Lazy work days

I don't yet know the future course of action. But I know one thing, life will decide what is best. Sometimes the decision isn't yours even after all your pondering! And it feels right that way also because each piece of work has it's own importance and ultimately can make the most of whatever is given. The important thing is remember youth is for work and whether or not you have external motivation, it is your duty to toil hard. It's just that self motivation is HARD. But trying new activities keeps life exciting and helps at times.

One thing that I have noticed is that I try to get rid of all distractions by giving way to them before getting to work. But by the time that is done, there is no time left for work!!!

Well it's not completely wrong , as it is said " Life is unsure; always eat your dessert first."

OK so now I am confused why I even wrote this post!

Of my dear …

As I come to my abode
I feel pleasure at thy presence again
Thy will be there waiting as ever
Sameness so comforting
Yet outwardly changed enough to be riveting

No matter what storms the day brings me
I know I can come back to thee
No words are required
None indeed are said

As I devour each lanky inch
I consume each part within my grasp
As my hunger satiates and I can only gasp
At the pleasure of consuming thee maggi!!!

Kudos to Kapil Sibal

Kapil Sibal's new poem portrays beautiful thoughts...at the least the man is trying to understand young minds. After attending a few functions in which he spoke, observing recent changes and reading this poem, I feel this man will make a difference. Here's the poem

Please rid me of this awful load
preparing for the class X board

My thirsty mind craves to create
Not have exams decide my fate

My wondrous eyes yearn to explore
Much beyond my classroom doors

My dreams should not be cut to size
Because I hate to memorize

If you test me for brains and guile
Don't have to look at percentiles

Marks encourage one upmanship
a free ride on an ego trip

With textbooks I should start to surf
Inquiringly look for new turf

Walk away from the trodden path
And not invite my teacher's wrath

Solving a sum will help find
Real answers to a questioning mind

Create the space for me to run
Let learning be a lot of fun

"Ab yahan tak aa gaye hain, ab kidhar jaayen?"....again

"Ab yahan tak aa gaye hain, ab kidhar jaayen?"
And the soul-searching continues.............

I don't worry about whether I will get what I want or not but about whether I will choose what I want. No it's not arrogance. Far from it. It's just a firm belief that we get what we really want. The theory has gained popularity,....be it Alchemist or The Secret.

But here the problem is the realization of what I want for the rest of my life. Not for just me, but for any of us going through the transition stage.

Do dreams last a lifetime? Or do they change as we grow? It's actually very difficult when you are at the brink of your dream coming true. You don't know what next. But worst still what if you don't know if it is still as dear? Sometimes it's just fear, sometimes shear laziness. If so you overcome them and move on. If you hear a voice deep inside your heart, just follow it, no matter how crazy. God will lead you then. Some dreams remain embedded within you. Don't lose them.

And yet I wonder is life all about just rushing after dreams? When do we slow down? Is that only to be left for old-age?

A very confusing post indeed, I know!

Aloneness-lonliness-aloneness

Solitude is nice. One who enjoys it the most is the loner. But his journey should not be despised. He has what many carve. Self-dependence. But there are two sides to every coin and one has to experience that in life.

You may think you value your aloneness without being lonely, but you still get used to being around people with time. That time you miss solitude. But when those people go away, suddenly the aloneness that was dear to you becomes loneliness.

The worst kind of loneliness occurs when surrounded by people. But sometimes even that seems better than not having people around you. Living souls are comforting to have as a part of the environment. They don't eliminate your loneliness but they make it less creepy. Yet sometimes they aggravate the situation. They don't understand lonely don't want to be pitied. The only way this helps is you realise you enjoy your solitude more than such favours.

From aloneness to loneliness and back to aloneness. It's a vicious circle.

Nothing lasts forever.

If we actually believed this, we could probably never get through life.

Writing

Read this in the Chicken Soup for the Writers' Soul.

"I have come to believe that there are no new photos and few new stories, only unusual recombinations of things that have been told before. But what is new, and fresh and original is the author's lens through which these situations are viewed. Our gift, and consequently our responsibility as writers, is to view life situations in our naturally unique way and report the truth about their meanings and values to the reading public so they can have fresh insight into the human condition. We are each unique in the universe and therefore, so are the stories we tell."


