Taare Zameen Par

Yesterday, I happened to watch “Taare Zameen Par”.Can you believe, I had been crying through the entire movie.
A movie which rakes up your emotions has to have some magnifying effect in it which you find in TZP.
I must say, Aamir has done an amazing job once again.
He has always been on my favourites list for his acting and entertaining skills.
Budding child actor Darsheel Safary, has given a totally stunning performance in addition to that of Aamirs.
Altogether, this movie is going to be a magnificent hit and looking for much more movies, with some substance in it in the year to come.

Wishing all readers a Very Happy New Year – 2008!!

Office Humour

Bangalore is full of posters for Nityadhyaana being held sometime shortly. Where?Why?Who? No questions please, for I have no knowledge over them.

In this context, we friends were discussing something related to dhyaana. In the second part, our talks rested on the picture in the poster. Unsure whether the picture belonged to a male or female, debate took its usual course. 30% for ‘Man’ and 70% for ‘Woman’. And so it went on with each opinion. In between our heated talks, one of my other colleague immediately went on to say, “How will I know ya? The poster only has half of his(her) picture, not full. How can I say?”
Instantly, our debate saw its end.

I just love this....

I simply love this picture which is my 51st posting!!

Competition - Good or Bad?

Today’s world is a vey competitive one. Post LPG, everything is competition driven right from basic necessities to the luxuries of life.
From one point of view, competition in the market is essential for bringing prices down and for coming out with quality products. Its true that competition benefits ‘we’ as customers. On the other hand, competition has led to producing de-graded products with attractive packaging for keeping in the race.
Nevertheless, competition prevails not in markets, or trade alone, but in normal life as well. For in a life cycle, a man competes right from his childhood. It’s being hammered into a child’s head that until and unless he is competitive, he cannot survive.

As a child grows up he has to compete over his entire education to achieve something. Once he is out of his education, next comes his job scenario, where competition has no leaps and bounds. He has to be the best for securing the best of jobs. Next phase is his marriage. He would want to get married with such pomp and glory like never done before.
Competition is responsible for the progress we see today, it brings out the best in an individual, but at the same time it has led to outbreak of wars, and indirectly been a cause of social evils like jealousy, hatredness, suicides, and calamities like floods, famines, earthquakes.

Fine, we are led by competition throughout our life. But my question here is, ‘Is competition necessary? You may say yes, but then my question is for how long? If we are going to compete right from birth, until death , when is that we are going to breathe a life?

Kindness Prevails!!

I am not the one who's got a high respect for rickshaw guys.However, yesterdays incident happened to pour some gyan into my otherwise gyaani brainz.

After office i got into a rick to reach my destination. While getting down i heard the rick guy telling me "melle madam,hindeyinda eno barthaide.nodkondu hogi"(There's some vehicle speeding up from behind ma'am.Be careful)
I was really touched by his words. Finding a kind hearted rick wallah is nothing less a bliss.Usually, am encountered by nasty rogues who don't gel with kind words, but rather bargain,or drop at a far off place,or ogle.
Ogling is the most common problem among rickshaw wallahs and when two or three get together, theirs is the world and the customer becomes their last priority.
However, from yesterdays incident i realized over an umpteenth time, that every coin has two sides in it, which applies to rick guys as well.

(Good or bad, positive or negative you find in every circumstance, every individual, every opportunity. The best lies in identifying what's good for you, and ignore the odd).

Om Shanti Om

This movie is not in tune with the publicity its receiving.....I would rate this movie 3 on a scale of 10.
Rebirth..........ghost.......What gross stuff??? Oh!
Songs and gorgeous Deepika with her dimply smile are the only good things. Rest are totally gross.
Recommendation : Please don’t watch it.

Beware!

Had to collect my clothes given for laundry, which I did yesterday evening. By the time I started back it was a little past 6.30, and as you are aware, these months the hours of a day are less and nights longer. 6.30 in the evening is usually pitch dark. I collected my clothes and was on my way back. Holding the clothes filled bag with one hand and with wallet and a mobile in another, I set home. Laundry being situated at a short distance from the main road, with a narrow and humpy-bumpy road connecting, requires a lot of balance,strength and determination to walk over there. Weekdays, generally the lane would be deserted except to a few motorists racing across.

