Love…can it be locked up?

Love!!!The topic which I am inspired to write about by default! I love this topic for various reasons. But this time, the revelation of my writing spirits for this fledged when I was travelling to Australia recently. It’s not the beautiful Oz beaches, romantic sceneries, exotic food or the smooth southern wines that inspired me, but an endeavor with the brilliantly constructed, superior, manly Bridge that left me perplexed, and at the same time arrested me into writing this, which is quite ironical for a quixotic person like me.

Spread over several kilometers to the north of Woollongong in Australia, the 'Sea Cliff Bridge' broadcasts as though it’s in competition with the perpetual sea itself. Standing stiff and famous, it compelled my folks and me to enjoy the drive-way almost three times more than we had anticipated. It was then the time to bask into the delight of walking by the bridge, that allowed a marvelous and indeed a tireless sight.

I kept walking on the bridge, going and going, and not because of the clichéd explanations given above, but because of something totally unexpected. I looked down and was surprised to see some messages written at the bottom of the railings of the bridge. “Emma, will you marry me? – Jason” “Henry and Anna, we are forever” In fact, there were plenty of such emotions poured down and majority of them were on the similar lines. Interestingly, these messages were embossed on the key locks, and were kept locked up to the railings of that bridge. Apparently, the keys of these locks were thrown into the sea by respective people, with the belief of contracting themselves into an eternal relationship through this notional act.

Now, that whole phenomenon confounded me for a while but however, I sorted my opinion quickly. Till now, I have learnt that the more you hold on to something, the eager it is to sway away. Anything bound so tight, can’t wait to burst open. In such case, I felt the process of locking up relation shells greater degree of insecurity, and might defeat the purpose of being happy with each other. The divine feeling of Love that comes from intellectual, emotional bonding, and through trust and intimacy, can basically be scooped out from the freedom rendered. Letting free is the eminent power, that makes everything magical quite naturally, keeping the loved one's insanely locked up together:)

So, here’s a toast to unconditonal Love, as we enter into a Brand New Year! Let no one be denied of experiencing this wonderful feeling, at least once in a lifetime!

Merry Christmas and a very Happy 2012 to all.

Lastly, before I end my blogging session for this year, let me leave you with an excerpt from the story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, that has something to ponder over.

“He spoke of very simple things- that it is right for a gull to fly, that freedom is the very nature of being, that whatever stands against that freedom must be set aside, be it ritual or superstition or limitation in any form”

Signing off for now,

Achu

Ad by God!

That Monday morning started well. Very well. The advertisement in the newspaper did it. Made me confident and look forward for my day’s meeting. Task was to convince the dean of an international school to sign up with my agency for their upcoming ad campaign. And I, being in the creative team, carried the expectations of positive outcome along with me!

After an hour’s meeting, I waited outside the dean’s cabin with a grin on my face for a promised campus tour. As we went ambling, she explained the newly deployed methodologies in the education system. It was super impressive, as well envious for the fact that I couldn’t be a part of such an impressive system. Her tremendous inputs had already made me chalk out the lines for their campaign. Side by side, I was thinking about their ad in the newspaper that morning. Mediocrity was pure bliss. Their average ad gave me an edge to convince and leverage on the much required positive stroke but, soon something more intense drifted my thoughts during my tour and made me realize that, how I had actually missed to leverage on the Live Ad made through inncocent beings, which surely beats rest all the ads ever made in the world, that I’d like to call- The Ad by God!

Now, let me elaborate the above thought for clarity. When born, as kids, we are all alive. Full of energy. We run, walk and are active all day long. We smile, laugh and cry without hesitation. We sing, and dance. We get things done. We concentrate and are focused. We are straightforward. We are curious and we are hungry. Joyful. We explore. Innocent and honest. Ready to learn new things. We forget and forgive soon. We are Adventurous. Desirable. Truthful. We don’t intend to hurt. We never give up. We take risks. We are fearless. We ask. We don’t discriminate. We believe and we trust. We play. Have freedom. We are natural. We are simple. Content with the smallest of things. We are creative. We enjoy. We celebrate. We get excited. We are naughty. Happy. Connect with God. We live in the moment. And we Love!

