a life..

Early morning. Around 7.30 AM. Somewhere on Nagar Road, Pune.

The old man picks up his lunch box and shoulders his hammer. He quickly bows to the God’s idol in the corner, says a quick prayer and hits the road. A day just like any other day.

This is the story of any of the men in the photo. Only hammer gets replaced by something else like a handbag, a broomstick, a bag of goods, a vehicle or just an id card. But the story remains the same. No matter h0w glossy, glassy and classy your work environment is, your story is same as this old man.

He goes to work, works hard, gets his pay and thanks god at the end of the day for giving him power enough to earn his bread. Does he have regrets? Wishes? a bucket list? May be. He wishes he could do a lot of things other than his daily work. He does not get the chance. But does that make him regret his life? Most probably not. Because he knows that there is no use of regrets or negative feelings, they will just spoil the taste of your life. Live it as it comes to you, strive to be better, strive to be worthy of a better life.

Life is not as simple as it seems, or may be, it is.

(see original post here)

A Happy Birthday post :-)

Today I turned 25. Twenty five!! I have a tradition of writing happy birthday posts every year. This time I am writing this post from my android mobile.. something I planned on my last birthday.

Right now I am sitting at my home in Karad, writing this post. It’s cloudy out there with occasional rain. Mom is planning about cooking somethingi like but I am going to tell her to make something simple.

As usual I have made some resolutions. They hance been on my mind for long time so they are not really birthday resolutions. But today is good day to get started.

Life has been good so far. There were some ups and downs and setbacks. But it really doesn’t matter. Because everything works out fine in the end. I don’t really have a solid goal for my life yet. I know a lot of idealistic people do insist on having a goal set and all that. But I am gonna play it my own way and not the way books tell us.

Anyway, got a surprise gift from my best friend y’day… Also had a great lunch with friends at famous hotel Jagat Bhari Kolhapuri (again). Came home early, spent time with dad, just me and him…it’s been nice birthday weekend so far.

Happy birthday to me. 🙂

save the children….

One fine day, I was taking my usual after-lunch-stroll-around-the-building with my daily colleague lunch group. It was around 1.45 PM. This is the most probable time when people get calls offering Pre-approved personal loans, credit cards, investment schemes and a lot of other things. I have devised my own tactics for turning down such calls without actually using bad words. After all, the people calling you with these ads n promotions are just doing their job, trying to earn their share of bread-butter for the day. So I talk politely and give all kinds of stupid reasons for not taking whatever they are offering. Some of the reasons I come up with sound almost genuine to most of the people.

Go India!!!

We won!! Yes. We did it. We beat Pakistan(again) in a Cricket World Cup match. Cheers to Indian Cricket Team and Sachin Tendulkar… 🙂

Yesterday, on the occasion of India vs Pakistan cricket match, semi-final, I bet at least 90% Indians were watching the match. In my city, Pune, the roads were empty. Hotels, restaurants were empty. Roadside vendors of Vada Pav and other junk food saw a profit like never before. Nobody had their dinner till the match was over.

We realized how hungry we were once the match was over and Sachin Tendulkar was announced Man of the Match. 🙂 So we got our bikes on the road at around 11 PM and we were surprised….. we were surprised by the sheer size of crowd on the road. Nearly everyone was out of the homes, celebrating, busting crackers, shouting, dancing. Road was full of guys raving their bikes with loud horns, flags of India, shouting, cheering.

We joined the bikers… we went shouting cheering honking in the night. At one place, where MacD is located (everyone was suddenly hungry like us 😀 ), the crowd was double of what I had seen earlier. Police were trying to control the traffic. Normally, at 11 PM , the roads are empty. Yesterday, it was traffic jam everywhere. And Police weren’t really stopping anyone or monitoring the bikers. They were just trying to prevent any accidents from happening.

I am really glad I lived to see this day. 🙂 India has won before, but I do not remember feeling like this.. 🙂 May god bless Sachin Tendulkar his wish of winning a world-cup for India. Amen.

I fly

I just wrote a poem. Yes… not that it is any good.
But I am happy I wrote it.
Its been long since my last poem.
There were days when I used to think of writing a lot of poems and I had written few also (in Marathi).
Then somehow I stopped writing them and after a few years I completely forgot about it.

