As promised!!! (Post on Conversation)

In my post on First Impressions '@First' in Oct10, I had committed to write on the topic ‘Conversations’ and well…here I present the same before I sign off this year! A year wherein I actually started to blog and, a year which has bestowed me a good boost to my Writing spirit!

Well...the reading habit started pretty late for me but, when it started, it compensated those yrs which had been lost! The reason to catch hold of the initial flow of reading was perhaps that- I was recommended to a series of fiction books which had some of the intense characters having intense attitude and thereby intense conversations presented by fantastic Writers! As I got along, I had started cherishing those discrete messages which had voluminous expressions and exchange of thoughts and emotions- ‘mutually’! If it’s not mutual, it would be a conversation with self which is not of my concern here. I am focusing on conversation b/n two or more people and how great they could be to give goose bumps just like the music does many a times!

I can indeed scribble quite a lengthy theory as I personally cherish the Interpreting movies and books which have effective Communication/Conversation but instead of offering you such boredom, I prefer to present some of my favorite personal collection of Conversations which itself will churn out the message that I want you to relish through this blog post! Ofcourse it can’t go in detail due to space crunch:( but anyway have made a mention of the most of them…so do catch on…

--------Once I attended a stage show which went on to be a super hit. One of my audience fellow mates who enjoyed the show got up eagerly and asked the Artist “when is your next show?” for which the Artist replied “We are not sure Sir but, we will definitely come back to you”. But the fellow audience got edgy and asked “Well, what is the guarantee of your come back?” For which the Artist replied saying- “It’s hard to convince you based on our un-named relationship Sir so, let’s just name it “Trust”!

- (Well I cannot forget the audiences applause for this slating conversation that day!)

--------In a movie called ‘Frida’, the daughter and father have a bit of talk on the marriage and how daughter feels that one can ‘only hope’ to get married and how its not meant for everyone. As she goes on, she asks her father about what matters the most for good marriage? The father answers- ‘A short memory’! Both laugh and she asks him why did he get married in the first place for which he replies casually saying that - he simply cannot remember! This was again followed by faint laughter after which the father pauses for a while and shells out his heartfelt reply saying – “I got married so that I could have you!!!

- (It was such a thoughtful and absorbing reply from the Father that really showed his utmost love for his daughter!!)

Likewise there are other movies too which has some great Conversations which entail you to ponder over! In ‘Schindlers List”, the prime character Oscar Schindler conveys effectively how the ‘Power of letting go’ could be the best power one could have sometimes! The movie ‘Pursuit of happiness’ has a crisp effective conversation b/n Father and a child on not giving up! ‘A Heart in winter” has quite a character who is in the music business and explains how he feels emotionless all the time and justifies that music is just the job of dreams! (It is indeed quite well led piece of conversation!) And, the movie ‘Before Sunrise’ is all about conversation b/n two ppl! I personally enjoyed the novels ‘Pride and Prejudice’ and ‘Fountainhead’ to the core which has some very catchy & influencing moments in them!!

Sometimes, the best conversations could be just through gestures alone! It seems the legendary Singer Mohd Rafi and the Music Director O P Nayyar had a rift for almost two years and when one of them decided to make up and they met each other, all they did for about half an hour was to cry! For that matter, most of the romantic movies have a passionate kiss concluding the Conversation!

Finally, I would like to close it by saying that conversations are directly linked to the mind and when different minds get connected, it is so interesting to see them play around with words or sometimes beyond words! Although it may seem natural, it is super exciting to notice - ‘The Art of Conversation’ or rather ‘The Power of Conversation’ which occasionally can be a fine command straight from the heart too!!

Signing off for now,

Achu

A Good Book = A Good Affair!! (Book Review)

“Fascinating” is the term that comes to my mind when I think of this book. I was infact busy running my read marathons on a non-fiction base when my friend referred me to this simply amazing fiction book! Though I had second thoughts about going for this, my friend’s expressions and descriptions nudged me in to trying another IIM’s written book- ‘The Immortals of Meluha’ By Amish Tripathi which has indeed given me not just the good affair but, “the best affair possible!”

The cover page of the book is no less demanding you to go for it! It has Lord Shiva with enamoring masculine body with Trishool but face not shown! It is so captivating that I wished that the face was shown on the cover and there…the suspense starts right from the cover page and the book carries it till the end!! It is the journey of Lord Shiva with being a normal man turned in to a legend and thereby GOD! An extreme Imagination enrolled by Amish and one can perhaps call it a mythological fiction as there are many elements of mythology embedded in various contexts which are so very interesting! It has the contemporary flavor added to the past incidents and the connection made in them just awestruck me!It also has some amazing yet simple leadership qualities finely projected!! Perhaps could be a text book for corporates;)

Anyway, the story line is so well tailor made that it grabs your attention all through! It has the perfect balance between the suspense and the patience of the reader! The characters and the situation descriptions are overwhelming! There are so many emotions that are so well described and inturn well retained! The emotions are engraved in such realistic manner may it be Love, Friendship, Respect, Concern, Leadership, Humility, Obedience, Crushes, Evil, Romance and especially the mental Romance! Sometimes it has such faint Humor as well!! The best part that I liked was the First Person narration by Lord Shiva himself! It gives such an easy access to the character that makes you enjoy the read thoroughly!

