Indian Standards

Morning 8:30 a.m. The alarm is ringing for the umpteenth time. Oh please.. another 10 minutes.. 9:30 a.m.. Finally up and rubbing eyes. Dear me, whom are you try to fool? Its India, where 60 seconds = 6 minutes (the barest minimum.)

The manager says, “You are expected to reach office by 9 - 9:30 which we effortlessly translate to 11 – 11:30. (We Indians have been always good at math and time management.) The one hour lunch break stretches to a 2 – 3 hour long break from the sitting position at our Work stations. But what do you 2 for 2-3 hours? Oh man!! Such an invalid question. Are you even a part of the INDIAN corporate world? Come here ignorant scapegoat; let me give you some pointers.

• Eat the food slowly and leisurely enjoying each and every morsel but never forgetting to complain about the quality and variety of food the office cafeteria provides.
• Next get some juice and junk food from the Coffee day outlet; relish the sandwiches but don’t forget to bitch about the prices.
• Guys, check out the pretty gals and their outfits and girls check out which girl the guy sitting with you is checking out [How sad can you be WOMAN???]
• With the activities at the cafeteria done, guys move out for a cool smoky drag and gals – Get, Set, Go… There stars your gossiping session (Not that they don’t do it the other times. But after lunch if officially declared time for gossip.)
• Shoes, purses, clothes, hair bands, nail polish, perfume, jewellery.. name it.. Anything between the earth and sky is worth surviving the torture of gossip.

Manager announces a meeting at 3:00 p.m after lunch. Following the Indian Standards, we reach there at 3:30 p.m to find that the manager is out for his Long Lunch Break. Here is your chance to sit in the conference room and bitch about the manager and the project and work. But beware, there could be spies around.

Ah! Finally 3:50 p.m manager storms in with his laptop (as if he had to wait for the laptop to finish its lunch) with the US delegates tailing behind. Then begins a series of presentations which absolutely makes no sense to anybody. By the end of it, its coffee –time and again not breaking the norms of Indian corporate culture it’s our duty to stretch it to at least half an hour.

By evening we are like corpses walking around. So very tired of WORKING the whole day. Can’t wait to get home. And even more depressed thinking about the traffic that we have to negotiate. The only thought that enlivens the dead body is the dinner date with girlfriend/ boyfriend or partner. The date is at 9:00 p.m. You start from office exactly at 9:00 p.m. [Can we be more punctual?] Taking into account, the Indian Standard Time formula, (60 sec = 6 min) + traffic delays, you reach the restaurant exactly at 10:30 p.m as promised. Grab a table, place your order. The ever charming waiter says,”10 min sir”. Do I have to do the conversion for you again? After the food arrives at 11:15 and you and your partner rush through the food like hungry gluttons, you start back home.

Getting home.. Too tired to do anything. Settle on the sofa switching channels TV. Doze off on the sofa with the remote in one hand and the fluid from salivary glands making nice little patches on the soft sofa cushions. Get up suddenly at odd hours in the night realizing that the day is over and you are supposed to change and sleep on a real bed. And before you know, the day is over.

No time for friends. No time to call up your dear ones. Forgot important birthdays and anniversaries. Forgot what you used to like in college. Forgot your hobbies. No time to read books.

Next day you get up. Follow routine. Do a little soul searching. Contemplate and surprise yourself by saying aloud, “Man I’m so damn busy”.
And Blame in on the Corporate Life.

[N.B : Somebody gave me a suggestion that I should write more of first person accounts than using the collaborated word “We”. In a way it’s true. I tried doing that but most of the time I want to say something which does not happen with me alone. It happens with me, you, him/her. So I automatically use “we”, "you", "they", “I” etc without actually thinking why am I using them so. You may relate it to the way you want to and even not relate at all. You are free to make your choice.]

Light a Candle for Them

The innocent victims of Internet child abuse cannot speak for themselves.
But you can.
With your help, we can eradicate this evil trade.
We do not need your money.

We need you to light a candle of support <http://www.lightamillioncandles.com/>.

We're aiming to light at least One Million Candles by December 31, 2006.
This petition will be used to encourage governments, politicians, financial institutions, payment organizations, Internet service providers, technology companies and law enforcement agencies to eradicate the commercial viability of online child abuse.
They have the power to work together. You have the power to get them to take action.
Please light your candle at lightamillioncandles.com <http://www.lightamillioncandles.com/> or send an email of support to light@lightamillioncandles.com.
Together, we can destroy the commercial viability of Internet child abuse sites that are destroying the lives of innocent children.

Kindly forward this email to your friends, relatives and work colleagues so that they can light a candle too.

Are you Mature????