But as we grow, ironically, these good things instead of growing with us tend to fade. We become more cautious. We develop less belief and welcome unnecessary troubles. Live with contempt. Tend to get more jealous, narrow minded, egoistic, obsolete, burdened, unreasonable, unhappy and meanwhile artificial. Like Walt Disney once said- “That’s the trouble with the world-too many people grow up.”

As I walked around the school observing kids, was thinking how inspiring their behavior is. It hit me hard with a big realization- the stunning creative of God on persuading us to the ideal way of living by his subtle, brilliant ad, showcasing us the way to happiness through our own initial years of life!

This enduring experience eventually propelled me to sum up this post with the substantial positioning line that I could ever think of for this unanimous ad, that is –Live Like a Child, Always!

Indeed, it’s time to leverage on that mega ad, which has the whole world as its target market and that spot-on manages to successfully run on an Eternal Campaign!

Signing off for now,

Achu

Romance novels….a threat to women?

I didn’t realize that it’s been this long a gap in writing. I mean, in this space. With my busy schedule in an Advertising agency, creative thinking and writing has become round-the-clock affair. But then, some of my thoughts do command to be expressed irrespective of the time crunch, which makes the writing most enjoyable, Here!

Few days ago, I was browsing through a newspaper article quickly. Spent less time reading it but, more time pondering over it. It was the take on romance novels suspending the rationality from people’s life especially, women. It conveyed about how the pretty fiction can mar the ability to keep a grip on reality, developing unrealistic expectations on love and sex. Explained as to how the colorful picture painted would lead to the perfect dream world but, only an unrealistic one. And women, being more emotional are likely to get most affected- Psychologically.

As much as the above is true, my support is largely to counter the view for my own reasons. I agree that such novels or movies do hamper ones thought process and beliefs, making the transition period very difficult, even to men. Majority of the times, we might get clobbered in search of fictitious characters that we are in love with, developing surreal expectations.

On the contrary, the foundations of our fantasies are the ones that keep us on, lively and moving. When in a relationship, it makes us more behaved and human in pursuit of dreamy relationships, mainly striving to create the required balance. When not in a relationship, it builds confidence, fulfills deep yearnings and creates the purpose, if allowed freely. Over all, it reaffirms the existence of Love, to us. As much as we deny, these elements of our fantasy-land help us to go on, try new, and to face life without compromising that important aspect- Hope!

In any case, adjusting to reality is inevitable but, cruising through the fantasy world is Crucial!

Signing off for now,

Achu

Notional that I was…

When I first planned to go abroad, my mind sought after the western countries. Even today, more or less, it is the same set up. Somehow the other countries seem less construing when want to make an occasional trip. The eastern countries capture less concern and especially, when it comes to our neighboring countries, it is the lowest. Maybe, I have a notion that those are more or less similar to our country. This notion was killed when my brother-in-law made a trip to China recently. He returned with marvelous stories that swept me off my feet!

My general knowledge about China was limited to Olympics, population, their food habits, language barrier and of course, Jackie Chan! But little did I know that there was so much more to it. ‘Progressive’ is the word that can be related to China in terms of being at least 20 years ahead of some known Asian countries. Moving rapidly towards being a developed country, it is evident to see them operating with a vision in conjunction with systematic planning. Their infrastructure with multi-layered flyovers, fifty-plus storied hotels, tallest buildings, gigantic malls, and broad roads decorated with super luxurious cars are keeping them at par or may be beyond the standards of raving westerners today.

Being the most populous country in the world, I wonder how they are able to manage such rapid growth and this successfully! They too have famines, social and political issues to handle, crashing economies, and crimes to address. But, amidst all these, what is it that makes them unstoppable? Well, I guess, it all boils down to their attitude. People out there are humble, dedicated and designed to excel. They contribute to quality and progress of their work as long as treated fairly. In any case, their compliance system allows them to be treated fairly for the quality produced. Overall, they have an immense, genuine social responsibility that they are personally accounted for, and so much that, they least bother to have cops around with a jurisdiction system, seeming the simplest thing in the world.

Another interesting factor is, apart from being quality conscious in their work, Chinese are the most health conscious people too. Their dietary habit constitutes naturally a healthy food keeping them extremely fit and energetic. Anyway, if you intend to shop for clothes in China, make sure to keep a tab on your fitness else on your baggage, either of them is a must!

