Ode to the eternal self

You exist not with boundaries,

Your existence is open and free,

Neither chains nor iron shackles,

Nothing can bind thee.

Earthly desires pull you down,

Hate and regret trip your toes,

But you forge ahead nevertheless,

Sans happiness or woes.

Until you find your destiny,

A moment you do not rest,

Long after the journey has ended,

You walk on with renewed zest.

Are we part of a computer game?

We now have computer games that are larger than life. They replicate reality in an eerily near-perfect way. What if we ourselves are part of a computer (or whatever THEY call it) game designed by intelligence greater than us (IGTU)? What if the whole universe is a game?

Scientists have not been able to track our origins beyond the big bang. I think the big bang happened when the start button was activated by IGTU. They designed the entire system from creation to extinction. Each galaxy might be a different type of game, similar to the Mario series. And each lifetime represents a level. You cross seven levels and then you reach Heaven!

If this thought could be further contemplated upon, we could draw parallels for most instances. And if you think about it, IGTU is similar to God. Imagine God holding a Wii console and directing our every movement. Sounds familiar?

Well, if we are part of such a computer game, then I surely hope that the IGTU who is playing my game is the winner! Go, my IGTU, go!

Moving office

After almost six years, which includes my post-grad days plus work days, I am finally going to shift out of my current campus. How do I feel about this? On the one hand, there are a lot of memories attached to this campus - mostly from the college days. On the other hand, I think it would be good to break away from such memories or rather the 'ghosts' of the past. True, I would miss the familiar faces, the (not worth a mention but still) food, and the laid back atmosphere but I'm sure I won't regret it. I'm looking forward to making new friends, experiencing the 'corporate' culture and generally breaking the monotony. The office space looks appealing with an awesome view and access to good facilities (and most importantly, no rats!!!). Only hitch is the distance from the city but I guess I will hitch-hike with my darling husband :)

Fingers crossed!!

Traffic in Chennai

Since I purchased a car, I have been wanting to write something about my real-time experience with the Chennai traffic. If I were to describe it in one word, I would call it 'horrendous'. Driving a car in the Chennai traffic is a skill by itself. It is a natural skill and cannot be acquired. One has to be born with such a quality. Everyday I feel like there is a new question that I would need to answer. Just yesterday a question popped up - Does the concept of 'signaling' exist amongst Chennai citizens? Hard to answer, isn't it?

After almost an year of such ghastly experiences, I met with my first major accident. One would expect it to involve someone else who is obviously at fault. But, contrary to all expectations (mine included), I banged my car into a boulder! Is that even humanely possible? Imagine all the buses, cars, autos and cycles that populate the Chennai roads. I leave all of them and find myself a nice little boulder to bang into. Well, please don't judge my driving skills by this stray incident. I'm a very talented driver in general.

In any case, driving in Chennai traffic is a menace. Even with automatic gear!

Random...

When you know you are committing an act of stupidity and the result will most likely be that you have made a fool of yourself, do you still commit this act? Or rather, when do you commit such an act? That's right - when you are blinded by love. I am an ardent advocate of love and if I love something or someone, 'ego' or 'self-respect' vanishes from my dictionary. And I think that is how it should be.

I am in love!

I met him just three weeks back. In a land far away from my homeland. It was love at first sight! I was smitten when I first saw him but overtime I came to love him even more. When he falls asleep in my arms, I feel like I am floating high above the sky. When he smiles at me, I feel like my heart is filled with a radiant light. I don't know if he reciprocates my love. Is he even aware what it means to love someone? Yet, I believe that one day he will realize and love me back. I love you... Nikhil :)

My sweet angel, Nikhil

Deep inside me, lost over time,

Is a poet who once spun a good rhyme,

Waiting for something to set affire,

Odes that would fulfill one's desire.

Then came along Nikhil, my nephew,

His brilliance who could equal but a few,

Little fingers, little ears, little eyes, little nose,

His appearance does not fall short of grandiose.

Not like his father, not like his mother,

Not even does he resemble his great grandmother,

His aunt, by good fortune, he took after,

Could he have asked for anything better?

Oh my darling, I long to hold you,

Kiss you, caress you, love you, enfold you,

When I see you for the first time be aware,

Not a minute away from me, will I spare.

I wish you all happiness in this world,

Looks of a prince and a heart of gold.

God bless!!

Taking a vacation to relax? Nahhh...

It is never easy to take your mind completely off your work during vacations. Especially when you have certain deadlines coming up. The above picture from PhD Comics shows the level of stress during different stages of a vacation. It was mainly designed bearing PhD scholars in mind but it applies to everybody who has a job to go back to. So when you decide to take a vacation keep in mind that you are spending time and money to be away from work and it doesn't serve any purpose whatsoever to keep worrying about work while you are away. So switch off your mobiles/laptops/blackberry, put away the files and have a great time!

We won!

