this day that year...

December 29, 2004... the day i posted my first article on this blogsite...

its been a great experience so far, and i only hope to continue for as long as i can, in the times to come... to start with, 2005 proved to be a year where there were great opportunities for me to go to more places, meet more people, learn more about communities, more about compassion, more about love... the wish is for the journey to continue further, in the new year to come!

WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY NEW YEAR 2006...


a synopsis from articles i posted in 2005:

• what does one have and what does one not have?: If one possesses the knowledge of the fact that 'anything is possible if a sincere effort is put into it', then, not possessing knowledge on any subject matter is not actually not knowing it...
• points of view: while the challenge lies in constantly being able to take a neutral stance despite all temptations to form opinions, and make judgements, the tougher part is not controlling these temptations but overcoming the default way of communicating what one might think is a WELL-THOUGHT-OF judgement... so, if you ever feel that you HAVE TO let someone know about something, make sure that you do it the RIGHT way...
• lessons from nature: to be able to observe beautiful things its one thing, and to be able to observe the beauty in what one might think are ordinary things is an entirely different thing...
• the importance of courtesy: the value of education is not in all those textbooks that one may read to get through all those tests and grades, but is infact in things like these, where an educated person must be able to distinguish clearly between cultured and uncultured behaviour at a social as well as an inter-personal level...
• moments of silence: those moments of silence, when one reflects with one's self... are probably the most important moments defining someone's personality...
• the extra effort: at every step in the everyday life, it becomes so important to always do the right thing... and by doing the right thing, i mean, an action which does not affect another person in a direct or an indirect way as far as the knowledge of one's conscience is concerned...
• essentials in life: To live, To love, To learn, To leave a legacy...
• the importance of well being: this life is probably just that temporary phase of a fascinating journey, of which no one knows the absolute start or the absolute end points... all that are known, are the times that one's conscience comprehends and the times that one's psyche co-operates and co-exists with...
• the significance of being insignificant: what one must actually take to heart is that, since this world (and life) is made up of all kinds of perspectives, all kinds of cultures, all kinds of intellects, all kinds of circumstances, all kinds of experiences (good, bad and neither), this concept could easily be argued differently at different points in time by different people, living at different places!...
• oh... those wonder years: it is indeed special to cherish every single special moment around, and merely to be thankful that it happened atleast for that little bit... for, there are those who live to tell the tales, when they do not even know what you are talking about!...
• the art of negotiation: such an art associated with the philosophy of making everybody involved happy, involves a lot of situations as to what may be termed 'win-win' situations...
• what a wonderful world: Lyrics By George Weiss / Bob Thiele
• the hidden patterns in chaos theory: amidst the chaotic real world, is this calm and peaceful inner world, which longs for nothing but peace!...
• squeezing time out of 'no time': the difference between an ordinary being and a difference-maker is determined by small mental adjustments to the increasingly mechanical life-styles of an urban living...
• the thin lines between: as we take our stance on certain qualities that we possess, seldom are we aware of being caught at the thin line between two extremes... the thin line between lack of confidence and self-confidence, the thin line between self-confidence and over-confidence, the thin line between over-confidence and arrogance, are all examples of typical caught-in-betweens...
• defining the absolute sense of satisfaction: an absolute sense of satisfaction, while sought after very hard by every single person, can probably be only be achieved ONLY if one tries to correct himself/herself... to start leading a moral life...
• introspection: about me - the results of some online quizzes i took recently...
• taking a deep breath: what you do, does not matter if you do not do it the right way... how you do it, does not matter if you do not do the right thing... what you do and how you do it, does not matter, if you do not do it when it is needed the most!...
• simplicities and complexities: there is not a complex problem that does not have a simple approach, but we approach even the simplest problems with a complex approach... the need of the hour? take a simple approach, have a simple attitude, and stay positive!...
• the side of the greener grass: something to look forward to, almost every single time, even if one succeeds completely(again, a relative term)? getting the big picture is as important as attention to the inner details of things...
• finite yet infinite: it is not what it actually is... it is what you perceive it to be...
• from being static... to being stable: what lies in a heart is the only truth, and nothing else matters!...
• impressionable perspectives: one of the most important lessons that a western living has taught me, is 'being a self-starter and being self-dependant for most things'...
• today: today i will NOTs and today i wills - today and everyday...
• pride... and prejudice: pride - one who knows that he knows not much, knows it all... prejudice - a sad state of mind when one refuses to put one's self in another's shoes... and Lyrics by - Hoobastank
• ethics: Quote By - Arthur Dobrin
• ignorance, instincts and conscience: Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment; The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance - Benjamin Franklin... Criminals are none but those who get caught for things we all do in our everyday lives - Source Anonymous
• coming back to life: Classic Lyrics - Pink Floyd
• the controllable domain: Be the change you want to see in the world - M K Gandhi
• oh... think twice: Lyrics - Phil Collins
• the chaos and the calm: while some may say they prefer the chaos, and some may say they prefer the calm, the reality remains that there could be calm within the chaos and chaos amidst the calm, and to choose those parts of what one wants, would be upto the induvidual!!!...
• 'intent for incentive' and 'the passion': 'buy a man a fish, and he'll survive a day... teach him how to fish, and he'll survive for a lifetime' ...
• so far away: Lyrics - Staind

so far away...

