My favorite last four lines of a poem

The woods are lovely dark and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep

- Robert Frost

Confused

He always liked to just do his work and not fall in any nonsense right from the beginning he started his career. He didnt have too many expectations and was always happy with what he got. He was liked by everyone, he had just started and that was what expected out of him.

He carried this over to the next place where he worked. Just did his work and nothing else. He was lucky to work alone for most part of his work and he got appreciation from his client. Eventually this led him travelling to places. His expectations were still less. People with whom he worked or helped loved him. He had no problems when the allowance he was given while travel was made less the next time or if he was sent to a place where his accommodation was still not decided. He still had to work alone and had to help his team who were not in the same place. Here too his work only spoke for him and he was praised and applauded with the way he worked. He started getting awards and recognitions and was quickly elevated to a higher place.

Then something happened that he had always feared of. He was then asked to work with a team. He helped the team with whatever work related stuff he can. But it was not everything that they want. As a senior guy in the company (not in age) other team members wanted him to present there woes to the upper mgmt. He feels scared doing that, coz he fears he is representing that is not him at all. He still tries to do it. He gets them c-offs for the work they do during weekends. But then again, they have some other expectations like increasing their allowance. He doesnt know how will he do that? He never has complained about anything he has got from any of his companies. If he doesnt do that he will earn enemies and if he does do that it will portray him as an enemy of the company. In both ways he would be considered as a rebel. He was always taught never be money hungry and run after money. Just do your work and the money will run after you.  He doesnt know what to do. Even if he says this to the mgmt, tomorrow the team members will have some other desire like expense for party and again he will be fronted. He is CONFUSED!!! Can you please tell him what to do?

Revisit to UK - 1

Hello everyone!!! Hope you all are doing great. Just came back to blog about the updates. Job is going great. And i got the chance to visit UK again. The flight was long and tiring, obviously it would be tiring after 15 hours of journey. As I landed Heathrow airport, the weather was overcast. I enjoyed my way back to the guest house, seeing the lush green scenery, freshened by the drizzles from the sky.

To be continued...

Travel Travel and lots of Travel

Apple tree view from my room.

Hello guys. How you all doing? Again posting after a lot of gap in between. The reason being I have been travelling a lot these days. I am enjoying every moment of it. In the last three months I have visited 2 countries. Always my dream was to travel and meet a lot of people around the world and the current job is helping me in realizing the same.
First I had been to Oxfordshire in UK for a project. The exact place was Milton Park. It was a country side and needless to say it was so so beautiful. I could see apple tree from my window. Wow!!!! Now thats a sight. The people in UK were great. They were very helpful and good natured. The weather was extremely cold and do you believe that i was seeing snowfall for the first time in my life. It was mind boggling experience. The food was here was not really spicy, especially if you consider the fact that i come from India and we eat very hot and spicy food. But i liked it. I tried ham and bacon and beef which i had never eaten before and it wasnt too bad. Days were really short, like sun would come out at about 8 and set at 4:30!!! My only regret while I visited UK was i couldn't see place and I know i am at fault, too scared to go out anywhere alone. London was 1 and half hour away from where i was staying and it snowed frequently and since the days were really short i was not courageous enough to go out anywhere alone. All in all I had a very good time in UK.
Then I had the opportunity to go to Riyadh for giving a training on the technology that I am working. Riyadh is soooo beautiful at night. From the air you would be blinded by the brilliant lighting in the city. During training i got to meet people from Syria and Lebanon and Saudi. It was so nice meeting them all. The city is very well planned and the roads and the street lights and the huge buildings just leave you awestruck. The people here are really good-natured, very polite and very friendly. They are really generous when it comes to hospitality. I was invited to a dinner which was hosted by the good person who was our company's partner and i know i couldn't thank him enough. The food was spicier than what it was in UK but not spicy enough by Indian standards but i know Indian habit of eating spicy food is the extreme.
I will try to write again when i get free time and have something to share. Till then its CYA from me who is waiting at Riyadh airport for my flight back to India. Keep smiling

Quote:

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” –  Henry Miller

Workaholic Me :)

Its long time i haven't blogged, and there was a reason for it. I have been engrossed in many activities. Let me place it like this, since the last blog post that i made, i have changed my company, i have travelled to two places away from my home, i have been trying to make a name for myself and believe me it was wonderful roller coaster ride!!!

