Resolutions ....

Resolutions ........... well suprising as it is to myself, I have a steely determination to uphold the resolutions I make. This trait is embedded deep within me that I never go back on the words I promise myself. There are hundreds of instances where I have done just that and I still do.

Well I guess all thats changing offlate now. It all started with me deciding to avoid all modes of communication with a certain X. Well i succeeded to a fair degree to isolate myself from X. But X................. I guess this emotional vice is just too excruciating. Though I am isolated for some strange reason I feel like I shouldnt be walking so far away. I feel its kind of acceptable to retract the resolutions i make. I feel it is justified that I can relax the stand I have taken. I feel that I am kind of craving to break the stand I have taken and am actually putting up with some stuff I need'nt.

I guess this is just a temporary phase and I shouldnt stoop down to allow some aquaintance to shadow the commitments I make to myself. Resolutions .................... are sanct and have to be honoured!!

The world ..... my Oyster

The cool breeze and the warm feeling of the mild sun beating down do provide an awesome contrast to the place which is inhabited by some of the 'coldest' people you will ever find.

The attitude of some of the people around make you wonder if there is anything called humanity. The reports you read everyday of the world around you makes you really wonder, 'What is it with these people'.

For instance last week a person who met with an accident succumbed at the accident spot to his death and the people around just watched it as though it was a soap opera. What is it with these people.

As i ponder over these thoughts ....... the bus I am traavelling veers away from its normal course. I can see some commotion on the road ahead. Apparently , it looks like another accident. A Sumo has crashed head- on to a bus. As I was preparing for the worse .... there is apparently no casuaty though. To an extent relieved i go back to my thoughts.

The person next to me suddenly wants to start a conversation with me . I can sense some sort of disappointment in his face. I enquire about it and he says shamelessly, " I thought there will atleast be one casualty, I guess the accident is not that serious after all ". Incredulous.

I remember a poster I hung in my room .... " The world ......my oyster, with my sword I shall open" . What an irony !!!

Excuse me !

The weather ............... well there are just no words to describe it. The terrace looked ever so inviting and was just browsing through the month's edition of Readers's Digest . A section on Life's like that ....... ( An excerpt)

" My wife suferred from Brain tumor. She was admitted to the hospital to undergo a surgery. I preferred to stay back at the hospital looking after her. After the operation went on smoothly , i stayed back with her for two days. At the end of it I decided to go home for a change. As I got up to leave , I kissed my wife on her cheek. In her sleep she mumbles ...... 'Not today dear .... I have a headache' ".

Laughing out Loud .......... I can see an aircraft descending down and the cool breeze ...... ah ..... its great to be in this city.

Innocence ??!

My nephew ........ all of 7 years old. He is visiting Bangalore for the first time. Evening showers, gardens , weather, shopping for his toys, innumerable numeber of chocolates, 7 flavours of Ice Creams, KFC, Coffe Day .......the city amazed him. This guys seemed to have the energy to do another round of all this even at 10 in the evening. His excitement was contagious.

An excerpt from a conversation I had with him ......


Me : Hai !! So enjoyed today?

Him : ............................... ( Looks like I asked a Rhetorical Question!!)

Me : So .. which grade are you?

Him : Completed 1 grade now ..... I ll go to 3 ,5,7,9,11.

Me : U forgot to mention 2, 4,6 ......

Him :( A look of disdain) Dont U know I hate even numbers???!!

Me : ??!!! Okie .... So whats Ur plan after that?

Him : Well I want to study MBBS and then become a Collector .

Me : Nope ....... studying for MBBS is fine, Collector ??!!

Him : Collectors get a computer for themselves and they can keep playing games on that!

Me : ( The Future of India Looks bright .. I think ) Oh I see and then ......

Him : (As though I asked him a dumb question) Well since I am a Doctor and also a Collector
what is left is just my 'marriage' and then its time for me to see my retirement and
Grand Children.

