Surprise!!

Surprise!!...That's something people love to hear.....well most of the times...unless you're surprised by the fact that you have become bankrupt or something...in which case, it totally sucks!! Well I just celebrated my birthday recently and that is the word that, well, took me by surprise. The day started off pretty well and the plan was to have a quiet time with one of my closest friends. To say the least, that was the plan in just my head. Unknown to me, she had something else planned......obviously!! So we are there with a plate of nachos and a drink and all of a sudden I'm blindfolded by some hand and realizing later on that I'm surrounded by my gang of close friends yelling (yeah you got it) SURPRISE!!. Needless to say, I was stunned. I probably understood, at that very moment, what it feels like to be frozen in time...(Like the sloth in Ice Age). What followed after that was some more moments of me frozen in different poses and good food and a lot to drink. Needless to say, the birthday went very well.
What surprised me truly was the love and affection that i saw within the gang that day. The warmth that could be felt being within that group...those moments of laughter and fun. This is where I belonged, that group of friends not just mere friends.....they are family now. I know for a fact that there is a much stronger bond that ties us together than just that of friendship. It is perhaps the best gift that anyone can have. A gift for a lifetime....I am blessed...To the ones who make life worth it...love you all...

Resilient Soul...

This blog is about something that is close to my heart as a human being. Its about a student of architecture from Mumbai who has been a victim of the recent attack on a passenger train in West Bengal. The groups that attacked may have their justifications for it but then it is not good enough as many innocent people were victims of the tragedy. They may have emphasized some point they wanted to prove through this deed of theirs but then again at what cost. Back to the student in question, she is a talented person and excels in her studies. From what I hear, her work is impressive and among the best in the class. So how did she qualify to be traumatized by this act of violence?....she shouldnt have been.... To get a grip of the tragedy, this is what she is left with-- an amputated right arm, broken hips and surgeries involving her limbs. Perhaps I feel much for her because she is a student of the college I belong to...but then again she deserves a fighting chance. hence the purpose of this blog....its a call to everyone out there, anyone who can contribute to the treatment of this girl, feel free to leave a comment to this blog with your contact details, we will get in touch with you. Monetary help will be much appreciated (current estimates for her treatment with the prosthetic arm stand roughly at Rs. 1 crore). If not, then any help in kind (treatment, counselling, physiotherapy or even the donation of a prosthetic arm) will be much appreciated. This is for someone who would rise against the odds... this one is for Shreya Sen... to her resilience..I havent seen her or met her for that matter but I hope this blog helps her in some way, no matter how insignificant..(for my part, an amount from the projects that I do will be forwarded to her treatment). Its time for us to rise up and do the right thing.
Do visit http://www.facebook.com/pages/SHREYA-SEN-SUPPORT-GROUP/131548410190475 for more info and contacts.

YLGMH

My best friend introduced me to this website called 'Gives Me Hope' yesterday. The website is a compilation of small incidents that have changed people's life all around. Its divided into sections for 'amazing friends', 'inspiring feats', 'random acts of kindness', etc. As a concept i find this a very nice website. Its not as sissy as people might think it to be. The beauty of the concept is the fact that its all about thanking someone publicly (publicly respecting a person who changed your perception of life) and to inspire people around the globe (people like me). The concept of it was so hard hitting that it actually made me go ahead n write a blog entry about it. A couple of entries are as follows: -

"I was recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

I told my husband I would understand if he wanted to leave, he didn't sign up for a mentally ill wife, and I have made his life hell for the past three years. 

He just smiled and said, "In sickness and in health covers crazy, too." 

His love GMH."

"Recently, I found out I have a serious problem with my blood.

I was talking to my best friend about how scared I was. I started crying and said, "What if my body starts shutting down? What if I have to be in a wheelchair?" 

"Well," he said, "I'll be the one pushing." GMH."

The part i loved most in this website was that every entry on the website ended with the 3 letters GMH (Gives Me Hope). As I said, it's about inspiring people.....about giving them hope....about appreciating the people in our lives. As I live through every difficulty in life this is the one thing that I wanna say out loud....to my family and to my best friends....your love gives me hope.....YLGMH...

P.S. Do drop by the website http://www.givesmehope.com/ and be inspired...

Working Class Hero

What is our life if we cannot look up to someone or idolize someone? I presume it to be mundane and.....well....drab. Everyone needs a hero in their lives. And that would perhaps bring your attention to this blog title. No, I'm not gonna rant about the Greenday song (even though the title is inspired from them....go ahead...sue me). But I do want to write a lot about the hero in my life. This person didn't do any extraordinary feat. He didn't stop a runaway train...he didn't fly up and pulverize the doomsday comet that was on a collision course with earth (the Armageddon one)....nor did he ever have to fight with the crazed run-of-the-mill villains (or super villains....just so that i dont offend anyone who might read this blog :P). So what did this guy do? Well, He didn't do any of the awesome CG effect stuff...he didn't need to. He did the extraordinary in his own ordinary routine way.

