Life is full of good things - Day2

Today has been an eventful day. Though there were few events which made life more challenging, I want to remind myself of the good things that brought solace and comfort.

1. Shopping till the legs got tired. I purchased cosmetics after years I should say. Though the prices have skyrocketed, I was happy to buy the different brands under one roof. :D
2. Met a friend's friend, a jolly go lucky person. Feels good to meet new people.
3. Though it was already late in the night, my mom gave me the option of dining out. Appreciate her confidence in me.
4. When a drunkard rammed his bike into our car damaging the headlights, the mob dint shout at us. By God's grace, all are safe. Thank you my Lord!
5. We immediately got down from the car and called friends. 4 of them came immediately and helped us back into our senses and dropped me home. Bless them.

I'm drowsy after a tiring day. Looking forward for a better tomorrow ;-)

Life is full of good things - Day1

I loved a friend's post and got inspired to write about the good things that happen to us, on a daily basis for a week. I have cribbed about issues, wondered about happenings and questioned a lot of things. For a change, I want to appreciate the small small things all around me. One's life is full of nice moments and good omens only if we care to notice.
So, here is my first attempt to list the nice feelings all through the day

1. Its Friday -the beginning of a weekend brightens the mood and puts a smile on the face :-)
   
2. Hot, yummy and timely food prepared my mommy dear - three times a day! What more to ask for. Blissful.
   
3. Cool breeze, evening rain and a pleasant weather in owise hot Chennai. It gave an opportunity to bring back mother from her walk. Refreshing feeling.
   
4. Someone visited me late in the evening though he was busy. Felt great to see u.
5. Brother called amidst his struggle with month end targets. Bless him.
   
6. Felt good to read my friend's blog and thought abt her and some happy moments together. Maybe, I should write to her. Will I?
   
7. Writing this post and hoping to write more. Be happy!
   

Relationship & expectations

How to be in a relationship without expectations? This was the discussion I had with my colleagues over tea time. Everyone except me were arguing that it is not possible to lead a life without expectations. One even went to the extent to say that his goal in life is to have expectations (read as results).
We humans have got into a situation where we cannot think of doing an activity without knowing the result, forget about expectations! In a result oriented society, everything is based on outcome and we are trained that way since our birth. The charm of the life is that we still continue to love or 'expected' to love and love selflessly in certain relationships. but, is that feasible? How can a person be pragmatic in everything else but in one or few relationships?
I donno.

Rakhi and human Multi-threading !

Are we amazed by threads? Especially in India where we have sacred threads around many parts of our body!

• Women have the sacred yellow thread around the neck, as part of wedding ritual and is the key identifier for her marital status
• Sacred threads around neck as chain or necklace
  
• Multiple colored sacred threads (Black, red, yellow etc) around the wrists to ward off evil
• Safeguarding threads around the arm biceps :-)
• Threads around the upper torso for men(women too in some cases), popularly known as 'cross-belt' in some communities
  
• Threads around the waist, esp. for babies
• A decorated thread - Rakhi from sisters to brothers to protect them lifelong
• Threads around wrists during wedding rituals for bride, groom and parents based on the community/family practices
• Threads around ankles is only for fashion purposes I suppose
• Friendship bands around wrists are common in western countries as well
  

I don't know if some of the above will get classified as superstitious practices or will get permitted as mere beliefs and confidence building measures :-)
Anyways, a piece of thread bonds us to many relationships, sometimes with the super power as well!

Well, to my dear bro'r: Here's wishing you a great year and a wonderful lifetime! And may God bless you with all that you wish for!Love u!
And for others : Happy Raksha bandan and enjoy threading:-)

Welcome Aadi

Today is the beginning of Tamil month Aadi or Kannada month Ashada Masa!
I find this month interesting because of the conflict associated with it. Lemme explain
Generally, all auspicious occasions and beginnings like weddings, house warming functions, even bride/groom hunting events are not planned in this month! This month is more or less treated like a curse. Even the newly married couples are forced to stay with their respective parents ;-)

This on one side and on the another, we have all Hindu deities treating this month very specially!
All fridays are extra-auspicious, esp. for goddesses and many temples have car-festivals so as to say!
There is also a third dimension that has been added by our entrepreneurs and that's the most interesting part, esp. for women! Almost every shop starting from trade giants to mom&pop store offers a huge discount on e'thing from a needle to jewelery! Reason for offering discount was to attract buyers in those ages where every buying had a compelling reason and the reasons were lacking in the inauspicious month. With today's compulsive buyers and experience-seeking consumers, we have come a long way. So also are the Aadi discounts!