Today someone asked me, "Reji, have you become more mature?". I replied saying I always was. But was I sure? A little bit of soul searching enlightened me on the fact that I did not even know what is meant by being Mature. Thought I would try my luck at internet. But then, wait..... Have I not seen someone going through the same thoughts, the same ordeal. Ah yes!!! Now I remember, Janesh... Why should I waste my time searching and analysing and making a report when someone has already done. Let me just borrow my friend's blog to provide some information "On Maturity"

http://janesh.wordpress.com/2006/04/09/on-maturity/

Hmm.......
Now what do you think? Are you Mature?

Use your "HEAD" not "HEART" !!!!!

There are a lot of articles which says "Love" is the basis for a successful marriage. I found this article which says otherwise. Found it quite interesting and worth reading and analyzing.... So posting it here...


A relationship coach lays out his 5 golden rules for evaluating the prospects of long-term success.When it comes to making the decision about choosing a life partner, no one wants to make a mistake.Yet, with a divorce rate of close to 50 percent,it appears that many are making serious mistakes in their approach to finding Mr./Ms. Right!

If you ask most couples who are engaged why they're getting married, they'll say: "We're in love." I believe is the #1 mistake people make when they date. Choosing a life partner should never be based on love (alone). Though this may sound not politically correct, there's a profound truth here. Love (alone) is not the basis for getting married. Rather, love is the result of a good marriage. When the other ingredients are right, then the love will come.Let me say it again: You can't build a lifetime relationship on love alone.You need a lot MORE ! Here are five questions you must ask yourself if you're serious about finding AND keeping a life partner.


QUESTION #1: Do we share a common life purpose?
Why is this so important? Let me put it this way: If you're married for 20 or 30 years, that's a long time to live with someone.What do you plan to do with each other all that time? Travel, eat and jog together? You need to share something deeper and more meaningful. You need a common life purpose. Two things can happen in a marriage. 1. You can grow together, or 2. You can grow apart.50 percent of the people out there are growing apart. To make a marriage work, you need to know what you want out of life - bottom line- and marry someone who wants the same thing. If the so & so you're in love with;doesn't want the same thing you do; you might as well opt out of it now than when its too late.


QUESTION #2: Do I feel safe expressing my feelings and thoughts with this person?

This question goes to the core of the quality of your relationship. Feeling safe means you can communicate openly with this person. The basis of having good communication is trust - I.e. trust that I won't get "punished" or hurt for expressing my honest thoughts and feelings. A colleague of mine defines an abusive person as someone with whom you feel afraid to express your thoughts and feelings. Be honest with yourself on this one. Make sure you feel emotionally safe with the person you plan tomarry.

QUESTION #3: Is he/she a mensch?

A mensch is someone who is a refined and sensitive person. How can you test? Here are some suggestions: Do they work on personal growth on a regular basis? Are they serious about improving themselves?A teacher of mine defines a good person as "someone who is always striving to be good and do the right thing." So ask about your significant other: What do they do with their time? Is this person materialistic?Usually a materialistic person is not someone whose top priority is character refinement. There are essentially two types of people in the world: People who are dedicated to personal growth and people who are dedicated to seeking comfort. Someone whose goal in life is to be comfortable will put personal comfort ahead of doing the right thing. You need to know that before walking down the aisle.

QUESTION #4: How does he/she treat other people?

The one most important thing that makes any relationship work is the ability to give. By giving, we mean the ability to give another person pleasure. Ask: Is this someone who enjoys giving pleasure to others or are they wrapped up in themselves and self-absorbed?To measure this, think about the following: How do they treat people whom they do not have to be nice to, such as a waiters, bus boy, taxi driver, etc.? How do they treat parents and siblings? Do they have gratitude and appreciation? Do they show respect? If they don't have gratitude for the people who have given them everything, you cannot expect that they'll have gratitude for you-who can't do nearly as much for them!


QUESTION #5: Is there anything I'm hoping to change about this person after we're married?

Too many people make the mistake of marrying someone with the intention of trying to "improve" them after they're married. As a colleague of mine puts it,"You can probably expect someone to change after marriage and for the worse!" If you cannot fully accept this person the way they are now, then you are not ready to marry them.In conclusion, selecting your partner doesn't have to be difficult and treacherous. The key is to try leading a little more with your head and less with your heart. It pays to be as objective as possible when you r selecting, to be sure to ask questions that will help you get to the key issues.Falling in love is a great feeling, but when you wake up with a ring on your finger, you don't want to find yourself in trouble because you didn't do your homework.

Changes....

Hmmmm....

I am so bored...
When I was a kid, I wanted to grow up an be an adult. As the malayalam saying goes...

"Ikkarre ninnaal, akkarre pachha.." (which derives to : The grass is always greener on the other side.)

And now... Look at me. What am I doing? Idling away my time and sleep in front of the silly computer. Typing code and not so code and in god knows what languages.

