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 ……

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.

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.

A Perfect evening !

winter is about to end ,and sunny days are round the corner.Today was one such beautiful sunny day I was craving for quite sometime !

went out today to get my license .After facing zillion problems to get that illusive piece of paper,today was the day when I could lay my hands on my license,and I felt liberated  .For me it was the toughest thing to get hold of in US of A ,for no apparent reason.
Day was spent just like that lazying around ,talking to friends , writing something ,chatting with friends , calling up parents blah blah blah .
few innovative things were discussed with Rams and Khobra and some indeed saw the day of light ;).
and it was evening by the time I realised . you should see to believe how quickly saturdays pass on …
And I longed to go out for walk with such beautiful climate outside. by  evening ,weather was little cold for comfort but all in all it was beautiful out there.Me freshened up ,sneaked into new T  I purchased few days ago , moved out and strolled around the place .Firangs seemed to be all excited with sunny day.kids were playing around ,young ones dashing past with music blazing at high volume in cars,and old ones strolling around like me .on the way back home, I offered help to annayya staying next apartment who would be moving out shortly ,and then got back to my den .was in mood to keep on writing today ,may be it was beautiful weather playing tricks  ..
brewed cuppa of coffe for self and stood infront of house feeling the cold and drops of drizzle reaching with mild breeze onto my face,let my hand soak in cold rain drops. Been ages since I could enjoy an evening like this .Its been beautiful like this for sometime but it was today I could really appreciate nature ,sit back and take notice of the season gradually changing for better.
sitting infront of house , looking at rain with no one but a steaming cup of coffee to accompany, feeling those rain drops ,favorite songs playing in background and the mind freely wavering all around , well is one of those wonderful pleasures you are entitled to for free of cost provided you are interested enough .
Thought of jotting down third post of the day crossed my mind , I settled down by starting playlist of favorite youtube songs and here I am ,scribbling something .

catch 22

Aah well, its been close to 6 months since I moved out of India .And I am missing home , parents,friends ,food badly .am yearning to go back to the place where I am most comfortable at.I have missed marriages of 3-4 closest friends .I am missing on house warming of my own house .And so many things I would have loved to be there and experienced first hand.
was weighing the chances of home coming some time,the appropriate time for that and all .
And one of closest friends at hyd tells me that entire bulk of my friends are getting H1 processed and in every probalility ,will be here in US of A by october/November this year.My uncle is moving to Jaipur having been in hyderabad for close to 10-12 years.That would mean I am going to be robbed off my base.few other friends who are there would more or less be moving for their higher studies to some other place or relocate or tie knot. And that leaves a big question mark on the way hyd is going to look like once I reach there ,if all of the above things fall in place.Damn ,its scary. Donno whats gonna happen.And I don really what to think of it moment.
The one year that I spent in hyd was period of my life which I enjoyed most.got to spend time with friends ,parents.went on som fun filled trips with friends.reached out to many new folks.
I guess sometimes,few things are best left behind in past.in memories.Recreating the magic of those days is not possible.coz we all move on in life.Its some point in life when our paths cross which makes life bliss with fond memories.And expecting that paths of all of us would cross again the same way in future is foolhardy.
My roomie,vineeth is born and brought up in hyd.And as the rule of thumb goes in Gultland ,95% of his school /college friends are in US .wondering how he would feel after going back at some point. Damn the uncertainities of life. At moment,I would simply prefer to reverse ths clock and happilly soak in those fun filled days of past .

Apy valentines Day !

To one and all !
Dont have much to say ,so copy pasting something I wrote two years ago on valentines day eve.

————–
So the day passed ,many hearts might have united and many might have broken.No harm in ruminating on the day ,I guess .
Like every year ,this year also I woke up with lot of optimism ,got ready and reached the office.I dint know why, but I had this notion ,that something is in store for me today ,and my life will change for better.
Once I reached office ,Something was missing,was not receiving any of those happy valentines day mails,even the friends,who are known for forwarding all the junk in the world ,were unusually calm.It was really intriguing ,so me decided to send a mail wishing all of them.Over the years,most of my friends lost their hopes to the extent that they were not even willing to acknowledge the day,or they joined the saffron brigade ,I dont know.
Me ,understanding the gravity of day,went to food court of tidel park ,instead of our canteen for lunch,and there was lot of action going on there.a DJ ,lots of gifts,and people were dedicating the songs to their loved ones.For a moment ,I also thought of dedicating a song to my loved ones,but as soon as I reached to them ,they wrapped up the songs session ,and began with giving away the gifts ,to the folks who answered to the phoney questions they were asking.I returned back ,to work ,albeit slightly frustrated.I was thinking what I shall do next.
I was creating insurance claims as my project work after lunch, and an idea struck my mind ,I started creating claims ,and dedicating every claim to the crushes i had over the years in the past.That made me feel lot better :).
Rest of day was predictable ,nothing happened ,me slept at night listening to songs Rehna Hai tere dil me ,and planning for next V day …

Guru Bhai And Heroes !!

I must be nuts to watch all 12 episodes of The Series Heroes and Guru movie in a day.A sleepy saturday that was .
Loved Guru movie .AB ,Madhavan,Mithunda,Vidya,Mallika were awesome .Ash looked mediocre.And Mani at his best.YC ,in his review of Guru commented that Mani passed on some south Indian village as Gujju village in songs .Well ,he had done that before as well. I was told Entire Roja was shot in ooty . The movie sounded more like Tamil one than Hindi in terms of songs / background score ,something I didnt feel while watching Yuva .Doesnt go against the movie for me,though.
But talking about epics Mani directed depicting the rise of common man to power , if I compare Guru with Nayakan , I would say Nayakan was better.There were glaring loopholes in Guru .His rise didnt receive enough footage ,it happened over a song.Placing of songs was not apt in first half. rift with his brother in law was half baked . Maddy,Mithunda almost vanished out of movie towards the end ,and the courtroom drama could have been better. These things somehow obstructed the flow.But despite these fallouts , movie shines !!

And Heroes ,well need to watch the forthcoming episodes without fail on TV.Watched first episode on friday night,and this restlessness crept in which didnt let me sit peacefully till I watched all the episodes.It was like reading fast paced thriller by Ludlum .Like a good book which ,once you pick you cant leave unless you finish it up . watch it , guys. India ,Wednesdays 9 PM on Star World and US Mondays 9 PM on NBC .
Hmm,its time to get back to work now after wasting away entire saturday

oscar nominations ..

oscar nominations are finally out.And will smith is nominated for Pursuit of Happiness .I was expecting the movie also to be there as contender for Best Motion Picture.Nonetheless Will is there with his finest performance.Among the movies nominated,I saw The departed ,and I liked it.Martin Scorsese scores again with this one.Need to catch up with rest of nominated movies .
sadly ,RDB couldnot get past initial hurdle..would have loved to see it contending for for the best foreign language movie. Water is there ,though as an official entry of canada…