Coming back to my episode, had been returning back home from the laundry. Earphones in my ears with loud music coming out from it, unaware of the surroundings around me, I had been taking a nice evening walk.
Suddenly, I sensed a motor bike from behind slowing down and I felt a pull on my wallet, as if someone had been trying to pull it. But without my own knowledge, I happened to shift the wallet to the other hand and looked what’s going on. I could see a protruded hand. The great bike wallah had slowed down his bike and had tried his hand on my wallet. Good luck, and I was saved by my own wit. God forbid, if at all I would have lost my wallet gone would be my ATM card, PAN card and a small amount of money. Process of applying and the wait for a ATM and PAN takes your sweat off.
Wanted to note down the bike number, so that I could put it on my blog, but unfortunate, at that giffy moment nothing clicked to me and it was only after he was out of sight, I remembered about blog thingy. As the bike guy went past me, all I could see was a pulsar bike, helmet clad fellow, with a rich black jacquet wearing a reebok shoe which perhaps show-cased some amount of dignity. Does this incident mean all of his belongings are stolen ones?? Probably. I take it to be a yes! And how I had wished, his bike would take a sudden stop and wouldn’t start at all, so that I could go and give a stare into the eyes of this GENTLEMAN……

But it was different here. He was gone hail and happy with his attempt to flick and maybe with more confidence to be successful with his next attempt……

Cricketeers v/s Film Stars

Similarities:
Both have fans as well as critics.
Have die-hard fans.
Are seen on commercials and earn in huge lumpsum.
Are dragged into a controversy in some form or the other.
If at all they happen to land up in a jail, they usually get a 5-Star room cum prison.
Both categories have handsome men and pretty woman in them.Is it the result of cosmetic world? Not sure…

Differences:
A cricketeer retires from his game after a certain age, while a bollywood star has no such restrictions.
A cricketeer has turned into a bollywood star, while a bollywood star hasn’t turned into a cricketeer so far.

Memories of Diwali!!

Diwali is a special occasion for all of us. Saturday- concluding day of this special occasion, and with an intention to have something for memories to be re-called in future, we decided to spend it with a dinner outside.
Out of four friends, two backed out leaving with two of us who had made it for the grand finale. One of the two was offcourse me. Lets name my accomplice ‘X’. Thereby, X and me set out in search of a restaurant with a thought to leave some crazy imprints, which would remind us of the lovely time we had spent.

On our search of our destination, we came across a hawker, who was selling lovely dolls.He had a variety of them…You name it, he had it, ranging from hi-tech Barbie’s to Clay models to Wooden one’s. We stood there watching those lifeless ‘creatures’ which moved ,walked and danced in tune to the movement of the key.

No sooner, did our stomach’s remind us of our journey ahead and we walked away from those dancers. By then, I was reminded of a ‘Bay Leaf’, round the corner( For those who don’t know what Bay Leaf is, it’s a restaurant where you get servings of veg as well as non-veg).
On a previous occasion, we colleagues had landed up there (where the expense was being borne by my office).With no inhibitions, we lavishly dined and had ordered for the most expensive menu then.
But now, we had to pay from our pockets which naturally needs thinking thrice. X and me finally crossed the well carved wooden door of ‘Bay Leaf’ and were in. Ambience in the evening hours was too good. Dim lights, well managed interiors, and courteous staff had simply made our day and we had already thought this Diwali is going to be the best of all years.

Meanwhile, a steward approached us and gave us a tumbler of water each and gracefully placed the menu cards on either sides.
I opened the menu card…….i happened to see beverages with names whisky, rum, vodka……..realised was a card exclusively for beverages. Beneath that, was another card for food. Satisfied that we had found our destination, we opened it. And the menu read like Chicken Gobi, Alu tikka, Gobi baadshai and so on and so forth. Happened to look at the price…..Gosh………..What did I read? Re-read over and over…..Oophs…..Whatta shock? Prices were beyond thoughts and our pockets.

X and I, din’t want to have very big hole in our pockets by spending such a lot of money, therefore, we drank the water kept in tumbler beside and were fidgeting on what to do.We din’t want to make a mock of ourselves either.

Immediately an idea struck my mind.
My phone started ringing. I said ‘we are coming out’ in a loud voice so that people near us could hear me, and we got up to go out. Another steward who had been watching us asked me ‘What happened Ma’am?’ I had to tell him sorry and walk off. A sigh of relief on our faces as we came out of Bay Leaf.

X asked who’s call was it? I had to tell her, it was a gimmick to get out and there was no phone call. It was only me who had been making all the talk and nobody on the other end.
She burst out laughing………’Witty’ she proclaimed.

Later, we had good dinner within our budget and happily lived thereafter that evening. Indeed a memorable Diwali. Isn’t it?

