Thoughts to Ponder !!!

After a long time , I am writing something. Many things kept me busy. These days, many thoughts crossed my minds but a few struck me.

It was raining cats and dogs in Mumbai that day. As usual i had taken 8.20 shuttle. Already the roads were water logged. Sitting in window seat, listening to my ipod songs I was happy and set.
Suddenly I saw a small boy, may be 10 years old driving a bicycle with all his energy. It was difficult for him to pedal still he was trying hard against the winds and heavy rains. A Box saying "ShivSagar Hotel , Free home delivery within 30 minutes" laid on his carrier.

Suddenly a thought crossed my mind, we take leave on rainy days saying its too tacky to come to office in heavy rains . Can this guy take a leave from his job for 1 day??
The answer was big No. 1 day leave means no food for 1 day.
He was not just struggling against rains, he was struggling against his fate.
In the age where books and playgroups are your best friends, that bicycle and box was his best friend.

Some people are less fortunate. and fortunate ones are less fortunate to even acknowledge it.


Do we ever think , how lucky we are to have a perfect body. Perfect in the sense i am not talking about 36-24-36 or 6 pack abs..I am talking about having basic things in place. Having 2 eyes through which we can see this beautiful world, 2 hands to eat and write or type whatever our mind says, 2 ears to listen to chirping of birds, skin to feel someones touch ... Ok got into thinking mode ?? did u ??

Just imagine if any one of your organs malfunction or u r not graced with it how different the world would be...

Human tendency is to complain, to grudge about things.

We complain that horns are too loud on roads we cant bear it... think about someone who is dying to hear simple sound of a bell.

We complain saying my eyes could have been blue, they would have looked so beautiful..
Think about people who haven't even seen this very beautiful world. Who are not so blessed.

My point here is not to compare the blessed or less blessed people,

But just to remind that we have forgotten to thank God for all the beautiful gifts he has given us.
For giving us life, for giving us this body, for giving us food , for giving us work, for giving us everything we need to enjoy this life..


Life is something so subjective. For some its living with all comforts, for some it is earning 1 time meal.

For some its having best in the world, for some having at least 1 in the world.

But at last Life is life.. U either live it to fullest or keep cribbing for the rest..

:) :) :)

Birthdays!!!

Birthdays were always special to me.
Birthday month for me would mean shopping spree. As my birthday fell in later half of June , I would be among the first few students in class who would celebrate their birthday in new academic year.
Birthday month would mean all new things. New uniform, new shoes, new umbrella , new books , new birthday dress, lots of chocolates and some gifts to distribute :)
Every birthday would bring some kind of excitement. As far as i remember at the start of new year itself I would check the calendar to find out if the poster card picture for June was beautiful enough. Then would start comparing it with March, Bro's b day month . Then would brag about it to my bro and would find some or the other reason to tease him.
The very next thing to do was to check if birthday falls on weekday or weekends. I would be more happy if it fell on weekdays cos that meant 1 day no school uniform , lots of special attention in school, pampering from teachers and lots of gifts from friends.

Right away from 1st of June the countdown began. 1 week well in advance all my colony friends knew they had to attend birthday party at so and so date at so and so time :)
Sometimes I wonder If , I even told them what gifts to bring :D. Thank God for erasing those memories.. I would be so embarrassed for it now :).
Bday celebrations in school meant distributing chocolates to all classmates , teachers and sisters. Teachers would get 1 dairy milk and sisters 2 dairy milks :D.. Higher the ranking bigger the size of chocolates. Celebration at home would mean calling all colony friends for cake cutting .
Dad would bring nice Chocolate cake or some other kind which would look interesting enough with big flowers on it. (It was most attractive part of it and I bet everyone wanted that piece ). Then Candles were must to decorate the cake. Number of candles were equivalent to my age then. My name nicely carved on the cake. Home nicely decorated with balloons and lots of crap paper stuff.
Cake cutting knife dressed nicely with lace . Snacks would include potato chips, biscuits, samosas , chocolates and cake. That's all about bday preparations. Next interesting part of birthdays were gifts. Usually in those days gifts which i received from my friends would be Story Books of Twinkle, Chacha choudary , phantam etc etc. Then stylish Pencils with mickey mouse rubber. few interesting toys, dolls etc. Mom and dad gift would always be the most awaiting gift of the evening. I remember barbie dolls , cycle , mickey mouse watch as gifts given by mom and dad.
Childhood days were so innocent. As i grew up Birthday celebrations in college was quite a group affair. Applying cake on face or dumping face into cake was a normal affair. Party at nearest restaurant was the birthday treat. Gifts would include perfumes, watches, teddies,cell phones, Tee shirts etc etc.
Now After joining office things haven't changed much. Same birthday cakes, Birthday bumps, restaurant treats continues.
And yes my excitement about birthdays haven't faded yet. That's because even today i saw the calendar and realized my birthday is just 1 month away and that too on Weekday :).
My obsession with birthday's still continues .....