Maybe, then this is a month where we have to focus on spiritual aspects with less focus on material bliss(except shopping, of course!).

Some excerpts on the astrological & religious significance of this month:
Aadi falls during the second half of the year known as Dakshinayanam when the Sun transits from the northern hemisphere to the Southern during July.The transition from the Southern to the Northern hemisphere in the month of January is known as Uthirayanam. "Both the periods are auspicious for the worship of the Gods and Goddesses". As the transit of stars takes place during the day Uthirayana, all auspicious functions including marriages are conducted at that period, while during the month of Aadi the transition take place during the night;
Aadi Krithigai and Thai Poosam are important festivals for Lord Subramaniya. For the goddess also the month of Aadi is very auspicious. Aadi pooram and Aadi peruku are very popular festivals in the rural areas of Tamilnadu.

Jackson, an icon

He was the undisputed king of Pop.
More than that, he was loved by everyone who loves music. His farewell at Staples is a testimony to this!
His life was full of controversies, like most celebrities :-(
May he rest in peace, atleast now!

Why are birthdays important?

Do you know that the concept of birthday celebration started in Greece, more than 3000 years ago? Different cultures have different ways of 'celebration', but almost all of them regard it in positive view.
Most of us celebrate birthdays with kith and kin, probably to share the information of our age and hence the expectations surrounding the age.
Certain milestone ages may be more significant like the first year, 15 or 16, 30, 50, 60 and maybe every year after that :-)

Have you ever wondered why a birthday is important or noteworthy, atleast when your birthday is nearing and what is the point in blowing away the candles ?
In my opinion, birthdays make us think, who we are, where I stand in my life and what is it that I want to do with my life. These Qs should be the guiding spirit of one's life, but somehow I remember them only a week or two ahead of the B'days :-)

Well, here is the reason for this topic- it is my "star" bday today! And, 'Happy birthday' to those who celebrate it today.

Tomorrow is the Valentine's day

Even before the dawn of the month, V day was in the headlines of most newspapers in Karnataka! It all started when Mutalik's mercenary attacked the pubgoers in Mangalore. It is a fact that alcohol is not healthy! But, then should the Govt. issue licenses to wine shops and pubs or sell them in Toddy shops? Forget that argument.
The safe guardians of culture should attacked the pub owners or should have beat down all including the guys! Why only the weaker sex? One should be fair even if one is doing injustice!
Is Mutalik saying that only the women are responsible for regarding our cultural inheritance? No wonder, his post box is flooded with 'Pink chaddis' & Victoria Secrets :-) though I personally donot approve of sending such stuff to him (He will make money by selling them, what say u?)
My 2 cents : All this drama is to set the stage for the impending Assembly elections in 3-4 months. If not for all this Thamasha, I wouldn't have come to know of this small-time politician!

Or, he has tie-ups with brands like Archies to promote V-day sales! He is a brand ambassador who promotes by asking people not to do things whom he is sure will do it definitely to prove a point!
What more marketing required than this?
Wish u all a happy Valentine's day!

What kept me away?

Guess what happens, when u return to work after a break? Piles of work and loads of mails in the inbox !
Well, I'm in a similar position. Haven't actively blogged for a while and now, have got Kilobytes and megabytes of things to share with :-)
Let me begin with the reason for my silence as the first topic.
I took a break from work for a month, after nine years in the corporate world. You may instantly approve the need for a break! I took this time to rejuvenate myself and did what I love to do.

• Stayed back @ home, sweet home till I got bored of the TV. I am not going to complain about saas-bahu serials and their viewers. The women at home and others watch them for lack of better options! (Plenty of time on hand and the absence of objective or goal may force things that are otherwise undersired. This is one of the lessons I've learnt.)
• Cleaned a bit (I have to say a bit, because cleaning and dusting a house are perennial jobs) and organised stuff lying all over the house. (It takes only a minute for the house to revert to its disorganised state and somehow I belive it takes no effort for this reversion!)
  