Today

Tring..tring..
Hello..........hello(voice on the other side)
Yes............rajanna navre( rajanna sir)
Wrong no.......hm ??????.........rajanna navru ilva(isn’t rajanna there?)
Wrong no.......alla rajanna ide number kottidda(rajanna had given me this number for calling him)
Wrong no. Rajanna antha yaaru illa illi(there’s no rajanna’s on this number).........howda.....sari madam.........loafer nan maga, ee number kottidane, sorry madam!!
(Isit? Ok madam...lo...he has given me this number for contacting him. Sorry madam)

Just wonder how many of us encounter with such wrong numbers everyday. At times such calls at odd hours are a source for having a bad day or a bad mood.
As wise men put it, ‘never let your surroundings and situation affect your mood’, but from my personal experience I can say, it doesn’t work everywhere and everytime. A long term practice on moods doesn’t spare you either. You will be a victim of it some or the other time.

Luckily, having received this wrong call post lunch, I must say this has served some food for thought, where falling asleep after a nice good lunch is being spared from and i am here sitting in front of my comp with eyes wide open, and into blog world enthusiastically awake, penning my thoughts.

Life

I am greatly relieved on my decision to skip exams for this season. Therefore, no books for a couple of months. A good news for me!!

Alternatively, I am planning on what books to read(minus course books). Any suggestion on the best of fictions or otherwise would be greatly appreciated.
Recently have picked up Sidney’s ‘Bloodline’. Although, I had started it for a time pass, I have reached those pages, from where, there would be no turning back. Having read Sidney over student days, I can easily say all of his books have got a similar kind of writing, which I am fed up off.

Why echo?

Yesterday, had been on a shopping spree and landed up at Mc Donald’s waiting for a pal of mine who was supposed to join me. Minutes later I get a call from her ‘I’ll be late. Please wait for me, don’t go away, please’. With no other option and not wanting to disappoint her, I had to wait.
Took out magazine which had been lying in my bag, only to while away time over the wait. As I started to open the first page, I heard someone talking aloud with an echoing impact to it, which had an English version.
Interestingly, I turned around to see where did the echo come from? There, I see two elderly men who had occupied a table across mine and were having a gala gossip.

Wanting to while off my time,and with due respect to the uncle’s I happened to overhear their conversation.(watch out for the echo in every conversation)

Uncle 1-Do you know what happened yesterday? ‘enna aachi enru theriuma unakku?’
Uncle 2 – therille
Uncle 1 – nethru nalla malai peithada…’heavy rains’
Uncle 2 – Idhva
Uncle 1 – ‘ama nethu nan market irundu veetuku nadandu vanthen’. I had to walk all the way from market
Uncle 2 –Yen? Neengal auto la vanthu irukanum
Uncle 1- ‘ama avargal varradikku sammadikkelle’.they should agree to come no
Nan thittam………..

I hear a hai and sensed a tap on my back by then. I had been involved into the conversation (fortunate enough to understand tamil in bits) so deep, that I didn’t realize my friend sitting on the chair opposite to mine.
Looking at my silence, she must have thought, I was mad at her for being late and hence ignored her the moment she arrived. I din’t want to tell her all about the fun I had been having. I had to maintain my standards you see.
I being a victim, she had to treat me with a pizza and then we finally drove home. During my ride back home, the only thing that was going on in my head was ‘What must have been Uncle 1’s plan for straightening rick-shaw wallahs?’

Deep within me I was sad, missing out the climax part…. But the echo is mutely echoing in my ears!
[The above post is in due respect to all of my Tamil speaking friends]

Observation!

I have observed, “people are always on their toe to prove themselves younger then their real age”. As children we would have wanted to prove that we are old enough by assuring our Mom and Dad that we are capable of managing things. But over the years as we grow old, we behave exactly the reverse, wanting to prove ourselves younger then what we really are. Why?

One of the new joinees into my gang of peers is a little too over smart, behaving cold all 24/7*365. Her first question on our first meet over lunch was, ‘How old are you people?’.
We females don’t generally like revealing our age. I was amazed at her boldness, thought ‘if at all this was college, I wouldn’t have spared you from ‘rigorous’ ragging’. But unfortunate, sad for me and lucky her!!

That particular question of hers, although sounded funny, had been taking rounds in my head and made me wonder why is this lady asking for the age? Is she planning to help stats department, build statistics, age- wise? Sounds funny. Ain’t it?
It is a fact in reality, where a person takes pride in saying ‘I am the youngest in my group’!!
I don’t find a solid reason for this behaviour, nevertheless the culture continues.