273 days of life !!!

273 ...Magic number of my life !!!
273 days of life ! Yup my life in Bangalore ! My life of independence ! My life of teachings and lessons ! These 273 days of my life have taught me more than 22 years in my life.

Initially when I was to leave for Bangalore I was the saddest person on this earth. First time in my life , I was to live without my family. But as I landed on Bangalore airport I promised myself to enjoy life like I never did, Live today like there is no tomorrow, learn and groom myself to be more independent ,smart and confident person.

And today looking back at my old self I realize I have become more confident , extrovert, learned to take my own decisions. Now I know what I want and what I don't. I know my choice priorities and preferences. The change is really pleasing.

Bangalore has taught me to value my culture, my language, my food . It has taught me the importance of friends and family in my life. It made me realize how important it is that someone loves us ,cares for us. It taught me to smile at strangers, love the less know people, trust people, make new friends.Bangalore thought me to share , to care , to give, to enjoy differences .



The best gift Bangalore gave me are my friends. I met 8 new people, who first were just acquaintances , later became friends , then family and everything of my stay in Bangalore. They are now inseparable part of my life. I have earned friends for my life time. Friends who never left me alone when sad, who scolded me like my parents at times,who danced in my joy, who guarded me when in trouble, would loved me for whatever I am. My sweeties my roommates who were all my support , my moms at times, my siblings at times and even kids at times; taught me to live life.

It is really strange and surprisingly good that how 4 different people coming from different families altogether with different nature gel together so well like lost long lost buddies. They took all the pains to see me smiling always..I love you G,V and T :)

Bangalore also taught me professionalism. Not when I was in my project but when I left my first project . Many lessons learnt but they were worth learning. :)

Nothing in life can be completely white or black. There has to be shades of grey :)
Like good people in life I also met few 'not that good people'.( ha ha I avoid saying bad. )
People in this category are the ones who cannot see your success , who always try and discourage you for some or the other reason, who try and compare each and everything of life. But as they say tough situations makes you strong. And your strength is best tested in difficult times with difficult people. Even I was tested at times. Few times I broke down few times I rose.
One thing I learnt is whatever may be the intensity of problems God always has a solution to it. Just the thing is we are not receptive to him . And when u have angels around you there is always a solution to it :)

I loved my life in Bangalore . I love my friends in Bangalore. I loved the experience of Bangalore. The fun , the joy, the madness, the youth, the energy, the cries.. everything!!!
Thank you god for those 273 days of my life . :)

Life Again !!

Few weeks back something popped up in my mind..
Just few random lines put together :)

Life is a journey, you got to live,

Without people, its not so thrill.

Hurdles as many as pile of stones,

Not merry as ringtones of mobile phones.

Little to loose and more to gain,
Each hurdle teaches you how to sustain.

overcome the hurdles and checkpost points,

To reach the destination with grace and shine.

celebrate success with vine and dine !!!
-:)

Untamed fear

I think now and then trying to figure out what I can call this stage of my life ! Stage where in I am almost settled in my job(not financially but as one of my friend says I am in my comfort zone ) where my family members, relatives are forcing me to get married.I am 23 and 3 months short to be 24.

