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

“The grass is green- It’s so simple”

It was a mere blessing to travel by train from Castle town to Vasco. We were about twenty colleagues heading to Goa for a holiday in off-season which was slightly post monsoon. I dint realize until I went there as to how off-season apparently is the best season to travel for those who wants get drowned in the glorious mercy of nature. Well, based on personal experience, I recommend to my readers traveling in the off season to venture out Ooty as well as Kerala.

If I remember correctly, it was about 4-5 hours of train journey to reach Vasco…Sorry 4-5 hours of ‘breathtaking’ journey to Vasco!! Almost everyone in the train went crazy with the view it offered outside. So many were busy clicking snaps and were astonished with the lush greenery with water falls intermittently appearing like from nowhere. Clearly it was out of the world experience. How much ever I was involved with my friends, my eyes never stopped cherishing the grace around. It was unbelievable to me as to how much the nature can offer & is humble enough to let us through such beautiful hilly midst. Infact, one can so easily personify nature- “nature indeed is someone so glamorous but yet down to earth!!”

Ultimately it was my lifetime experience! It was imprinted in my mind and was beyond my words to explain to anyone. It’s in such situations when you feel the shortage of appropriate words to explain the intensity, one tend to choose different form of expressions. In the words of Edward Hopper “if you could say it in words, there would be no reason to paint” and likewise in my case, I choose the poetic form. Ofcourse I am not the one who writes sonnets & stuff but like my senior colleague and writer himself once said “your poems are good with awkward structures” …Well, god forbid let them be just for me:)

So I got back and wrote a poem on my experience titled “Nature Rail” and left the printout on my best friend’s desk for her to go through. As it was lying there for longer I suppose, one of our common friends who had also accompanied us to the same trip, happened to read and appreciated it. It was good until the next day wherein he slipped out his views about the poetic form of expression saying that - “the grass is green- It’s so simple to say…but why one has to make it so complicated??” he meant that when something that can be said without hidden meanings and words then, why not go for it?

I was dumbstruck!!! I dint have any answer to him on the spot! I knew there was nothing to worry about as, it depends on each ones view and choices. But deep down, I knew I was surely offended, which, might have been because I could not justify to him my own purpose of work! I was once again out of words and to top it all, his question never left my mind. I had to find an answer else I wouldn't have slept. That day while getting back home in office bus, I wrote the answer which was apparently the free flow of thoughts and to my surprise- "in the poetic form" to torture him again:) anyway there is no other way that I could have ever substantiated it better. Indeed the below poem is the result of the conversation and is one of them that I cherish reading…

Intense Feeling…

Bird chirping louder in the evening;

Getting back to the folks arm;

All excited to spend the rest of the time;

Knotting the Intense feeling of togetherness:

Farmer ploughing the land;

Taking a look at the pretty green beside;

Recollecting the hard work bound to it;

Knotting the Intense feeling of achievement:

Groom walking to the wedding hall;

Taking a glance on the bride side;

Clasping the grin on her face;

Knotting the Intense feeling of completeness:

Sunshine spreading worldwide;

Never missing a single day’s promise;

Alarming everyone for the bright start;

Knotting the Intense feeling of assurance:

Writer penning down drop of thoughts;

Been questioned for the form of expression;

Unable to justify the poetic testimony;

Knotting the Intense feeling of contentment:

Signing off for now,

Achu

Foot ball- ‘Just a wish to go..!’

Ever since my childhood, I remember my family being a huge cricket fan. Ofcourse except my dad -who can watch any sport under the sun irrespective of the countries played and now, with this numerous sports channels and leagues in place, he is literally having a sports fest in his retirement life. Infact, his latest passion in sports is to buy my niece FIFA football every four years and make her to have a collection. Well, hope one day my niece captains Indian women’s football team!

