Back in time

My blogger account shows that last post I published was "Mar 4, 2011". As I am on the anniversary of my post, I thought of scribbling something.

Did I get too much busy in the daily grind or may be I was just procrastinating. But the bad weather outside makes sure that I cannot go out and sit inside the drab hotel room all alone. And that I do something with my time instead of killing it sleeping. At least, I made sure to have started on my indoor gym schedule.

I thought about mentioning another activity which I started after a hiatus. I joined Beachwood, OHIO public library. Needless to mention, I really like the public library concept in this country. So the activity which I started was reading a book. I had shortlisted 2 books in my wishlist. "Its not about bike" and "Emperor of all maladies". Both the books are about a disease whose cure is still researched upon in today's medical world. Cancer is not a lifestyle disease but something that human race has pretty much lived through it. May be somebody can correct me if I am wrong but my understanding of this disease has more to do with human genes and the way these genes function. sometimes they just do not behave the way they are intended too (controlling the life cycle of a cell) and hence we have the abnormal behavior ( cell overgrowth). The cure would be almost altering the genome sequence and make it behave the way which is good for human. In short, the cure might be nothing less than becoming a God.

I found the book "Emperor of all maladies" and started reading it. The book is really an engrossing read and I continued till some point in this book. But something prompted inside of me to just stop this reading. I was getting scared. Reading about a disease and how people live through it literally scared the "sh** out of me". Knowing that human race is trying hard to find a cure of this gene malfunction does not give a hope or a smile on the face.

So I decided to stop it but this does not in any way reflect the book's worth. If it came so close to make me feel the way I described, then it is indeed something. So try picking up this book and give it a shot. May be you might love reading this or maybe like me jut stop it. But as they say, "you cannot ignore it".

My achievement would be to have at least one more post before "Mar 4, 2013".

Last year and Last decade

This one comes after a very long hiatus. So what better to write then for me to recollect my last year and in perspective , last decade too.

Thoughts about myself - Phew! not a remarkable year but a tremendous decade coming to an end. Coming times will bring with it , something know as "Mid life crisis". Get buckled up.

1) Started my engg. career with a relatively new university. 2000 Decision to take engrr as my career option changes the way where I am.
2) Started my professional life. Green paper. Money Honey 2004. First salary completely spent on home.
3) Fell in love and Got Married - 2009.

One way to recollect my memory of last year was through my facebook/twitter account. Social media does play its part in a lot of things around. well, Recency factor -- dont remember the things happened in the beginning of the year, will play its part.

All I can think of are some important things that happened with me in last year and will try to classify them in a monthly manner.

December

Decided to remember my year through FB and twitter status
Very active in Cityville
On a full running spree - health conscious
Had good time with friends in christmas . Got drunk with JD and sang some old songs . Pretty ususal me.
Finally visited lalbagh gardens which I planned from last 6 yrs. though not in flower show time. will try to take out time for the same may be in another 6 yrs.
disagreed with Times on the person of the year and agreed with FT for choosing steve jobs.
Tweeted an interesting quote
"kripya yahan dhumrapaan na karien, aapki zindagi ki koi keemat ho na ho, petrol ki keemat bahut hai."
Confused between IPTV and DTH
Did a movie marathon with biwi finally and did not sleep the whole night.
17th december - sneaked into SAP Labs annual party. Though not being part of that company but a sister company. and had a ball of a time. attended a music show after a
long time.Euphoria and man that rocked. Daaru and rock show good amalgamation.
How can I forget studying and making notes after 6 yrs I left the college. cleared certification exam. SAP Certified. Feels great,
did something unique , tried getting all my communication addresses changed to one address. Oh what a relief. 90% achieved.

November

November ended on a sweet note of me travelling to goa (mind you for the first time and that too as a married man :P) for my first anniversary. And boy it was a ball of
a time. Loved it and my wife too. :D. Had a taste or rather a bad one of the travel involved in my new job when I came back from philippines and was asked to travel to chennai on a short notice. Even though I had plans for my vacation. any ways, all's well that ends well and managed to sneek from the customer location in due course of time.travelled to philippines as part of my customer project and indeed it was a good time professionally, I would say. Where I got to learn a lot. Customer interaction and handling skills. All classroom trainings go for a toss when you have to get the moneyout of customer's pocket. Its all about being street smart.
Developed some differences in my professional life but yes was new to environment so had a tough time but slowly and steadily it all works.
Tried new brand of beer. San Miguel and boy it was great. also tried very hard to get iPhone4. well try goes on for this year too when I visit china.
Deewali not at home. all alone in bangalore with wifey going to lucknow and me stuck.

October

got my hands on drums after countless years gap and how much i say it felt great.
went with my wifey to watch the test match India vs aussie. in the sweltering and humid atmosphere. managed to get out sane.
got too involved in watching "How I met your mom" though left it after couple of months when the dude is still searching for wife even after 9 seasons.
Sasu maa visited us. did spent some good amount of time watching documentaries. I love them a lot.
10/10/10 10:10:10 happened. will happen 2 more times. watch out for it. 11/11/11 11:11:11 and 12/12/12 12:12:12
wife forced me into something which I am planning to take a revenge on her. Big Boss.

September

Oh how can I forget the amazing blackberry ad.
Urmilesh and shruti stayed with us. and had their house warming ceremony. good time with them.
moved from SAP Labs to SAP India

August.