• Took up dieting and gymmed daily- I lost a good 4.5 inches and 1.5 kilos (The kilos have now returned back as pounds)
• Played keyboard and regularly went for my classes and practised at home as well (There was no need to dust the keyboard)
• Visited my parents and spent time with my immediate family and friends
  
• Went on a holiday with my hubby dear to the beaches of Mangalore and forts of Kerala.
• Rest of the time, I was busy shopping, listening to music and lazing around :-)
  

Basically, I grabbed the opportunity and spent quality time with myself and family.
I simply love those days and I was happy to end the vacation as well.
All is well that ends well :-)
And when I joined work last month, the initial days kept me busy and so, couldn't take time out for blogging.
Here I am and hope to pen mythoughts more frequently.
Wish you all a Merry Christmas and enjoy your vacation too !

Expectations in a relationship!

Word of caution: A posting on the heavier side of life

I am a bit confused today!
Relationships have always confused me !
I realise this mainly during the troubled times!
It takes time to define a relationship, its nature and objective. Only time can tell about the longevity of a relationship and if it is successful or not and if it is ongoing or not!
And then, there are a few which fall on neither sides in both categories. We don't know sometimes if a relationship is alive and kicking or if it has ended successfully or not!

Humans are amazing - not only because each one is unique, but also each heart and mind store infinite feelings and thoughts about people and relationships with them.
We get hurt when our feelings are not acknowledged or in other words, when our expectations are not met! Feelings arise from the heart.
From where do expectations arise?
And a more critical question is - Do we have control on our expectations?If yes, to what extent?

Is spirituality a search to answer these questions?
Many religions and philosophies seem to be against expectations in a relationship!The core principle of Buddhism is to have no expectations which is also the basis for almost every other religion as well.
BhagvadGita dictates one to do the duties without worrying/expecting the results!

But, is it easily humane to be without expectations in one's deeds or in a relationship?
And my bigger question is : If there is no expectation, what defines a relationship and how does one differentiate a relationship from another?

Points to ponder!

On a lazy Friday post noon session, what do you do?
I decided to calculate my BMI (body mass Index) to figure out my health vitals.
In one of the sites, www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/, I found this pearl of wisdom :-)

Women tend to imagine their ideal weight is unrealistically low, so they diet unnecessarily. Men tend to allow their ideal weight to be higher than medically recommended. Men and Women should learn from each other.
:-)

Bird's nest

Let me clarify that this post is not about Beijing's beautiful and mammoth stadium. Its a ramble about one's house!

Read in today's Times Of India that the area around Ranganathittu has been flooded as water has been released from the KRS dam. Having visited the birds only weeks ago, I was wondering what those birds will be doing. It seems to be funny that most nests donot have a roof! How will then they protect themselves from nature's different forces?

Well, its surprising to know that birds build nests mainly to place their eggs and to bring-up their off springs. It doesn't mean that they donot want to protect themselves or their kids to become wet in rains or blown away by gusty winds. Also, different species build nests of different types, shapes, sizes and on varied places like rocks, trees, sand, bushes, concrete structures, etc etc. Some birds donot spend their energies to build nests - they make use of others nests or simply live without homes - the common ones being pigeons who find a relatively safe place to deposit their eggs and wait for them to be hatched. Only the offspring learns to fly, the mother and baby leave their make-shift home.

Humankind is no different - we prefer different types, styles of houses. The human civilization made a giant leap forward when settlements started and people built a roof above their heads and stopped being nomads. But the basic needs might have been to seek protection from the forces of nature and enemies. We have progressed beyond boundaries from there. Before long time ago, buildings and land got transformed into real estate and today, it is one of the prime reasons for recession! Unlike birds, we have to pay rentals to make use of some body's house, unfortunately :-(

But the basic difference is that we want a home where we belong to and part of our sharing, caring and serves as one's own kingdom! The problem starts when this passion turns into possession and money becomes the foundation of the building called house!

Refer my earlier post on owning a house @ http://laddoo-thinks.blogspot.com/2006/12/buying-home.html

