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

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