Though my dad’s behavior on watching sports is infectious, unlike him, my mom is a loyal cricket fan. She not only watches all formats but also understands test cricket concept. That’s something I am unable to get till date….phew!! But these days to my surprise, I have seen her watching football matches more than me. It is unusual to see her talk about late night matches as soon as I get up in the morning. She is like the first update I can get on FIFA happening. Pretty soon it prompted me to ask her as to what is making her watch football so interestingly and here is what she said- “ these matches are short and sweet and to be played with so much intelligence”

Yep, she said it all! It’s nothing but a cumulative intelligence of eleven people. For instance- in cricket, at a time tricks are done either by the batsman or the bowler or the captain. But here, the entire eleven got to be collectively doing the magic almost constantly! It is so amazing to see them all work together towards a ‘common goal’ with so much commitment. By and by, there are so many qualities that these players need to possess- like, first and foremost they should be patriotic, should be excellent team players, should be able to coordinate & communicate well, should be extremely confident, should be fearless, should be knack-full, should have tough legs, should take quick decisions, should be innovative on their strategies, and to some extent should even have the sixth sense etc., Oops, I almost forgot one more important criteria…they should compulsorily have handsome looks..duh:)

Overall everything is so classy & stylish about this game- like the football jersey’s, the discipline in the way games are conducted, the dignity of referees, the gracefulness of the coaches, and how can I let go K’nann’s celebration mix!! It gets me the goose bumps every time I hear it…wow... music speaks it all!! Ok… now back to football;). It even offers one of the main behavioural skills which is indeed by giving an opportunity to have ‘fair play’ with their opponents! Gosh, sounds like a complete corporate game to me though. I think the companies should limit the cost on classroom trainings for enhancing soft skills and let their employees just play football. Let’s face it- It certainly helps in skill building, its fun and moreover can help in avoiding their employees building tragic body figures!!

Finally, coming to the ‘one & only’ football wish, I recently got to hear from our media friends about coca-cola also having sponsored under-16 Indian football team which is a great thing to do supporting youngsters!! When we can manage to play Hockey, I think we can manage football too. India should definitely make its place in such delightful game!

I wish- I see India one day qualified in final 32 FIFA teams and then, we all Indians proudly travel across to just ‘cheer them’ in such a ‘passionate intelligent game’!!

Signing off for now,

Achu

Creativity- A Ball Park in all creations??

I was driving on a Saturday evening to the temple and happened to stop my vehicle in one of the cross roads for my other vehicle friends to pass. In corner there was this new, a small place called “Water Colours”! At first, I was only able to get a glimpse of the outside setting as it had a veranda. I could not make out what it was about?? It was a store with extreme brightness yet having pleasant colours on its board with an attractive font. Now, what could this possibly be? I was curious as it took me back to my school days to my most favourite art class. Is it a painting workshop?? If it is… boy, I am going in there as it looked so interesting! I was very inquisitive to know about it. Whilst my mind was swirling around with various thoughts in 100kms per hour, my all other vehicle friends passed and I got my chance to move on. I made an effort to peep inside to know what it was and apparently, to my very surprise it was the juice bar!! Isn’t that the idea of someone thoughtful? Call a juice junction like that and make a set up which can play with your mind especially taking me to the very golden days back…that’s a place where I would like my juice…yeah! The name and set up did not leave me until I got to know what it was! Huh…. that’s creativity!

Creativity astounds me! Off the top of my head- the one thing that I think really floors me is the advertising world of the modern era. It is so unconventional these days and does such a great first hand sales. The attention grabbing is so tricky and some geniuses do it so well. Some of the print ads gosh…unimaginable…I recently read somewhere that most of the Indian and the global brands believe in using blue colour in their logos as blue stands for reliability. And I am sure, there would be lot more conditions & restrictions that one may have to keep in mind and yet create the best! Wonder how the right brain of humans can make such a larger impact!!

On the other hand, creativity has so much to contribute in our daily life as well. You may want to manage your time creatively, you may want to work out your office schedules creatively, you may want to tackle your family problems creatively, or you may want to come up with great life style creatively. Apparently everything gives a room for a creative work out.

Once, one of my colleagues requested me to contribute some material for his abroad university applications wherein he had to write about knowledge-vs-imagination. I was thrilled to just think about it. It apparently boils down to creativity-vs- logical thinking. As much as logical thinking is important, I could not resist giving an upper hand to the creative thinking. Imagine some of the finest men and women who are extremely good in their logical thinking- concepts, facts or procedures but can’t expand it due to lack in creativity. It is as good as garaging their knowledge. Imagine scientists with rich concepts but had no imagination or creativity, we would have been denied of so many inventions today. The same goes with musicians or painters. Wow- What a great loss that would have been! I somehow feel that having vague idea on actual concepts or basics is still better to create something outstanding or to make difference. Just like Henry ford, who understood little of engineering but demanded a great deal from his employers to transference his imaginations into reality. Ultimately they had no option but just to do it.