Me : ??!??!??!?!

Him : Thats my ambition, a simple life . Okie ....... Good Night!

Me : Yeah ....... Good Night!

Change is Constant.

Friends ...... well they are an extension of yourself. The association you have basically describes what you are .

One amogst them was this one too. Lets call that person XYZ. Well I guess we were pretty close friends that I stored the name in my mobile as X . That was enough. What was the point in having XYZ for a person whom you know very well ? Anyway we were suppossed to be friends.

The electronic communication has its disadvantages. Some changes are irreversible. Well XYZ was kind of cranky to send an electronic message which left a bad aftertaste. Sigh ...... my reply was equally curt . Anyways things have never been the same after that.

The transformation was almost instantaneous. A friend had become an aquaintance overnight. I nfact i recieved a wish for my birthday from XYZ , it appeared as X in my mobile and I kept wondering who it were........

Change is the only parameter that is Constant.

Contrast .....

Sunday's are for relaxation. The French open clash was scheduled towards the evening, anyway I thought the match was gonna be one sided after the phenomenal perfomance by Nadal (Actually It was'nt one sided ! ) . I was zapping through the channels and fine tuning some , when my cousin enquired what CONTRAST was.

I explained that it was ' The difference in brightness between the light and dark areas of a picture'. Ah ........ that was in context of me zapping the channels.

Saturday evening was awesome fun. It was a get together of school mates and the occassion was my birthday treat. The treat was at Leela Palace sports bar and then we move to Bombay Post for Dinner and Corner house to finish of the celebration.

On sunday evening , near Cafe Coffee Day , 100 feet road as I reversed my bike , there was this urchin , clad in minimal amounts of clothing. He approaches me and asks in a meek voice ,

" Brother , I am hungry from last three days ".

Me ......................................................................

" My Grandama want's Rs 30 if she has to cook for us"

Me .......................................................................

" So please give me some money"

Me "U look healthy, why are you begging".

( I never encourage begging in any form by giveing them the cash)

" Brother , I cant be employed till I am 15 years old"

Me ..................................................................( I am ashamed I even asked him that question)

I gathered my face and kick started my bike and sped away. I would have travelled like a 100 metres , my thoughts were still on the kid. I turned back. I thought I could help this kid by buying him food instead of cash. I went back in search of him. I searched for sometime. He wasnt around.

The meaning of CONTRAST became far more evident to me.

Sense and Sensitivity.

Eccentric timelines, hectic workloads and a host of associated factors are pushing people to the brink of extreme stress .

Amidst such chaos, does it actually make 'sense' to be 'sensitive' to others around you? It just dosent make sense at all to stay sensitive to others when they are being insensitive to you. As though the 'ordeal' (aka Work) what you go through is not enough, you have to muster a lot of patience to be nice to somone who is driving you cranky with his/her insensitiveness.

Hmm......

So 'close' yet ..... So 'far'.

Well this Sunday's European Grand Prix was a thriller by even F1 standards. The competitive world of Formula 1 has dished out many a thriller's , well the German Grand Prix was nothing less this time around.

An ambitious driver, a well tuned engine, back to back convincing victories, an ice cool attitude, all seem like the perfect ingredients of a team and a driver who should have tasted success. That was not to be . Kimi Raikkonen crashed out of the race in the final lap of the European Grand Prix, just 3 miles short of the chequered flag. Spain's Alonso who 'won' the race was ecstatic. Why won't he be ?!

Sometimes ....................... life's just like that. They are so many parameters that influence and so many probabilities involved that a Bayesian Network to simulate it would be too complex ;-). Maybe he had pushed the automobile too far or maybe the Michellin designer's had overlooked this grips (tyre) issue or maybe he could have settled for a second or third place instead of crashing out. It's easy to be among the spectators and discuss all this,but there at that point he made a decision to push a little too hard and he had to pay a huge price for that.