Despite reading more than 10 Chicken Soup books and numerous storied from others, I can never get tired of them. I especially loved this one. It's freshly inspiring and a "must read" for anyone who is writing or wants ever to write.

Reading Tag

Read an interesting tag idea from here.

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Mark in red against the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list in your own blog.



1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession - AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry -
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Can't believe all I have is 23!
However, now I have an excuse to read more:)
I tag Tapasya, Geetika, Phoenix ,Bhushan and Ash

Finding a match

Read this post of tapasya's
Couldn't resist replying here :

Finding a match is somewhat like finding the correct expensive shoes. You can't rush it and you have to try them on and know you are comfortable otherwise you are stuck with them and can hurt yourself seriously because once you have invested in them, you will be sure to continue using them!

Joy of Giving

This concept seems really interesting. 7 days 7 gifts.Each day give some gift to someone different...something they will appreciate. Doesn't matter if it's big or small or whom you do it for.

Just do it:)
More details on this link : http://www.joyofgivingweek.org/

This is it

This is it my dear friends
The road has a new bend,
It's forked in many new ways,
Scattered we have to move on,
Towards our separate means and ends

Together we cheered
Together did we cry
Moments of togetherness will bond us still
As we picture good old times
Comforting each other as the world jeered

Let changes not set us apart
Be those in the physical sense
Or those of our inner selves
For we will grow in our separate worlds
But we need not part at heart

FRIENDS

Serials are addictive! I mean novels calm you down whereas serials make you hyper. Still we love them. Been watching "Friends" recently. It' over now. At least 200 episodes of it (missed the beginning portions). At first I just liked it for being funny. But gradually I realized it's much more than that. It's about importance of true friendship-the kind in which you really care for each other. It's about actually believing in the happiness of the other even if you aren't part of it, about the beauty of forgiveness- when someone truly needs it, getting someone gifts without you being the giver and lots of more. Basically it's about love-for each other. None of these are new lessons but they are portrayed so realistically that it's not preachy. It actually touches you deep down while making you laugh. The characters are humanistic, not ideal. They are a weird group of people bunched up together by chance and also by choice. They all have their moments of insecurity, jealousy, pain, sadness , humiliation, even anger and manipulation. But they don't stray away from goodness in the real sense because they still care for each other.

I wish it wasn't over. But I am perfectly satisfied by it's ending. That's what happens in real life. We move on. After a particular time, we all have major changes in our loves and our priorities change. But it gives hopes that true friendships never do. They just evolve.

It's something everyone must watch at least once. (I guess most already have, I am late runner here!).

Elasticity

The more I get pushed down, the harder I will come up, like the rubber ball.

Cool

Just loved this!
http://in.movies.yahoo.com/interview-detail/389/2983/An-interview-Celina-Jaitley.html
Way to go!
The reason I like is simply because I don't that him. He's too self-righteous. If all he wants to do is promote Indian culture and if he is really non-materialistic then why is he charging everyone for it? Why not just do it free if his needs are so few?

Movies I watched recently

Two Week's Notice -Sweet and romantic, funny.
Wall E - Worth a watch at least . Good message but first half's a bit slow.
He's just not that into you- ALL girls need to watch this! Really! Shows you some realities of life while is still light
Confessions of a Shopaholic- How far is too far? Watch and find out.I am a read-o-maniac!
Father of the bride I-Really made me understand things better. How true it all is! Can't believe I never watched it earlier.
Bride Wars - Competition exists even between best of friends, sometimes on big things, sometimes on little but in the end true friendship still wins. It's hilarious but still touched me.
Twilight- Hmmm...it's OK. Exciting. Scary to watch at night! Would like to watch the other parts
Marley and Me-Funny and touching. It's about the dog but what I like was the lesson that sometimes you don't get what you want but life makes for it and you love what you get.

Princess Diaries- Watched it again! Courage is not about not being afraid but it's the realization that something is more important than your fears.
.......................................................
Really like the variety...they all cover some unique part of life and emotions.