A Glimpse into Garbha - Durgotsav 2007

Oophs, finally i had made it up for Garbha Celebrations yesterday, being the last day.Here's a glimpse into it:





It was indeed an evening of bright lights.Heavy showers of Bangalore did not seem to be dampening spirits of the assembled crowd.However, the second and the third picture isn't having enough clarity owing to flashy lights,and pushy crowds.

A depiction of transformation in moods!!

Why does our mood change over the days?

Monday -

Tuesday -

Wednesday -

Thursday -

Friday -

Saturday & Sunday -

Garbha Celebrations

‘Garbha’, celebrations have begun for the season and like every earlier year it has made a beginning at a location next to the place where I live.
Yesterday, being the first day there was a loud music on,luckily played all of my favourite tracks which had brightened up my evening,(lousy music being part-2).Inmates of my ‘home’ were all in a colourful mood as well.

Loud music, the crowd, easy accessibility to the location, over and above all curiosity, had kindled us the year before and we friends had ultimately landed up at the venue for the culturals.
But sad and disappointing, nothing was different then a normal fair. Nevertheless, when you are in a group you have your own fun and a silliest of a thing looks big and funny.

The most important part, ‘dandiya’ was the one which I had missed out.
I haven’t seen a dandiya performance except for bits and pieces on cinemas.

What I loved to see of Garbha, was the enthusiastic crowd who were sailing in tune with the “PJ”.

Caution: Now don’t ask me, who a PJ is!

Quotes which have made a deep impact on me!

1.Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm(Sir Winston Churchill)

2.Don't be discouraged by a failure. It can be a positive experience. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, in as much as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterwards carefully avoid(John Keats)

Negligence - Death - Suspension - WHAT NEXT ?

A report in www.ndtv.com goes this way. Read On:

link

As the report above says, this is not the first ever flaw from AIIMS in which a patient loses his life due to negligence by a doctor. There has been quiet a few cases in row, as is pointed out.

I hope and pray that a reputed Institute like AIIMS gets better mentors to serve patients, for whom quality service would be a priority.

Point to be Pondered upon – Should politics be a part of the medical world?

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Simplicity and Modernisation!

Is simplicity a born character that an individual grows up with or is it acquired from experience or is that a mimicked aspect?

In today’s modernized era of fast paced life, simplicity has a low profile. People being judged by their appearance today, a simple person is thought nothing less then a beggar or a needy. We, who are more interested in associating ourselves with a rich, reputed, and beautiful man/woman, would definitely want to stay away from a person who’s not showy, and is simple.

Has modernization, where people are behind materialistic things and are pompous, made this difference and ignored the golden term called ‘simplicity’?

Over the years!!

Over the years, I have learnt-

.)Be punctual. A person is judged by his/her punctuality.
.)Be patient. Patience bears ripened fruits.
.)Be courteous to all you meet no matter how foolish a person looks.
.)Help those in need and the same would come back to you, but need not be from the same person.
.)Greet everyone with a cheerful smile. Smile is contagious.
.)Be an optimist.
.)If the situation you are in,is out of your control, donot worry..Give your best, and leave the rest on Almighty. He will take care.
.)Donot brood over the past.You cannot change the past. Rather learn from it.
.)Forgive and forget.
.)Honesty is the best policy. Honesty doesn’t require cross roads and fear always stays away from a honest person.
.)Making someone happy, brings happiness to oneself.
.)Have a lot, but a few like minded friends….That really helps.
.)Donot borrow things, frequently from your friends.
.)Never lend nor borrow money from your intimate pals. Somehow, credit cuts love.
.)A new outfit brightens your day and finally
.)Emotional support is essential for our living.

MNC's v/s E-mails

Does a circulating e-mail pointing out the thinner sides of a product reduce the compnay's sales?

Offlate, I received an e-mail on KFC, stating the hens used by them are the GMO’s(Genetically Manipulated Organisms).
What I read is, these so called ‘Chickens’, are kept alive by tubes inserted into their bodies to pump blood and nutrients throughout their structure. They have no beaks, no feathers, and no feet. Their bone structure is dramatically shrunk to get more meat out of them.