Festive rush in trains

Its not only common knowledge, but also a very important tip that one can reserve tickets in trains, 90 days in advance. Its a boon because one can ensure availaibility earlier and plan the other aspects of the trip in advance, especially if it is a holiday or sight-seeing. Come festivals, which are plenty in our country, the trains are the first indicators even before the HR departments get ready with their planning.
I have been experiencing this with the major festivals like Diwali, Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Pooja, x-mas or long weekends around Gandhi Jayanti, Independence or Republic days. During the past decades, the rarity of seats in public transport has only gone up by several notches. I'm sure the number of trains or seats have gone up in this period, but this number seems to have been beaten up by the number of citizens willing to take up journeys around these holidays.
My recent example is attempting a booking for Diwali, this year which falls on 27th Oct. Much in advance, my family had calculated the booking time and kept reminding me to book them on the opening day to avoid inconvenience or hassles with the public and private road transport folks. I too promptly made use of technology and kept enough reminders in Microsoft Outlook, mobile and post-its on the wall. The D-day being Saturday when I tended to extend my cosy sleep, I woke up to the alarms and reminders. It was 7.45 am and I had good 15 minutes to brush and switch on the computer. I logged into the IRCTC website by 7.55 and checked the availability for the Friday before Diwali for a train from Bangalore to Tuticorin. In 2nd AC, there were 17 seats available and that a message was displayed that it cannot be booked before 8 am. The site was behaving properly - all fair and good. Waited impatiently for the next five minutes without doing anything, lest I should use-up bandwidth. When the system clocked 8:00, I pressed the button 'Book ticket'. Well, nothing happened for 2-3 minutes which seemed like hours. I was visualising the various booking counters with mad rush of people who might have waited for hours in long queues and brokers who might be bulldozing their way through. But the website was relaxed and reluctant before the next page came up where I hurriedly entered the name of passengers, choice and id proof details and pressed the 'Make payment' button. This button was no less than the previous one and took its time to display the bank gateway where I filled the login id, password, transaction password, agreement with Terms &Conditions and pressed the button 'Confirm payment'. A message that the payment could not be done was displayed from the bank's site after what seemed to be another hour to me. I checked the time and it was 8:05. Cursing the bank and its infrastructure, I checked the availability of tickets which came out as WL15. I proceeded to 3rd AC which was also in WL and for sleeper class, it was WL200/Regret and it was 8:14 by then.
It was unbelievable, but imagined so many frantic guys in front of laptops and counters who might have got the 17+34+200 seats (it might be more) in that train and hundreds of them like me who got disappointed by the nick of time.
Forget inflation or fear of terror attacks - we want to celebrate our festivals with friends and family, our long weekends in beautiful hill stations or beaches.
Till the country gears up to handle these small pleasures of its citizens, we will continue to remain as a developing nation.

Go Egosurfing

Today, I was bored (Ur guess is right - it was ciesta time!) and tried egosurfing. For those who want to refresh the memory (again being post noon session), egosurfing is Ego (ie I) + Surfing ==>browsing on one's own name - family name, nick name, pet name and u name what not - using search engines.
On one hand, I feel happy that there are lots like me searching their names in the millions of terabytes of data, otherwise, there might not have been a name for searching their own names! And today I restricted myself to blogs only! Can this process be called as egoblogsurfing ?
For a moment, I paused to think why anyone would search for his/her name?
Here are some reasons I could think of:
1. Eager/Curious/Anxious to know if something has been written abt me
2. Interested in knowing if there are celebrities or interesting people with my name
3. Trying to match interests and similarities with the same-named person
4. How common/uncommon my name is
5. Its so easy to type one's own name when bored
6. Egotistic ?
and probably more...
But, isn't the basic need is physiological? A name is not an identity tag alone, its much more than that!
Don't we tend to recognize ourselves by our name, though we were born much before/after the naming happens! Is it becoz we say our names more than any other word - this starts even before schooling, with 'My name is ' - and a name is how we present ourselves to the outside world. If I say 'I am Laddoo', am I only Laddoo (for the sweet-tooth)?
If for the argument, if my name is 'Me', then, amn't I only the name and not heart, soul, characteristics, vices etc etc? What about the branches of science(?!) numerology or nameology ? In hindu mythology, any God has numerous names and the most powerful ones have infinite names as well! In such a scenario, how can a single name stand out as an identity?
BTW, how do think Gods might egosurf ?:-)

Why we love animal / bird-watching?