Leaving the old company was never easy. It was my first company and i will cherish that forever. I miss all my colleagues and superiors and boss, who have become my good friends. I got everything from my first company, but then if you ask me why did i leave, the only answer would be i needed to learn more. I didn't want my knowledge to get stagnant. Sometimes it gets really tough for a person like me who brings emotions first to understand that in professional world you need to move on to reach new heights. I am sad that i miss all my friends because this was were it all began, this was were i learned what i know, this was where which helped me in giving an identity and probably after 3 or 4 decades from now if i am alive, i will be telling my grandkids that Asite was my first company. Touchwood

Joining the new company is a thrill. I find here many young and new energy and the company growing at unstoppable speed and i am so glad that i am a part of it. My role here is quite different with what i had in last company and i have to be updated every time which is what i like most. I have started giving back to community in which i am learning, helping others and learning all the time as i do all these. I went to Gurgaon away from home for the first time for work related stuff and it was a good learning experience. I am right now in Bangalore for another project and may be day after tomorrow will be going back home after 3 long months. I had some good and bitter experience in the later project but i have to take it as something to learn. One thing i love about the projects away from my hometown is that i get to travel, see new places and make new friends.

Let's see what life has in store for me next!!! Whatever it is "Bring it on...."

Quote:

"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by."
— Douglas Adams

Back from Hiatus

Hello everyone,

Its been such a long time blogging, i missed all of you. Couldnt blog coz had lots of work. I dont know, when next i will blog.

So how are you all doin'? I have seen that some of the blogs I regularly visited are not there.

Life's running so fast and days are hard to catch. Amidst all of it, I feel that i am losing some precious moments. I am forgetting to live!!! I am faking happiness and smile. Wish i could break away and be free. But there's a competitive world out there and i have to run along with all and there's no escape!!!

Hope to write more... but dont know when!!!

Love you all {{hugs}}

Quote:

One day your life will flash before your eyes. Make sure its worth watching.

Happy Friendship Day

Happy Friendship day guys. Thanks for being my friend.

Quote:

"I cannot build a mountain or catch a rainbow fair but let me be what I know best- A friend who's always there." - Sandra Lewis Pringle

Addicted!!!

For past two weeks, I haven’t been able to visit my blog friends, I m sorry about that. (I really missed you guys. But there were some reasons behind it.

First and foremost reason --> Rains. Due to rains that we received fortnight ago telephone lines were under water and that means no internet.

Second reason may be I was feeling that I was really addicted to internet. From the day internet connection was down I would switch on the modem every 5 minutes or so to check whether I could browse, but only to find that i couldn’t, made me more desperate. This continued for some days when I finally visited the cybercafé and posted the last entry It came to me that I am so dependant on cyber world.

When i was in school till 12th Standard i didn’t have a computer. Computer in those days was considered luxury and i remember myself once visiting my friend’s home, for he had asked me to pay visit, as he had brought a new PC. I was mesmerized by the games he played like age of empires 1 and NFS, so colorful they were(As the games I had played in computer lab of our school was Prince of Persia the old Dos version)! He didn’t allow me to even touch the keyboard and i really envied him. Deep inside my heart a desire to pursue some degree which has Computer associated with it grew strong, for that would force my father to buy me one PC and i could play games!

Luckily by god's grace i got an engineering seat in Information Technology and my dreams came true. And then the games, the internet, all came with it. Although nowadays I don’t play games, but internet, it has become part and parcel of my life. I have become restless without it.
So i made up my mind, unless the internet connection becomes stable, I wouldn’t surf.

Thanks Whim, Hannah, Robin and Parth and all others for caring about me. Love you all.

Quote:

Why is it drug addicts and computer aficionados are both called users? Clifford Stoll

Inculcating Discipline

When standing in queue for bus I often get annoyed by the people who don’t follow rules and just barge in to get inside the bus. Are we fools standing in queue for long? Are they the kings who just make their own rule and make their way into the bus without standing in line waiting for their turn?

I hate, when discipline, that is set, is broken. It really gets to the nerves when people don’t follow the rules.

Last Friday an event surprised me even more. We all were standing in queue at the bus stop. A woman arrived with her kid who was not more than 5 years old. She gave one glance at the queue and made up her mind not to stand in the queue. She whispered to her kid that when the bus arrives just sneak in from between, get in the bus and make a seat for her too.