Well, going forward, China is going to take the lead and will be the most sought after country in the world. Today everything is made in China, going forward too indeed…everything WILL be made in China!

Ufff what an outburst of notion, really!!

Signing off for now,

Achu

Connecting the Dots…

Connecting the Dots - is a fun game and I am sure you are familiar with it. It’s the age old game in supplements about joining the dots serially to get to the wholesome picture. Best part about this game is that it’s neither serious, nor difficult, but just ‘fun’ to get to the figure intended. Children might get special thrill doing this and these days, it’s on par with digi world. You can play it on touch screens which could be played by tiny tots who are yet to be familiarized with the counting system. But interestingly, beyond this, there is someone else above- an Immortal Power, who is playing this game with our lives - very cleverly, fancying more complicated designs, twists and without getting to the slightest possible clue of the picture before in hand. Needless to say, someone up there must be having great fun!

Well, to get more clarity on my say here, do try and introspect your life backwards. Observing some of the important happening or critical incident starts to look so tailor made as though it was intended to connect the dot sooner or later. For instance, a dreadful happening or a situation might irritate for the moment, tire us up totally and our efforts might go in vain producing zilch results. But, going forward, it will certainly have a lead to some influence, some impressions, some learning’s, some carry-forwards, some worthy mistakes, some improvements, some convincing results, some encounters, or just some connections, either- Deep or Remote!

Once you realize that the game is all about arriving at the final picture and the divine creator is on play with some purpose, it’s more comforting to deal any kind of situations which seeds in the effective thought of – Everything Happens for the Best. And this way, it’s conducive to wait for the moment, wait for the unanswered prayers to be cleared, or just wait for the Dots to be Connected….and enjoy being part of that fun game!

Signing off for now,

Achu

Extramarital affairs…a breach of moral law?

Single  Married  Divorced  Widowed  Extra marital

Well…the last box is under construction!

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You must have guessed from the above exemplar that I am trying to talk about something that’s relatively common and… something that’s getting to be an open, tolerated behavior amongst people off-late. In fact, the happenings am seeing through my minds eye in my surrounding inspired me to consider this topic after facing two weeks of dilemma fighting my own inhibitions. But, I pursued it as I have a say on this.

I remember my cousin telling me that extramarital affairs are becoming everyone’s cup of tea whereas, one of my friends demurely justified that it’s a common affair amongst doctors in particular. Another friend banged upon intellectual inspiration missing in marriages and, yet another friend strongly declared saying that marriage is an accident. In fact, the Yahoo! blog flashed information on how couples are talking about their extramartial affairs to each other to keep their marriage going. Hmmm…now the last one seems like a suspiring change in perspective of the term-Marriage!

Marriage- somehow is perceived as complicated, and an overrated institution by many. Although it has plenty of advantages, one of them is, it makes us ‘evolve’ in reality; it teaches and teaches and teaches…and teaches what we are to us and only when one is ready to learn. It’s certainly not for selfish, scared and uncommitted people. It is hard work and hard work of giving in from both the stakeholders. And if one slips repeatedly in this continuous process, the other one is sure to slip off!

Extramarital is the attraction that swings by when one is tied up. One tends to get carried away as it overcomes the main flaw of most of the marriages which is – the lack of simplicity and the space. It could be a savior to people who are botched up with bad marriages or bad spouses of lending repeated chances but failed. But, at the same time, it could be a devastating factor leading the perfect families to deviated marriages which becomes quite unjustified unless... for an exception of finding true love through an extramarital spree.

In my say, I strongly feel that making outright choice is a must to live through the relationship ordeal without hurting or harming anyone. A conscious choice and standing steadfast by that choice will help in experiencing that long term commitment, love and loyalty which has its own beautiful indescribable pleasure when happens naturally. And who can strike a difference between moral or immoral better than each one of us? In any case, it’s up to each individual to live the life that really counts to them and the moments that reels through the sanity and their firm beliefs.

To conclude, I would like to leave it with a saying that I heard from one of my uncles…

“Nothing is worth it….If you satisfy yourself by hurting others-AND- if you hurt yourself by satisfying others…"

Signing off for now,

Achu

Mind Twisters!