I am loving it!At least 20 more to go!:)

The transformation

It was lovely dream of being surrounded by novels until I was suddenly jerked up by my dad saying “Your school friend Nina is here.”
“What??? Oh no!” I groaned. I was barely ready and I had called my college friends over today later on. “How come Nina was here so suddenly?” I wondered. She was supposed to be in Mauritius.
Anyway I made my way out and started getting ready. Said “hi” to her sleepily and went to brush my teeth (everyone says I take hours in that!).
From a distance I was shocked to see her in a "cute pink" dress. Cute definitely never defined. her . 'Hot' maybe
Suddenly she was behind me.Closer up, I realized she was more elegant than ever before. Gone were the short skirts and wild attire. She seemed covered but in a nice way.
“You didn’t even give me a welcoming hug,” she said, her facing crumpling.
I was shocked. “Is this the same girl who used to say I was over-sentimental?”
Little did I know, the shock had just started.
“I wanted to give with you once I smelled better”, I smiled and consoled her.
We started talking. Gradually the purpose of her coming seemed to dawn me.
“I am getting married soon”, she said.
“What????? To Akshay?”, I screeched.
“Ha, that’s funny, especially since he’s had a crush on you since forever”, she said bemusedly but there was sadness in her eyes.
This was all news to me.
“Then whom?”, I wondered allowed.
“Bob Mason”.
“Isn’t he your boss?”
“Ya”
“But you never mentioned loving him. You said was cute and cuddly but not exciting. Since when have you been going out with him?”
“Well we have known each other for 3 years now”
“But do you love him?”
“What’s love? I have been out with a million guys. I thought I loved one but it doesn’t last. At least Bob loves me. We can have a stable life.”
I wondered if I was dreaming. This was one girl whose middle name could be “fun”.
Her funda was to have fun and let go. She always used to tell me I was too uptight.
“Nina, tell me truly why are you marrying him”
“There’s no one there. Parents are in a different country. My sister is terribly sick. She ..she won’t get better. I have no friends there. I don’t want to come back either.” she whimpered.
“Hey it’s ok. It will all be fine just relax”, I tried to reassure her.
“So you are getting married soon”. It was more of a statement. “When?” I was still trying to absorb all this.
“Next month 5th”
“What????”
“So soon? How could you not tell me? What if I can’t make it?” I was hyper again. It was just 2 weeks away and I also realized it was on the day of my convocation. Hmm, it was going to be tough.
“I am sorry. But I really want you to be present. In all this stress I have missed having friends, especially you. You are one friend I truly trust and also my oldest friend. I want you to be my maid of honor. I will delay it if required but it will mean reprinting of cards. At least I haven’t distributed many”
“Of course I will be your maid of honor. Don’t worry about anything, we will manage. Just be happy and relax. It’s my convocation that day but I will with you the minute it gets over.”
She smiled. And with that I bid goodbye to my best friend the girl and wished luck to the woman I had met that day. I didn’t know how right her decision was. It wasn’t for me to question. But all I can say is,
“Life is strange with its mazes and sometimes you find paths you never knew existed. At other times, you back to the paths you once rejected. It takes time to realize it’s ok whatever path you take...they all lead to growth of character.”

.......................................................................................................
This piece of work is purely fictional and any resemblance to any person living or dead is coincidental.

I can't..................

...................complete at your leisure........

Sometimes it's relieving to be grumpy.

I can't write :(.
I can't ........the list is too long :(
Why do I try? Is it worth loving and trying things you aren't good at? Are you actually any better than those who don't try?

I don't know. I always thought that it's our choices which make us different. There's nothing we CAN'T do. But I don't know.

Answers anyone???

Friendship and sacrifice

"If there was just 1 seat available for a job, would either you or your best friend be willing to give it up for the other if one wanted it a little more but both had nothing in hand?"
"No"
"Then you shouldn't call each other friends. Only competitors".

So many time sit happens, something rattles our very soul because we don't have an answer that particular time. Blog is helpful this way. I would like to answer something a bit similar".
No, I don't believe either of them needs to give up for the other and I don't think either would expect that also. Simply because I don't believe friendship means sacrifice to this level. Not in today's world. To help one another is one thing. To give your time is also fine. But there is a limit beyond which you only do things for family. Because that's where you belong. They represent you. Friends don't, even if that seems harsh to some. So if you are asked to give up something which could hurt your family, even if just feelings-wise, or something which goes against what you feel you are meant to do, then I feel it's ok to refuse. Work is also apart of you, and if you love your work then it would be injustice to yourself to lose out on it.