Overall it’s a book not to be missed else I wouldn’t have bothered to put it in here! As I mentioned before that it has given me the best affair possible and,as the best affairs are meant to last and so this...I can’t wait to read the sequel of this book…

PS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP8Qzv2r3iI

Signing off for now,

Achu

10 Cues!

Sometime back when I was chatting with my friend, we happen to talk about this game- 20qns! It’s indeed a total fun game and I am sure many would have played this but still, let me explain this in simple words. It’s basically a guessing game! For instance, if one person has some object in mind, the other person should guess that object by asking various questions leading to the answer with the limit for qns ofcourse being 20.

On the other hand, if this game is played on you about yourself in bit of a reversed order , then it would make you feel like a contestant either in ‘Moment of truth’ or ‘Sach ka samna’ and that’s exactly what me & my friend were ultimately referring to;) Anyway, my chat with my friend has nothing to do here but it surely gave me an idea to come up with this blog post with a slight twist in the game.

Just for fun, I thought of coming up with 20 cues for you to guess on something magical that I am referring to! But then I changed my mind and reduced it to 10 cues since I dint want it to be a give away for your easy guess to the answer…hopefully!

Below are the cues for you to think on what exactly I am talking about. It’s a one word answer and if I get impressed by someone’s correct answer with some creative spill on the presentation, may be they’ll receive a ‘surprize’ from me;)

So come on ppl…game on…

• It’s a geniuses business!
• Manipulates the human mode!
• Can tickle the soul!
• It’s natural with nature!
• Deadly romantic!
• Has a wide choice!
• Can be there in solitude!
• Infants too get carried away!
• A proven therapy!
• Its there everywhere!

Signing off for now,

Achu

Age-o-meter!!

In a concert that I attended last week, one person suddenly got up out of that behaved crowd balancing the water bottle on his head and, danced around confidently and so gracefully showing the exorbitant involvement and the enjoyment that music was providing to him! He made the entire Chowdaiah Memorial Hall crowd to clap for him until the hands got sour! This Gentleman was nothing less than Seventy years of age!

My Grandpa who is in his nineties does not miss out on his disciplined routine of waking up at 5:30 in the morning followed by immediate bath and thereafter reading for rest of the day! And this holds good for all weekdays and the weekends that makes no difference to him even today!!

And I wonder how these above humble people could afford to be so ruthless to manipulate that number which gambles around in everyone’s life which is – A.G.E!

My belief is that every human being on this earth gets an age attack (referring to the state where one is bothered about growing older)! It could strike you some or the other time for some or the other reason and sometimes, it irritably tickles for no reason! I also firmly believe that, one must get a pretty severe age attack so that they deal with the problem and evolve out of that by understanding the grace that each age has to offer and enjoy the comfort! It’s easy to identify those faces who have mastered this following sentence which I happened to see in one of my friends FB profile- “Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter!”

Ageing gracefully is a popular phenomenon that most of us have heard of! It seems grace combined with wrinkles is adorable! Infact there are tons of elderly people in my own family that I can proudly quote who have successfully accomplished this hard task. But I choose the celebrities to illustrate as they are common and spice up this topic! The actress Rekha could be super stunning in her fifties but she terribly lacks the grace that Jaya Bachan possesses with almost same age. There is such breathtaking celebrities walk on Oscars Red carpet but I can’t stop looking out for my favorite actress Meryl Streep who is an epitome of grace to me!! Shobhaa De goes saying – Sixty is Sexy! And I can no way miss out to mention Dr.Vijay Mallya who not only carries the grace but gets more and more flamboyant with his age! And finally, Barack Obama’s recent visit to India and his activities made me wonder if there really a man exists like that or is it just a dream!!

I guess age has no interference with anything. People are doing much better and achieving much better as they move up the ladder. Recently in India, a hundred year old man did his PhD for god sake! In a television show, there was a nice debate with Rajat Kapoor and Shekhar Suman and couple of others where they were concluding that 40 is a new birth in human life since most of the people happens to be in their professional peak facing utmost challenges then. Looks like almost everything gets better with age!

Well, we all kind of know that age is related to such fine tuning of the mind. If mind doesn’t accept the limitations that come with each passing decade, then I don’t think so this age-o-meter can anyway work! It will be best to believe that “best is yet to come” and that way, moving forward will be damn exciting with a nice makeover of the overall personality as we proceed!!

As Lionel Blair Says-“Whenever the talk turns to age, I say I am 49 plus VAT”!

My interpretation on his saying is, he must be referring VAT to his experience coz that’s expensive and so are the taxes; and perhaps 49 is the age that he ever wants to stay on!!So it’s simple! You get to decide the age you want to be in and term the rest as the VAT! And in such case-'more the steam,the better it is'!

Well, now go ahead and set your age-o-meter to your convenience and gamble around gloriously!

Have a good game people:)

Signing off for now,

Achu

A line to remember...