It’s ought to be ‘different’ when something has to capture the mind. Well it has to be…and that difference or the uniqueness drags the mind invariably towards it, may it be in any case. And recently, something of that sort I basked into took me for a complete joyride. It lent me the thoughts that made me think, absorb, demanding reasonable time for understanding it. Such lucid experience came through when I read the Contemporary Poetry written by a renowned writer Mani Rao from her book called - Salt. Some bits that I am tempted to share in this space is the courtesy from the same book and selected excerpts that I particularly enjoyed reading.

The writer’s profound thoughts can make you pause at times; can tickle your mind; some gives a sweaty work out to the mind; And that’s mainly because, these particular thoughts are inclined to our basic daily breaks which we kind of ignore to comprehend. And, when such fundamental matters are put across in such noetic and poetic manner, it tends to become an intellectual substance.

So, go ahead and grab the scoop of your mind’s essence with these twisters that gave me a good time reading which, I am hoping to give it you too.

And btw, I have left my favorite one to the end. Read on…

- Memory is a circle. The same things lead to the same things

- Things are things I can see

-You don’t need me to show you the visible Say the speakable

- The surest thing about counting or a clock, You know what comes next

- The mirror could be a chameleon

- The face takes the credit for the mysteries of light

- Stranger...Stranger than what?

- A dead person collects a 2 minute silence- a tax-

- If family was an adverb what verb would it describe?

- Give friendly strangers the liberties you give strange friends

-Silence is not the absence of sound, It’s the space of sound, The field of sound- S U R R O U N D

- Home is where the heart is and the heart is full of habit

- Hum the school songs that failed to teach you to love your country

- Friends are afraid to ask for things that we easily give strangers

- Why are we the only ones to walk on two legs, a begging position, if you ask a dog?

- There is love and there is love pickle

- Itch Itch Itch...Switch

- My physics teacher- “what is space”? I said “where there is no matter”. No, he Said, “Space is where there is matter”.

AND THIS ONE IS MY PERSONAL FAV:

-Why does everyone wear the same clothes?

Camouflage

Signing off for now,

Achu

Strangers…are they really?

It was close to six months since I had traveled. So, I decided to take off to some place and the first choice that hits my mind in such cases is the South Canara/Dakshina Kannada region. I simply love that part of Karnataka. And this time, I found a better reason to go there and spend last ten days in solitude yet having an opportunity to meet new people. Eventually, my stay out there gave me a plenty of good times, new sweetest encounters which has made it a very memorable one to me. And to top it all, on the last day, it gave me such a rare new experience that- I loved the most, enjoyed the most and thus, prompted me to share it in this space.

On the last day, my program was slightly packed. I had to drop a friend, visit couple of places around Mangalore and catch my train at 10 in the night from Kukke to Bangalore. As happy as I was to travel there, I couldn’t believe of not being able to watch India-Pakistan Semi finals match which was on the same day. It was the match which had made the headlines, which the whole country was looking forward to and which was more important than winning the World Cup-11. And,I,being a passionate Indian cricket follower, felt terribly irked for that co-incidence.

In any case, having subscribed to score updates on Airtel, started my travel in the car sent by an uncle. The driver was a Tulu speaking Muslim and we dint exchange much talk after my friend left except for his Mecca Madina travel. But it dint remain the same once the match started. We discussed cricket with every update that we received, fretted when the network went out of reach and were disappointed when our predictions went haywire with the Indian batting score. Overall he was an excellent company who was supporting India wholeheartedly.

By the time the second innings had started, I was in Kukke with my two other friends. After the temple visit, we found Mysore Café which had the TV facing the road. As we had an hour, we stood there and enjoyed watching the match with a bunch of people who were apparently reactive to every single delivery. For the first time in my life, I had the experience of watching cricket standing on roads mingling with the crowd and believe me… it was nothing less than a stadium feel!

