hey! Never realized that waiting could be fun too!

What could be more fearsome?

Waiting for exam results, which can be out anytime? Gosh! This is just breathtaking. Came, not now, came, not now. These days, it’s sometimes system failure or power breakdown, the server overloaded or a network jam. And while we wait, the heavy heart takes the toll. At the same time, there is wait to let the previous one get over, because then comes the holidays ;-)

As I said in the beginning, it depends.

Getting on to the emotional side,

Waiting for a life to come, an infant to born, I remember when my cousin had her labor pains, I was waiting outside with a vague feeling, vague because I cant say I was elated as she struggled in pain and neither can I say that I was not curious for each next moment at that time. As I was waiting in the hospital lobby, all lost staring the tiles, suddenly appeared my brother-in-law and gave the news, they were blessed with a baby boy.

Ah! The whole wait comes to life on seeing in front a new life.

Next could be, a bride waiting for her groom. This one could be defined as, an excitement filled doubtful wait. Lot of hopes and lots of worries, a dream of love and various queries, a reception for life and a moment you cherish. Waiting for this moment is just like life, as it gets over, one enters a new life.

Wondering, what made me write so much here about ‘Waiting’, well the wait ends here; as he has come and we got to go now. I was just sitting here waiting for my husband ;-)

In Pursuit of Happiness

What is the single thing which makes us do each thing in life? All I could think of is, it is the Quest for being happy, always. If you agree to this notion, then read ahead.

Be it at work, the studies, the relationship or even the mot weird pranks we play to friends, all have a single goal i.e. happiness, which is been pursued with different names for each, like, fun, growth, serenity, security, financial freedom etc all leads to happiness because somewhere we have defined the parameters of our own happiness. Haven’t we?

In between this flow of thought, I had one more intriguing question, knocking the wall of m brain as – Why am I writing something like this? And here I found the answer, may be I desperately need someone for a long & looked up to tête-à-tête. And as always when I find no-one for this reason, I have this amazing thing called MS-Word and so what if it doesn’t responds; at least, it never stops me in expressing myself. However, it gives me the freedom to talk without any fears, concerns, calculations etc. And right now, all I crave for is to have a rap session with someone who is willing to listen & understand.

Like one of my friend was telling me, last one year my life is been on a roller-coaster and current state of mind says, the new year will be spent in settling with the effects of that. My parents always say, I mean its been 24 years that I am too sensitive and where as my friends feel I am ever-smiling and few who are close to me, understands me as a complicated comprehension. Yes, I agree that I am full of fun and a prankster at times but there are certain issues I am too sensitive for, that include certain people too. Few of them know it well and rest just keep on hurting me now n then.

I want to be a free-spirit.

Yes, that’s the other side. I want to be a free-spirit. I remember when I was struggling in Delhi to get an admission in a good B-school, slowly and slowly I had managed to come out of my fear- ‘of not being able to do something’ and I realized that- ‘I got to do something’ and so life became a little easy. Finally, when I got admission in a B’lore based school, I was all set for new learning, new experience with almost three times more far from my place. It was exciting and I was little doubtful at the same time. For the very reason was going to be all by myself, no friends, and no relatives. Well, that was a tough start but a blissful end. Because by then, I had learned to be myself, to love myself, to be a maverick, I had an opinion worth valuing and I learned to take charge of my actions and my life. (Thanks to the friend who out of irritation told me to do so) Post that I traveled to Mumbai for my job and life was full of wonderful, funny, weird, struggling and learning experiences. I had so much to do and I was all confident for the same. I completely enjoyed being independent. And this all gained confidence to me and my parents were just proud of me. And my siblings were proud to demand more gifts and few more, the last time….which never ended.

Post that, as it’s been said, ‘Life comes a full circle’ and then it marks the beginning of a new circle, someone marked the same for me as well. But being a hopeless optimist, for heaven’s sake, I want to be a ‘free-spirit’.