He shouldered the responsibility of an entire family at a very young age. Normal, you say?...well, try managing an entire household of 6 within 100 bucks a month (with savings to spare). I assure you its not as easy as it seems. This man studied with a passion and worked with just as much passion, so much so that he was a pundit with the engineering jargon (even though he wasnt one...not out of choice but out of circumstances). He could teach you the working of machines to such intricacy with such fluidity that you could not help but soak it all in. He didnt stop there...he is one of the best people i know in finance and accounts. He can analyse your portfolio and come up with options that would make any CA worth his salt run for his money (no pun intended). It wasnt all about work. He had his priorities sorted (at my age, i dont even know what the hell i'm gonna do with my life). He always knew that family came first. Everything else can wait. Thats the principles he lives by. And prinicples are what defines a man.

It is said that a man is known by his virtue and virtue we attain through our character....and character and virtue is what superheroes have in abundance. but what happens when you come across an ordinary man who has been honest all his life...lived by the rules...always took on difficulties head on...loved everyone....has integrity...and is also a genius. I believe all that qualifies that person to be a hero and so it is.....heroes in our lives...hero in my life....my working class hero...who is it, you might ask...for those who couldnt guess it by now....its my dad...living breathing real life hero. Still fighting odds...still loving all...

'What we are now is a result of the prayers of our parents...do not take it for granted' - Dad

A rush through my veins..

I am back..not with a bang...certainly not a boom...not even a fizzle (or a sizzle). But I definitely am back to writing blogs after an unintended hiatus...nothing much changed in the meantime...i mean the world is still turning monotonously on its own axis (right?)...some first world country is at war with the middle east....and the rich is still living off the poor....and we still have our very own unknown working class heroes braving the odds everyday...n now i'm back with my dose of enlightened wisecracks.

So what really urged me to this profound state of writing another (not so) enriching blog? well, i saw this movie called August Rush yesterday (must watch for music lovers). seeing the movie i realized once again how much music is a part of all of us. Hence the blog. Come to think of it, music has always influenced our perceptions and outlook towards the world around us. everyone of us grew up listening to one of the greats of the generation. be it Jimi hendrix or Clapton, Guns n Roses or Nickelback, Poets of the fall or Satriani, Yanni or Santana, they have all shaped us and a generation at large. U2 brought in a whole new revolution with their music. Oasis sang that we are all gonna live forever. Isnt it cool to know that so much can change and all for the better through music? It is this music that makes us feel alive....makes us feel a rush through our veins.... a thought worth pondering is this line from the movie that i talked about earlier - 'Music is all around us...all we gotta do is listen'

Lessons.....

Just recently I received a mail from a friend detailing the lessons a 90 year old woman learnt in her life. She bulleted them as 45 learnings she had from the life so far. Taking a cue from that I am jotting down the stuff that I have learnt from life so far, Albeit too small a life to learn much, but this is my take on life....the lessons learnt and the experiences I've had....so here goes....