It was then a time for me to make a move to Railway station which was 16 kms away while my friends stayed back in Kukke. I reached the station on time and found no TV around. And my phone had a very little energy left which I hoped to save for my future use. There was a middle aged man standing in near distance to me waiting for the train and was getting the score updates on his cell. Within no time, many people gathered around him. When the updates were awaited, they discussed the history of cricket; they analyzed and were indeed excellent commentators. If one was philosophical and optimistic, the other one was worried about the power play, someone else constantly hoped for a wicket whilst old man was talking about how selfish Sunil Gavaskar had been. Everyone was into Cricket and indulged in giving a free consultation to Dhoni non-stop. Anybody passing by with a cell phone was talking about the score. When I bent down to place my luggage, I could hear someone sitting on the steps saying “167 is it...ok”! Overall, I loved eaves dropping. Being a passive listener, I got my update and much more insight without using my cell even for once in the station.

The last three overs were remaining and the match had tensed us up with Pakistani player Misbah knocking some big hits. Some one had informed us that the train is delayed by half an hour but to our surprise, it came on time. Ironically, all of us were disappointed as the network would go off on the move in no time. We parted our ways and I got into an a/c coach where all were fast asleep. I had no other choice but to use remaining cell’s charge to call my Sis to get a ball-to-ball update for the last two overs and she did an excellent job for me. She passionately explained every bit including the celebs present in the stadium. I had a great time and we celebrated India’s victory!

In all this, I realized that, though I was not in front of the TV all the time, though was not with my dad who is an excellent company to watch cricket, I had thoroughly enjoyed watching the match virtually. It literally came across like watching the live match. To begin with, it was the driver and then on the roads and then in the Railway station. What a delightful experience it was to watch such a sensational match with all the strangers around or…when it comes to cricket in India, are they really strangers….? I really wonder:)

Signing off for now,

Achu

Unconventional is bit too ‘Un-conventional’

When I was on the way to my sister’s place who lives slightly away from the city, I happened to see a compound wall of an empty site in a deserted area that was filled with shrubs and hardly maintained. And on the same wall it was written - “If it’s worth a dream, it’s not worth a compromise”. I was taken aback reading that for a moment. The bold text and large font size covered the vast area of that wall, and, was quite visible even to the passerby on the move. Was thinking who could have had such an urge to paint statement like that in a lonely place as such. Of course, it’s possible that it could have been situation driven but, it took me by surprise as it surely was an 'unconventional' experience to me. And that’s what unconventional experience does to everyone, it 'surprises' them!

Recently, I happened to go through a book called ‘I like my Job’ written by Sarah Herman and targeted for all those who have worked in an office environment. The unique element of this book is that, the way the Author has captured and presented information in a graphical representation having few standard caricatures. It has humorous graphics and hilarious messages that can keep the reader on toes to finish reading the book in a single sitting. Had this been written in a conventional form, I think it wouldn’t have been this effective. The story line is so well tailor made and real, that, the efforts behind creating this book would have been a difficult task. That’s what it is... being unconventional is ‘not easy’!

I was at the Art gallery in Lavelle road few days ago to recommend an Artist cousin of mine. The gallery had some amazing works on display. As there were loads of them piled up, my eyes gazed through part of one painting which was hidden behind the other bigger one. As I peaked into it, it had a picture of very religious purohit holding a mask of a Joker in his hands near his face and tilting his head sideward having an extremely naughty smile. As an immediate effect, it brought a smile to my face. The painting looked so non-offensive. How could it? Anyway, it can be interpreted in any manner and might become acceptable to some and unacceptable to many. And that’s the way it is. Unconventional has to fight its ‘acceptance’ at times!

Having watched plenty of movies in different languages, till date, I haven’t come across the kind of role the Mexican beauty, Salma Hayek had played in a movie called ‘Frida’. In my view, it was the toughest role one could have ever played. The emotions, the longings and the tolerance, the pain were so nicely portrayed by her in that kind of unconventional localized role that, I couldn't imagine her efforts to understand and bring out such an intrinsic and moving character onto the motion picture. She looks to be so indulged in that versatile character that inturn, makes the one watching it get completely involved. And anyway unconventional demands for ‘Indulgence’!