However, I am unsure on the credibility of the statement above. These e-mails must have reached millions of people by now(being assumed by the total filling up of the CC and BCC rows across forwards)

Over the weekend, I had happened to step across KFC and found a massive crowd stuffed inside. Don’t tell me none of these people have got this chain mail circulate

Do you think, these emails have had an affect on people? Definitely ‘NOT’

I had been pondering over this issue and finally concluded, ‘such e-mails are the result of competition and are the kiosks created and circulated by business firms for putting-off sales of their arch rivals’!!

KFC, what’s your say on this??

Would the e-mails have an impact on KFC?

Gotta wait and watch!

Wishing You............

One of the e-mails I received wishing for the weekend, I thought worth posting on my blog!

Weekends mean a lot to me!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Read On....

This is what I found on my horoscope page today
....What is the Secret of SUCCESS...? "RIGHT DECISIONS"
How do you make Right Decisions...? "EXPERIENCE"
How do you get Experience...? "WRONG DECISIONS"
Does this mean, I am allowed to make plenty of wrong decisions for today?
Perhaps, knowingly? Interesting!!

Nature's Marvel!

(Source: flickr.com)

Blogs of My Interest

Though I have been blogging for quiet sometime now, there are times, I have wondered how is blogging actually done, how to place the words in a clear rhythm, for having a greater impact on the reader. Blogs which i find interesting and read regularly are: i.http://kishorcariappa.blogspot.com/ ii.http://kalyansuman.blogspot.com/ iii.http://aniketanand.blogspot.com/ iv.http://alexandrahedberg.blogspot.com/ v.http://blog.guykawasaki.com/ vi.http://bangalore.metblogs.com/ vii.http://blueaquan.livejournal.com/
Synchronisation of thoughts and words in the above blogs are amazing. I simply love reading them.
You bloggers rock............!!

Nature's Fury or Administration Inadequacies?

Water, water everywhere, not a drop to save. This is a view of after-affect of rains on Thursday,

the 13th of September 2007.

What had caused this overflow? Inadequate drainage? Level roads? You never know.

And on my way to work, this was how traffic was clogged and I was stranded for almost four hours to travel a distance of little more than two kilometers:

Guru

Abhi-Ash starrer 'GURU' is a utter non-sense......."utilising these three hours of the movie for productive work is highly recommended"...... kindly co-operate:-)

Eyes

Had a terrible experience days back and thereby decided to put it on my blog. Read on -
From the last couple of days, I have been experiencing a kind of problem in my eyes and that is double image of everything I see. Beyond my arms-stretch, I see two images of every single object! First few days….. were indeed distressing with 2 in place of 1, of everything….2 roads, 2 ricks, 2 comps ………Oh my god!Whatta terrible life that was??
And now, kinda used to it.

And someday it so happened, I had to cross the road by myself and there was a speeding motorbike. My plight was, I could see two motor bikes coming towards me. With no idea on what is to be done, I just thought of Lord Almighty and walked……….
Oophs………….i had done it. I had crossed the road unhurt. Within a flick of a second I had realized lots in life. Prime being value of Senses. We generally don’t realize the importance of things until something goes wrong with it.

Hence, never take yourself for granted. Take the utmost care of YOU!!

Teachers' Day

September 5th-Teachers' Day is a long time forgotten phrase, which used to be a colorful day during student life with teachers' coming out with their best performances . As a student, we don't realise the importance of teachers'. It's when you are out of school and when you earn a decent reputation in the society, do you happen to re-call your past, and owe your achievement firstly to parents and teachers. A teacher is truly instrumental in guiding, instilling confidence and bringing out the best in you. Today, being Teacher's Day i take this opportunity in Saluting all my teachers' who have taught me, nurtured me, and help me become what i am today. Happy Teachers' Day!

An incident that happened at my work place....

Yesterday, a bunch of my colleagues/friends were in the Cafeteria, having a worthless gossip as a usual practice.
We were into some serious discussions related to Non-Veg [Chicken to be precise]. In the midst of our conversation, one of my vegetarian colleague mentioned she wouldn’t prefer eating meat or either of the stuff, for she gets a picture of the live animals as she looks at the delicacies.
Spontaneously, I who’s well known for my PJ’s came up with
‘Don’t tell me the reason you don’t booze is because, you tend to remember the drunkards…………’

Another!!

Firehouse Dog is yet another movie of its kind, which i found amazing watching . The dog though looks ' shabby' in the second half, emotional side of the hound projected, will attract you. I am sure the Dog-Lovers would enjoy the movie!

Five Point Someone!

Had heard a lot about this book written by Chethan Bhagath and finally started with it!!

Interesting......ain't it??