Lyrics: Staind

This is my life
Its not what it was before
All these feelings I’ve shared
And these are my dreams That
I’d never lived before
Somebody shake me
Cause I, I must be sleeping

Now that we're here,
It's so far away
All the struggle we thought was in vain
All the mistakes,
One life contained
They all finally start to go away
Now that we're here
its so far away
And I feel like I can face the day
I can forgive and I’m not ashamed to be the person that I am today

These are my words
That I’ve never said before
I think I’m doing ok
And this is the smile
That I’ve never shown before

Somebody shake me
Cause I, I must be sleeping

I'm so afraid of waking
Please don't shake me
Afraid of waking
Please don't shake me

'intent for incentive' and 'the passion'...

oh those countless hours... spent in front of the television... while they seemed to be lost in the calculations of our 'well-spent' time, are often only observed by a third-eye...

imagine an everage person in the coprorate world, and his/her biggest complain... 'i dont have any time'... while it may sound reasonable to agree to a certain extent based on their perspective, philosophy and thought-process behind it, it only seems a lame excuse for not being able to find a suitable answer in the long run... a related line of thought would lead us to the question 'how many of us do REALLY consider doing the things for the sake of REALLY doing them? and how many of us keep trying to do things for the sake of the incentives associated with the actions?'... a principle-oriented work-routine could be a good start... 'buy a man a fish, and he'll survive a day... teach him how to fish, and he'll survive for a lifetime...'

inspiration is almost always drawn from others, by seeing how 'other' people live... a classic example: if an MLK had looked only to draw inspiration from others, he probably would not have been the GREAT person he was... instead he chose to draw it from within as well, and serve a purpose in his lifetime, one which could only be cherished for the times to come forever...

i've seen people who work up to the specified minute and leave right when the clock strikes, and have also seen people who take projects as personal challenges and consider them as objectives in the true sense... ofcourse both extremes would be a combination of personal choices and corporate culture in organizations... the point is: at what point does one need to work for an incentive, and at what point does one work for a mere passion for something?

the 'big picture' would probably be different for different people... but lets just say that there could be some common denominators that apply to everyone like 'volunteering' for a noble cause... while many of us tend to think of it at most times, only few of us have the privilege and joy of actually getting to implement... the key is to 'think' and then to sincerely 'try' to make a difference...

the chaos and the calm...

a peaceful coexistence beetween humans are often defined by people without taking into consideration the environment, density of population, and the culture that exist in the society... often we find people living in chaotic urban environments telling you about how little they care about another human's existence... on the other hand, for someone living in a relatively quiet suburb or rural part of a country, the way of life may be more driven by how the society is structured and influenced from a bigger picture...

a classic example of the urban culture could be found in many big cities around the world... new york in the u.s., bombay in india, shangai in china, cairo in egypt, etc... ALL face a similar problem... lack of space, lack of time, lack of money, lack of human values, lack of peace... all that there remains, is ALL THAT JAZZ that come associated with the hype and the buzz surrounding it... to me personally, i dont care if i do not work at times square or dine at an exotic french restaurant, or for that matter live in an estate home in long island, new york... i would much rather prefer a place where there is 'value' to an individual in the society, not merely coming out of an economical status but out of character and out of integrity...

on the contrary, a complete opposite would be to live in the middle of country-sides either rural or suburbian, away from the maddening crowds... for people who live here, the rest of the world doesnt matter... in-fact often times they are happy and self-contented to live where they are put up, for the rest of their lives and for future generations to follow... the quiet may or may not include mixing with the nature depending on geography and an animal-life presence, but sure enough there is great simplicity amongst people who live here...

unfortunately life is not defined to be simple enough to be able to categorize everything into such simple divisions... there come these people who have been exposed to the two extremeties and often left with a choice to make, either based on professional interest or due to family circumstances or due to a personal frame of mind... in most cases, professional interests take over, and influence the decision made, as to where the destination would be, to form an identity... theoretically observing, it is quite not possible to create a permanant identity for one's self at any place whatsoever not matter what, even if a few generations in the family have managed to stay in a single place... for, all that we are, are nomads in search of bread and butter...

this thought about divisions in living environments and societies came to my mind when i was visiting a national park in texas a few years ago... we had gone there to find some peace and quiet away from city-life for vacation... a lady at a counter in one of the convenience stores there remarked 'you come here for your holidays in search of your peace, and we as small town people go to big cities like yours, to find ours...'... that remark, made me realize how perspectives are merely relative and is different from one person to another... right from day 0 till day N, the kinds of experiences we go through, form all these impressions somewhere deep in our minds, and unfortunately at some point we lose the essence of the bigger picture (of-course in search of which we all roam around restlessly in this place called earth)...

while some may say they prefer the chaos, and some may say they prefer the calm, the reality remains that there could be calm within the chaos and chaos amidst the calm, and to choose those parts of what one wants, would be upto the induvidual!!!

oh... think twice...

Lyrics: Phil Collins

She calls out to the man on the street: 'sir, can you help me? '...
It’s cold and I’ve nowhere to sleep...
Is there somewhere you can tell me? ...

He walks on, doesn’t look back...
He pretends he can’t hear her...
Starts to whistle as he crosses the street...
Seems embarrassed to be there...

Oh... think twice...
it’s another day forYou and me in paradise...

Oh... think twice...
it’s just another day for you...
You and me in paradise...

She calls out to the man on the street...
He can see she’s been crying...
She’s got blisters on the soles of her feet...
Can’t walk but she’s trying...

Oh... think twice...
Oh lord... is there nothing more anybody can do...
Oh lord... there must be something you can say...

You can tell from the lines on her face...
You can see that she’s been there...
Probably been moved on from every place...
cos she didn’t fit in there...

Oh... think twice...

the controllable domain...

"Be the change you want to see in the world"
- M K Gandhi

at the time of sunrise when you see a flock of beautiful birds headed out of their nests straight above that water-body in which the tree rests, you realize from the river-front that you are witnessing one of nature's best demonstrations of life... you, the mere mortal, are witnessing the scene right at the very moment because you 'chose' to be there, 'at that time', 'at that place'... they do not fly for their audience, neither do they fly for any other external factor... they fly for their own living, its their basic nature...

alas! if only, mankind had the will, simplicity, and the courage to live per their basic nature... this world may indeed have been a better place to live in... for, when 'he chose', he chose money... he chose lust... he chose land... what a pity that the damned box was opened, and pandora lived to only tell tales of how 'pleasantville' used to be...

however, the most crucial point would be to have a few clear realizations, in order to get out of this sunken feeling...
if there were a tertiary state for people (other than good and bad), it would have to be a lie...
the falls are meant to be, so the rise could be called what is called...
the ONLY part of this universe that one could control, is one's self...