U are so close to getting something, so close to clinching a deal, so close to first place , so close to just being there, so close to WIN and then in a flash .................. you just don't belong there. U have sort of 'evaporated' from the scene.

Well ............... as goes the saying "Many a slip, between the cups and lips ."

Of SMS's .....

One of the 'merits' of the communications revolution, the SMS (Short Messaging Service) has cut a niche for itself in our lifestyle's.

SMS's are one of the better ways to communicate. The message does most of the job for you. Fun, whacky, naughty, dry humour, sad jokes, chat, information, alert, gossip , flirt , essential , emergency , forwards , apologies , proposals and to downright 'connect' , SMS's can play a crucial part in your communication life cycle.

I recieved a message from a long time friend of mine , its been years since we have even spoken. It reads 'Miss U ......... &**@@#, Whats up with U???! Call me Up Sweet#@()!. Ever since we ........#$#% '. As i sit pondering, what , when , where, how ...........I recieve a barrage of apologies saying that wasnt meant to be. How sad ....... ;-( . But yeah ........... it did give me a high for a moment. ;-)

Well ................... I enjoy 'messaging'. It's really interesting to chat with somone over messages. From petty fights to huge arguments the thrill derived out of messaging is unfortunately absent in 'talking' to a person. The time delay from when you send a message to when u recieve a reply to it , the remarks which you make that could be misinterpreted, SMS's almost gives you freedom to say things which you may not want to say to a person on a call. :-) . Its downright exhilarating . The adrenaline rush to check a response to your message and the disappointment when U dont recieve a reply. Its all in the game. :-)

Hmm ................ that's about it for now .............. I have a message to reply too. ;-) . So catch U all later. :-)

IIT Mumbai and tigers ........er .....

After a boring lunch session I head towards the Amul's store to quench my desire .......sheesh I mean quench my thirst. As i was relishing the flavoured drink ........... a converstion erupts between three employees.

Employee 1 : In my IIT mumbai days ...................... I have seen tigers
Me thinks ........... 'Maan he must be a brave daring dude aka Vivek (not to be confused with Vivek from Kaal'.

Employee 2 : ........................... ( He is just too shocked to say anything. This guy looks like he will believe Apocalypse will occur in an hour. ;-))

Employee 3 : Oh ........... those were not tigers they were leopards.

Me thinks .............. 'Oh ho!! U made a small mistake Employee1'

Employee 2 : What' s the difference actually ,according to me both of them are 'killing animals'

Me thinks................ 'Yeah Dude!! U got it right there'.

Employee 1 : Many of them have died there also because of they(tigers .......er...leopards) attacking.

Me thinks ........................ 'Oh its that casual in Mumbai is it..........'

I completed my drink and walked away to my desk.

A day of skewed priorities and misunderstanding!

The day began with a blazing sun and humid weather. Maybe it was an omen, an indication of how the day would lead on to be.

Spent the previous night brooding over how statements can be twisted to give a new meaning to them. How a '\n' character can bring about misunderstanding. I was an expert in 'reading between the lines' which i use to sweep people off when they dont expect it. But the way some of my'buddies' did that .............. my efforts were be littled ;-).

On a phiolosophical note .................I read a one liner which said 'Life is a theatre .......Not everyone deserves a front row seat'. Was involved in that thought. Well there comes a time in everyones life where one evaluates which row would one give to his peers and buddies. Some people who have been unnecessarily given front row seats have to be moved back. Well some of them who U thought deserved the front row ........... actually seem to be excelling in the backstage. They work on U so that others can see U perform well.

Ah ...............am i an expert on skewed priorities ......................Well time will tell :-).

One Small Blog...... A giant leap for blogging!

Hey,

This is my very first blog. Just as how .......... ' Rain, just a collection of water droplets' , but then each of the droplets generates immense pleasure to the recipient, on contact. Here I begin recollecting the moments that have interested me.

Well the title is a rip of from Neil Armstrong's statement . But yeah ................... :-)