I think again and again to decide if this age of mine is right to get married, Am I really prepared to handle all the responsibilities !!! Am I ready for that whole marriage business which is personally think is the second innings of each ones life.

Marriage is not that simple term as it seems to be.It has so many things which knowingly or unknowingly comes with it.It is like a super tetra pack with some small gifts attached to it.

The thought of losing my status of single, my freedom to be irresponsible, flamboyant runs a shiver down my nerves. The thought of some other person interfering with all my mind, heart business kills me. The thought that my relation with all my friends wouldn't remain same worries me. I know its not necessary all these things will happen but considering the worst case scenario it looks so gloomy.

Giving away everything in life that too for a person you don't know , whom you have met only once or twice, Whose family is an alien to you is so difficult.(PS. I am talking about typical arrange marriage).

But still our forefathers always believed in this institute called marriage. Everyone accepted it , lived with it and are more or less happy.

With the same hope of getting lucky once again and being happy someday even I will accept all these things in life.

Just dunno when the day will come :).. First the revolt of my heart and mind needs to come to an end. Only then I can add up to the list .

I long for ....................

It has almost been a week that i am in Mumbai. And yes pace of Mumbai has caught hold of me. It seems my life has become so monotonic so mechanical so predictive..
How I wish I could spent my days lying on bed of grass amidst nature just staring at things around. Just appreciating beauty of nature and power of almighty who made most difficult of things in life look simple. Cant the old days come back ..

The days when we were kids , when whatever our parents said was the word from bible. When arguing was never on list . When a slight kiss on forehead made all fine lines on forehead disappear.. When everything was so simple so straightforward. When fairy tales were part our dreams.

How I wish I could live life again..
The journey of dreams and walk through lanes

The journey where worries had no place
smiles and laughter was the only trace.

The journey where you could fall and rise
where success never had tagged price.

The journey with people you love and care
I wish I could live life again to share !!!



Give me some sunshine, Give me some rain
Give me another chance, I wanna grow up once again :)

Lonely and Sad

Today I am feeling so lonely and sad. Everything in life seems to be perfect but still some unknown , undisclosed ,masked feeling is holding me from enjoying my current state. It was so merry and rosy when i was greeted with Good Bye card. But a slight thought of good old days brought restless feelings to my heart.
Some times its difficult to know what your soul longs for . It is just emotions which longs last.
Why do we get attached to some one, some place, some people, some habits.. Why ???
Why is moving on in life so difficult . Why cant things be permanant ? Why cant we live with same set of people whom we like ? why change is required ??
I guess no one asked this question to god when he decided that time moves on and accordingly people too. I wish I could have got the answer of same from Almighty so that moving away from my project, people whom i love, friends in bangalore, my collugues wouldnt have been so difficult.
God please help me overcome these rush of emotions and calm my wandering mind ..
My last day in RPA, UK , Banagalore.. :(
We think holding on makes us strong but sometimes it is letting go !!!