I haven't played real cricket ever. I watch cricket matches only when India plays. However, I am a big fan of the game and have always wanted to play a good match. My dream came true last Saturday when we played cricket among colleagues in our office. Well, it was just tennis ball cricket but they had booked a good court and we had proper pitch, boundaries, wickets etc. There were four teams - Red, Black, Green and Blue - with people from different departments forming part of each.

The funniest part was that I was made captain of the Green team. Maybe it was because I was the only girl in all the four teams! In any case, I clearly told everybody that I was a novice and offered the captaincy to other people in the team. But they maintained that I should be captain so that's what I was. As many people hadn't turned up we decided to have only two teams, Red and the Rest of the World (i.e. all the other colors). I was the captain of RoW.

As a good captain should do (and clearly knowing I won't help the score much), I had everybody bat before me and finally ended up not getting a turn to bat. Disappointed though i was with the state of affairs, the score we made i.e. 76 for 8 in 12 overs, was good news. The Red team then started the chase but what with brilliant bowlers (not me of course) and good fielding (again, not me), we won by 7 runs (they got up to 69 for 9 in 12 overs). So the synopsis is that, we won! I brought back the shield to my house and then back to the office where it will remain until the next match. Who says participation doesn't count?!!

Travel Blog 4: Kerala - God's own country

I have been to Kerala several times. Both for work and for pleasure. I have been to Cochin, Trichur, Ernakulam, Guruvayur, Munnar, Kottayam and Kollam. The beauty of Kerala is in it's lush vegetations and serene waters. For want of time and space, I am going to narrate my experiences in Kollam to the exclusion of the rest (though they were equally exhilarating).

The Kollam visit was an extension of the visit to Kottayam where we attended a friend's wedding. We were two families - me, my husband, my friend, her husband and her kid. After attending the wedding ceremony, we hired a car and proceeded to Kollam. The drive was wonderful (though we mostly slept through it) in itself. We reached our resort in the afternoon and then went to our respective rooms to settle down. In the evening, we played table tennis and video games at the recreation center and had special Onam dinner at the restaurant. The next day, we had breakfast and went swimming (or in my case 'floating') in the pool. After that we went on a one hour long boat ride which was very relaxing. Then we had a nice lunch and rested awhile. In the evening, we went site seeing to the beach and the light house. The beach was similar to the Chennai beach except for the huge mermaid statue (which looked quite vulgar - wonder how the Government allowed it to be publicly showcased). The light house was a ghastly experience. I am scared of heights normally but this time I was really frightened. Probably the spiral staircase that leads to the top was the reason. In any case, I was happy to get back safely. That night we had dinner at the restaurant and retired to our rooms. The next day we had breakfast, went swimming, packed our bags, had lunch and left.

Not much of activity but it was meant to be a relaxing vacation so that was what it was. Bottom line is that Kerala is the best place to relax!

Meeting with the Indian Finance Minister!

I met with the Indian Finance Minister, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, at his office in Rashtrapati Bhavan at Delhi yesterday at around 1:00pm. The meeting was organized by the All India Association of Chit Funds and was primarily to present our report on the chit fund industry. The Finance Minister released our report. He also patiently listened to our presentation of the results and said it was good work. The meeting lasted around 40 minutes.

I am really excited about the positive response our report received after all the hard work that went into it. The meeting with the FM is an unforgettable moment in my life :)

The World Wide Web

The WWW is an amazing invention. Connects people across regional and cultural boundaries. I don't have to wait until tomorrow morning to get today's news. Well, actually I don't have to wait at all. With Twitter, Facebook and all the other social networks working as they are, the information dissemination is now real time. A time will come when everybody will be on these networks, 'tweeting' about their activities. That would be the ideal world. No secrecy, cunning dishonesty or hatred. People will know what others are thinking and doing and they can counter react in a logical way instead of waging war at each other. I am really excited to see this happen in my time!

Movies - The past two weeks

I saw like five movies in the past two weeks. Two on DVD and three in the theatres (one of which is second time). Following is a brief description of how I feel about them.

Kaminey - nicely taken but lacks a proper story line. Haphazard events culminate to form the final picture. Not much 'Masala' as well (that's good). I personally think Shahid and Priyanka should act as brother and sister more! Overall, not very entertaining.

Final Destination 4 - Gory but not scary. Couple of scenes are excellent; made me grab for my cousin's hand! However the extreme violence and bloodshed made us laugh more than frightened. Watch it on 3D if you ever plan to.

Kandasamy - Masala, glamour and color makes it palatable. Otherwise a no-show. Similar storyline as in Robin Hood, Krishh, Anniyan and so on. Songs are good.

Ice Age 3 - saw it again cos I love it!

New York - Old movie. Watched on DVD. Regret that I missed it in the theatres. Awesome! The theme was well explained and the truth in it touched my heart. I did cry for this one! Ending could have been less dramatic but overall I loved it.

Oh well, all good things must come to an end..

Last two weeks was fun. Super fun. My cousin sister was visiting from UK and she brought her two good friends along with her. Its always fun when my cuz comes down cos we are real close. This time it was even better with her friends around. These girls, they brought in a breath of fresh air into my otherwise dull life!