I pitied her, for the fact that, this is how discipline is inculcated. When no importance is given to rules and when mother herself asks her kid to break the rule the society would be no better. Mind you I m not blaming the whole society but just one part of it.

Btw due to the rain it seems my internet connection is down. Weekends have been boring when there is no gmail and orkuting around. So after may be one and half years or so I m surfing from the cyber café. The sticky keyboard, small monitor, tiny cubicle, ha ha ha, back again.

Quote:

Because of their size, parents may be difficult to discipline properly - P. J. O'Rourke.

Tired.

Am tired. Will sleep. See ya.

Quote

He who runs behind truck is exhausted, he who runs in front of truck is tired

i - Count

Ok this post is for all those who put the rest aside and talk about just the ‘I’. I am the greatest, I can do this, I can do that. For all those who refuse to see others, just talks about himself as if he is the current big thing. For all those who believe that when he says the sun rises from the west, then we must take it for granted that it is the universal truth.

Come on, speak out. How many times have you used that I today and all those so called great things, that you supposed you did, did you do.?

I will give you some examples. Consider them as of the highest magnitude, would rate them 10 on 10, most hypothetical ones.

• I can climb Mt.Everest with my hands, myself all upside down!
• I can swim Atlantics with both my feet and hands tied!
• I write some lines in braces and when I compile and run the program it never fails, absolutely no error!
• I practice boxing with punching bags filled with pebbles!
• I taught lions how to roar.
• Street flooded with thousands of people make way for me on hearing the sound of the footsteps that I take a mile away!
  

If you can think of something that you have done in one of the 1000th part of what has been mentioned above, speak it out. It sure would be fun.

What are you waiting for? Begin the I-Count.

Quote:

First we practice sin, then defend it, then boast of it. -Thomas Manton.

Weekend movie - 'Bridge to Terabithia'

Yesterday i watched 'Bridge to Terabithia'. I decided to watch it thinking it to be fantasy movie, but it was more than that. I really liked it, made me go in tears near climax.

A must watch movie.

Quote

“Everyone leaves footprints in your memory, but the ones that leave footprints in your heart are the ones you will truly remember.” - Nicholas Sperling.

Being a Cry baby

"... but the bee almost died, mommy!",
originally uploaded by hukes.

It was a crowded bus; absolutely jam packed, no place even to put a foot hold. I was standing along with rest, getting and giving a few pushes.

A lady in her mid-twenties with a kid not more than 2 years old somehow turned up besides me. It was hard for her, coz not only she had to hold her crying baby but also to maintain her balance in the speeding bus. As always is the case a good old kind man offered his seat to the lady(was a window seat and the lady argued with the other man who was sitting in the corner that she wanted the window seat for some fresh air).

The baby didn’t stop crying. The mother was at her wit's end trying to stop the kid from crying. She made faces, made strange noises to make the little one laugh, but in vain. She then tried to show him something through the window. He stopped crying for maybe 2 seconds or so, looking in the dark as far as his eyes could see. But then it didn’t interest him and he again started crying. May be he had seen enough imaginary things, that his mother had shown previous times, when he cried, that he knew now well of her tricks and wouldn’t fall for such bait.

He again continued to cry as if it was his duty. I was amazed by the kid's energy and determination to cry that long for no reason; it was more of a dry cry though, as his tears had mostly dried up and it was just the voice 'waaaaaaaaaaa' that was carrying on. He tried to kick and refused to stay in control, never minding that he would fall. I think the reason behind it would be, he was so confident that his mother would hold onto him tightly and wouldn’t let him fall no matter what.

At last they got down at their stop. How stubborn a child can be in his kiddy days? Adamant, obstinate, uncompromising, crying for toys, chocolates or for no damn reason as I had then witnessed. Being a child has its own advantage, don’t you agree?

Nothing's Forever

...The sun shone brightly.

The sky was clearer and bluer than ever before. The brilliant light bestowed the earth. Giving new energy to every form of life. The brilliant light bestowed the great forests. Giving life to shrunken and sleepy leaves with the morning dew, making it flutter merrily. Making the flowers bloom in full glory. The sweet chirpings of birds filled the air. The brilliant light bestowed the vast blue oceans. Making it look like a treasure trove with uncountable number of sparkling diamonds stretching out as far as your eyes can see.