26th July 2005 -CloudBurst Mumbai

Date 25th July It was about 11pm and still Panditji was at our home deciding on dates when we can have 'Home' of our new home in Mulund. It was almost 12 am when the panditji left discussing all what needs to be done and brought for puja and announcing his avaliablilty for 2 dates one aug 14 and other one i dont remember. It was decided that we will have Puja on 14th Aug. It was almost 1 am for all of us to go to bed.
Sun rises.. Alarm rings and mom gets up just to realise that its almost 6.30 am and Dad had already missed his office. Weather outside was too glommy So dad decided to give a break to office and enjoy cool weather eating hot bhaji and chai. I was fast asleep when i could barely hear mom saying Poonam get up..your friend prajakta (name changed) has called and is on phone. I took the receiver from Mom's hand and could hear soft spoken voice of my friend who was coughing badly and trying to tell me I am not coming to college today.I was still not completly awake and just said 2 letters OK and hung up the phone.
Later Mom forced me out of Bed and here i was ready to go to college on heavy raining gloomy day.
7.30 am Kalyan -Dadar was the train which i would board for my college. I would be accompanied my Prajakta and Monica(name changed) . They were my school mates , then junior college mates and now were my degree college mates. Today after coming to platform i found all the trains were delayed due to rains my train being no exception. ( delay of trains is normal in mumbai. But who cares when u have trains every 2 min). Both of us were discussing how boring it is to go to college in rains. And even more when people are just standing on platforms and their are no signs of trains coming on schedule.It was already 7:55. Both of us decided if our train(7.30 Kalyan Dadar) wouldnt come in next 5 min we planned to bunk college for the day. (I love such plannings :)). Huh but Bad luck train arrived within that 5 min. And unwillingly we had to board that train. It was raining heavily but being a mumbaikar we are used to such rains. Everything was just like any other rainy day.
3 pm I was busy attending lecture least informed about whats going outside. Still remember it was BEE Lecture. Subject wasnt interesting but professor was :P. Something outside classroom door caught my eyes and sound enuf to notice that my friends were waving at me trying to say something. I felt they are actually playing dumb sharrads with me. They were trying to tell me c u cell. Huh took out cell from my jeans just to notice 10 missed calls.. and 5 unread messages. Whole world was messaging trying to tell me it is raining heavily leave college early. Trains might stop.
After reading that message i dint waste even single minute. Told the prof abt it and left the class. After coming out we ( Monica, Sujata,sunita,Namrata and I) hurried towards Nerul station. Till then I just knew sujata,sunita and namrata as Monica's friends. I introduced myself to them and even they showed enuf warmth and care to wait for me for almost half hour trying to grab my attention and doing all kinds of signals to let me know abt rains. :)
we waited for almost half an hr on Station for train to come. This was Belapur -CST train via harbour line. (To explain there r three main railway lines in mumbai. Central,Western and Harbour. My college was in Neruk which comes in Harbour line and i used to saty in Kalyan which comes in Central Line. Every time to go to my college i had to change trains at 'KURLA' and board another train to Nerul.) The train was fully packed . Actions of people around depicted desperation to reach home safely. I realized that downpour today is not at all normal It was much more than i expected. Ladies in my compartment were discussing about roumers or may be news of tracks being covered with 1 feet water and central line train service being discontinued. Many more news and with each one my heart sank. Was really scared of what if i dint reach home. Where would is stay..how will i reach home. All kinds of thoughts crossed my mind. We reached Vashi station where sujata and sunita had to get down. They asked us to join them at their home as it was not safe to go home till kalyan as trains would stop any time. But in desperation to go home we denied the offer and made a decision to carry on. Next to get down was Namrata. She got down at Mankhurd and made same offer. We again with strong will said no we will go home. Dont u worry. Hmm now it was only me and Monica. Phone batteries were dying , N/w gng down both were worried but still trying to comfort each other. Listening to horror stories and news that half hour travel seemed like half day travel.
Huuuuuuusssssshhh.. Here comes Kurla station. Both of us get down just to see that railway trackes compeletly submerged . Announcements of CENTRAL line being closed made us numb. We couldnt think of anything but go back to vashi and stay with our newly made friends. Coming back to Platform 8 from where Harbour line trains go we found that the harbour line is closed down. We were caught ungaurded. Blank and numb , sweating with fear we still managed to comfort each other. Suddenly bell rang and it was sujata on call. we updated her with our current status and she was quick enuf to let us know all bus route maps , bus numbers of KURLA-VASHI bus.
We made our way to Kurla East to find the bus stand. It was already flooded. everything was floating. Umbrellas were of no use. We were just trying to hold our feet on ground. There were mobs of people on street trying to get back to their homes. Few people being generous enough to offer Biscuits and water for tresspassers. Everyone was running after every possible bus. Busses were full to their limit. People clinging to doors. Tyre's of bus fully submerged in water. We tried our hand on 1-2 buses but werent sucessfull. Finally we found Bus no 203. Vashi depot. My frind plunged into that bus and pulled me in. It was an overcrowded bus with lots of stinking people inside. Never in my life before i have travelled in such bus. It was next to hell. I was standing on one feet and my friend manged to find some place next to the engine which is just next to bus driver seat. She was comfortable enuf. But for me it was like 10 people trying hard to knock me down. Few people were such that they were trying to take advantage of overcrowded bus. I had even piched one guy hard for trying to puch me hard. It was worst feeling ever. Normally bus journey from kurla to vashi would take 40 min but that day it took abt 3 hrs. Water levels were rising and so were tensions. Mom and dad trying to reach but N/w not permitting them. Fianlly after 3 hours we reached Vashi .
Getting down at vashi bus depot we thought first thing to do is to call our friend sujata who was supposed to come to receive us. Bad luck all the batteries were dead. It was worse thing that could happen as both of us dint knew how to go to sujatas place. We satrted looking for PCO to call her. After trying to hard found that even PCO's had big queue. I thought mobile phones were the best thing invented . But then nature showed no science works when nature is against it. We stood for almost 10 min in queue to make one call. Tring trin... the bell rings..we heard a worried vocie of sujata. to our releif we could properly descibe where we were standing. we were told we had to wait for 15 min for her to arrive at bus depot. Both os us were feeling lil releived that atleast we could reach somewhere where we knew we would be safe. I used that 15 min to call my parents and inform them that i was safe and gng to saty at sujatas place. Called even my bro and found even he had decided to saty at his friends place who live just next to his college.
That 10 min of waiting time we were thanking God almighty and discussing how worse it would have been to spend entire night on kurla platform as many people did that day.
Sujata arrived with her sis to receive us. That time i beleievd God sends angels on earth in form of friends. :) she was an angel for me :)
Gng back to her place was a adventorous experience. Water almost had come to my hip level. I couldnt walk properly but there were peopel helping out each other to cross the distance. I could see a pleasant sight of people standing by roads offering people tea, biscuits snacks. LEnding helping hand , Lending small place even in their match box homes. Lending each other phones just to let know loved ones that their stranger friend was safe and would soon see them.
It was a sight which i could see only in mumbai and no where in the world. People who are busy and running for life otherwise do stop and care for u when u need them. Thats what mumbai spirit is all about.
After 10 min of walk which seemed like long years we reached sujatas place.
The warmth shown my friend sujata and her family was amazing. We were made comfortable and treated with snacks and words of comfort. After an hour or so we all settled down .
Informed our loved ones with our well being . We shared our experience with her family , thanked God, laughed out loud, prayed for others ,chatted whole night and had fun.
It was most memorable experience of my life.
Everything outside was submerged in water but my heart was filled with gratitude and respect for Mumbaikars.
I thank God for being so kind with me. Many people lost lives during that floods. I really feel sad for them. All my condolences are with their families.
And yes to continue with my story. I went home on 28th of july. 2 Days i had stayed at my friends place. Who is now one of my best friend :).

