Promise Yourself...

The following was a part of a training course that I attended. I thought I should share it here.

Promise Yourself....
To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.
To talk health, happiness, and prosperity to every person you meet.
To make all your friends feel that there is something in them.
To look at the sunny side of everything and make your optimism come true.
To think only of the best, to work only for the best and expect only the best.
To be enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.
To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to greater achievements of the future.
To wear a cheerful countenance at all times and give every living creature you meet a smile.
To give so much time to the improvement of yourself that you have no time to criticize others.
To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, to strong for fear and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

~ Christian D. Larson

Are we connected?

After a long break from this page, I now come back with a different post. This post is not fact with proof, just my thoughts, there can be views for/against it.

Sometimes it happens that a friend calls up just after seconds we thought about him/her. Two good friends utter the same words at many different contexts (they dont have to!). Some of the small things that happen appear as though we expected it to happen. I have observed it a lot of times in my own life. With a close set of friends/relatives with whom I have spent quality time together, I have observed this connectivity. Many times (really!) in my college days, I would feel at random times that I should call my home and voila - my dad calls me up! There were many occasions I have observed that me and my close friend think/speak the same words. One can argue they can be coincidences, but there are too many such occurences that they cannot be accepted as mere coincidences. Close friends ping each other at the same time(I have proof for this:))! The power of thought or telepathy or whatever it is called - it is really amazing when you feel it! I have heard from two other people that they have also experiences such moments in their lives. If this can occur in a normal life with people who dont deliberately try to connect to someone, it might be possible to form a network of thoughts if given the time, effort and concentration it needs. I am sure there will be many explanations to this and real life experiences, the search of which I reserve for later. Right now, I am not aware of the science behind it and I dont really want to at the moment, because this thing is just nice as it is:)

Why so serious..

I was chatting with a friend after a long time. He is one of the most efficient people I have met. He was leading a charming team in college which proved itself in accomplishing commendable work every year. It is about three years since he went to the US for higher studies. He mentioned casually on chat - "things became serious, too many responsibilities now a days". I didnt think about this statement much at that moment. This statement from a person who did amazing amount of multitasking, was responsible for big social events besides being a good academic performer! I am observing this with more people. Why is it so? Why was college so much easier with less comfort and more duties as compared to a corporate life? The amount of food and sleep I had as a hosteler was much less than what I have today. Why are people becoming more serious? why are things considered hard responsibilities? This is my interpretation - As students, whatever was done was with full involvement, with no expectations. "Do it for the fun of doing it" - that's a student's way. If it is possible as a student, why not after that?

Cheers,
Usha

Just another narration

It was a sunday afternoon. The railway station was packed with people returning to their respective towns after the weekend. The train from Chennai to Bangalore was about to arrive in the platform. There was a long queue in the counter with people rushing to buy unreserved tickets. Every tenth person in the platform was a software engineer working in Bangalore with a laptop bag and a water bottle. In this mad crowd I saw two little kids running around their mom's saree. They looked so similar, yes, they were twins. Amazing is god's creation, one would think on seeing those active buds. Their mother was about 30 years old, and definitely resembled a working woman in bangalore. She was carrying a big suitcase and a small bag on the shoulder which had biscuits and fruits for the journey. The two KG kids with enormous amount of charm and energy were giving her enough trouble as they all waited for the train to arrive.

I was travelling alone and I went and got myself introduced to the mother. Her name was Sowmya and came to know from her that she was working as a technical writer in a software firm. Bharath and Sharath were the kids:) She looked a bit relieved after i joined them as I started to engage both the children. It was a welcome change for me to play with kids from my usual routine laptop-life. I started telling a short story to both of them. As I started narrating, Bharath said,"Akka! enna paathu sollunga.." when I realised that I was looking at Sharath's eyes when I started the story. I smiled and nodded at Bharath when Sharath started getting angry. Then we came to a pact of equal stares at both of them as the story had to progress. Their mom had a small nap in the meanwhile. After the story was over, Sharath went running to the edge of the platform! Sowmya screamed "No Sharath, inga vaa!" And before she could bring him here the other one went behind a dog which was wandering on the platform. As the train was expected to arrive anytime, both me and Sowmya caught both of them and made them stay close. I admired Sowmya's patience between all this and every now and then she would hug and kiss one of them as they talked to her. Nothing like a mother!

Finally the train arrived and we all got into the compartment. Kids get excited in trains, and Bharath and Sharath were no exceptions. Not even a moment they could remain sitting. As soon as the train started Bharath climbed to the upper birth. Sharath had a wound on his knee and was not able to climb on his own. As anyone would expect, He cried his life out to get on to the same birth. The train slowly picked up speed and we were out of Chennai in about twenty minutes. Only me and Sowmya were there in the bay. We were talking about our work and life and bangalore when the kids had finished their first game and were restless already. Sowmya made them come down and gave them some fruits which she had brought. A vendor passed by shouting "Vadai vadai". Bharath said "Enakku vadai venum" and Sharath also joined him. Though Sowmya was totally not for getting them outside food, this time she could not do much. She got two plates of vada and gave one to each. When Sharath was looking out through the window, Bharath stole a small piece of his vada. There broke the first battle. Then the journey was a war series and peace movement by Sowmya. All through this process, She was controlling her anger and trying to calm them down. I kept observing everything and helping the peace maker occasionally.