Anytime, in any era, people get excited to read something new, watch something new or experience something new or just do something new. ‘New’ is always exciting. And now a days it’s happening so much be it in any field as, ‘variety’ is the new ingredient of the fast paced world. As Andy Warhol says, “In the future everyone will be famous for 15 minutes”! Even if it is to be famous or not, creating something unconventional will make you ‘die’ in the process to live and experience that one moment. And anyway…unconventional is bit too ‘un-conventional’!

Signing off for now,

Achu

The ‘T’ letter-word….

When I was in the IT world, I was made to play three different roles. In each of them, I had to go through standard initial phase. As much as it is necessary to go through that phase, it slightly hampers the creative thinking and the freedom. One will not be able to translate thoughts into action easily during the initial learning phase. Any move will be unacceptable. If you swank much, you will be miserable and if you swank little, you will again be miserable. That phase, my friends, is the ‘Transition’- the ‘T’ letter-word!

In the above context, the ‘T’ letter-word may be of less importance. What I really feel for is the ‘Cultural Transition’ in India. Whilst men are getting hiccups with this, women are getting choked to death. In the sense, the past generation sailed in one set of cultural thoughts, and the future generation will sail in their set of thoughts but it’s the present that hangs in between! It’s tough to cope up with this mixed phase and that’s when the ‘T’ letter-word becomes worse than any other letter word!

Anyway moving away from both the above contexts, there are some transitions which could people die for! For instance, when I had visited Nandi hills to witness dawn, there were many like me who were jammed up at 5 AM to experience the transition of dark into the misty beautiful day, which was a wondrous experience! Likewise, can’t deny the superiority of the transition of hard work into success; suffering into blessing; patience into payback; dream into reality; failure into strength; stranger into love; and self into the truth.

In any case, transition is hard to be welcomed. But it will be of so much worth if it’s for a better reason, and if stepped up for a great new beginning. No doubt the word Transition comes along with other ‘T' letter-words like- Tough, Troublesome, Tension, Trust, etc. But if you pass that phase, it’s dead sure to lead to that one big ‘T’ letter-word ......'Triumph'!

Signing off for now,

Achu

A piece by an old man!

I came across this below piece which is written by an 85 year old man who learnt that he was dying. I wanted to share this with you not because he is right/wrong; not because you should agree/disagree with him; and not because you should do anything about it!

I am sharing this only because I am personally driven by the emotions that are so deep and intense shredded straight from the heart. Its not easy to confront something so depressing and yet afford to be honest and expressive with such ineffable fateful acceptance.

If possible, do go through the below lines from him without judging anything in it and perhaps you might think the same way I do.

“If I had my life to live over again, I’d try to make more mistakes next time.

I wouldn’t be so perfect. I would relax more. I’d limber up. I’d be sillier than I’ve been on this trip. Infact, I know very few things that I would take seriously. I’d be crazier. I’d be less hygienic.

I’d take more chances, I’d take more trips, I’d climb more mountains, I’d swim more rivers, I’d go places I’ve never been to. I’d eat more ice creams and fewer beans.

I’d have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones!

You see, I was one of those people who live prophylactically and sensibly and sanely hour after hour and day after day. Oh, I’ve had my moments, and if I had it over again, I’d have more of those moments- moment by moment by moment.

I’ve been one of those people who never went anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a gargle, a raincoat and a parachute. If I had to do all over again, I’d travel lighter the next time.

If I had it to do all over again, I’d start barefoot earlier in the spring and stay way later in the fall. I’d ride more merry-go-rounds, I’d watch more sunrises, and I’d play more with children, if I had my life to live over again.

But you see I don’t!”

Signing off for now,

Achu

Soulmate…it’s interesting!!

Most of us have heard of someone saying or atleast in the movies that – ‘he is my soulmate’ or ‘she is my soulmate’! What is this soulmate all about anyway?

Well, it’s nothing but a companion that you have ‘forever’ coz souls have no end per se!They connect emotionally well and bond quite magically that has no separation even after life! Now let me get to the part of how ‘soulmates are interesting’ after giving you a background of related interesting facts/beliefs!

