Eid Mubarak , Merry Xmas and Appy New year !

There is this feeling which makes me happy many a time . someone is sitting there up in heaven who protects me all the time , prevents me from taking wrong decisions , brings me back on track again and again .There were moments when not so good things happened with me . I was left sulking , wondering why of all me ? , why did things not shape up the way I wanted them to be . But when I look back and ponder over all those not so good things , it all makes sense .
It does not look all that bad now . I realised that there is difference between the way I want things to happen and the right thing . It was like someone was trying to tell me , ” young man , there is right time for everything and this sure is not the right time . “
All the risks I took did pay off , my luck never deserted me when I needed it the most . some things happened recently which further strengthened my belief .
Reminds me of the quote , ” I had my time, I had the power, I am yet to have my finest hour ” . so here comes 2008 . And I look forward to this year and I am sure there are lot many goodies in store this year and this sure would be my finest hour , I hope my guardian up there feels the same way .

Bye bye 2007 , you have been very kind to me too .

“Got no checkbooks, got no banks,
Still I’d like to express my thanks -
I got the sun in the morning
and the moon at night.”

~Irving Berlin, “I Got the Sun in the Morning,”

Wish you all a very happy festive season and a great year ahead !!

The Butterfly Effect ..

Given a chance would you like to change something in your past ? a friend asked .

I wud say I really wont . I am happy with my succeess and I am incomplete without my faillures and mistakes and the lessons learnt from them .  watched this movie called “The Butterfly effect ” recently ( would advise everyone to atleast read about this phenomenon on wiki ) and read quite a bit about The chaos Theory , and realised that life is but a game of snakes and ladders. outcome of a series of decisions that one takes . so there really is no point in ruing about what you could have done and what you couldnt have . past is past .

 I seek a future though with plenty of fun , perfect balance of work and personal life .spare time for various things in life I always craved to do .
To start with , The lazybee in me yearns to shed some weight .
The enthusiast in me yearns to take up photography as a serious hobby  . I have been reading about the art and appreaciating works of others on flickr quite a lot , of late . And probably take a shot at writing something good , after long time .
The careless me yearns to be bit more organized .
The wanderlust in me yearns to see new places , spend a month in goa ,observe the people ,their way of living , appreciate the scenic beauty all over again , watching the sun rising and setting at those beautiful beaches  . I would love to spend a week at vizag and araku valley ( which btw is going to happen soon ) .
standing on beachside and looking towards the horizon ,the vastness of this world gives me a high , like it would have to the sailors . It feels like I am peeking into the future , makes me feel immensely peaceful . yes , I would love to go for boat ride  from Rajmandry to Bhadrachalam in month of chilly winter . They talk a lot about god`s own country . I wud love to go there too some day . And there are so many other places too . Having never travelled to northern part of India , the land sadly remains unexplored .  There is no end to the wishlist  . would end this one with beautiful lines by Mirza Ghalib  .

hazaaron khwahishen aisi ke har khwahish pe dum nikle
bahot nikle mere armaan, lekin phir bhi kam nikle

…thousands of desires, each worth dying for…
many of them I have realized…yet I yearn for more…

wah wah !
This might very well be the last one for this year . or I could write one more . Anyway wishing everyone a very prosperous and fun filled new year .

Kabhi Aana Tu Meri Gali :)

stumbled upon video of this song sung by Eupohria Band , recently on net . and some fond memories related to this song rushed thru my mind ..
I must say I am devoid of any sort of artistic touch in me . I never really sang , danced , painted or played some musical instrument well . And there was this burning desire in me all along to perform something on stage in college days.and win atleast a prize in one of such contests . I was pretty much involved in organizing events for last two years and that way I was part of action , but I was looking forward to some onstage performance than being backstage boy all the time . Ahem , I had this thought somewhere on back of my mind that one such stage performance would go long way in realizing my potti patao operation .
During final year gathering , I could realize one of the two goals ,winning a contest . I could win a stupid dumb-charades contest with bit of luck and bit of manipulation with help of organizer friend . But the other dream , performing something on stage didnt really see the light of the day . Towards end , we friends had passed resolution that we would live the life to the fullest and do what we want to do , no matter what . so , we friends ganged up and thought of giving a live performance . The occasion was perhaps last celebration of our college days ,which was farewell party to us by juniors,and with fair amount of practice , we could sing this song on stage , Kabhi Aana Tu Meri Gali …. and it truely was lot of fun , I was lead singer of our group of 7-8 guys … Today suddenly all those memories flashed thru my mind while watching the song ,and I couldnot help but hum the lines along with the song