In mid last week, when my two yr old niece was home and narrating all characters names looking at my huge f.r.i.e.n.d.s poster in my room, I got a call from random number asking me to attend a celebrity workshop! First checking on the hidden costs and then on the celebrities, I happen to check on the topic too. Lady replied saying “it’s on creativity!” Now that pulled me in right away as Creativity is my second most favorite word after ‘Resplendent’! (Ya…check the meaning folks...i too did recently;)

As it was a red tie event, I went in casually and having no problems in talking to people, made some friends besides whom I was suppose to be seated and soon realizing my complimentary invite was a gold class ticket which was worth 5K!!Hmmm having always liked surprises in my life, I loved this one!!

First, ‘Pritish Nair’ came in with whooping energy! Pritish is a phenomenal Corporate Trainer who organized the Workshop. With his amazing PR skills, he did a genuine justice to the innovative ice breaking session equipped with lot of fun! He was soon followed by ‘Rahul Bose’ who is an eminent Bollywood Actor, Director, Social Activist and plays Rugby I believe. A very passionate celeb on his NGO work and as he was speaking about it and the moral compass, our audience got enthralled and utilized his allotted time pouring questions on the same till the clock buzzed! I admire Rahul for his creativity and perhaps he was one of the prime reasons for me to attend the workshop and, I couldn’t believe that it had gotten faded that soon without me getting benefited!!!

Rahul was followed by one more Astounding and Impeccable speaker about whom I wish to talk about more. Before that, let me slip it to you about ‘Chetan Bhagat’ who came in at the end after dining. Now Chetan is a blockbuster guy so, whatever he talks will keep you alive! I face problems with his overrated books which bores me easily and apparently found him boring in person too. So I shall skip talking about him in this space.

Now, the Astounding speaker I was referring to earlier indeed came in like a spiced up patty in the snack who is a total entertainer, the Ad Guru of India- the famous ‘Prahalad kakkar’ currently in issues with Abhishek Bachan;) Although comparatively more aged than other speakers, mentally the man hasn’t aged at all. His looks were complimenting his creativity. He spoke what he has been called for and perhaps the only thing he knows is- ‘Creativity’! His talks were as spontaneous and adventurous as a rollercoaster ride. He started subtle but gradually went in to a gregarious mode pulling the crowd together with his pissed off language! The uncle next to me sure dint like him and probably fretted at me too coz I was enjoying Prahalad’s talks to the rim. I sure did :)

Prahalad poured his insane experiences on us, showed us some amazing ad films and was philanthropic enough in ledgering us the insights of life in his jovial way! At one point, he mentioned that it’s always difficult to do what we want to do or what we dream to do and the reason being- its god damn tough!! It rips you apart! It’s like bruising yourself and torturing yourself and yet one should be prepared not to come back!! While he was on with these pointers, one of our audience friends asked him a qn- “if we get on to all that we want to do, who will pay our bills?” for which my friends, Prahalad mentioned something and that’s the line to remember whenever required for you not just in this context but in general too! I will keep it unexplained and leave it to you to take a moment and ponder over and understand…! Well, here is what Prahalad answered and indeed it’s a line to remember…

“My friend, every tiny thing in life depends either on ‘lack of belief- OR- tremendous belief’ and you don’t give me a shit of hanging in b/n!”

Signing off for now,

Achu

Lol:)

Well…all of us are familiar with the saying- laughter is the best medicine! I somehow feel this saying should be changed to ‘laughter is the best living’ so that- there ain’t any need for medicine at all!!!

For a change in my blog I thought of putting in some gags which I came across in this particular week compiled from various sources. Now I don’t hope you to laugh out your lungs as I dint have much choice but I do hope the one from my real life incident does the best to crack you up!! Read on and laugh out loud:)

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Well being Robot’s season flaring up everywhere, tons of hilarious messages passed on about most admired hero-Rajni!! Here are a couple of txt messages that I got on blazing power of our Endhiran super star!!

Rajni Phobia…! What is that Rajnikanth can do that we can’t even think of doing???? Well he can even answer a missed call…:)

One more to go...Ek bar Rajnikanth aise hi neend me kuch numbers badbada rahe thae…and its now called…LOG TABLE:)

(See...I always thought he is the man of actions and there is no disappointment!!:)

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This one is from this month’s RD written by a mother…

“After a long day at work, I was helping my 11 year old daughter with her Maths homework. We were solving a rather complicated problem when my seven year old daughter asked me the full form of MS, “Microsoft” I replied impulsively. Seconds later, I realized how seriously my kids took me when she started reading aloud: “Microsoft Dhoni is a famous cricketer…”:)

(Microsoft should give a thought for new brand ambassador!! ;))

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I was browsing through one book- “Who writes this crap” and this ones from there…you must read what these service company got to offer their customers:

“Hey Buddy! For the next fortnight only, we’re giving away (For free!) eight thousand Big Chat rewards to Clear customers. To qualify, all you need to do is make 100hours of calls over the next week, then txt ‘BIGCHAT’ to 100345 and then you could be randomly selected to win an MP3 player (or promotional pen)!!:)

(WoW…this offer seems irresistible!!!:)

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And now comes the one from my life…

Just two days ago when I went to kitchen to grab my most wanted morning tea which actually awakens me...My mom gazed at me and said very sweetly in a whispering tone “Achu, you should eat cucumber everyday” hearing which all of a sudden I was up totally. I asked with my late 20’s apprehension “why ma, have I gone fat?” for which my mom just looked at me and dint answer so I continued non stop this time “tell me mama, what is it? Have I gone dull? Is something wrong with me?” my mom still listening answers in a soft subtle tone with a calm face “ They are just getting wasted” pointing at the dining which had three full cucumbers”;);):)

( No comments:)

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Signing off for now,

Achu

@ First…

Ever got kissed by a mere conversation?