This is a picture taken, where the Joint Commissioner of Police is posing, while riding on the shoulders of a constable to save his feet and trousers from Flood Water!

I just wonder, where is our country heading with such people of a high calibre administering.....

A view of Dharmasthala located in South Canara

Are you tagged yet???

I've been tagged by The Stranger Here are the rules: 1.Players start with 8 random facts about themselves. 2.Those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts. 3.Players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged. Here are the facts: 1. I think I am an extrovert. 2. I was considered the sober kind in my school. 3. I don’t have a best friend because I am quiet choosy about my friends and I am happy for this. 4. I have a few good friends. 5. I like photography and reading every other stuff minus technology. 6. I must say atleast now, that God has been kind enough on my part, all through my life making me feel his presence in different forms. 7. I love old bollywood collections. 8. Last but not the least, me a foodie.

Awesome nah???

Wow.........

Today's paper has a picture and a short write-up on Tamil superstar Rajanikanth. This guy has hell a lot of die-hard fans and at times i wonder 'how lucky'. Is it the luck that makes a person famous or is it the hard-work or is it the money? Not to be forgotten success, money, and fame never comes handy. Success is the outcome of hard work, attitude, and knowledge, combined by the invisible factor luck. Followed by the rest. Another live example to the above statement being exhibited by our Bollywood star Amitabh Bachhan. Having made a combination of several hot and flop movies, he is being rated top star with a high calibre. How nice? I am looking forward to put myself in his shoes of fame, someday:-)

You Know What I Did Last Weekend...

Weekend was spent on a pilgrimage. As planned well in advance, me with parents, along with brother and his family who had come to India on their annual vacation had been to Subramanya and Dharmasthala, pilgrim centres located in South Canara. We had planned for a two days trip. And decided to take Mysore - Mercara - Sullia route. It took a little longer then 3hours over rugged roads to reach Subramanya. Unlike our earlier trips, this trip was indeed delightful, for the climate was in our favour and the journey wasn't all that tedious. Once done in Subramanya, started off to Dharmasthala. Dharmasthala is about an hour and a half's travel from Subramanya. I was very happy to find less of a crowd here, assumed that owing to re-opening of schools, the crowd's volume must have thinned down. However, saturday went on roaming here n there..... Sunday being a pooja day, started off home by evening.

Laugh, Laughter, Laughtest

"Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry, and you cry alone" is a well known quote most of us are aware of. Human beings that is 'WE' love to laugh.Laughter signifies facial and bodily movement which expresses emotion. The kinds of laughter being giggle, chuckle, grin, smile, giving sounds haha, hehe, hihi, eheh, hoho, symbolises the state of mind a person is in. Laughter includes natural laugh which comes out quiet naturally without any kind of force and the other being artificial, where one is forcefully laughing for the obligation he/she is under. Laughter is quiet a contagious disease, where you tend to laugh spontaneously without any appropriate reason. Laugh has a wide impact in our day-to-day life, where we come across a number of people, and a smile on our face in handling them, smoothens things. In addition, laughter fights diseases and thereby has a positive impact on our health. It helps in keeping the respiratory system clean. Thereby, the positive impact of laugh has lead to the formation of laughter clubs. Laugh just takes two, while frowning takes an adverse impact on thirty- two of your facial muscles. Hence, why disturb the 32 series? Opt for the former, keep laughing and spread it wide.

'Is Aping Genetical?'

I must say, i had a great time at Mysore over the weekend with my folks around. As planned in advance, I was looking forward to take a bus journey and was hoping for a ‘decent’ co-passenger at the least. I did make an enthusiastic start. But the drive from home to the bus-stand was a terrible one, with traffic jam at its peak which almost consumed an hour’s time and which would have taken 25-30 mts with normal traffic. That was indeed a painful start. To worsen the matter further, there was once again a jam showing up its face from Bangalore to Ramanagaram. Never, I had been in such a pathetic situation earlier. Cursing the traffic, and traffic management, I continued my journey. Interestingly, there was a bunch of youth probably in their 20’s, sitting a little distance away from me. Their looks and the conversation they were having, inferred me to conclude that they were all college students, on a trip to some place around Mysore. An important observation I made was, they were all dressed up in a uniform colored attire. Its was red and blue to be specific. By looking at this, my thoughts started running miles across and I was wondering, how much of a time would those young chaps might have dissipated in selecting the clothes…. Suddenly, a question arose in my mind ‘why do we human beings ape ?’ ‘APE’ – Webster’s dictionary says 'to ape' is 'to imitate or mimic'. We imitate to such an extent that, it looks like aping has come in our gene universally. Everyone we see, everything we see, no matter if its good or bad, we ape. No man makes an exception here. As an example take a usual routine day…..looking at others owning new things like new mobile phones, new computers, new watches, or to that matter a new attire, or anything new and rare, we try and do the same very immediately or in the near future irrespective of our economic background.. Why do we get fascinated with the style of living, other people have? Aping may be good in certain circumstance. But it may also end up to be bad in others. It’s only when the consequence arises, can we be better judges and realize the good or bad we have done.