And then from nowhere the clouds made its way. Dark and evil it spread around like an epidemic. The air was filled with sounds of thunderstorms. Earth trembled. Leaves shrunk away. Birds cried. Oceans turned gray. A shriek of pain was heard.
Darkness was getting blacker. And then when all hopes were lost and when it seemed this darkness had no end,

The sun shone brightly....

Angry - Who me?

"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will ever regret", says Ambrose Bierce

How i wish i could do that!

I had been a guy who seldom gets angry. But of late i get annoyed ever and anon. I hole up my emotions within me and don’t like to showcase it in public. I normally take a backseat when it comes to retaliating with words. So, it goes within me, within my heart, my mind all concealed up. But then too much stuffing gives me headache thinking about the incident.

I love to be alone when i am angry, so that i don’t speak with anyone and gradually get over it. Or i pray that i get angry during nights so that i can sleep over it. I said i hate to display emotions to the world but when it comes to my family i disembark my anger to them. And it’s just like i lost control of my tongue and am blabbering out absolute rubbish. The reason for not holding up my anger in front my parents (especially my mom) is maybe i think that they can understand me and my frustration. But then when I am alone and i think of it i feel like 'hell, what have i done? Why did i behave like that?' And then straightway go to my mom end up with lots of sorry and tears.

I know it’s not just me but everyone gets annoyed; turmoil of annoyance, sirocco of exasperation, whatever you call it, though most of us don’t admit it or display it. I know anger is a normal human emotion and to never feel annoyed is just like never be fully human. But i want to have more control over it. It should be like i must be governing anger and not the other way round. I don’t want to be a Mr. Hyde!

Quote

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” - Lord Buddha

Waiting for my Bus

Standing alone on roadside,
Watching never-ending traffic tide
The horns, the beeps, the smoke
Overshadowing the dusky eve.

Who has the time to see
Blue to red turning sky?
Busy street busy people
Rushing home in vehicle,

And there I stand and wait
Near malls lights so bright
My bus I am so eagerly looking
Soon along with all i'll be hiding.

When nothing goes as you Wish !

20th May Tues 9:35pm

Well it struck to me that on 22nd May it was my parent’s 24th Wedding anniversary. You bet I was excited. Was thinking of where to go on 22nd and what all things to do?

21st May Wed 5pm

I was thrilled for the D-day. I had also enquired with friends where could i find one Mexican restaurant. I thought it would be a change to try some new restaurant. A sort of happiness which can’t be explained overflowed my face with a smile now and then. I searched for the restaurant suggested by my friend in wikimapia. I hoped i am not assigned any tough work so that i can reach home tomorrow early.
After reaching home i told my parents that we would go to Pastamania for dinner and then go to Iskon Mega mall as we hadn’t seen this new mega mall. Just then my father received a call. It changed expression of his face. As soon as the call ended he called someone. We asked what the matter was. He told with a serious tone Monu(one of my cousins working in jamnagar) is not well. Suffering from jaundice and also suspected of possible chickenpox (although not sure about it). Father announced that Monu will come tomorrow and will depart to kerala on 23rd, early morning by flight. He told that he has talked to travel agent about flight ticket.

The first thing that came to me was 'Why tomorrow?'

22nd May Thurs 5:30am

I woke up startled in the morning to hear that entire hullabaloo going on in the front. I thought he must have arrived and thought not to give him warmest of welcome. But one look at him and my thought of anguish vanished. He was so lean and he looked as if he was a personification of illness. He was not alone, was accompanied by two other guys.

I finished my chores early and decided to reach office before time. Reason: First, our small home became overcrowded and if i leave early it meant more space. Second, my mom insisted me that i don’t stay coz if he had chickenpox then it might spread.

Depressed from the fact that nothing went according to plan and i couldn’t even manage to wish them coz i never got a moment when both of them were together.

23rd May Fri 6:45am

After leaving Monu to the airport Dad reached home and i found myself saying to my parents "Belated Wedding Anniversary wishes".

It often happens to me that whenever i wish something to happen and m waiting for that particular moment eagerly it never happens. Just as unexpected surprises coming ur way brings extreme joy, expected events not happening according to your wish brings extreme distress.

Quote

'We cannot wish for that we know not.' - Voltaire

Mad ride

7:15 pm standing at ‘Iskon bus stop’ waiting for the bus really pissed me off. Standing for 15 long minutes and seeing the crowd that was gathering for getting in the bus was increasing exponentially and also knowing the fact that yesterday it took nearly an hour (about 8:30pm may be) to get in the bus, I decided to venture out for a Shuttle Rickshaw. I thought i will somehow make it to ‘Lal Darwaza’ by rickshaw and from there I will have numerous options to reach home as Lal Darwaza is a major stop. Was it the right decision?