Umm…atleast in my purview if the article that begins with a line as delicate as above and plays a tic tac toe in mind, there you have it! You have the impression rather the First Impression that it takes to keep moving! This topic on first impressions indeed was twirling in my head for sometime now. Everytime I thought of it, my creative nerves kinda used to mettle for a big time tango! Must admit that I am hell excited to pen this down more than anything else so far in my blog!

Did you know that the neatness of a guy’s shoes does a slight march on his character? And the gals who know this do use it as a tool to form that first impression? Well this might be tacky and unrealistic but after all it’s a jinxed up world and this practice does exist!

In any case, we are all familiar with the classic approach that- the genuine smile can go long long way in forming that first impression!

And the email etiquettes form a great deal of first impression too! It doesn’t matter if you are a drop dead techie and don’t know to program English but, unfortunately you have no escape mechanism in there.

Sometimes there is a cue to judge the first impression that’s been formed on you. For eg: if you go for an interview and the interviewer after sometime starts adjusting his tie or coat or arranges papers on his table, then boy…his first impression on you is kind of screwed up and its time to repair the damage!

First impressions which come by experience are stronger. Like in my case, one should never buy deo’s which are on discounted price. Those smell nothing less like petrol! There I make a snap judgment the moment I see the word ‘off’ on them!

But, it’s also hard to agree on the say that first impression is the last impression coz the ‘time’ and the ‘chance’ take a big ride out there. Given a time, nothing can be beyond repair. But most of the times without our knowledge, the first impressions pave the way for further movement or a transition. Ignoring that would be like- ‘good the drink is, it will end in thirst!

Apparently first impressions can be formed in various ways. We all have our own tactics depending on our targets, purposes and the audiences. It could be the dressing sense, skills, body language, verbal gestures, accessories, appearance of a store, brand names, hoardings, and colors which indeed makes the deadly impressions and ofcourse in the conversation nothing other than the - ability to listen!

However, of all the factors mentioned above, I strongly feel that there is one denominator which can help make that required impression intact. Nothing can beat that innate or a natural charisma! If one possesses that factor there is no need of anything flashy or any extra bit of those efforts to be made for sure! It will be there at ya…all the time and implying the best in you!

Yup, you must have guessed that I am talking about the pricy jewel- the Attitude and quite obviously the right attitude! It makes you! It presents you so grand to the limelight that no other charm you could ever count on to have more. It’s such a natural way to strike that D impression without much of juggles and hassles and all at the cost of being oneself. It can win you over an interview in casuals, it can make the top shot carry on foul language gracefully, it can make the highway cafe to sell the blue muffin that tastes like a chalk piece and for that matter, guys may not need to polish their shoes at all!

Finally to conclude, there is a saying- ‘a last ship, a best ship’! And with this topnotch attitude, it’s certain that the first impression created will no doubt nudge you to that lasting impression ever!

PS: for those my friends who expect the topic on conversation, I will try to come back with it after sometime and after couple of my other blog posts. Now you don’t want to miss that…not under certain need of a shower;) Read on…

Signing off for now,

Achu

A hype factory?

Gone are those days where you wait for that half an hour news on DD and sometimes even for the afternoon news in sign language! Now we have access like 24/7 yet find it difficult to get that half an hour of quality information. These days, It’s all about sporting the trend of all our fancy news reporters going bonkers over varied fashionable statements of our country. Sometimes can’t make out if it’s an information channel or F-TV!(Metaphor intended)

However, I enjoy the drama! I like Rajdeep’s oozing out eyes wanting to plunge out of the TV screen to convince you! Infact, HT beats them all I guess. They have made it so obvious that whole nation can see the onscreen chemistry of their enmity with our own Indian cricket captain. Same goes with our RJ’s these days. Sometimes it feels like those jockey’s jump into my car, squeeze my neck and shout in my ears-“be happy, be happy!!” which indeed automatically happens with Vividhbharathi just by keeping themselves original!

And what about newspapers turning into GQ magazines? And especially their way of fighting competition. Deccan Chronicle had come up with promotional activity showcasing bikini models on hoardings having news all over them. Hmmm now who can explain that? Nothing else implicated to me except for making me guess that its an exclusive paper for men! Indeed recently, my journalist friend who writes for Financial Express wanted me to read one of the interesting articles that he had written. Boy…that paper felt heavy!

I will be dishonest if I say that I don’t enjoy the hype and mix up that our media is creating. Afterall they are entertaining us and who doesn’t like to be entertained eh? And also they put in so much pressure on the politicians or any other responsible authorities that things are getting done faster than expected!! In that way, it’s appreciated that their research is getting extensive and much bolder. Some deserving are getting hit hard now! It’s certainly not that easy to penetrate and target big shots. That means somewhere the hype factory is helping!