What did we do those two weeks? Well, not really two weeks but 10 days (given my cuz had to visit her mom's hometown as well). We went 'paint-balling' for starters. That was quite fun. And of course we went pubbing/clubbing like two maybe three, oh wait - was it ten? - times :) We also travelled a bit (to Pondi for instance). We went to the movies and had dinner couple of times.

The fun part, however, was the 'girl' times we spent together. Don't you think it is awesome when a bunch of teenagers talk about their bfs/gfs/parties? Especially when you are well out of your teens, yes of course! Made me feel old though, knowing I don't speak their language anymore. But yes it was amazing to listen to them! Playing 'dumb-sharadhs' and card games with them was also very entertaining.

Highlight of the whole visit was my cuz's 18th birthday when the entire family got together. We partied hard sans age. Was a good 'bonding' time :)

Now that my cuz and her friends have left, I am feeling very sad. I really miss them. I have no idea if I will even meet my cuz's friends again in the future. Well, life goes on, doesn't it?

Best moments in life...

There are some moments in life that one can never forget. Some moments that stay etched on our hearts. One such moment was my cousin sister's 18th birthday. I was unfortunately delayed for her birthday party due to some last minute work at the office. But my sweet cousin waited for me and refused to cut the cake until I arrived. She made everybody (from my baby cousin to my great uncle) wait for me! That was really touching. Yes, some moments in life remain unforgettable...

The Hangover

Have you ever watched a 'comedy thriller'? You wonder how these two genres go together? They do in 'The Hangover'. Unique storyline with awesome screenplay keeps one glued to the screen from start to end, while the action and dialogues makes one laugh until their tummy hurts. The movie is fast paced and well presented. And the actors complement and maintain the charisma of the movie.

To dwell deeper, the story is about a guy who is going to get married. His best friends decide to throw a bachelor party for this guy in Las Vegas. During this party, the friends are drugged accidentally and in the morning, they can't remember anything that happened the night before. To their shock, the groom-to-be has vanished! The rest of the story is how they try to find out what happened in the night and how they search and ultimately find their lost friend.

A must watch!

It is a miracle!

I am not a religious fanatic but what happened yesterday at Tirupathi (a temple town in Andhra Pradesh, South India) is worth a mention. My husband and I reached Tirupathi in the morning where we had to attend the wedding ceremony of a close relative. After the wedding, we drove uphill to the abode of Lord Venkatachalapathi. If you are an Indian, you might be aware how pricey it is to see the Lord. Unless you have some high level ‘contacts’, you may have to wait forever for a ‘darshan’ (darshan means vision of God). We usually have a letter of recommendation from our relative who has connections in Tirupathi so we can enter in the V.I.P section which is like a fast-track ‘darshan’ line. Unfortunately, yesterday we found out that they had stopped this V.I.P section. Hence we were left with two choices: (a) to return without a ‘darshan’ or, (b) to wait for three to four hours in the queue.

I flatly refused to do the latter as I was really tired from the journey and also I personally do not endorse standing in line to see an idol of God (I do not advocate idol worship in the first place, though I am not totally averse to the idea). So we had decided to leave ‘empty handed’ as it were. Then we heard that people above 60 years of age could join a shorter line, free of cost, for the darshan. We also had in our group, apart from me and my husband, an elder lady who is a family friend. She said she will go ask the authorities if she can stand in that shorter queue for darshan (note that one has to produce an identification proof to establish their age to join this queue and our family friend did not have this in her possession at the required moment). Fortunately for her, they said she could go without an identity proof.

And, here is the best part; she could apparently also take along with her a younger person to accompany her in case she has some health problems on the way in. As my husband was already eligible for a darshan after his ‘anga pradakshanam’ (circling the temple by rolling on the ground – a special tribute to God), I was the only one left without an opportunity to see the Lord. So I went with our family friend in the shorter queue and got the darshan in half an hour! To add, we also had a splendid and relaxed view of the Lord’s idol. This was the amazing incident which has proved yet again that there is a Supreme power which does act for our good. I always believe that God gives me the best and He seconded that with His subtle indication in Tirupathi yesterday.

...

What the world calls a 'magic doll': When you have it, it is old; But when you lose it, it is gold.

Let go

When you know there is no scope for redemption,

When you know you cannot reap what you sow,

When you know there is no going back,

It is best that you let go.

Yes, the memories will hurt,

Yes, you will feel low,

But how much can you give up?

It is best that you let go.

Far into the future you will see,

What is rightfully yours will come back in the end,

Await the return with open hands,

Let go now my friend.

Ice Age 3

The above caricature is by my colleague. At the office, we often don the role of animal characters in different movies. The current craze is Ice Age 3. I am the Squirrel with the Nut (don't ask me why!).

About the movie itself, we loved it! We were laughing until our stomachs started to hurt. Personally, I feel movies are meant to make us laugh and this one surely did.

Go watch it, if you haven't already!