simple things go a LONG way in making it an easier place to live in, for generations to follow... examples could be drawn out from real life situations and every moment... a personal example would be trying to control littering from a personal level, irrespective of local laws... another example would be to adopt a 'live-and-let-live' policy with fellow-men and save the so-called-protests, spending more time usefully on leading by example, in the society... sure it takes a lot of influence, media-hype and public exposure through word-of-mouth to reach out to people, but things like protests, especially in developing countries, often kills the average-person's living...

an extreme level of thinking would lead to: 'what could i do, in order to help make life better, for people whom, i can understand and realize, have lives that deserve to be more normal... and how do i start'... i often come up with a thought 'life is too short to be wasted fighting over petty things, misunderstanding people, and acting greedy... it could instead be optimized in trying to come up with a sincere effort to something extra, than what we do today!'

coming back to life...

Classic Lyrics: Pink Floyd

Where were you when I was burned and broken
While the days slipped by from my window watching

Where were you when I was hurt and helpless
Because the things you say and the things you do surround me
While you were hanging yourself on someone else's words
Dying to believe in what you heard

I was staring straight into the shining sun
Lost in thought and lost in time
While the seeds of lifeand the seeds of change were planted
Outside the rain fell dark and slow

While I pondered on this dangerous but irresistible pastime
I took a heavenly ride through our silence
I knew the moment had arrived
For killing the past and coming back to life

I took a heavenly ride through our silence
I knew the waiting had begun
And headed straight..into the shining sun

ignorance, instincts and conscience...

Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment - Benjamin Franklin

trying to identify with the right and wrong, is an endless process for each of us... however, there do seem many a things that are either outright 'right' to all or 'wrong' to all... or atleast to all who live with a conscience...

lets start by looking at these 'wrong' things, and correlate to their origin... typically they could be categorized into broad reasons... acts out of ignorance... out of instincts... out of conscience or lack of it rather...

ignorance is bliss, as some may want to perceive... but probably Benjamin Franklin also got it right when he said "The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance"... being ignorant about something may be acceptable once, or twice, but not every time... there's something fundamentally wrong if someone tries to use it as an excuse for wrong-doing...

most of us end up going through an emotion described popularly as 'regretting after'... the root-cause for this is our inability to hold ourselves back and falling into the trap set by this materialistic world, and act on instincts, in an impulsive fashion... a lot of times, we 'regret immediately after' and sometimes it takes a realization to even understand the concept...

and then, there are the set of us, who for no rhyme or reason do things completely aware of the fact that the actions are being unreasonable and evil to fellow-men and co-existence... selfishness; greed for land, lust, money; psychological disability to distinguish the needed versus desired... call it whatever, this is the most dangerous of all the causes for bad things happening in everyday lives...

"Criminals are none but those who get caught for things we all do in our everyday lives" - Anonymous

the counter-arguements often used is the 'threshold' of bad things we do every day... but then, who sets and/or defines these thresholds? law-enfoecement? administrative bodies? compliance groups? the answer is quite simple... we as individuals, set these at every stage, every second, every moment, as we do little things... the transformation must be within, to get results at a global level... "it take only a drop of poison to spoil a whole gallon of milk"... every drop counts... and being the every drop that we are, it hence becomes of significance to lead a life without ignorance, witholding and talking control of our instincts, and merely leading a life with a genuine conscience...

ethics...

A Humanist Code of Ethics (Quoted By: Arthur Dobrin)

Do no harm to the earth, she is your mother
Being is more important than having
Never promote yourself at another's expense
Hold life sacred; treat it with reverence

Allow each person the digity of his or her labor
Open your home to the wayfarer
Be ready to receive your deepest dreams;
sometimes they are the speech of unblighted conscience

Always make restitutions to the ones you have harmed
Never think less of yourself than you are
Never think that you are more than another

pride... and prejudice...

pride: one who knows that he knows not much, knows it all!

EGO - is the worst trait that we naturally possess, and gets us into trouble most of the times... from underconfident introverts to outrageously confident extroverts, this 'ego' plays such a strong role in shaping all our lives day in and day out... too less of it prevents us from learning, and too much of it prevents us from realizing that its a learning process...

'change' is inevitable... probably the only constant principle (other than absolute energy, absolute mass, etc) in the continuously observant world that we live in... a chinese proverb says: 'the moment you stop learning to adapt with these changes, its almost like swimming against the flow of the river'... humility from a societal perspective (which again is comprised of people) would have prevented great men of honor and wisdom like Babbage, Galileo, Bell, Socrates, etc etc to be so mistreated for being who they were, and doing what they did... its only basic nature to refuse to accept a 'change' process... but it becomes all the more critical to acknowledge this fact so as to make the most out of this 'change' process...

prejudice: a sad state of mind when one refuses to put one's self in another's shoes

there are not many things that make my heart grow sad... when i see people possess this dreaded quality, its one of those few moments that i sink to my knees... when i read about things like the royal family in britain, or about the often-celebrated world of celebrities, for instance, i realize that prejudice could hurt not only when its in its negative sense, but also indirectly through its positive portrayals... i mean, COME ON! all accepted one may have ancestors who used to be in a so-called ROYAL status in the society, i wish people had to earn their way through their deeds and not through their mere births... there's a tamil-saying which means to an equivalent english explaination: a mother of a child is TRULY proud of her kid when he/she earns a repute of honor and wisdom through actions of such value!

being judgemental - while many might argue that it is inevitable, either initially or eventually, every time, i truly believe that it is possible to stay without having to be so, no matter what, and no matter how long... especially if it has to do with being so in a negative way! putting one's self in another person's shoes is probably the easiest solution whenever there is a temptation to lean toward this attitude... it takes a REAL realization to understand that every action is driven by what is called a 'reason'...

talking about 'the reason', a song by a band called hoobastank comes to my mind...

such sweet lyrics, here it goes:

I'm not a perfect person
There's many things I wish I didn't do
But I continue learning
I never meant to do those things to you

And so I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know
I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new and the reason is you

I'm sorry that I hurt you
It's something I must live with everyday
And all the pain I put you through
I wish that I could take it all away
And be the one who catches all your tears

Thats why i need you to hearI've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new and the reason is You

I'm not a perfect person
I never meant to do those things to you
And so I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know
I've found a reason for me
To change who I used to be
A reason to start over new and the reason is you

I've found a reason to show
A side of me you didn't know
A reason for all that I do And the reason is you

today...

today i will NOT:

judge anyone, no matter what...
do anything expecting any returns...
have expectations...
complain...
be part of any gossip...
look down upon another person no matter what...
look away from someone who needs help...

today i will:

be thankful for what i am, where i am, and how i am...
think about, and be thankful to my parents...
give my 100% into everything that i do...
watch what i say, and be considerate...
make someone's day by merely being there when the need comes...
have a positive attitude and spread it around...
be humble...
break the habit and do something new and out of the routine...
get organized...
reflect on myself, and plan a revision of thoughts and actions, working toward a greater good...

impressionable perspectives...

one of the most important lessons that a western living has taught me, is 'being a self-starter and being self-dependant for most things'... while there could be many arguements to this depending on the environmental conditions related to being-dependant-on-others as to why it is better in certain situations considering the greater good, it sure is still is a set of excuses created to defend something done without any realization whatsoever...

if the last paragraph was a bit unclear in terms of expressing my point of view on menial labour, and conditions in which they happen, i'd like to elaborate more here... while growing up in one of the more conservative cities in a normally conservative country (as it is progressively being westernized in idealogies and practise, and maybe it will transform eventually), getting help for everyday chores was just considered normal... this would not just reduce the amount of menial work that one had to do, but also was a stream for potential employment opportunities, in a country with a huge population and a very low annual per capita income, even in cities... maybe because i was too young, or maybe because i did not even know how bright the sun could be at the other end of the planet, i had not even thought about these things when i was in those tender formative years... before explaining further, i'd also like to mention that i do not claim either of these two sides of the coin to be a better one, but just trying to think about the pros and cons of either side...

a core reason why the average energy level, in a country such as India, is so high, is undoubtedly the fact that people are so well bonded and connected to each other... all said and done about family troubles, political corrupt, or infrastructural deficiencies or population-density-explosion, or whatever else, there are so many positives that exist that i personally feel fortunate to have gained so much out of... this includes qualities like family values, honest virtues, fundamental principles in being a good citizen, focus on primary education (although there could be a million debates on sub-aspects of this), and the list goes on...

a few lessons from the western world (not the hyped up western culture in the east, by people who have no idea about the life of an average person in the west), like having to be a self-starter, having to take care of one's personal requirements to keep pace with the rest of the world, having to maintain an inter-personal relationship with friends, acquaintences and business network contacts, and having the enthusiasm, zeal and hunger for more... when coupled with the simple core concepts from the eastern world of living, its becomes a sweet algorithm to implement and practise...

taking the positives from both worlds is definitely one of the most beautiful of things, and it sure gives one a lot of pleasure in enjoying everyday moments... however, the most important point being: the flip side where negatives from both ends of the world are taken and put into practise, could be the worst thing to do!

from being static... to being stable...

Picture on the left: 'The Sky Is My Home'
(Source: My World Beyond Stars)

"An idle mind is the root of all devils"

There was a recent speech given by Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Inc., and Pixar Animations, at a graduation ceremony in Stanford University. He spoke about three stories for inspiring young minds, fresh and heading out of College life. Here is a link to it if you want to read the full aricle. By far, it has been one of the most inspiring speeches for me so far.

There is so much to life beyond what people think. And it is often found to be too short and too wanting for things we crave for. When we do the things that we do, as everyday chores, we often fail to understand that on a periodic basis we need to do several things that we only end up thinking 'could have, should have, would have if and only'.

So, what is it when you hear about someone complaining about being bored, having nothing to do? It probably means that either they are lazy to find something to do, OR that they are eternal pessimists who want to reject every idea around from others as well as from their own hearts. For, they say after all, it is so easy to wake someone up if he/she is really asleep, but it is quite close to impossible to wake someone up if he/she is merely pretending to sleep...

Stability, an aspect that people often look for, when they look at somebody else. But when it comes to themselves, they know somewhere deep down that it is something quite relative, and not an absolute factor. It is always the kid next door who gets higher grades or the buddy who gets a better deal, or someone else getting something better... it almost always boils down to a comparative thing... what people fail to comprehend is the intrinsic beauty of this relative phenomenon, where one can draw such content by just comparing themselves with other people who do not possess the things that he/she possesses. For starters, if you are reading this, BE THANKFUL that you have eyes that are functional either naturally or through the help of an optometrist. Quit complaining about how wonderful someone else's eyes are, but start realizing how beautiful the world can be, when you look at it through your very own eyes, for there are people who wish they had what you have and can only pray for it in another lifetime...

Stability is also often misinterpreted by many as a mere monetary/financial factor. I really feel sorry for such people as they are only victims of the evil rules of the world... what lies in a heart is the only truth, and nothing else matters!

finite yet infinite...

it is not what it actually is... it is what you perceive it to be...

the beauty in perception of life lies in the mind of the beholder... signal transmission to the brains: through vision, through audio/ears, through smell, through touch/sense, through memories, through 'de ja voos', through physical activity and through emotional stress/joy to name a few modes...

the possibilities are endless, and it indeed becomes so hard to visualize how infinite the definite things actually are... cookie-cutters is a term often used traditionally from the industrial revolution days, for referring to man-made mass-production initiatives... if we start asking the question, trying to reach how the things in space and time continuum originated, and the design of the whole cookie-cutter-idea behind this existence and life-form, it is quite overwhelming... how much information can a small amount of space inside one's head really hold? maybe it is often so under-estimated by quitters, and often over-estimated by day-dreamers... this inside information about the outside world, brings us to the ever-contraversial topic surrounding a three lettered word which people often use more to misrepresent and self-benefit and less to self-realize...