And today, while posting a pic on my photoblog, I searched for something to post along with it, something that suited my view of the photo, and I could not find anything. So went ahead and wrote it myself. I hope at least someone likes it. Someone who inspires me every moment of my life. 🙂

Here is the link to that post: I fly

:) A Happy Birthday Post :)

I can never understand why do we need something like a new year or a birthday to make ourselves serious enough to have look at the life seriously?

Seriously, why? 😀

Last year, on same day, I wrote this post. And a year before that I wrote this post.

This time, I actually do not have anything to write. Yesterday, in the evening, I was suddenly feeling like running away to someplace where people do not know its my birthday. Or some place where people will never bother any birthdays. May be it has something to do with recent changes in my life. 😛 Or may be it was just a plain burst of stupidity…  😀

So I overcame the stupid feeling of running away and ran away from my office instead. 😀 I went home, sat, ate and slept only to be woken at 12 AM to face a perfectly aimed kick at my ass. I was spared of any pain by help of the cushioning effect…….

Anyways, birthday bumps were supplied in numbers and next moment I found myself trying to blow out the so-called stupid stubborn magic candles. They gave me a hard time.  🙄  I finally pulled them off the cake and literally crushed them. Still one of it ignited itself again. 😀 After cutting, the Cake was smeared at all possible places and nobody bothered to feed me some of it in the end (I had to help myself,  don’t know why 😉 ).

And finally the gift. My roomies gave me the laptop cooling pad. It’s a perfect gift for me. 🙂

And this is me in my cousin brother’s  marriage. And why this photo is here? Well, its my blog, isn’t it? (and some people wanted to see a recent pic of mine 😉 )

Ohh I forgot one thing….. Happy Birthday to ME  🙂  🙂  🙂  😀  😀  😀

Why everyone in the world needs something like

Redefining my life…

I am kinda thinking of redefining most of things in my life. But first I need to make a list of things to change. And I have been postponing this making-list task from many days (and believe me, this post was supposed to be written two months ago). So first thing I need to change is laziness in personal life. As I am writing this post and as I have accepted my fault of being lazy, its time to start the list.

1. Find a cure for laziness (again 😉 )

2. Change the daily routine. (Less late nights, More early morning and more)

3. Find out postponed work and issues (and fix them too).

4. Be in touch with some more people.

5. Go home frequently (or mom will come here 😛 )

6. Stop thinking of things you can’t have, focus on realistic things like career instead (yeah right).

7. Keep track of money (at least approximate).

8. Find more things to add to this list.

9. Go and book RE Thunderbird (forget that it costs Rs. 40k more than other bikes)

10. Do something about that fat stomach of yours (“You are not fat”, Says Reema, always!! You are such sweetie dear 😉 )

11. Change the look (as suggested by Dilli ki Mehak )

12. Buy a wardrobe full of new clothes (not possible and suggested by Dilli ki Mehak)

Waiting for more suggestions, especially from Sakhi. (Don’t ask why. If I hadn’t mentioned her, I would be dead by now 😉 ). And after this comment in bracket, I will be dead for sure 😀

Cheers to new me!!! Any more suggestions?

:) A Happy Birthday Post!!! :)

Its my birthday today!!!

23 years ago, it was raining cats and dogs (and even elephants 😀 ) and my dad was standing with his friends at a small hospital in a small village, drinking tea and discussing Raj Kapoor and his movies. His face was bright with a great smile. A few moments later, a women, a nurse probably, came out of the operation room and informed him of my birth. 🙂 Birth of a great personality, a boy who will do something that will make him proud. Someday. I was crying and crying and everyone was rejoicing out there. 😀 Poor me, had I known everybody was going to rush IN to *see* me, I would have stopped crying instantly. 😛 😀

Few years later, when I was old enough to kick my elder brother down from the bed (he was 2.5yrs old then), my first birthday was celebrated. And you can see that how troubled I was because of people trying to kiss me, pull my cheeks, trying to make me laugh, trying to lift me 😀 or simply trying to shake my tiny hand!! 😀

Last year, I wrote this post on my birthday.