kya karegi tu ghar se nikalke jayegi tu kahan
kya dekhegi tu tajmahal ko ,mai na hun jo wahan
kya najar aur kya najare kuch nahi inme baat
nagri nagri kya dhundegi mai na hun jo tere sath
kabhi aana tu meri gali tujhe palko pe rakhunga ji ……

Life is rolling … for better and for worse :)

The season of marriages started some time last year with many of friends tying the knot . Received about 5-6 marriage invitations from folks who have been good friends in past one month . 2 of them happen to be school friends ,parents did attend the wedding and promptly called me up to let me know that they would love to see their son walking up the aisle sooner ..
There is this guy ,one of my closest pals ,who at tender age of 24 is getting engaged . And I was like , “what ??? how the hell could you get married ? ” . and he said ” why not ? ” .
Ahem , on the sidelines ,that somehow reminded me of a stupid song of yesteryears , “satrah baras ki baali umar ko salaam” . 24 can not really be termed baali umar though .
And then There is this nut case ,who I thought wont get married until he atleast turns 30 ( Thats what his parents told us ) , is getting married.He, after all wanted to be an IAS or an MBA before he would take the plunge.But he met his Jennifer Cavilleri on the way and this fella melted down .And after all its far more imporant to be happy in the life ( refer to the previous post ) . I am really happy for all my friends , that they are settling down in life .Not having met someone who would compel me to give up my merry bachelor life and having few things in life to get rid of first , I sit back , enjoy life and watch many of my buddies zooming past .
one of interesting things in life is ,watching people move ahead you at different junctures in life. be it getting into good college ,first job and now marriage ,and god knows what things would be added to this list as we grow older . It could be li’l intimidating . If nothing , it puts bit of pressure on you .They would say ” sala Job lagne ke baad badal gaya ” ,and now ” sala , shadi ke baad badal gaya ” would be added to the list .
well thats life . Best of luck you guys , wish you all a very very happy life ahead ,and better stay in touch with us . yea, the lines are drawn now , its you married folks and us bachelors now ! .

Gyaan … :)

Most of our miseries are self-inflicted.While comparison with others to some extent is gud to motivate ourselves,but if we start doing that beyond a point ,its no good.
We all move ahead in life based on opportunities that come our way,and the decisions that we take.
That way ,we all are unique .
Besides definitions of success and happiness vary from person to person.As long as we satisfy our own definition,we are good.

in love ..again …

Its been around two years since i fell in love for first time..dare i say it was love at first site .
I saw her and I was mesmerized .she captured my imagination like no one ever did . In short span , we became inseperable. I just couldnot imagine my life without her .she could talk about just anything under sun for hours .I could keep on interacting with her for hours ,and simply wont feel bored .ahh,well she completed me .
I would have loved had this affair lasted forever.but it was not meant to be …I had to move to other place after an year .I thought things would be pretty much alright ,after all she was coming with me too .But I guess,she didnt like the new place .she started behaving in a cranky manner ,which I thought was not really something part of her .and after few months,differences started to creep in .something really unusual between us .both of us were at fault.after few months,she said we would better part our ways.and she went away.never to come back again .i tried hard to convince her to come back .exercise in futility it was …
They say Time heals everything .It did take lot of time to come to terms with world without her . over perid of time, I could recover .
The starry night , the rain drops ,a cup of coffee would remind me of her and those good old days , once in a while …It was an affair to remember,as long as it lasted ..that is ..
its been 6 months since then ..and today I could feel the same feeling all over again . I could feel the same excitement I felt 2 years ago .Ohh ,did I just fall in love all over again ?  you bet I just did .
and this time she is even sleeker ,faster and lotsa fun to be with :)) . yup,shes got 2 Gb of Ram ,1.73 Ghz of dual core 2 centrino processor ,Nvidia graphics card with wondows Vista . she is Dell Inspiron 6400 !! wish this affair lasts for years to come !! Amen !