experiences are the key to everything, including the future which holds a hundred percent uncertainity index... at every point in time, we have a child's fascination coupled with an adult's ego within us... this ego keeps telling us that we are the most mature people in this world, while this child's fascination keeps us interested in the concept of continuing to perceive life and experiences... personalities develop in different ways among people, depending on which of these two characteristics dominate over the other... it is probably the most accurate statement to say that 'everything is relative' in this world... well, the previous statement, as idiosyncratic as it may have sounded, points us to the fact that if somebody thinks about an absolute truth in something, then it means that they have failed to understand the real meaning of things... they are trying to do what is called 'live-along play-along' thing that we, as humans in this period of time, keep doing day-in and day-out all the time...

perhaps, a process called self-reflection, at periodic moments in our lifetime (and as frequently as possible) would be one of the options available, for not only increasing the infinite possibilites of utilizing the limitless powers of our intellects but also helping us in repeating the same mistakes over and over and over again...

the side of the greener grass...

A Beautiful Indian Sunset,
From My Trip, August 2005...

the grass is always greener on the other side...

it is such a misleading proverb that more often than not people tend to overlook the greenery on their side of the river... on one side, imagine what would be the result of having the greener grass on your side... a boosted ego resulting in a built-up superiority complex? an attitude to not just be arrogant but also to look down on the other side? on the other side, imagine the result of having the grass greener on the other side, always... a modest outlook to life? something to look forward to, almost every single time, even if one succeeds completely(again, a relative term)? getting the big picture is as important as attention to the inner details of things...

simplicities and complexities...

simplicities and complexities... situational challenges we all face in our race against the world's self-created issues, could be thought of as simple issues or complex problems... it takes a fall to appreciate a rise... it takes a night to brighten then the day...so, as you may have guessed already, there could be two perspectives to every single aspect in life... the negative perspective and the positive perspective...

if noted well, the negative perspective was mentioned ahead of the positive perspective at the end of the last paragraph... this is specifically to iterate the significance of two things... the first one being that: it is more common to find people taking a negative approach to things and/or have a negative attitude to life in general, than taking a positive approach and having a positive attitude... the second one being: it is extremely critical to keep the balance between the psychological rollercoaster that we all go through, and end on a positive perspective every single time...

it is one thing to call an approach positive negative or positive, and it is an entirely another thing to call an approach simple or complex... they dont necessarily correspond in the expected way... being positive could be simple for a few, while too complex for many... on the other hand, being negative could be simple for many, while too complex for many...

along these lines of thought, i remember a blog post by a friend of mine, where he mentions how simple life was, prior to information technologies taking over us all over (well, almost, or atleast to a major extent for a lot of the urban population in the world...)... however, i thought after reading his blog, it takes a revolution from an innovative and a daring mind to bring out an invention or a discovery into light... imagine how charles babbage was thought of as a fool when he built the first abacus, imagine how galileo was thought of as evil when he built the first structurally complete telescope, imagine how graham bell was thought of to be a crazy person when he invented the telephone... it takes a simple mind to realize that all complex things in life start with a simple switch...

talking about perspectives, another example that comes to my mind is an experience when i visited a national space observatory in south texas... i was part of a group of people that were being given a tour of the observatory, including a guided tour about some of the specialized telescopes... the instructor/guide over there was a physics genius who had decided to teach kids about basic physics... a point he made during the tour still stays fresh in my mind: it is the innocent minds of kids that make them special... they do not have the false and pretentious inhibitions that we as adults possess in most occasions, which stop us from asking questions... it is either a case of hurt ego, or a case of mere shame, or a case of a psychological complex... he said: what it takes to be a scientist is to have that innocent mind that kids possess, coupled with the strength to persevere something that your heart wills and desires...

there is not a complex problem that does not have a simple approach, but we approach even the simplest problems with a complex approach... the need of the hour? take a simple approach, have a simple attitude, and stay positive!

taking a deep breath...

if you've heard of this phrase being told to you: "relax... take a deep breath", then you're pretty normal and surrounded by pretty normal people... when i say normal, i mean, 'sucked into the mechanical everyday life, tensed up, nervous, goofy, irritable, being a cry-baby, etc. etc.' ...

so what takes us into this mode of deep stress, and hence deep strain? probably its a question of such high standards set for ourselves by ourselves, trying to reach which, we fail often, almost every time... OR its probably the negative energy levels of all the WRONG people around us, who succeed every time, in bringing our morales down and getting us down on the floor... OR its probably the pessimism that we've cultivated by living in this so-called realists, who claim to talk practicality, and end up being losers not worth a mention themselves...

when i saw a movie called 'batman begins' recently, there were some extremely powerful dialogues in it, which made me think about the general attitudes of people that i meet everyday, and realize how much they all need it... one of the dialogues goes: "WE ALL FALL, BUT... ONLY TO RISE AGAIN... DONT WE?"... and another one that caught my attention goes: "IT DOES NOT MATTER WHO I AM... WHAT I DO, IS WHAT DEFINES ME"... learning to stay relaxed, is not a practice... its more like a penance... needs years and years of experience and learning, to know it completely... no matter what the situation may be, to learn how to stay relaxed and approach problems while not getting panicky, is such a key ingredient to satisfied living...

what you do, does not matter if you do not do it the right way... how you do it, does not matter if you do not do the right thing... what you do and how you do it, does not matter, if you do not do it when it is needed the most! with the timing clearly being a relative definition, it becomes absolutely critical to do it ALL THE TIME...

introspection...

the results of some online quizzes i took recently ...

You are a Self-Discoverer

You're not religious, but you've created your own kind of spirituality. Introspective and thoughtful, you tend to look inward for the divine. You are distrusting of all forms of organized religion. You especially dislike religious gurus and leaders, who you feel are charlatans.

What's Your Religious Philosophy?