Overall, I bank upon the contribution of creativity to be not just the ‘ball park’ in all creations but the ‘whole all’. Infact, one of the best creations of the ultimate creator is that, he has bestowed a creative thinking into human life!

Signing off for now,

Achu

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

I guess I got introduced to the popular TV show across globe - F.R.I.E.N.D.S on the day I was hitting silver jubilee of my life. Before that, my best friend used to always insist me on watching it but, somehow I did not make enough efforts to time it on TV. And then, she gifted me all of the ten seasons on my b’day!

As it’s an irony these days of having million channels and yet a limited choice on TV, one sat’y afternoon I finally started watching it from the beginning to see what the deal is. And since then, I am hooked to it like inseparable buddies. It literally became a part of my life. I could finally see my friend’s conviction and I am really thankful to her for one the best gifts I’ve ever gotten!

From then, I watched it every single day making time for it and used to be my greatest stress buster after day long work and traveling. It rejuvenated me to the core and this routine went on for next one and a half years on a daily basis. My parents were also used to me watching it as my day’s regular schedule. So far, I have watched it repeatedly multiple times and is worth quotable as one of the weirdest things I could imagine myself doing!

In my view, the obsession is due to the incredible characters, superb acting, excellent synchronization in the story line, and most importantly it is so simple and sometimes so touchy. It has all realistic elements which allow one to easily associate themselves to the characters and perhaps, I starting with the right age of watching must be an add-on factor to be more attached towards it. What so ever the factors be, the bottom line for it to get place in my mind is – “It is Funny”. It definitely made me laugh for the most of its scenes with insane jokes and kept my laughing muscles all alive!

As once, I was chatting away to glory on the same topic, one of my friends felt that f.r.i.e.n.d.s is not funny at all! This came in as a hell of a surprise to me!! ‘f.r.i.e.n.d.s.’and ‘not funny’ does never connect according to me. I felt that as a fishy remark at first but later, talking to my friend made me realize that he happens to like Seinfeld better which has more of a quality comedy and is funny. So I suggested him to watch one of the hilarious episodes in f.r.i.e.n.d.s and still he came back telling that there was nothing funny at all about it. This is the guy who has watched f.r.i.e.n.d.s. quite many times and is familiar with the characters and the story. The fact that he does not find it funny dint sink into me easily. I could not think that anyone could find it ‘not funny’. Ofcourse I agree that not every bit is funny but most of it all does make one to laugh out their lungs. While I was wondering on this, he got me couple of seasons of Seinfeld. I made an effort to watch two seasons of it and all I could get was, they are totally different yet both go in parallel when it comes to its comical nature. What so ever, in my opinion f.r.i.e.n.d.s still cracks me up!!

Somehow, till today I can’t digest the fact that he said that. Btw, is there anyone else who has the same view of f.r.i.e.d.s not being funny at all? It does not make much difference to my obsession towards it but, I am pretty much keen to take a toll on my humor quotient…

Signing off for now,

Achu

Why I started it after all...

Though it’s been such a long time since the blogging period has started, strangely I was aloof with the whole system till date even when it actually reached its boom stage. Today, if I sit back and give it a thought on the reason to be, it’s merely coz of me being fastened with my own blogging mechanism all through.

I was working in human resources domain in one of the companies up-until last year. I was fortunate enough to have had good friends and was extra-fortunate who had an opportunity to interact with lot of different levels of people in my profile. Seemed like, I had entirely made use of the comforts of the blogging system out there. There used to be free flow of topics, opinions, updates, events, interchange of ideas, chatting and not to miss the witty talks and the gossiping!! I got to hear what I wanted from various sources and it met my needs.

Now, whilst I am trying to pursue something of my own interest professionally, I am left with selective people to have the same things moving on. Having limited people to interact is something that I am feeling unusual about!! Hence, I am certain that it’s the time to enter into a new larger dimension and explore. Honestly, I am excited about this and especially about much more that this can offer. It’s a relief to know that on this platform, I will be able to shell out those thoughts which have been swirling around in my mind and thus, keep me going active!

So here I am saying Hi to you all! I am a rookie in here to see how it goes on and yet to experiment! But all I can say for now is “do expect from me more”

Signing off for now,

Achu