Language used to be a medium for communication between human beings. Today, when I ask a kid what languages he knows, the imprompto answer - "C, C++, VC++, Java, C#, COBOL, Perl... Blah blah blah..." (Ok.. my language vocabulary end there)

There was a time when I had time to gaze at the moon and stars,
Now star reminds me the notaion for a pointer variable...

There was a time when I used to listen to the frogs croaking after the rain,
Now the only frog that i can hear is the "Crazy Frog" pop album by some crazy guy...

There was a time when a running mouse used to freak me out,
Now I freak out if my mouse does not scroll...

Life has changed so much... I wish I was still a kid. Thinking only about the present moment and enjoying it every bit. No responsiblities, no worries. No fear of keeping oneself updated of the emerging technologies of the ever progressing world.

Life was so much simpler.... So fresh....
So pure... So easy.. So relaxed... So comfortable....

Ah but yes!!! But for not the above mentioned technological advancements, I would be still writing on a piece of paper and running about a publisher to get it published so that others can read it [ So now... What Say????]

Inspired by.....

Duniya bhaage gairon ke peeche, tum na chodo lamho ka saath..
Kahin is bematlab ke bhaag daud mein, choot jaaye na apno the haath...

Yeh dil kya cheez hai janaab, hawale aapke jaano-jigar..
Aap ek minute ki baat karte hain? Hawale aapke saari umar...

Kehte ho, khwabon mein hogi mulakaat, aur neendon ko hi churaate ho tum..
Arre chod deejiye khwabon ki baat, ab to har saans mein samaate ho tum...

Aapki aahat ke intezaar mein, haal behaal ho jaaye..
Aur aap jag mein aise uljhe, ki hamaara khyal tak na aaye...

Scared of Death? ........Or Life??

Read this line in one of the Perry Mason books... "You must have met hundreds of people who are scared to die. That is nothing compared to those who are scared to live..."

Hmmmm ... So very true... Most of us worry most of the time about life and waste our life worrying and getting scared... Getting scared what should be done and what should not be. What to speak, what not to.. We are scared to try new things.. Scared to speak out... Come to think of it.. we spend more than 3/4 of our lives worrying and getting scared of the future.

But then thinking deep.... The life of ours would have no purpose if we stop worrying. Is that not so? We would not have anything to think about.. Life would be meaningless...


Arrrggghhhh!!!!! Conflicting thoughts... Indecisive actions..

Someone help me out there... (Well.................. WHERE?????)

I want to write something more, but then I do not know what??? Hmmmm ... Let me think about it (or worry about it???) Oh Lord!!! There I go again

The Cost of a Celebration...

Time... As i received in a forwarded mail.. posting it here...

A winter evening.
Four friends.
One barsaat.
Four glasses of chai.

Hundred bucks of gas.
A rusty old bike.
And an open road.

Maggi noodles.
A hostel room.
4.25 a.m.

3 old friends.
3 separate cities.
3 coffee mugs.
1 internet messenger.

Rain on a hot tin roof.
Pakoras deep-frying.
Neighbours dropping in.
A party.

You and mom.
A summer night.
A bottle of coconut oil.
A head massage.
Gossiping about absent family members.

You can spend
hundreds on birthdays,
thousands on festivals,
lakhs on weddings,
but to celebrate
all you have to do is spend your Time.

To be or not to be....

How many times has the mind wandered..........
Thinking of what is right, what is wrong...
What should be done, what should not be...
What is ethical, what is unethical...
What is important, what is not...

Questions... and further questions questioning them,
Confused minds or hearts or souls,
Decision or indecision...
Truth or FalseHood...

Arghhh!!! What am doing???
Is the mind crazy or is this the reality?
Am I living or just surviving??
Michael says, "Stop existing and start living".

Am I after the world or is the world after me..
Should I love to live or live to love?
Should someone answer these questions,
or are they best left unanswered??

Well.. whatever it is, the grand finale, as The Bard says it....
"To be or not to be, that is not the question;
The question is.............................................."

Ahem Ah! Well!!! What was the question????

Untitled....

Thought that I should be original this time :)

This is one of my owm compositions. Do provide ur comments and suggestions for suitable title entertained.

When laughter rings like bells of horizontal beauty,
She called upon thee to bring forth the anxious wail of bay.

The mind soared high and higher,

The unclenched hands held the world,

Substantial harmony brought forth peace.

Upon the soul of unglamorous ecstasy,

Tenderness filled to brim and overflowed,

Yet, the heart did not soar or pour,

The mist blocked the magnificent,

The breathlessness persisted and held her down.

The reins were loose, but not yet broken.

The heart whimpered, but could not cry.

The voices whispered, but did not speak.

When the mob questioned with doubt,

"Is is a boy, or a girl child?"

The Taj Conspiracy.......