............

Plannig for a trip to Mysore this weekend. Gotta see, how much has Mysore developed over the last four years. Having spent a span of five years way back from 1998-2003 in Mysore, i have come to a conclusion, this ancient city has no second best alternative. A 'laid back city' is what i would call this place. A perfect calm. It's got an amazing weather where monsoons, winter and sunny days are on the moderate side. I have always loved Mysore, which would be one my forever favourites.

Food for thought

Today, I get a message on my mobile phone saying ‘your service tax has been raised from 12.24 to 12.63%’... Was I consulted before this policy was being made? Or do I know anything at all ? The answer is a big ‘NO’. Ridiculous. Someone, somewhere makes a policy for you without your knowlege and expects you to follow it blindly. Why are we paying tax ? Who has imposed the culture of paying taxes? Go, pick up a stuff from the market……tax! Utilise a service….tax. Everything has a tag of tax attached to it. But y? y? y? Leave apart goods and services, why tax on our income. People sweat their blood to earn a little amount of money and it belongs to the person himself. Nobody else has a right on it. But no! Here too, comes the big element of tax, taking away a large chunk of income. While the authority who imposes tax hasn’t helped us earn, nor provided any kind of support as a help, why only does it come into picture and play its role only at the time of levying taxes. The kind of functioning our administration has, is ridiculous at times. Yes, the culture of paying tax has been there from ages. But has anybody tried questioning it? People blindly abide by the rules imposed. But why? Don’t we have the right to question? We have elected our representatives in the hope that our interests would be protected. But what is happening is the very reverse. We are being looted by our own people. How is that a few people holding higher posts but with no relevant sources are growing richer day by day. Where does the money come to them from? Another important question is, where does the money collected through tax go to?? During my student life, I have read, its for developmental works..What kind of a development? I am confused if its ‘self development’ or ‘development of society’. Do you know?

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Recently, i watched 'Mr.Beans Holiday'. A lovely movie infact. Rowan Atkinson has done an amazing job. All you Bean 'fans' a must- watch.

Interpretation of Dreams & Spouse

Recently, i picked up two books for reading. Sigmund Freud's 'Interpretation of dreams' and the other Shobha De's 'Spouse' ..I had been planning to read these since a very long time, and finally got a chance for which i am glad. Both the books make up beautiful reading, though read simultaneously:-) I must say Sigmund's way of linking dreams, to our daily routine and the indepth writeup gives a lot of charm for reading . Talking about columnist Shobha De's 'Spouse' is another creative stuff as always, where she has put across instances of her personal life in a pretty simple way. I am yet to complete with the book for getting an indepth understanding about her write up. However, i am confident of ensuring myself a relaxing time throughout the read.

My Views!!!

Politics n Politicians are the two filthy words that has its dominant place in our Indian society..I am not a person interested in politics. But then, looking at the drawback and the loopholes in my backyard, how can i keep mum. Representatives who are elected by us or (if i put it this way, come to power by unfair means) are ruining our society and economy for meeting their own selfish needs, at the cost of 1 billion population. What are politicians doing for us? Of course for the places which are slightly developed, some more money is poured into the same and made a model city..that's fine.But what about the state of rural, the under-developed and the un-developed side? Nobody pays any attention and no developments take place there. What about the people who are living in such areas? They are further pushed into the dark.. As an example, take my hometown which is the birth place of a well known river. You must be thinking blessed people. But unfortunate, the fact is water crisis is severe during these peak summer months . At times it looks funny when people there say 'we have no water, but you people in cities are lucky enough'. Their condition is pathetic.. Why isn't the Government doing anything about it? This is not something new that has come up. Water scarcity during summer has been there from quiet a few years.Who's going to listen to the woes of pathetic public if not the elected reps. Are these people meant only to get a photograph clicked of lighting a candle or cut a ribbon or visit a family devastated by an earthquake or famine and give them a few rupee notes or a cheque? Defenetly not! There is something more then this, which the so called 'politicians' are running away from ? British should have continued ruling over us. That would have been better, rather than we have our current day corrupt politicians........ A wise, intelligent and a sensible man like Kalam is being pulled down. The other days report in TOI states 'Kalam wouldnot be continuing for the second term' is a bad news indeed.If such wise people are not ruling the country, then who else would? Some illiterate, ignorant, biased, foreigners? 'Let the country and the people in there go to docks...........who cares?Letme enjoy the power, status and make a lot of money for me, my children, grandchildren' is the attitude exhibited by our so-called MP's. What would be the future of next generation????? I just wonder...