There was a bar of choclate that was peeping from my laptop bag. One of my colleagues gave it to me when I started. Bharath found it first and he immediately bit it into two halves, and gave one to Sharath. I was wondering how he did this spontaneously. Sowmya had a sweet smile when she saw this and showed a sign of relief as there was some silence in the compartment. I was looking outside the window and feeling the breeze. Every now and then Sowmya would get up and check what the kids were doing, wherever they were. Can anyone believe that a sheet of white paper caused the next tremor? I had to write down notes for a meeting on monday and took out my notepad and pen. I gave the kids a sheet of paper to play with. Both of them wanted to draw on it and started fighting again. Sowmya reached her threshold, stood up grabbed the paper, crushed it and threw it on the floor. Sharath was the one who was drawing and started crying immediately. Sowmya still stayed angry and silent. Bharath went, picked up the crushed paper, came near Sharath and said, "Azhaada daa, kasangina enna, naan veetla poi iron panni tharen..".

I was so surprised how the kid went and consoled the other. It was so sweet to observe those two kiddies. Children are totally unpredictable! They seamlessly teach us a lot more than we think! The rest of the journey went by watching the kids sleep. Soon we reached Bangalore, I bid good bye to all the three and went back home smiling:)

Thread of lyrics

The long weekend gave me sometime to listen to Rahman's good ones (I know it does not make sense.. for there can't be a 'not good'!;)) Two pieces in which i felt the music and lyrics went so together!

Kaana thaane kangal, kanneer sinda illai
Vaazhathaane vazhkai, veezhvadarku illai
Paada thaane nenjam , mounam enna enna
Vella thaane veeram, kolvatharku illai

kehti hai fiza jahaan
(the wind tells me about…)
tere zameen-asmaan
(… an earth and a sky…)
jahaan hai tu meri hassi
(where you become my laughter…)
meri khushi meri jaan…
(… and my happiness and my life…)

Tu kahan kho gayi?
-[Where did you get lost?]
Tu kahan kho gayi?
-[Where did you get lost?]
Koi aaya nahin
-[Nobody came!]
Do-peher ho gayi
-[Half of the day(life) has passed]
Koi aaya nahin
-[And nobody came!]

Manam mundiyatho, Vizhi mundiyatho, karam mundiyatho:)

Tuhje chaahon, jaisa hai tu
I like you, just the way you are
Mujhe teree barish mein beegna hai ghuljana hai
I want to drench myself in rain (of your love).. I seek union with you
Tujhe chaahon, jaisa hai tu
I like you, just the way you are

This thread will keep updating everytime I discover such apt ones!

Thanks!

It is time for a new beginning after a wonderful year. 2008 was a very significant year for me. Everyday was a great learning experience. Yes, I have become a much better person since last December 31st. This year has brought many of the sweet things to light. I wonder how seamlessly I could realize some of the real big secrets of 'living'. In every person I came across I learnt to see the unique beauty in their character, appreciate and admire the goodness in each. Life started to be really beautiful as this year progressed.. Yes, Life is beautiful:)
I am sure the next year is going to be another memorable journey. It is time to thank everyone who was there for me. Here's wishing a great year for every little heart around. Thanks a ton for all your precious company, support, advice, care and love:).

A wonderful trip!

Last weekend was a great experience for me. I had to travel to Bangalore for a dentist appointment(yeah, my dentist is in Bangalore!) by train. Usually for these dentist visits, I take the night trains on friday and sunday, spend the weekend at my relative's place there. This time, fortunately, tickets were not available in the night trains, and I took the passenger train on saturday morning.

My onward journey was by Brindavan express, which usually departs at 7 am. So I started from home at ten to 6 and reached the station well ahead. After school days, seeing dawn has always been a rare occasion. I had a quick flash of my school day memories when I saw the rising sun with cold wind blowing. Those were the days when I felt I satisfied everyone around me and it was very simple to do so:). Coincidence, I met one of my college juniors in the train. We met after quite sometime, so had stuff to share. Certain conversations are not long, not deep, but give a nice feeling inside, beyond just joy. Mine with my junior that day was one of that kind. Thanks Sudha for your nice company on saturday!!

The return journey was an awesome one, again by the same train. Though the whole compartment was full of people, vendors and kids, I did'nt speak more than 5 words(that too with the TTE) in the long journey of six and a half hours. I put on my mp3 player and was into my favorite music soon as the train started from Bangalore. Thankfully mine was a window seat, I was quietly watching everything outside. It was the best weather one can expect on a train journey. It is in such times when one would observe the self to the fullest. I could sense my face expressions and smiles that came out for every song that was playing. I saw a storm of thoughts flowing in mind, few were memories, few were dreams. I could feel that all of them are being evaluated in background and some move out of the pipe. I laughed at myself when the monkey mind tried to come back to some 'same old' stuff. To be precise, I saw myself very well:).

If it was any other normal sunday, I would have spent time reading a book or watching a movie or spending time with my parents. I consider this as a rare experience that I had got and I definitely should document it. Thanks to my dentist, I get such wonderful trips!!