When we die, our respective souls get a big time vacation period! They wander around for few days before their close ones give a farewell to them by doing some Kriyas. After which, the souls travel to their destiny based on their cumulative performance/testimonials on earth (Karma’s) either to heaven or hell. The destiny is obviously decided by the boss/god who is a responsible authority to send us to earth with one and only purpose which is- ‘to face troubles’! [So if you are there praying god to get you out of all the troubles or blaming everything on fate doing nothing about your problems...then think again! Coz how we face our troubles and overcome them is big time assessed up there and therefore this saying certainly is not a joke- ‘god helps only those who help themselves’]

Basically, there are about seven levels up there to settle down after physical death. The first three are bloody hell. The fourth one is a balance b/n hell and heaven! Fifth and sixth is heaven! And seventh is the ultimate heaven or what we call in here as ‘Vaikunta’! So every soul wants to upgrade themselves to better and reach Vaikunta ultimately. But accomplishing this task out there ain’t easy! It takes hundreds of years to attain Solace or Moksha up there especially if you are in hell. Hence, such deprived souls or the relative of such souls request god’s permission to send them to earth which is like a crash course to upgrade themselves quickly! [Indeed all this fact is known to your own subconscious mind which we tend to keep inactive very efficiently ;). To wake up that mind is a tough task which is perhaps what Hypnotism or a Meditation or in Kannada what we call ‘Sadhane’ is all about!]

Anyway having given you this background as to why we are here, it’s not necessary that your soulmate is also around facing troubles with you or end up with you on earth as your partner although it could happen sometimes. I relate such things to love@first sight or love in all imperfections! Or chances are that your soulmate could be destined with someone else on earth learning their share of lessons! Or He/she could be up there in a much better level waiting for you to clean up! Or the worse could be that someone who annoys you to death could turn out to be your soulmate once you die!!

Just like down here on earth, isn’t it interesting to have some suspense stored about your mate after death? Or for that matter, the person whom you are constantly thinking about while reading this article could be your…….never know;) interesting….isn’t it??

Signing off for now,

Achu

I like excuses :)

“Oh! Thank god you called!! I changed my cell and had lost your number”

- Indeed, above is the popular excuse for a call back that’s floating around irrespective of the caliber of the people. That means, the world is getting super rich to care enough to change the gadgets pretty often! Phew;)

Here is another eg of an excuse -“I am not sure if I can make it in the coming weekend but let me see”-hmmm now the word ­see=halfheartedness! Although sometimes it might be genuine, the majority vote belongs to excuse category!!

“Come on man…toss another peg for me…after all India won!!”–this is a typical man’s excuse to extend his regard to the country’s victory;)

“Oh come on, it doesn’t kill me to have one tiny chocolate mousse on my colleagues b’day!!”-this must be from a woman you know ;)

Likewise, a man’s standard excuse to a woman would be him getting busy overnight at work! So busy that he cant care enough for a breath! God bless him and his contradictions later on:)

And you can’t beat the woman’s standard excuse to a man simply by saying that- “I have a headache :)”

Well apart from these interesting excuses, what about those sweetest excuses which make you to revamp your life? That gives you reasons to come back to family, to renew your love, to be together, to party around and to have a vacation and most importantly to start over!! I think one such adorable excuse is the New Year’s wherein the world comes together and celebrates! Actually every single day we are blessed with a brand new day but we take an extra effort to recognize that one day, a start of the year which makes a difference in most of the aspects and the resolutions!

I adore New Year’s and the B’days and especially if any surprises come by those days! Infact this time had a very pleasant experience on New Years Eve and would like to make a mention of it here:- Having found so difficult to find one likeable dress to the finest poolside party that could match my favourite stilettos, I finally compromised on the formal dress and bought a casual dress which matched very well with my stilettos that I was bent upon wearing. Surprisingly, it turned out that the theme of the party was perfectly suiting my attire and that coincidence indeed made that evening become utmost special to me:)”

Anyway, the New Years are as such truly special coz the beginnings are always exciting and filled with energy! It’s the time to sack the previous year’s bankruptcy and enrich the best in the coming year! It’s an opportunity seen by the mind and the heart and its fulfilling! And on such special occasion, I cannot excuse myself from wishing you and your close ones a very Happy 2011!! Have a rollicking year ahead!!

Those who are doing well in life, continue to rock on…

Those who are doing average, roll up to move on to the best…

Those who are yet to do something in life…don’t worry and kick start now…the year has just begun...

Signing off for now,

Achu