Well, I dont even know if you can call a conspiracy after all. I presume many of you must have heard about the book "Taj Mahal : The True Story" authored by Shri P.N.Oak. The Tajmahal is Tejomahalay : A Hindu Temple Let me quote some excerpts from his paper on The Taj.

"Contrary to what visitors are made to believe the Tajmahal is not a Islamic mausoleum but an ancient Shiva Temple known as Tejo Mahalaya which the 5th generation moghul emperor Shahjahan commandeered from the then Maharaja of Jaipur. The Tajmahal, should therefore, be viewed as a temple palace and not as a tomb."

Now that is big, right?? Well its real difficult to believe but Mr.Oak is determined to prove it. I got interested in the story a did a little browsing over the topic.
He claims that the Taj Mahal is not Queen Mumtaz Mahal's tomb, but an ancient Hindu temple palace of Lord Shiva (then known as Tejo Mahalaya), worshipped by the Rajputs of Agra city. In the course of his research, Oak discovered that the Shiva temple palace had been usurped by Shah Jahan from then Maharaja of Jaipur, Jai Singh. Shah Jahan then remodelled the palace into his wife's memorial.
In his own court chronicle, Badshahnama, Shah Jahan admits that an exceptionally beautiful grand mansion in Agra was taken from Jai Singh for Mumtaz's burial. The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur is said to retain in his secret collection two orders from Shah Jahan for the surrender of the Taj building. The term Tajmahal itself never occurs in any mogul court paper or chronicle even in Aurangzeb's time.
Try these links for a complete story :
http://www.stephen-knapp.com/true_story_of_the_taj_mahal.htm
http://www.hindunet.org/hindu_history/modern/taj_oak.html
There are persons who are connected with the repair and the maintainance of the Taj who have seen the ancient sacred Shiva Linga and other idols sealed in the thick walls and in chambers in the secret, sealed red stone stories below the marble basement. The Archaeological Survey of India is keeping discretely, politely and diplomatically silent about it to the point of dereliction of its own duty to probe into hidden historical evidence.

There are many engravings inside the Taj which depict ancient Hindu Vedic artifects. For example, the engraved "Dhatura Flower", the petals of which symbolise the "Om" symbol. (See picture)

Also, there are quotings that all this is just another political drama... Shri P.N.Oak published his book during the BJP regime. Only NOW, is the issue being thrown open to the public. Why?
Ah well!! Its would be pretty long if i post the whole story here. But well!!! Something to think about. Is the Indian Wonder after all the Biggest Conspiracy of the world???
Well for that matter I have heard that Neil Armstrong's landing on the moon is the Biggest Fraud commited by the Human Race. Who know??? ;)

Nostalgia....

Was chatting with Vignesh just a few minutes ago... And today i got angry and disturbed after a very long time... Ah well wait No!!!! Nothing to do with him... He is one among those guys whom I sincerely respect. (For that matter, the list of people whom i sincerly respect is very small.)

I was rather angry at myself but for the simple reason that how could I get myself disturbed??? Hmmmm.. Senor/Senorita, dont get confused... I am just venting out... Do bear with me....

My diary is not with me today, and I'm feeling very lonely. Ritu (my sister) is sleeping on my bed. Ordinarily, I would have woken her by raging and screaming about invading my bed and then going and occupying her bed(well that the usual way we display our sisterly concern towards each other), but today not in a mood. And the worst part is I spoiled my whole mood. If only my diary had been here... Sigh....

I'm getting nostalgic...
I was never like this before. I was very short tempered and used to start raging at small small stuff... And I used to think having a bad temper was a sign of the Superior Breed. I thought people would respect me automatically if I shout at their faces... So wrong I was... So very wrong...

But one way it was good. People say its very difficult to get along with people who have a bad temper. But I have not faced any trouble as such with short tempered people. Maybe its because I understand the fact that being that the temper they have or potray is not entirely nourished by them. A lot of external factors play an invisble but vital role there.

I realised my mistake and learned it the hard way. But I suppose its always good to learn it the hard way. You would never forget the lesson. Now, my view point is very clear ....

"However up the ladder u climb, the ladder still needs to rest on solid gound in order to support you high up there." So in essence dont ever forget ur roots, even if your branches touch the sky.

Oh my my! Am I geeting a lil bit too philosophical?? But I cant help it. I am the way I am....

"You would never forget the lesson"

"You would never forget the lesson"

These lines are echoing in my brain compeling me to write further on.... The human brain is so very funny. you may not remember what you did 10 mintes ag0 but the brain clearly gives you video images of what you did years ago. I was musing upon how anyone could remember what they did in 2nd standard, when I suddenly realized that I do remember a lot of stuff from my Prep School. Tomorrow I have to ask Amma, as many of the images coming into my mind are blurred. I need to get clarity.

Will get back soon...