But it does hurt sometimes when our own media deny belonging to our country. For eg: When something goes wrong with sports and especially our religion equi cricket. Anand was yet again world chess champion but then that was 20% coverage in news but Indian cricket losing at the same time was 80%. That’s the attitude of our media! Why do they have this notion that we enjoy devastation the most! Ironically in gulf countries, believe any such negative implicated news will be in the third or fourth page but headlines will always be something positive. Now is that not a message in itself?

Again, I have no right to complain on democratic pleasures that each one is exhibiting. Now if I don’t like them, I always have a choice and nothing to brag about! But I must admit that it was extremely unpleasant to see the whole of CWG campaigning done by our media friends. Some even said- why did we need this? How sad a spirit is that? I felt that they don’t want to understand ‘us’ in the first place. Many things went wrong, but they coaxed at each and everything as though they have no responsibility in it. It’s a huge project and something’s bound to go wrong which shouldn’t have considering the time span. But, they should have projected it positively that can create healthy pressure on the culprits but please for god sake do not let our Nation down!!

Should we one day fight media-vs-Nation and wait for the verdict to happen for decades? Or should our media friends be paid bonus to have some integrity and pride? Or should they be given increment just to behave like Pranab Roy? Anyway, for a change, just day before yesterday I saw Rajdeep talking something positive about CWG with his sober eyes. Many foreign athletes were happy about arrangements and facilities at the end of it all! It made me so elated and proud about how its all set so grand and perfect despite such hurdles and unforgivable crimes! It’s not easy to make such things happen when every second person is dishonest and yet, here we are making it to the glory this evening being the grand inauguration of CWG!! Bravo!

As our Indian squash player very positively said “Its India and we like to do things differently”

Indeed we do! And I wish the best for the mega success of CWG! Way to go!!

Signing off for now,

Achu

The GPS technique!

Ouch! Am I talking about GPS as in Global Positioning System? Well Indeed…! And people who know me well will be quite under shock thinking on my triggering technical instincts!! Um…I can even imagine some of their facial expressions ;)

We had hired one of the Nissans to travel around in the outskirts in UK. And as we miss the Indian luxury of asking for directions there, we managed to borrow GPS from one of our friends. My cousins conveniently had named it Miss.Tom relating to its company name and set it to the female voice. Now, she is one self sufficient woman with tremendous patience who can lead you to desired destiny provided you feed her with right postal code of the destination area. She had the perfect voice, perfect tone and extremely tolerating when you don’t listen to her which made her slightly boring and ofcourse an unrealistic woman;) And I couldn’t get over the way she pronounced the word- ‘then’ in that beautiful voice. I dint find UK accent that unfermented any time before! Each time she pronounced that word, it was kind of a musical note that lingered on my mind which made me wanting to hear more of that. She would instruct directions very politely which goes something like this- “go straight-and in the round about –take the first exit and then...” trust me...it was nice!

Recently, one of my friends had some problem. It was a pretty simple one but she was thoroughly confused. We discussed and I was glad that there was some convincing solution to her problem. But later on when I came back home, I was thinking about an easier way to clear out such petty confusions and that’s where the GPS technique entered my mind. Now I must warn that this technique may not resolve the comprehensive heart muscle problems…if you know what I mean! But this can drive you to solutions otherwise given a dedicated time for the journey.

Here is the example for the simple problem:- One day I come back to my room in the evening and find it totally clean. As happy as I can get, I don’t see the bunch of important papers that I had kept on my bed. Now, should I call the maid? Nope, that would be like an accident considering my repeated instructions. So, step on to the GPS mode! Become self sufficient having patience that it requires. If I were my maid, where would I have kept it? So I go to the study and it had become so sparkling that it looked like it’s never been used. The shelf above had music and on top of that the books which clearly had no room for papers. And the shelf next to that had some electronic gadgets that I can’t even identify. So now, getting desperate and with hopeless hope checked the dressing too. Hmm now is it the time for an accident? No not yet, I am just in the tolerating mode! So I take a quick turn around and take the exit of the room and then turn right and get into the sister’s room which has occasional occupancy and bam…there you find your papers in her book shelf:)

Well, I mean to say it’s all about chalking out a clearer plan and sometimes writing it on the paper to be more effective. My friend had once told me about desktop method but I find my technique more interesting with usage of word-‘then’! So first, when you know your destination with your firm decision, draw a map to it even when it seems boring to do and sounds unrealistic! And I promise that you will take the first exit to the solution from any damn problem!

PS: For people who wondered in the beginning on my technical strength building, I like to reconfirm that I am still me:)

Signing off for now,

Achu

Back in Time!

Well I am just back in after a long holiday with my family! Infact my last blog article was also posted while being on a holiday reading which, one of my friends left a message on fb saying- she is expecting another blog post about my holiday and, here I am with it and kind of want to dedicate this one to her!

Now, what shall I write about this extravagant holiday that I had!! If it was my dad, he would have definitely chosen to write about the engineering and the bridges that he went gaga over. And if it was my mom, then certainly about the gorgeous summer flowers or her wedding anniversary celebrated in her favorite legendary singer’s restaurant or the stunning Lord Venkateshwara’s temple in Birmingham or just about how fascinated she was to talk to my niece anytime she wanted over the net.