For a moment,I thought it is counter-intuitive for humans to go miles and miles for a hobby called bird-watching or crossing moutains and seas for a jungle-safari or a forest trek for hours together in search of bisons, elephants, wild cats and feel disappointed on spotting only the herbivorous deers and rabbits! Shouldn't we feel happy that we are safe to be out of the vicinity of the man-eaters or the other perils of the forest. Why do we take our children to crocodile or snake parks , when we know that they are the most dangerous creatures?
If you think through these questions, I expect the answers to vary across! Some of the probable prominent reasons are:
1. Humans are curious to know about nature and her creations
2. Search for proof of evolution theory
3. The happiness we get in connecting with nature, by spotting the wild animals which we think as pure forms
4. We are amazed by their characteristics and appearance
5. We are inspired by Nat-Geo and Discovery Channel journalists & photographers
6. The process or journey to the destination in equally interesting
7. Educational reasons
8. Business reasons - Poaching or hunting or harming
9. Journalism
10. Anything else?

These are some of the reasons I can think of!
I had been to a bird sanctuary last weekend and felt immensely happy to see so many species of birds. The mere sight of them brings in cheer and lights up the spirits!
Let me try a travelogue with the pictures I took in a separate post, soon.

Significance of Sixty

I am now wondering why 60 is a significant number in one's lifetime ? There must be some reasons in the literature - In certain culture, 60th age signifies rebirth and is celebrated as the person gets to re-live the years 60 before. Well, in most of the Indian systems, 60 years form a cycle. I presume that there is an astronomical reason for the figure 60! So, once a person reaches 60, he/she enjoys the same year as that of his/her birth ! That's how it is a re-birth ! It is celebrated with family and friends and is a good opportunity for fun and merriment.
Interesting reason for the tradition, right? Well, let me also tell u the reason for choosing this topic!
This is my 60th post and I started writing that only to realise that I was not aware of the reasoning. Did a quick and brief research and found this!
Long live blogging!

Making friends

Just wanted to inform u guys that I made a few friends since my visit. In addition to the colleagues, I met an American guy in the hotel and we went on to become good companions and now, friends. He resembles me in some aspects and most of all, we both talk, talk and talk till the cows return home!Though he is returning tonight, we intend to stay in touch over emails!
We feel happy to know more people, to know about them, to care for them and be cared, don't we?
Man is a social animal :-)

Expectations

Ever before I jumped out of the bed, I started thinking of expectations , relationships etc.. Donno if its an offshoot of some dream, but it is on my thoughts since morning.

My theory is as follows:
Expectations define relationships. If we get rid of expectations, there maynot be any kind of relationships at all! Is that the objective of humankind? Is that what great spiritual leaders like Buddha wanted to achieve and suggest ?
Then, we maynot be fitting in a sociey with its defined rules, relationships like family, siblings, spouse, children etc etc.
I'm confused!
Sometimes, I wonder where to draw a line and in some cases how lengthy the rope should be!

We have expectations even in unconditional love, don't we? Isnt it love then? If it is love, can it be based on or supported by expectations? IMHO, expectations have 2 sides whereas love need not be! Where do these 2 meet?

Leave the answering to a Buddhas and Psycology professors :-)

My bus-mate

I'm puzzled abt something that happened today morning and am very curious to know the reason ! If anyone could explain with logic, I'd be grateful!
Well, daily morning very enthusiastically I reach the company bus stop on time and began to look forward. To boost my motivation, my hubby dear also accompanied me. We both were chatting, when I started feeling anxious and wondered aloud if the bus had already left! I was wondering whether to phone the only other guy who boards the bus from that stop to check if he is in the bus. What if he was in bed ?
It was then that my hubby told me that ur bus-mate had arrived and I was a bit relieved on seeing him. Last week, me and my bus-mate were faced with a similar scenario. We realised that we had missed the bus and took an auto to office. I didn't have the change to pay the auto driver and told the bus-mate who paid. Thats when I took his mobile number to return the money. Next morning, I returned the money promptly to him.
While I was thinking all these past events, he had summoned an auto and hurrying in. He was standing far from me to ask or call. He pushed himself into the auto and the auto carried him away. I started wondering if he is going somewhere else or if he is rushing back home as I found his behaviour puzzling.
My hubby interrupted my thoughts by asking if he had seen the bus leaving already. I convinced myself by saying that the bus might be still coming and that we can wait for 5 more minutes before proceeding.
As it turned out to be, the bus never came. My hubby went home, took the car and dropped me at another bus stop from where I took an auto after a short wait.
Inside the car, I asked him why the bus-mate didnot inform me of missing the bus or asked me to share the auto which would have saved him around Rs.50. I wanted to ask the bus-mate the next day why he behaved so. My hubby said that he would not be asking the bus-mate if he were me!
Why?
Why not?
I'm still wondering... What could be the reason?