How You Live Your Life

You are honest and direct. You tell it like it is. You tend to avoid confrontation and stay away from sticky situations. You prefer a variety of friends and tend to change friends quickly. Some of your past dreams have disappointed you, but you don't let it get you down.

How Do You Live Your Life?

Slow and Steady

Your friends see you as painstaking and fussy. They see you as very cautious, extremely careful, a slow and steady plodder. It'd really surprise them if you ever did something impulsively or on the spur of the moment. They expect you to examine everything carefully from every angle and then usually decide against it.

How Do People See You?

defining the absolute sense of satisfaction...

as you may have guessed from the title of this blog entry, with all of us living in this diverse world, with people needing, wanting, desiring, yearning for completely different sets of things, it would only be right to talk about some commonly sought after goals and ambitions...

personal lives of people is often dictated by their regional culture, family environment when growing up, levels of formal education, professional field of work, and ofcourse the most important of all - friends... someone told me once that the reason for unhappiness and frustration with this world's ways of life come not from the world itself, but from within one's within... call it an inner voice, or an intellect, or the call of your heart, it is this feeling we all have, that carries us on, day in and day out... while some people may be able to stay happy with a limited set of experiences surrounding their life, most people remain unsatisfied in their quest for happiness... that sense of acheivement, sense of glory... something like the rise of the sun, although the fact being its the earth which has moved its positions...

summarizing experiences and chalking out lessons from the past may sound like a good idea to deal with this quest, in order to improvise and reach the horizon, but what might be of real help, is not just learn from our own mistakes, but to start looking at everything from everybody's perspective... a stage comic once performed a spoof on how people from a certain (most-populated) country always like to get the most out of you in business, and how people from a certain (second most-populated) country always like to give the least back to you, while in business... his point was essentially not to point fingers at someone, but to understand how much double-standards we maintain in our everyday lives... it is a certainty that the pandora's box has been open since SEVERAL generations of the human breed, but what has been increasingly more certain is the fact that we tend to have patches of black across our eyes when it comes to our own mistakes... an absolute sense of satisfaction, while sought after very hard by every single person, can probably be only be achieved ONLY if one tries to correct himself/herself... to start leading a moral life... despite being well aware of the fact that you may not prosper financially, despite being well aware that of the fact that you will be toyed-around-with in life by all kinds of evil people, despite being well aware of the fact that you may not achieve anything worthwhile in the first place by doing so... but, hope..... my friend, is a good thing... is it not? maybe one day we'll start being nicer to fellow-men, maybe one day we'll stop cheating people for money, land or lust... maybe one day we could live in a better world...

It is not without what you live matters the most, it is the sense which lies within!

the thin lines between...

as we take our stance on certain qualities that we possess, seldom are we aware of being caught at the thin line between two extremes... the thin line between lack of confidence and self-confidence, the thin line between self-confidence and over-confidence, the thin line between over-confidence and arrogance, are all examples of typical caught-in-betweens...

as we stand on every such thin line, it becomes critical to identify not merely which side of the line we stand right now, but also to understand which is the 'right' side to move to... personal perspectives, situational constraints, percentage of ego (will get to this percentage thing later in the post), past experiences, quality of friends, age (to a certain extent) are all some of the many factors that help us determine the two rules of thumb to handle these thin line betweens... once we identify our stance and choose our move-to-make, the journey to that destination is as important as the goal itself... in the path of this personal transformation, the strength of the intellect and the truth of the heart should prevail for the traveller's success...

as we talk about inner qualities, it is worthwhile analyzing another important aspect of life that we live with during every single moment... our very own 'EGO'... while some may like to define ego as an enumeration of a set number of states, i personally consider it to be a certain percentage rather to be an absolute, just like most of the other personal qualities we possess...

it is however not right to say that someone with a higher percentage of this 'ego' is a bad person... looking at the big picture and then assessing the result, is what counts... a simple example of a situation where one needs his/her ego at a boosted level, is at a workplace... if members of a project management team are all people with such less ego that they bind to the rules of the project implementation team, then they are pretty much not serving their primary purpose... the other extreme also works, to demonstrate the same effect... finding the right balance involves a complex set of rules that we have in place... these rules, which as we learn to live in this wonderful filled with such a variety of people, are iterative, which means that our intellect iterates with every change that it comes across... and so continues the beautiful journey...

squeezing time out of 'no time'

if someone's said a 'thank you' from the bottom of their heart, not because you left them a fortune but spared a few of your minutes to go out of the way and help them, there lies REAL satisfaction... this sense of personal satisfaction comes as a result of that willingness to squeeze out the time within your mind, more than the actual time...

taking time off for one's self will also help tremendously in maintaining a balance between keeping the senses together with that growth-of-the-thinking-domain... while it may help you maintain low stress levels, it'll also help in giving a 'refreshed' feeling, each day, every day!

probably one of the most common phrases you hear people say is: 'sorry - didnt have time'... just before giving up on anything due to 'lack of time', the difference between an ordinary being and a difference-maker is determined by small mental adjustments like these to the increasingly mechanical life-styles of an urban living...

the hidden patterns in chaos theory...

it would take a beautiful mind to figure out the distinct differences in the existential world and the creative world... one such creative world exists within the intellect... there is a dream, there is a hope, there is a theory, there is a definition, there is a flavour, there is a taste... amidst the chaotic real world, is this calm and peaceful inner world, which longs for nothing but peace!

secrets to life is not merely experiencing the patterns, but living 'it' to the fullest, and understanding and appreciating the gains out of any challenging situation, treating it as part of the same whole which provides all the other 'sweet moments' as well...

for not what it takes to forget makes you great, it is what you forgive... it is for this reason, that when great people are made, it is for-real and not may-believe...

the pic is from a recent trip of mine to Vancouver, Canada... just made me realize how wallpapers are taken out of 'actual' places!

what a wonderful world...