But now it’s me who is writing…having lots of more choices! Should I write about all of those art galleries I visited or my beautiful countryside journey to Milton Keynes or about the tempting beach huts in Colchester or about that amazing walks in Piccadilly circus or the rollicking self informative trains which led me to be on own there or about the awing Shakespeare’s birth house at Stratford or just about the day sipping through a lemonade spritzer by Thames river!! Umm…tough…but in any case, I have chosen to write about something that has fascinated me the most from the beginning of the holiday! And, it’s always nice to write about something fascinating that has fascinated me in the first place!!

My obsession to that thing started as early as in a stop over at Dubai Airport where I clicked the first snap of it without knowing what was coming ahead. Once I reached London, the same thing took my breath away. It was there everywhere….I repeat ‘everywhere’!!In Greenwich, it had the entire history and some classic models wherein you place your hand on it only to get slid down realizing the smoothest thing you have ever felt. Ripley’s had it made out of walnuts for god sake…believe it or not;). When went to a Lords cricket ground tour saw a hep sporty one, infact the London eye looks to be a replica, the Buckingham palace had the one which was made in 18 th century with minute details considered and for that matter, the ‘Big Ben’ which is my D favorite with its big history had the most sophisticated one!!

Yes…I am referring to the lovely looking status levied Roman clocks all over there restored from back in time. It was there on all the possible buildings, stations, near castles, churches, monuments, junctions and literally everywhere!!But ironically one thing I realized during my big bus tour was about two things that got missed out in most famous Madame Tussaudes were the clock and Shakespeare’s wax statue! Hmmm…wonder if I have missed that…strange! Anyway talking about those sensational clocks, it was just not about the time, but- the beauty of the time, the importance of the time and the investment in time. It’s always interesting to see the combination of beauty and intellectual intelligence and that’s what those clocks have represented to me and that’s what drawn me the most to it! It’s a serious business without a doubt and I couldn’t stop admiring it and perhaps falling in love with it!!

I flaunt my red watch when I am informal and the silver one with sea green dialed otherwise. Now I know, the next time I select my watch, I am gonna wait until I can make an investment in ‘time.’ It’s a realization from the imperial past that with every tick or in every hour bell of the clock that….its no merriment and it’s certainly true that….Time is “Precious”!!

Signing off for now,

Achu

I might be Judged!!

Gone are the days where one lists the mediocre hobbies and interests in a job profile or in social networking profiles or wherever there is a slightest smidge of chance to express ones identity. Offlate people are varied and exploring and mostly live in an era of –‘just being themselves!’ Infact wish that, now I was into the recruitment job with a responsibility to screen extremely explicit sales profiles. God… it’s intriguing to know the hobbies of those tough aggressive personnels! I got this urge after watching one of the interesting video clips- Glengarry Glen shared by a friend. Hmmm only sturdy people can make it to sales I guess!

Speaking of unlikely hobbies, I came across one of the strange hobbies from three of the people I know of. One of them included my aunt who is a homemaker and would like to sit in the balcony with a cup of filter coffee just to observe different sorts of people- their behavior, their reactions or just watching people!! She says it rejuvenates her mind after seeing several super models of humans! Now this jinxed me up only when I started to hear from more than one person who said it’s kind of a hobby to them… Phew!! To me, when it comes to observing people, it’s a mere cursory glance or sometimes make a snap judgement which might be relevant or irrelevant and move on. But here to these people I know of, they enjoy it as a “hobby!” Well, I had a notion that only anthropologists would do this as their hobby or profession or whatever it is!!

According to me, hobby is a subsidiary activity that you do to get revamped. And imagine having been able to develop this kind of a hobby! It’s going to be such a power recreation and comes in so handy and is fun too and ofcourse, its fun as long as it’s harmless or non-offensive to others. This could have been old news to many, but the fact that it’s getting developed as a “hobby” captured my mind recently. Now on, one might get judged anywhere by this quality of people.

Btw, who knows right now where I am sitting and penning down this article, some one might be totally judging me! Oops something fell off…….oh-my-word!!

Signing off for now,

Achu

It’s what it is!!

Not until I read ‘Anne Frank’s diary’ I was able to understand one of the most significant terms in every human life!! It’s the world famous diary apparently written by the young Dutch girl who started writing when she was thirteen, that promptly explained her life in hiding for two years in small office building during World War II. She however could not survive out of concentration camp beyond fifteen years of her age! Her quality of writing and expressions are so intense that does not lower the hangover of the feelings expressed easily. I was so much into that book that, one morning I got up with a terrible fear feeling as though as I was in hiding!!! And there my friends, was my realization on the significant term –‘Freedom!!’

It’s the free spirit that maketh a life. The fight going on for the same in Bangalore prison is one of the examples. Although the prisoner’s demands are outrageous to the government, one can sense the desperation for freedom in them. The life in prison is the least one may want. Infact, one of the classy movies – ‘Shawshank redemption’ explains it all and how the genius makes his way through to his freedom. It’s indeed a blessing to be in a country that not only is a free country but also is democratic. However, in a weird way, democracy is becoming more of a boon to politicians these days in India!!