Is sleep important?

Is sleep important to a man as much as eat n drink????? Yes it is. Happened to stay awake upto 1:00am by choice this morning and woke up by 5:00....... and now my condition is worse. Without a glorified sleep life becomes miserable:-) Had been trying to re-call and put myself into the shoes of my student life. But then, i realise sleeplessness when you are a student is totally different from that while working. There are times when i have wondered why are we being created the way we are? How can i being a human, be happy with what i am and what i have:-) Funny nah?? To sum up, i have hell a lot of questions hanging around me with no answers..everything i read, everything i hear, no matter if its relevant, i'll have a question ready :-) Funniest part is my pals get bugged up with my non-stop quizzing.These days everybody seems to be withdrawing so very early that i would have to find a new victim every now n then. Over the days,, its been hectic over the frequency of the catch;)

Huh!

After a lovely weekend with sleeping, bogging, cineming:-) as a part of it, back to take of a new week and hoping to have a great time in the next seven days!! Waiting to encounter with new and nice experience...meet up new people...... And with Ash-Abhi's wedding, die hard fans of both must have had a tough time..Couple of days back had been watching 'We the people' on NDtv and was taken by the topic that was being discussed. Would people watch the grand Ash-Abhi wedding telecast or the after effects of a bombing that had taken place somewhere in the north? How and what would the media be favourable to? And what would people like watching? However, a majority of the votings had gone to the royal wedding. Nevertheless, the debate went on and i did enjoy every bit of it.

Blogging

Blogging has been one of my favourite activity from the past few days. Got in into blogging very recently, and am just fascinated by this. I just love the way few of you write.Its really amazing! Trying to follow your footsteps and be a well versed blogger in the days to come:-))

Think it Over

I have been wondering for quiet sometime "Why are people filled up with so much of filth" ? that they are sprinkling and spreading filth everywhere they go which might be in the form of jealousy, anger, ill-prejudice and whatnot. We are all brought up with the moral 'love your neighbour' and 'love your enemy'. Then why is this drawback? Where has the impact of our learnings gone? We cannot simply tolerate a person rising above us. By some means either hook or crook we tend to demoralise him. Many a times we are overly insensitive, for example about the man, very next to us who's breathing his last and if given a helping hand might be of some help to him. But no. Our reaction would be that of a blind. I make no exception either. We all have grown up, with rich values imbibed in us. Then, why is that we are behaving the way we do. Even the most educated, richest, powerful man is no better off. The richer a man grows the more self centered he becomes.

Exams................

Exams are over and now its a perfect time to relax and make up for the pleasures i had given up over the exams;).....Relax for the next 50-60 days. Thinking as to why just 60 days? Its because after that obviously comes sem number 2 exams. Have been planning up whole of this morning on how to allot my time on activities. However, 9-10 hours is being taken off by work...and the remaining??? Remaining has a lot of activities to be filled up with. Now the only culprit is time. Wish the days where slightly longer than 24 hrs so that whole of my work could be leisurely accomodated. Now, don't tellme i would have to learn the skills of time management. What exactly is time management? Managing your time based on priorities? Is that what it means? Coming to the activities part, have lots n lots of them to be done.......go for a walk, listen to lot of good music, read good books inclusive of fictions n non-fictions, cook, wash, iron, browse, oophs the list is endless... Wish i could do all of these everyday n much more..

Oh! Monday blues.........on a full swing...yawn...yawn......yawn...... Coming back to work after two full days of rest is lot more tougher.. custom of two lazy days is being carried forward to this day and with not much work at office, its lot more dull:-( At times i wonder, why just two days of holidays do we have and why not three. One day somewhere in the middle of the week..thereby left with four full fledged days of hard working...phew! However, the tradition needs sometime for changing..Therefore hoping for the best to take place at the earliest!!

hey to all........