Inspiration

This is my first blog . Inspired from one of my colleagues writings. Felt the need to even express my thoughts and views. And being alone here in foreign country its a nice time pass. As some one has inspired me to write this blog i chose first topic of my blog as Inspiration.
Inspiration been defined as arousal of mind to special unusual activity or creativity !!. Yes writing a blog is also a unusual and creative activity for someone like me.. In fact i guess for any S/w professional..:)
you might think why is she defining inspiration..Any kid would tell its meaning..Yes you are right anyone can tell its meaning but the context and meaning differs in each case.
For me inspiration is something which will keep the spark in my life alive. Something which will make me feel good about the day i have spent and keep me going for next day in my life. It is something which will allow me do something differently.. Inspiration is something which will keep me going .
Many people have inspired me in my life.. Especially when i see people who are weaker (say physically or mentally challenged or less privileged) achieving some target I really get inspired and pumped up. It gives me immense pleasure to see that someone striving hard for something and finally coming out victorious.
Best example can be seen on platforms of amchi Mumbai . U can see handicapped people travelling through full packed local trains (where getting in during office timings is next to impossible) reaching their offices on time , earning bread and butter for their families and still overcoming their shortcomings.
I love this spirit.. And yes that spirit is what is inspiration for me..
Inspiration cannot be found in books or articles it is something which u have to find in and around u.
On this note let me end my first blog :)
That's all for the day..:)