And I don't believe friendship can't have competition. I used to hate competition. Maybe i still do. But I realize one can't exist without it. But it is possible to have a co-operative kind of competition with each helping the other. In that all can win to some level. But withdrawl is not an option. Neither is giving your best or seizing the opportunity bad. It's only bad when you push someone deliberately. It's also bad when you turn a blind eye to someone who has fallen. But not otherwise.

It's different world. Sacrifice is exists but it need not be unlimited.

Speedpost

Been reading Shobha De's Speedpost. In it , the author writes letters to her children on various issues of everyday life, things she couldn't tell , things to be remembered.

I thought of saying it's not a common novel but then no novel is common. There is at least one person who enjoys and even loves any particular novel.

But this one is a must read. It would do well as a family reading also....hmmm...that's a new concept that needs to be explored....

Here are a few thoughts that I really liked from it (black portions are explanatory, rest is quoted) :


Who cares if you follow social norms at the expense of our loved ones? Nobody does. Then why do we do it?Because we adults are cowards. We get our priorities wrong. We give undue importance to unimportant things. Basically we are fools.

Women are not encouraged to display overt emotions, especially if they are negative - never mind their validity or context. ....i resent the idea that I have to be calm, composed, an angel of good humour at all times ............it's unrealistic.


Do childrens' calls have to deal with emergencies? Can they not be about sharing a small moment, a thought, a feeling? Yes, it's extravagant but for me it's essential to stay in touch and any price is worth that electric charge that I get when, in a strange city at an odd hour in an unfamiliar setting, the shrill of a cellphone nestling in my handbag galvanizes me into action.

I regret that you don't have a dish that you associate exclusively with me.

In my anxiety to keep up with your world.....but I should have invested the same amount of time drawing you into our world, your grandmothers' and mine. Then we could have participated in each others' world more fully, more completely.

It's such a warm, comforting thought to that there are at least three individuals in the world who know you inside out and what's more , accept you exactly the way you are.They have seen you at your worst... Nobody had judged you. You have slipped up, been insensitive...Oh well, these things happen.

How could she possibly know the pleasure of hearing high-pitched voices coming home joyfully, knowing with certainty that their mother would be there to greet them?


You will do fine...even if you a get a little less marks...I want you to look at the bigger picture. To learn to be curious, to be alive, to absorb, to enjoy.

It wasn't the question of defiance alone. I preferred to make my own mistakes.

...how much more fun it is if you're lucky to be married to someone who shares your progress with you, enjoys the journey with equally and is there to hold your hand every step of the way and say 'Bravo' when you succeed and 'Don't worry' when you fail.

Will add more ....this book is one to be absorbed...not just read.

200 posts and going......

It's been a while. No, I still haven't got in touch with myself. Sometimes it's not so easy. When did studies start? School? College? Grad school? At least after two years of "proper work", it's difficult to suddenly realize you are "free". Free from what? The daily schedule becomes a part of you. It difficult to suddenly get to know that you can no longer come your college, that you have no work for at least a few weeks or maybe a month. My friend maybe rightly called it the "IIT withdrawl symptoms". But it makes you feel old. As a child I always used to ask people, when do you finally grow up? Hmmm....maybe never at heart. But here are a few symtoms when you can safely consider yourself grown up in the eyes of the world, whether you like it or not :

• When the average age of crickters is less than yours. (it really came as a shock to me!)
• When your peers start getting married.....a weird nostalgia and refusal to accept the situation will overwhelm you
• When you can no longer delay deciding what you will do for the rest of your life. When you talk of further studies, suddenly people think you have gone crazy. But well that's the one thing I know I like doing and it feels safe. Do people still study just for the sake of learning and instead of career opportunities?
• When you realise you are too old for certain of your dreams. OK so you are never too old but ya, you would no longer be appreciated for a particular mastery.
  
• When you yourself wonder about married life and accept or fear it not as some"maybe" in distant future but as a reality.
• When you worry that you really will never grow up despite your age :( . I mean parents pamper you most of your life and now someday you would be expected to follow those footsteps, be responsible for not just yourself.No more tantrums or sulkings. Be an adult in real life. It's chilling!

Any suggestions?
One thing that doesn't make me feel so is that this is my 200th post :)Long live blogging!