Tidbits

A funny incident that happened with my friend here.
This friend of mine sree ,who happens to be a pure veggie , went for dinner to a chinese restaurant .
after usual greetings were exchanged ,everyone settled down and the order for food was being placed .
There were not many veggie dishes there so he asked for veggie specialties there and he was advised to go for vegetable fried rice.
and sree obligued ” Please make it a vegetable fried rice for me .”
” very well sir .I will get veg fried rice for you. sir ,would you prefer it with pork or without pork ? ” the guy taking order said . and sree was aghast not sure what to reply :).

culture vulture :)

Under some funny circumstances , one of my friends had to answer some funny ( and a bit embarassing ) questions .
Here is piece of conversation my friend had with some american folks ( My friend remains anonymous here .Rams being my fictional character,am using the name ) .
“We heard you guys don’t date before marriages in India,is that true Raman ? ” A casual conversation ended up in this question.And Raman was caught off guard.He was not sure how to answer this one.
“Well we do date,Bob. Its not as prevalent phenomenon as here,though”.
By this time,some people sitting in nearby bays pulled their chairs and gathered to be part of this interesting conversation.
A lady quizzed. “I heard you people look for horos and if the horos dont match up,you dont get married .Is that true ?”
Rams thought for some time wondering how to answer this one.
“Well,some people do that ,but things are gradually changing .But yes many thing do consult horos.and many a time it makes sense as well ” .
standing by anything irrespective of whether its right or wrong was ingrained in him by now . first say confidently that you are right and then think whether you are right or wrong .Thanks to the onsite offshore model :).
“How could you people go for arranged marriages? .My mother was asked to go for arranged marriage,but she rebelled.She married the man of her choice.” The lady continued.
“we believe in this institution and has worked for us so far.many are opting for love marriage of late ,though.” Rams.
“Is this arranged marriage part of some religion or.. ?” again a curious question.
“No,across all the religions,arranged marriages happen in india.Hindus,Muslims,Christians.” Rams.
“Rams,do you have girl friend ,do you go to date with girls ? Heard you guys dont go to dates before marriage,and get married at around 30. ? ” Bob asked.
And this was one question he dreaded all along. He thought for a while.He went completely went blank. Everyone was staring at him intently.
He smiled at Bob and made a move. Bob probably got the answer anyway ,LOL .

Happy Budday ,Yeyy !!

I am an year old !!

Dear reader , am glad to celebrate my first Birthday with you !
I saw this beautiful world first time on 9th April last year .In a week`s time I would be one year old.
It was your support and appreciations which encouraged me flourish to my present form.And I look forward to your affection in future !
I have been witness of journey , a journey called life … The journey filled with moments of fun , frolic , joy ,sorrows ,pain. The year started with beautiful journey to Goa which filled me with everlasting memories to cherish !
And then it was about journey of Rams finding his soulmate in reel life ( his hunt in real life still continues ) .This journey I think was equally enjoyed by one and all who read it ,who witnessed it thru my eyes !
There were few poignant questions asked by Maddi to God about when he would find his girl ,and what was the rationale behind the so called injustice meted out to him .
There were few introspections ,looking back over the bittersweet memories,the deliberations and the road ahead.
There were moments when obligations of material world kept me away from you all .
There were birthdays and marriages celebrated !!
so were old friends cherished ..
you were enlightened with various ways of pataofying pottis
The movies ,the sitcoms , we ruminated over them all .
And then there were rants ,there was frustration of moving to US leaving behind friends.
There were wonderful dinners on the way and there were beautiful evenings spent too !
And there is lot more that would come your way in the future .
I have been the tree beneath which new friendships were made , old memories and friendships were cherished ,thoughts were exchanged , the future plans were made ,the frustration was vented .
Thats me , your footprints that you left on the sand of life ..
Let the year two roll on . And it looks even more promising than the one that passed by . sit in my shadow and I shall try to entertain you the way I had been doing !!

Musings..

some human beings donot learn from mistakes. and I am one of those …
They say , History repeats itself. wouldnot have been true without idiots like me ..sigh…
when would I learn .. would I learn in the first place
Current Mood : Low . I can only hope things fall in place.