1. Life is hard, Learn to crawl before you walk and run....but always progress such that in the end you would believe you can fly.
2. Be true to yourself.....you can fool the world around you....but in the end you gotta live with yourself....so be truthful to yourself.
3. Smile a lot....might be weird at times but it sure takes out misery from those around you.
4. Love your parents....trust them immensely....they will be the only ones to stand by you when you're all alone.
5. Honor every promise you make. It builds people's trust in you...no matter how immaterial the promise may be.
6. Experience love. Once, twice, thrice.....heck!! even a million times.
7. Once you love someone, be prepared for heartbreaks. Expect nothing from love except that it will all vanish one day..so love someone like never before....n pray for the courage to see you through the times when you loose it all.
8. Believe in true friends. After your family, they will be the ones to see you through a dark night. Trust their words and actions, they know what is best for you.
9. Its OK to be weird, eccentric and paranoid. Sure beats leading an uneventful life.
10. Try to do things that you never did before, even if you totally suck at it......even at the risk of total humiliation. It takes sheer courage to make an ass of yourself in the public eye.
11. Stand up for what is right in every walk of life.....There is such a thing as pure justice....so what is rightfully yours will always be yours.
12. Dont try to be Superman by wearing undies over pants and a cape and jumping off tall objects. You will look stupid and the most you would get out of it is scraped elbows and a broken nose.
13. While fighting, always punch in the nose first and then kick the balls... Opponent down in 3 seconds.
14. If life gives you lemons, make lemonades.......but the trick lies in commercializing it and building a fortune and empire outta it. Easy life after that when you have people to worry for you.
15. Experience hate. That will help you understand how much you love someone or something more.
16. Never forget where you came from. In the end what you are now is because of what you were then.
17. Its cool to have alter-egos.They are the voices in your head and they make any discussion seem even better. At last count I had four of them in my head.
18. Work for something that interests you and something you believe in. Money will follow.
19. Never loose out on an oppurtunity to be a part of anything. The most dreaded thing is to regret that in future thinking 'What if..........?'
20. Respect your partner's wishes, even if that hurts you. The person will love you even more for doing that.
21. Spend as much time with your family and friends. They are the ones you have lived for all this while. Make it worthwhile for them as well.
22. No system is perfect. No human is either. Rebel against the system that you dont believe in.
23. Every experience in life makes you a better person. What doesnt kill you only makes you stronger. you will eventually be strong enough to challenge any hardship that life throws at you.
24. Fear lies in your head....nothing can take you down....what stands between you and the glory of the world is only this fear.
25. Once you reach rock bottom and have lost everything you loved and believed in, you have nothing left to loose and everything to gain. Make the most of it. The only way to go then is up!
26. It is very important that you breathe. Two simple actions in a continuous perpetual cycle go a long way in enjoying life..so inhale......n dont forget to exhale!!
27. Actions define the person you really are. So be justified in your actions.
28. Never forgive those who betray you. They are not worthy of it.
29. Emotions engulf you.....deal with it.
30. Be loyal to those who stand by you. Ensure your support and usefulness when they need it the most.
31. Cry a lot.....Grieve the pain within. Even tough men cry. It shows you have a heart thats still beating.
32. Death is never the end......neither is breaking bonds.......It never ends there.
33. Indulge yourself with the good, simple life. It will keep you happy....
34. Celebrate everything in life.. Even your uncle's third cousin's best friend's wife's second cousin's daughter's birthday..
35. Break away from the mould....Be different.....Get up.....get noticed...
36. Watch movies.....I learnt more from cartoon and movies than i did from books and History Channel.
37. Listen to music. Nothing will give you more pleasure...except perhaps the opposite sex.
38. Gorge on food.....Anorexia and starvation will get you nowhere but to problems in life.
39. Rush to the terrace and scream your heart out......wont get you anything or prove anything.....but sure is fun.
40. Try your hands at cookin......burnt food never tasted better
41. Let go of everything that holds you down.....Dead weight only helps you sink.
42. Memories are what eventually remains forever.....Make ones that are worth living over n over.
43. Happiness is a relative term......Be at peace with yourself.
44. Family, Friends, Happiness, Love, Glory, Money, Power........always in that order.
45. Dont envy the kid's life of eating, napping & crapping throughout the day......you would do it yet again after the age of 70.
46. Get in touch with someone you completely forgot about.....Its a nice feeling.
47. Fortune favors the brave and those who dare......so DARE...
48. Never hurt a human so much that they cant pick themselves up.....Its a curse you wont wanna carry.
49. Pain is a constant in life...It shows that there are much better things to look forward to.
50. & Lastly, read a list and try to make one bigger than that yourself...

Till I write the next blog....Adios.

My Immortal....

Ever since Evanescence, a rock band, released their album Fallen, I have been a fan of the song 'My Immortal'. The song is written by Ben Moody, who co-founded the band with Amy Lee. Although Ben has left the group citing creative differences, this particular song has assumed a hit position in the minds for a million people. The song basically is about the loss of a loved one. The way people move on after the loss. The lyrics are powerful and brings tears to the eyes of countless people. What I love about this song is that it is a piano piece and a beautiful one at that. The best way to experience this song is to close your eyes and listen to it (preferably on a surround sound system). It makes you feel as though you are riding a wave of music. Amy Lee sounds amazing right from the deepest lowest note to the highest pitch. The song infact shows the immortality of the person in essence. thats what touches us all the most than anythin in the song. The music, the lyrics, the emotions.....they all work up to that effect and that effect alone. A recommended song for the ones who have lost something precious in their lives. As usual I part with the lines from the song and urge everyone to atleast listen to it once...

I'm so tired of being here
Suppressed by all my childish fears
And if you have to leave
I wish that you would just leave
'Cause your presence still lingers here
And it won't leave me alone
These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase
[Chorus:]
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears
And I held your hand through all of these years
But you still have
All of me
You used to captivate me
By your resonating light
Now I'm bound by the life you left behind
Your face it haunts
My once pleasant dreams
Your voice it chased away
All the sanity in me
These wounds won't seem to heal
This pain is just too real
There's just too much that time cannot erase
[Chorus]
I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone
But though you're still with me
I've been alone all along