Lesson of Life

(Just a nice forward email.... credits to whoever created this)

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away. The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall. When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.

The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise.

The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they all were right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree’s life. He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it’s winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

Moral:

Don’t let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.

Don’t judge life by one difficult season.

Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come some time or later…….

5 things for which I love myself

Aaj ki taaza khabar. Suda is doing a tag!!! 😀 😀
Yes, stop slapping yourself, this is not a dream!!! I am really doing a tag (actually stealing it from Reema) 😀
The tag requires me to write 5 things for which I love myself 😉
So here we go:

1. Helping Others: I have habit of helping (or at least trying to help) everyone (read: anyone) no matter who he/she is. Even a stranger can not discourage me.
I know this is a common habit (at least in India, I don’t know about others) but I love myself for it because many other people love me for same reason. I help many people without realizing how much I am doing for them. And I guess that is what makes me special. Whenever someone asks me, “Why are you doing this much for me?” I get surprised. I have heard same question hundred times before but still it surprises me. Friend or not friend, a person who needs help should get it without hesitation.

Help Everyone Everywhere in Everything!!!

Now, I don’t claim to be some great personality or something like that. I help others when I can, when it is possible for me and (recently, only) when it does not create trouble for me.

2. Forgiveness: I don’t believe in holding grudge. I hate some people but that does not make me to hold any grudge for them. The moment my anger melts, I forgive every offender in my mind and let the person know what I feel if possible. I do not expect everyone to be saint. It’s a choice a person has to make for him/herself.
Believe me; I really do not have any enemies. Or may be I should say that I do not consider anyone enemy. I may be distant and rude and dry towards some people but I really don’t see any reason to call them enemies. The guy whom I called “my best friend ever” actually plotted behind me and got the girl I loved when we were in college. You would think I must be looking for a chance to get back to him. But I am not!!! I was stupid back then, because I just liked that girl but never tried to tell her. And I was stupid enough to tell everything I felt to my best friend. May be I was not stupid in telling him. May be they fell in love with each other and the girl (she used to love me, her roommates still claim this even after so many years) thought him better choice. Now, I have no contact with him or her. My friends consider us enemies or something more. But I don’t!!! I just don’t want them back in my life and I am not sure I can bear them together. I am better off without them. And anyway I have found someone *who truly loves me* beyond my imagination. ☺ ☺ So, I have forgiven both of my friends for everything. But still he should better take care of remaining out of my sight!!!!

Forgiveness is Divine Quality

So, I love myself for this forgiveness saintly quality. Now I forgive myself for bringing up stupid hurting memories for very stupid reason of praising myself in a stupid self praising tag post. 😐

3. Flexibility: Now here is something I share with Reema. Put me anywhere, I will match myself to the context!!! (or match the context to me 😛 ). I can live in some extreme rural area with no connection with modern world and will not complain at all. I am living in a Metro city Pune (where I don’t like many modern things) and have adjusted myself to match Punekars. I can live with very less water 😀 and I am adjusting with my current roommates (that is a miracle in itself). In technical field, I have no objections in working across different technologies and different people.
Again, same as Reema, I show nakhras only when I have choices 😀

4. Fakology/Creativity/Making things up/Playing with words: Sometimes, you need to change a few details and twist some tales to tweak the situation for your good or for greater good of the universe……this is the field where I have attained a fair level of expertise. I usually manage to slip through tight situations by using my word-games and a little presence if mind.

Presense of Mind

I will share a secret which is formula I use in most of the critical situations. That secret is *simple logic*. Not just commonsense, but the right application of commonsense. I will explain with simple example (keeping non technical people in mind):

For my project, I was supposed to make a document about a banking product NRI accounts using information provided by my onsite colleague. I was supposed to write “pain areas and problems” in one section. But my onsite friend did not get much information for that particular section properly and the banker he interviewed gave very vague answers. All he got out of the banker was there are no specific pain areas and he does not bother to explain why. So it was my responsibility to convince my Project Manager that there is really no need for that section in document. Here is what I told him:
“Sir, Mr Onsite-Colleague interviewed Mr ******* for this product. As we know the NRI account product is uses Foreign Exchange (FOREX) Dept for currency exchange rates, blah-blah system for customer records and Miss. Blah-Blah is head of the FOREX dept. As the concerned product uses multiple systems and people for small-small activities, it hardly creates any problems for Bankers. So I doubt that any banker can actually tell us specific pain areas for this product, they will just tell problems of bigger products they handle.”