Got a year older. no. not dosclosed :P. wifey gave a wonderful gift reminding me of the reality of life :P.
Oh how could I forget, 27th august -- Lost my longtime friend. My iPod. Cried , sobbed.
Friday the 13th.
Made a contribution to wikipedia. No financial but added/refined articles.

July

26th complete 6 years of professional experience. 6 years back started my career with Infosys on this day in 2004.eyes filled with promises and hope. down the lane, that
glimmer of hope still remains.
Watched Inception and was not at all disappointed.
oh football world cup. Spaniards were the resilient ones but the finals were not of that great quality.
Paul octopus. poor guy died few months later after all the predictions.

June.

ended with a much awaited vacation in pondicherry. needed it a lot.
Bus travelling to office used to be fun no more. Already changing jobs for good.

May
enjoyed with N97mini courtesy Jatinda

April
IPL finals in sports bar and Chennai made a roll of mumbai.
went to watch mumbai vs bangalore match with a big gang. and it turned out to be a big dud.

March
Watched the movie "No smoking" and boy it was an amazing one.

Feb
Tried my hands on google buzz and ran from it.
My prediction on IPad it might work after all and 11 months down the line, it does. I am the next nostradomaus
Wifey realized my temptation for coffee and got me a coffee maker.

Jan
Got our first car as a couple

Back to the basics

Felt a lot different when I moved from my Nokia Ngage (though it was worthless) to a very basic phone which was again a Nokia. It made me nostalgic about the whole stuff (as it was the first phone I bought) and gave me a feel of how simple the things can be.

> Monochrome interface
> Very fast
> Hassle free keyboard design
> Snake game :)
> That torch on the top
> ringtones that sound very mechanical

so it serves only one purpose, the make and receive a call. Well if convergence is the future than let me enjoy some time on this very basic stuff and then I can move on. In short, appreciate the simple things in life.

IF...

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: 'Hold on!'

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
' Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!

--- Rudyard Kipling.

I have read this poem in my 10th standard. But still today it pretty much echoes within my self. Whatever is written over there is very difficult to follow.

It can be made easy by one simple answer to all the questions one has. It can be either "Yes" or "No". And from there on its like a simple flowchart diagram with decision boxes all along.

Middle finger to all those who say..."Its not as easy as you think"

I feel good about life(la vie en rose)

Hold me close and hold me fast
The magic spell you cast
This is la vie en rose.......

Recently I saw the movie WALL-E and no doubt that it was one of the finest I have seen.I liked the sweet and beautiful love story of WALL-E and EVE.

And indeed one of the finest sequence was the dance in the space by WALL-E and EVE. The captain of the ship asks the robot to define dancing and there we see WALL-E and EVE dancing rhythmically.

Getting back to the point....

Well I am not an exponent of Jazz music but I heard the voice of Louis Armstrong in the movie singing "la vie en rose". This is a french sentence and exact translation in english is "I see life in pink". Well it literally means, This is life.

The song is played when WALL-E is following EVE on her mission.There is an inherent beauty about this song and the way the trumpet is played.Especially when you are listening the same in complete silence and you are transported to a different world. Planning to listen to some more of louis armstrong and the some more of classic Jazz.

Some more research has yielded that this song was orignially sung by french singer Edit Piaf and there is also an oscar winning movie on her life titled la vie en rose (next in line to be watched).

When you kiss me heaven sighs
And tho I close my eyes
I see la vie en rose.........

Finally Bangalored

So after the so called heavy weeks workout, the time to chillax was near in form of weekend. So finally decided to land up in the discotheque.One of the very prominent ones in bangalore.

And here we are. The first thing we got to know is there is no doscotheque in bangalore.And drinking and dancing is not allowed.So no more issues.Lets go and chill.Have some beer with good music.Point to be noted is that cops will be sitting inside to make sure everybody adheres to the rules and remain sober.

Now, first thing one must remember is to place an order before 11 PM. and make sure to get your bills cleared before 11.25 PM. and run for cover by 11.30 or you will be wrapped up by the police officials.

So ladies and Gentleman, run for cover. If you somehow manage to miss your dinner by 11.30 PM. Forget it. Go home and cook something.

Viva la Vida bangalore.

Right said friend

Found in one of the blogs.

Revenge

Life or something like it -2

Things that I have learnt in the last 27 years of my existence.I am not a perfectionist.But for sure I will try to work on things which I have realized.I have not copied these from anywhere.I am writing this from whatever experiences I had.Nothing emotional about it.Just plain and simple me.

Never take anyone for granted

Expect the unexpected

You will feel heartbroken at some point in life

Life is a full circle.Things do come back to you in some form or other

You get very few chances to be happy.Just enjoy them

Memory is short lived.Dont depend on it.Although its painful

Love is not eternal but love for sure is blind

Its not always bed of roses in relationships.But it counts a lot when its thorny

Sometimes you are in love, sometimes you have to work for it to be in love

Every damn person on this planet earth will change except your parents

More than your time,value others time

Get the best for yourself whatever you can get

All one needs is a partner for who will company you in this journey of life.Make this journey a real pleasent one

Happiness is certainly not governed by money but not also without it.Its best realized when you have a person to share.

Not everybody has the patience to listen to you.

Its your luck if you find a shoulder to lean on whenever you need

Nothing can match the feeling of hug

Indifference causes more pain than hate

No need to proove anything to anybody.Those who need you dont need that proof and those who dont wont care for that proof.

Life or something like it :)

Marvin ( A disgustingly hopeless cynic robot from Hitchhikers guide to galaxy)said this

Life, loathe it or ignore it, you can't like it.