Anyway although I am a patriotic soul who used to get goose bumps when I hear National Anthem or just by the look of National Flag and also, attended parades and other programs sometimes just as a fest on Independence Day, after such realizations- I do get that same impressions for right transformed reasons for sure!

Freedom indeed is what it is and nothing can be compensated for it!!

So, with the respect of highest order to all those freedom fighters, to all those men and women at the borders and especially to the freedom to be…. “Happy Independence Day to all”

Signing off for now,

Achu

+’ve Inspiration from the opposite sex!

Recently I attended my high-school reunion wherein I was able to get hold of one of my close friend’s contact. We had a recap of almost everything as we spoke. Of the many things that we recollected, we remembered how our male Hindi teacher inspired us to do well in our third language though we both majored in Kannada. He basically used to teach students who had opted Hindi as their first language! Although he dint teach us, it was strange that we somehow wanted to do well in Hindi…. pretty unusual huh!!!

This was a distant inspiration from a good looking North Indian who had just started his career as a teacher and possessed a dynamic behaviour. Back then in South India and that too school filled with girls, he was equivalent to melodramatic khans of the bollywood. Now that I think of it, I could relate the obsession to do well in Hindi to- ‘emotion of opp sex’ about which I had read sometime ago although the reference terminology might vary from source to source. This indeed is the topic that’s not easy to comprehend and therefore, there is a possibility that majority of people would consider the vibes of emotions towards opp sex biased to be related to physical too at first. Anyway that’s just human or mostly human;) (Pun intended!!)

Well coming to the ‘inspirations’ that rise from the ‘emotions of opp sex’ which essentially has its own weird powers! It fills in so much of energy and drive that gets you right into the action that requires to complete the task. For instance, the task could be to as simple as to get through a book that is as boring as 'Men are from Mars and Women are from venus'!!The zest out of emotional inspiration is unbound. It’s proven that, it indeed is one of the powerful factors which not only encourages towards the accomplishment of the task but also makes one conquer beyond their abilities. Well ofcourse, there could be other inspiring factors too which can lead to similar strive like- one’s own burning desire to achieve or inspiration from the family or some other significant event in life! Amongst all such inspirations, emotional inspiration from the opp sex can be counted as one of the potent means which can do wonders!!!

As per my understanding on the topic, the interesting part is, the vibes for such emotions does not restrict on age bar and can start as early as eight! When I was in my fourth grade and as much as I wanted to study well and make my parents feel proud of me, I also wanted to excel badly because a boy in my class was leading. And thereafter, I reckoned to make it to the college dance team thinking that the science nerd across the building might notice one day. And sometimes, it’s the friend’s cousin whom you meet once in a blue moon or sometimes, it’s the show off intellectual colleague from the other wing at office!! Such minor inspirations ironically had led to worthy results. The influence of emotions creates such state of being that leads to stronger mind and keeps it motivated to the ecstasy!

However, there was a thought in my head that, when such teeny tiny +’ve inspirations can afford to put life to an extra mile, what about those exceptional people who have such inspirations from their “true love” or its synonym “friendship!”

Well, Just the thought of it seems like such a biggie and… ain’t that the jackpot of life??

Signing off for now,

Achu

Astrology- is it kinda spooky????

It will be improbable if I say that I do not care for teensy prediction that comes in the newspaper every day! And if it is Sunday hmmm…the morning tea time is fixated. The best part in India is the flexibility of the star signs. Here, the star sign determined by the actual birth date as per English calendar differ from that of the sign determined by the time of birth. So if the zodiac sign Cancer is sick for the day, then I conveniently move over to Virgo and vice versa! And sometimes if both signs are not in my favor then, it’s simple enough to move on considering the teensy predictions irrelevant! Ultimately it’s the ‘feel good’ factor that mind bangs upon. As my impression on this methodical ancient science was as roving as this, I came across a personal incident for which I have to bow wow to astrology…well to be specific to the term- ‘Medical Astrology’.

The astrology savior entered my life just like the cops enter at the end of the classic bollywood cinema…although the significance of the former at the climax was uncanny. In my teenage years, an unfortunate accident left a ‘coin shaped’ scar on my feet. It stayed with me all through and started acting weird when I first joined work perhaps because of the stress factor. Soon it dragged me to the dermatologist wherein it was diagnosed to be something dreadful. I was happy to hold prescription and medicine back home until I read about it on the internet. That explained the look on the doctor’s face which had actually made me think that he was unwell.

There started the trouble for next five years. I denied telling it to my parents for obvious reasons and started to venture out the ways to get rid of it. At that age, nothing else was more important to me. The unwell doctor’s face had such a bleak impact that I dint dare to go back to him or to any other allopathy doctor or to any others. Although with my sister’s help, I did visit about three homeopathy clinics in five years with my big mouth telling homeopathy doctors about my syndrome before they ask me. Infact, I not only told them but also convinced them even before their attempt to diagnose it. It was as though I was in some ‘make believe’ contest and I always succeeded with my big mouth. But the ‘coin shaped’ scar remained intact without causing any more harm while my parent’s were hazy about my efforts of running around to get rid of my stubborn scar.