My PM thought over this explanation for a moment and decided not to chase me out of his cabin for such a small issue which was not my creation in first place. So he decided it was wise of me to keep that section blank and my onsite colleague owes has done nothing wrong. The fact is I was not lying. Whatever I told was supposedly expected from the client banker. So I may have missed real thing but I did not create any problems for client as well as my employer.

Now look at the underlined things in my answer. They are my guesses or deductions from a line my onsite friend told me plus some general knowledge. I managed to keep anything from being too specific. Do you see what I mean? No??? Well, I will come up with more examples later. Just keep in mind that whenever you need to slip through tight holes, make sure you are very logical about things you say or make up and also make sure you have left enough loopholes to bypass someone trying to catch you. 😀 I call it Fakology and I intend to write a guide for it, seriously. I love myself for this ability (and many of my superiors and friends hate me for it) 😀

5. Basic Instinct: Now, this is a thing I guess I share with thousands of people around the world. I believe that every person has a power or ability sometimes called Sixth-sense. It is not just your logic or brain power. It is some instinct that flashes up some feeling in your head for a moment when you are about to make a decision. Mostly the feeling slips away before you catch it and understand it. But whenever you manage to get a hold on it, it surely affects your decisions.

The Sixth Sense

I believe my intuition is very strong. I have saved myself from many blunders and stupid mistakes by following my instinct. Sometimes I think my quick reflex to something like ducking an unseen stone is more than just good eyes and ears. Many times I think I heard someone coming before anybody else but it is mostly the feeling and not the sharp ears.

I have a strange example here: In my college days, some friends decided to hide programs in computers in college lab and use them for practical exam next day. I had no need for cheating but I decided to give them company just for thrill of doing something against the rules. That evening, the lab assistant was promised a drink and then he locked us in lab with and promised half an hour for the dirty work. I did not take part in copying but sat browsing the net. After few minutes, I felt an urge to go out of that locked room. Nothing was wrong but something strongly urged me to get out and I started feeling very uneasy when I tried to force away the urge. So I went to locked door and asked the assistant to take me out. He knew me very well. He snapped at me that why I went in at first place if I did not need to cheat? But he let me out and I ran away. I was feeling suffocated in the building. I ran to bike stand away from the building. Hardly 5 minutes had passed when all (cheater) boys joined me at bike stand. A teacher of my dept had caught them red-handed!!!! The teacher failed them in practical exam as punishment instead of making a big issue for that serious crime.

I was simply lucky to get out in time. I was about to get punished for being at wrong place at wrong time in wrong company, I must have missed her by a minute or less. I still don’t believe that it was just a co-incidence. Unknown, unexplained urge to get out of that lab just few seconds before the teacher decided to check the lab……… to much for just a co-incidence!!!
There is other side to these so called instinct decisions. Sometimes, it does not feel right for the situation. It may be turn out to be right in long run but at the particular moment, I can’t afford to follow it. Also many times I simply ignore it because of some stupid attraction or something like that overcomes it. And I regret it many times. How many times I say, “Damn, I should have done it that way. I should have listened!!” I think I should write about instincts in detail in a separate post later.

Well, that’s all for now. I can write a book about myself and best things about me, but I doubt anyone will ever read it 😀
And this is the longest post I have ever written. I hope some people have really reached this line honestly 😀 😀
If you answer this question then I will know that you have read all points above. If you can’t then its okay, I will assume that you have read between the lines 😉
Que. I mentioned that I want to write a guide for something. What is it?
Answer the question in comments. This question is optional 😉 , you can choose not to answer it.  😎

Do you guys need any disclaimer??? I hope not 😉 😀

Shameless self advertisement: See my photography here.  Lately, I am advertising my photoblog too much 😀 😀