Well the rickshaw driver stuffed up 4 at the back and 2 at the front and I thought how's he gonna drive. For me it was lucky I got extreme end portion of the rickshaw although the other 3 who were super heavyweights squashed me up to pulp, it really didn’t matter as at least I got some air to breathe. And then the rickshaw took off. No traffic signals, no traffic rules, no DAMN DRIVING RULES from the book, it was just the hardcore driving that I had ever witnessed. A feeling like I was in some NFS car sitting and experiencing all those mad driving.

A corner came and it was time to turn to right. I was expecting a hand from driver to come out and signal other drivers coming from the back. Surprisingly it was a leg that popped out. I saw a destination for me - either Lal Darwaza or heaven (if god permitted me to allow in). Luckily for me two of the passengers got down in midway and that meant more space to me. In order to avoid traffic policemen, he was taking every unknown nooks and lanes. One of the passengers asked him if we were on right track. He smiled as if making fun and said leave it to him. After 5 minutes of unknown lane driving that made Ahmedabad look like a place full of pits, we came to an absolute dead end. So we had to turn back all the way where we had come, to a lane recognized by all of us and almost everyone shouted pointing the driver so loud that other commuters looked at our rickshaw as if it was filled up with a bunch of nerds.

Finally I reached Lal Darwaza and gleefully gave him 10 rupee note and happy at the fact that at least I made it.

Two things I want to tell you all guys "Patience is still a virtue". And if you think that rollercoaster rides don't provide you enough thrill then try commuting from Iskon to Lal Darwaza in a shuttle rickshaw on a nice crowded evening!!!

To the Brave Fighter in the arena named LIFE

I need to get this feeling that has been there in my heart since last night since I visited one of my friend’s blog. I took it for just another blog just like me. Sometimes I felt that some of her posts had a sound of dismay. So fool of me that I didn’t have the patience to visit the blog completely. I gave no notice to Fire section that was there in the sidebar. And in one of the posts I said 'Get over it'. Well I really feel ashamed, yes I am.

Later on yesterday I visited the fire section on her blog and couldn’t stop tears from my eyes. Every word, every picture, every tone had pain. Bloody visual, smell of soot and fire, that rascal jackass everything sent a shiver down my spine and to know that she was in the middle of everything left me aghast. Still she has stood up and taken the life bravely I think. I don’t think I would ever have.

She has my respect and really I feel proud to know her. I don’t know I am doing this for the first time. I have made an award for ‘Brave Fighter’ and I couldn’t think anyone other than you Whim. I will be glad and really honored if you accept it please. Here’s the link. And pass on to some one you know deserves it. Love you whim.

Flying with Jonathan Livingston Seagull

6 years, yeah that's how long i havent read a book. Book reading used to be my passion before college days and i dont know how but this habit gradually faded away. In order to be back on track i picked up a book from Crossword last Thursday, Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. Have read it today and found it interesting.

It's a short book and revolves around a seagull that is different from rest of the flock. While other seagulls just think about eating and considers flight only as an ability to do that, Jonathan loves flying. He wants to learn everything there is with flying and constantly tries to improve his flight. In short it’s a story about searching for freedom and pursuing perfection.

We are sometimes afraid to let ourselves go and we need company to feel safe. I guess this book shows us that we never should stop believing in ourselves. Our inner voice is important and not what others say or expect us to do or to be. But we need to know that this is a process and that we are all learners and there is no limit in pursuit of perfection.

The book is written beautifully and spreads a message to listen to your heart and do whatever to realize your dreams, to find a higher purpose for life to learn, to discover and to be free without considering any material desires, to overcome confining to just space and time and to help others understand what they really are and what they are capable to.

I would surely recommend you to read this book. I guarantee you will enjoy it. For those of you who want to buy it from Amazon here’s the link - Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

Btw learnt some new words from the book. ‘Anchovy’ is a type of fish and ‘outcast’ means a person who is rejected.

Quote from the book

Each of us is in truth an idea of the Great Gull, an unlimited idea of freedom and precision flying is a step toward expressing our real nature. Everything that limits us we have to put aside.