Lyrics By George Weiss / Bob Thiele

I see trees of green, red roses too
I see them bloom for me and you
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

I see skies of blue and clouds of white
The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world

The colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shakin' hands, sayin' "How do you do?"
They're really saying "I love you"

I hear babies cryin', I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll ever know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world

Oh yeah

the art of negotiation...

in a world that is constantly 'expecting' something in return, for any and every action, it is almost a mandate to know how to make 'everybody' happy! we may think that it's not possible to make everyone happy, but i strongly believe it is! you may call it 'playing the tables' or 'making hay while the sun shines' or whatever, it is certainly possible with a few basic rules of the thumb...

such an art associated with the philosophy of making everybody involved happy, involves a lot of situations as to what may be termed 'win-win' situations... for instance, if you attend an interview, do not merely say what you are capable of, but strongly portray your positive qualities in a way that can solve the needs of the employing organization... another example would be getting the best deals on purchases like a cellular phone, where the key lies in how you can convince the service provider that it is a win-win situation (or convincing the customer, if you are the service provider)... win-win situations are far too many in everyday living to be ignored for long... despite this fact, we often tend to overlook this aspect in everyday life... the earlier the realization to make complete use of them, the earlier the benefits of those fruitful situations would be...

it is however extremely critical that we create such situations out of what would otherwise be 'selfish motives' or 'using somebody to their gains' kinds of situatons... a thought worth thinking about ??!! you betcha!

oh... those wonder years...

for a majority of the people, those years growing up from being a kid to an adult - are often thought of and cherished to be 'wonder years'... having 'no ties', 'no responsibilities', 'no fear' are probably some aspects that we often correlate those years of experiences to...

somehow we tend not to, or to least think about what actually were the driving engines behind those high-speed high-powered years of glory, of fascination, of freedom, of fantasy, of learning... on deeper inspection, we will realize that it was a phase meant to serve a certain unique purpose... just like how one appreciates the value of some 'cool shade' after being out in the sun, like how one appreciates the value of some 'hydrating fluids' after a physically exhausting session of workouts/sporting activities, like how one appreciates the sunrise after long hours of darkness... some experiences happen so that we live through them, learn through them and start cherishing them for even having been a part of the ever-diverse set of experiences in our lives...

it is indeed special to cherish every single special moment around, and merely to be thankful that it happened atleast for that little bit... for, there are those who live to tell the tales, when they do not even know what you are talking about!

the significance of being insignificant...

i was commenting on a friend's blog recently, when a certain 'eureka' struck my head... if and when we do wonder at often times about our insignificant presence in this monstrously HUGE world, do we really wonder what it actually means to be so?

some believe there are always two sides to a coin... many others believe there is always one side that you can see, the other one being the flip... looking at the problem in hand from an optimist's perspective, physical insignificance never limits one's abilities to be truly significant to the eyes of the world... sure there may have existed ONLY ONE Gandhiji, or ONLY ONE Martin Luther King, or ONLY ONE Sir C V RAMAN, etc etc etc... but he fact of the matter remains that they were 'naive' about being insignificant... call it a blessing or a boon, so was it! now, looking at the same problem from an eternal pessimist's point of view (note that i'm using an extra word in this context - eternal, as thats how they usually stay... its so easy to poison a whole lot of pure milk, than to purify just a little bit of poison... ), the concept of physical insignificance is too trivial to be noticed in the series of sad, terrible, disgusting and depressing set of issues in hand (according to the eternal pessimist of-course) that its more often than not, rejected from being a subject of discussion...

what one must actually take to heart is that, since this world (and life) is made up of all kinds of perspectives, all kinds of cultures, all kinds of intellects, all kinds of circumstances, all kinds of experiences (good, bad and neither), this concept could easily be argued differently at different points in time by different people, living at different places! a wise-man once said

"life is like a grindstone... whether it grinds you down or polishes you up depends on what you are made of"

its about time you quit thinking about your being insignificant... and start twinkling in the deep blue skies instead!

the importance of physical well being...

a healthy mind needs a healthy body... does this mean our priorities should change to pamper our bodies? probably not! but, it is of great significance to how one goes about in his/her thinking process...

a nagging physical ailment or an injury, will not just divert all the attention of the mind to that, but also hinder the mind's natural incline to think out of the box... when somebody says 'take care', it more often than not means 'take care of your physical health, and your mental health will take care of itself'... there are ofcourse exceptions to everything, and we are talking about the examples, not the exceptions...

this life is probably just that temporary phase of a fascinating journey, of which no one knows the absolute start or the absolute end points... all that are known, are the times that one's conscience comprehends and the times that one's psyche co-operates and co-exists with...

essentials in life...

a friend once said:

a few years back, i was not contended. so i thought to myself, i will earn enough so that i can buy enough, and ultimately contentment will follow... but it was not meant to be... as time passed, sure my earnings got higher, but so was my getting entangled in the wordly material things and attachments... eventually, i found the solution - not to think about it too much!

have you ever thought about the ONLY essentials in life that one really needs? if you just thought they were some things(materials), you are not alone! so did many others when they were asked this qustion! the ONLY needs one must have?

• To live
• To love
• To learn
• To leave a legacy

Some great thoughts on the purpose of a being : A Bernard Shaw Quote...

this is the true joy in life being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one... being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little cloud of ailments and grievences complaining that the world will not devote itself in making you happy... i am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as i live, it is my privilege... my privilege to do for it whatever i can... i want to be thoroughly used up when i die... for, the harder i work, the more i love... i rejoice in life for its own sake... life is no brief candle to me, it is a sort of splendid torch which i've got to hold off for the moment... and i want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations...

the extra effort...

everyone goes through days when they are tired or exhausted physically, and this indirectly affects the way they think, and eventually the way they act or react...

while it may be very tempting to say whatever comes to the random intellect's thoughts, it becomes all the more important to take that extra effort in "not saying bad things about anyone, or not doing bad things to anyone"... it is a common belief that every person in this universe, is a selfish being to a certain extent, and this extent differs from one induvidual to another... just like the fact that it is SO EASY to break something but SO HARD to make/maintain something, people and relationships with them works the same way... at every step in the everyday life, it becomes so important to always do the right thing... and by doing the right thing, i mean, an action which does not affect another person in a direct or an indirect way as far as the knowledge of one's conscience is concerned...