Almost every other day became a battle for five years. The allegations with mind are most difficult to deal with and were tough to handle!! One tiring day, I finally broke down in front of my parents. My dad, who is very interested in learning astrology and has accomplished it to some extent, took me to our family friend with my detailed horoscope. Uncle is a renowned astrologer who specializes in Medical astrology and also the author of the book-‘Horoscope for Stethoscope’. Through some calculations he assured that my problem would vanish. We three then headed in particular direction to see one person who could look into the problem. I had no choice but to walk with them with my big mouth again!

The person that my uncle took us to looked very learned and confident of curing it. Obviously I was not satisfied with that person’s mediocre reaction towards my problem and so, my big mouth delivered the speech again which made him the first person on earth to defend me. He was strong and clear about what he is treating and convinced me that its nothing remotely related to what the unwell doctor had concluded. Since the fact that this person has treated millions of people did put me back on the edge making me feel that it was high time to do some due diligence to myself. So, after five years of gap, I once again checked on internet and learned that the symptoms or the progress over years had nothing related to unwell doctor’s diagnosis. It made me so confident that I went back to couple of super specialty hospitals only to confirm the negative results against the previous one. My problem required treatment just for a month with some easy maintenance. Overall I couldn’t believe I am going to be living one of my dreams!

Today, every time I put on my shoes, I see the ‘dot shaped’ scar and remember the kind of person it has made me during the course of time. I thank it for leaving me yet living with me. It’s the D learning of life for me!! It has restored so much of positive doses for future use and health wise made me go pure vegetarian for early cure that I have been for long enough now and for that matter, continue to be so for the rest of my life. All the more...the ultimate advantage is that the weight management turns to auto control mode with vegetarianism. (Trust me on this ladies)! Anyway most importantly, the whole experience made me understand the value of family and friends and thus strengthened me to never cease the wants of life despite such hurdles. After such a dramatic experience, I can’t help but to give credit to astrology which was the ignition to end this traumatic journey! It’s beyond my league to even attempt to think if this part of vedic science is spooky or not. It did leave remarkable evidence on me backed up with genuine profound knowledge of my uncle.

But come what may, I still find it appropriate to approach astrology only for couple of important things for sheer confidence boost if I ever need, but, certainly do not let it spasm heartfelt decisions. If someone doesn’t believe in astrology, then there’s nothing to consider but if there is a belief, I think the influence should be minimal. It’s definitely not that thrilling to condition the beautiful life by the planetary alignments which can lead to limitations. Infact ‘hope’ is a magical word that can pep up life to the rim and I feel one should never compromise on most important element -“fun”!

PS: my uncle would kill me if he gets to read this blog post:)

Signing off for now,

Achu

I’m telling ya…u’ll love ‘em!

“I want to feel my life while I’m in it”- Meryl Streep

Indeed the above quote is from a very renowned personality who is also one of my favourite actresses!! Such one-liners have always taken me for a spin!! She means so much in such short sentence! Infact, how many of us can possibly ‘feel’ what we do in every aspect of life? having a great feeling in everything you do is indeed a divine experience that’s not everybody’s cup of tea! And therefore that quote of hers blows my mind completely!!

I have been a big fan of quotes of any kind! The moment I pick up RD, I do not go to the ‘laughter’ page and I do not go to the most popular ‘life’s like that’ page but, I directly pledge myself to the page of “quotes.” They are so thought provoking and although, some are hilarious like this one for instance- “When a husband brings flowers for his wife for no reason, there’s a reason:)” quotes do not give up on your rational thinking! It gets me enthralled as to how the volumes of messages can be put in such concise manner. They are crisp but capable of talking life time experience. The best part is, there are all kinds of categories in them to suit your mindset!!

Some great sayings can rush through you like a slap on the face… like this one here- “Tell me what you brag about and I can tell you what you lack”

If you need something sweeter, here it is- “The most important thing a father can do to his children is to love their mother”.

Something witty- “Cooking is like making love, you do it well, or you do not do it at all”.

Something political- “Politicians are same all over; they promise to build bridge even when there is no river”

Or if you need to kick in some positivity- “whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe he can achieve”

For health- “the person who has no time for exercise must make time for illness”

Or you want something for trance- “the quiet mind cureth all”

Or something for self-upliftment- “accept that some days you are pigeon and somedays statue”

Something for just to be yourself… “You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it”

Well, am sure there are oceans of quotes available on the net, in books, posters, calendars & some on t-shirts as well. But here, I want to suggest one handbook which I loved the best!! I picked it up from crossword and it’s called “Attitude, Altitude” a Times of India effort with Bennett Coleman publish. It’s a handout that’s stands apart...something different like that of ‘Chanakya Neeti’ which is a pure delight to read. Anyway this handbook that I am suggesting has the sayings from great people showing off their extraordinary attitude but being outrageously modest!! I tell you… get up early morning, take a big mug of hot tea and sit by the window and read through that book…hmmm…u’ll love ‘em!!

Now, as an abridgement to my post here on quotes, I too have made up one quote to spice it up a lil bit!! Here I present to you my creation as a conclusion …

“Like the quality red wine stimulates the heart kicks better, the ravishing quotes stimulates the intellectual kicks better”- Achala;)

Signing off for now,

Achu