moments of silence...

life in a crowded environment can sometimes lead one to long for a few moments of peace and quiet... infact, one could even start believing that time and silence are the most craved aspects of life... in order for one not to get saturated with the everyday-life would be to be balanced... a good balance between time with people and time with one's self, is usually the best way to get the best of both worlds...

it is said that for a healthy living, one needs to COMPLETELY relax one's mind for a few minutes every day, without having to think of anything... almost getting blanked out... however, this obviously is so difficult for us to practice in real life, due to the restless minds of ours which are often preoccupied with so many random thoughts that they are capable of getting intrigued upon...

those moments of silence, when one reflects with one's self... are probably the most important moments defining someone's personality... whether one gets to become more stronger mentally or weaker emotionally, at the end of the day, it sure does make one realize what are the most important priiorities in one's life...

the importance of courtesy

how many times have you come across books that talk about Customer Service or books that offer advice on how to be courteous to a customer or client? the answer would be atleast MANY if not ALWAYS... how often have you ever wondered and thought about it from the other side? how many times are customers actually courteous to the people who offer them service? personal experience coupled with feedback from a lot of my friends, point me to the fact that not often would a customer actually take the time to really appreciate the service being offered to them, although there is a price for everything. when I say there is a price for everything, I mean that this is a material world that we are living in, and everything revolves on how much money one has and how much one does not. is this problem with the customers inherent OR is it just that they do not even think for a moment about this?

if one introspects the REALLY happy people in this world, it would be more often than not the case that they are all simple minded people who work from their hearts. Sure, money to life is like a healthy body to a healthy mind. but people and basic courtesy come first, ahead of everything else. the value of education is not in all those textbooks that one may read to get through all those tests and grades, but is infact in things like these, where an educated person must be able to distinguish clearly between cultured and uncultured behaviour at a social as well as an inter-personal level.

lessons from nature...

there is a tamil(one of many officially recognized indian languages, spokem primarily by people whose origins are from a state in the southern part of india called 'tamilnadu') saying 'kattradhu kal alavu, kallaadhadhu ulagalavu'... it means 'what one has learnt is equivalent to the volume of a small stone but what one has not learnt is equivalent to the volume of the world... this saying, couples well with a chinese proverb translating to 'learning is like swimming against the stream of a river... the moment you stop learning, you are bound to go in the wrong direction'...

once we realize that learning is a constant process happening in every moment of our lives, we could focus more on the sources that could teach us the deepest things in life, to optimize this learning process... according to native american indians, 'nature is god' and 'god is nature'... their point was not to worship nature, but to learn their lessons from it... whether it is the endless seas or the untiring rivers or the every-rising sun or the changing-seasons, they attached values to it, and learned invaluable lessons out of it... they recognized that with the falling of leaves in the autumn, the lives of the branches and the roots of a tree do not end, but get more stronger and work towards re-growing them... they recognized that the most has to be made out of nature's gift of natural light through the sun, and most has to be made out of the innumerable natural resources that nature has to offer...

to an average person who is too busy planning his life in the quest for enriching his life and feeding his own interests, it helps in getting out of the so-called-planned-life... which is a set of chores carried out mechanically day-in and day-out, which is highly prevalent especially in countries like the u.s. of a. where money comes ahead of moral values, and selfish-interests come ahead of family values... and all it takes to get out of this imprisoned-life stuck-up-in-a-bunch-of running-behing-self-treat and do something that is more meaningful to people around and more selfless, is to look at nature and learn lessons from it... to be able to observe beautiful things its one thing, and to be able to observe the beauty in what one might think are ordinary things is an entirely different thing... this is what they mean when they say 'take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy what you have... ', rather than trying to be like a blade of a ceiling fan which is ever-trying-in-vain to catch up with the blade ahead of it'...

"go with the flow, and see what life has to offer... you'll be so surprised how exciting it can get!"...

points of view...

how often do you look at someone and NOT form an opinion or judge that person, even before knowing what he/she actually is? OR, how often do you HEAR about people from OTHER people and NOT form an opinion or judge, even before knowing what he/she actually is? OR, how often do you NOT form an opinion after actually knowing about someone? the answer probably is: not very often do you actually NOT form opinions and NOT judge people...

while the challenge lies in constantly being able to take a neutral stance despite all temptations to form those opinions, and make those judgements, the tougher part is not controlling these temptations but overcoming the default way of communicating what one might think is a WELL-THOUGHT-OF judgement... according to the one of what i consider the greatest souls to have ever existed on earth, Mahatma Gandhi,"if you have something positive to say about anyone, go for it, but if you have anything negative to say about anyone, you will be helping that person AND yourself by not telling the negative thing as it is, but conveying it in
positive light..."

to inculcate positive encouragement in someone, it takes a positive approach on part of the person who is trying to communicate... and for that, one needs to believe that it is the RIGHT way to approach things in life... so, if you ever feel that you HAVE TO let someone know about something, make sure that you do it the RIGHT way...

what does one have and what does one not have?

The answers 'It depends...' or 'Maybe...' or 'Not sure...' are all excuses we use to shy away from facing the truths OR when we do not possess enough knowledge on the subject to comment on it... Sometimes, it becomes a habit of saying 'not sure...' so much that we tend to over use it... What knowledge does one have, and what does one not have? If one possesses the knowledge of the fact that 'anything is possible if a sincere effort is put into it', then, not possessing knowledge on any subject matter is not actually not knowing it... Unfortunately, it usually takes a personal discovery or overcoming a bad experience, to realize this fact... and anything that is TOLD, will seem pointless...

One of my most favourite quotes - 'Attitude is Everything', sums it all up... Whenever you say 'I didnt have time' OR 'I hate it' OR 'Whatever!'... just look at youorself, and look at your attitude... Maybe the problem is not with the world after all.... Its ALL about you !!!