Onam in UK:)

The festival of Onam was just around the corner. Flower kolams, payasams, festivity in the air, the traditional malayalee saees adorned with golden zari..well, I really wanted all of these no matter which part of the world I was in.

It was just the eve of Onam when we realised that we had to gather flowers. It was almost 4:00 pm and all stores had closed for the day. We had relied on the bouquets that were sold in the super markets as out source of flowers to decorate the kolam.

Onam in UK- this is how it was going to be, I thought!!

But it turned out to be more fun. We reached home, had a cup of tea and decided to venture out and try our luck with flowers. I reminisced my trip to poomarket. What a lovely trip that always used to be. Flower keepers exhibiting richly coloured ones on either sides of the pathway, lotuses blossoing with glory, jasmines and roses filling the air with their fragrance, bright yellow saamandhi flowers painting the atmosphere with yellow, orange kanankambaram flowers hanging from the stalls....UK presented a different picture.

With a plastic bag in our hands, we ventured to the nearby lake where we had seen golden yellow flowers dancing in the breeze. We had relied on them. But suddenly, they were missing. The whole landscape which had once been carpeted by their existence was just plain and dry now.

Without losing our enthusiasm, we ventured to another street where we thought we would see bright pink, lavender flowers. On our way, we say bushes covered with flowers, flowers that grew with noone catering to them, flowers that just sprung from nowhere.

We started gathering them-some known, some unknown-small ones, medium sized ones-pink, yellow, white, lavender, red. We must have been the only people gathering flowers from the road. Did we mind? Not at all!!

Well, we now needed a place to draw a kolam. The outside was carpetted and I didnt want to risk drawing on that. One of us had bought a new shirt that had a piece of cardboard placed. Optimum utilization of available resources:)

A little bit of colouring, some sketching....

And the ultimate result of that adventure is what you see here.

Emirates-Word Building

This is in continuation to a post I wrote sometime back about the number of words I formed from the word EMIRATES. Here is my list.
Stream
Armies
Time/s
Steam
Rate/s
Tar
Mar
Mars
Mite
Stem
Rat/s
Emit/s
Set
Stir
Tea
Eat/s
Ate
Rim/s
Trim/s
Art/s
Tram/s
Meat
Mat/s
Seat
Ram/s
Tame/s
Mate/s
Easter
Its
Arm/s
Ire
Tease
Teaser
Mare
Tear
Tears
Seer
Seam
Tire/s
Team
Teem
Steer
Same
Stair/s
Ear/s
Irate/s
Sat
Satire
Merit/s
Term/s
Smear
Air
Site/s
Stare/s
Aim/s
Sir
Sire
Mist
Mast
Rise
Raise
Tier/s
Rest
Star
Mart/s
See
Smart
Item/s
Mister
Tree/s
Sea
Meet
Tie/s
Seem

:)

July- So, What's Special?

The scent of July has set in with flowers blooming to the joy of summer, the wind joyfully singing as it traverses landscapes beeming under the golden rays of the sun , the amosphere bright with reverbrance...
And so wht is special about July? What is it about July that has captured the imagination of poets? Here is a list of lyrical eulogies showered on this month.

July maatham vandhaal jodi serum vayasu-One of the popular peppy numbers during the nascent stages of AR Rahman's career as music director, this song has foot tapping beats.

July malargale july malargale ungal ethiriyaa oru azhagi irukiraal- A romantic number staring Vijay and Reema Sen, this song topped the charts for sometime. With soothing and pictursque locales captured in the lens, it was a hit.

Santhipoma iruvarum santhipoma july kaatril jupitaril oru murai santhipoma-A girl and guy meet once in a train and then its love at first sight(rather love at the first meet). And this song is sung when they roam around the streets of chennai in search of each other.

April Mayile pasumalaeile kaanju pochu da.........idhu thevaiya ada pongaiya june julya- A college romeo with his freinds frwon in the summer sweat as they realise it is vacation time with none to ogle at

July 16 vanthaal vayathu 17 thaan-Again a romantic number with a demure lass and a strong man

June ponaa july kaatru - Again a peppy number from 'Unnale Unnale' with a very different sort of picturization, this song was a chart buster

June July maathathil rosapoovin vaasathil- A dream song beween a very different sort of a couple- one of whom is deeply in love with the other, the other not realising the reality

Well...what more can I say? Maybe it is indeed a special month.
Maybe I know it!!!
:)

Summer Solstice-Makes Me Think!

Today is June 21st-the longest day of the year with the summer solstice. It is 10:34 pm and I peer outside through the glass windows to see if it is still bright. The sky is painted a dark blue with a tinge of black slowly creeping and seeping into it. Night is slowly treading into this part of the earth, noiselessly and subtely. It is such a contrast to be here and experience the daylight for a longer period of time. There have been days when my room mate and myself used to wait for the outside to get dark in order to have dinner because we were so used to having dinner after sunset that we did not realise it was already way past dinner time. And when we used to check our watches, it used to be close to 10:00 pm!!! And we slowly started getting used to this.
Dawn breaks as early as 4:15 am and the sun's rays are arrested by the curtains that are tightly pulled across the windows not to awaken us sleeping soundly.
How different is nature in different parts of the world! And we all get used to this fact, accept it and carry on as a matter-of-fact. What if we follow the same principle in relationships too- accepting the fact each one is different in his/her own ways. We could still respect and accept the difference and move on with our lives.

Point to ponder!!

Brewing Thoughts...

Imagine the smell of freshly brewed coffee! The aroma that floats around in the morning and stimulates your nostrils as you wake up! The sight of foaming coffe with steam forming waves right above the steel tumbler, the coffee waiting to be gulped, in slow sips first till the liquid slowly seeps down the throat, warming the body, sending ripples of energy waking up the drowsy mind- the sheer thought prompts me to dream of my next cup of filter coffee.
Whoever conceptualised this drink must have been a genuis.
A universal drink with variations- call it espresso, capuccino, cold coffee,kaapi,black coffee, irish coffee....I love the South Indian Filter coffee the best, followed by Tropical Iceberg at Coffee Day:)
Coffee tastes good in freshly made milk-milk that is boiled for the first time.
Serving in a copper tumbler does wonders to the aesthetics and the senses.
And it is indeed an art to prepare the right bend of coffee with the perfect amount of sugar dissolved in it- not too sweet nor bitter-just perfect- perfect to awaken every cell of the body to the morning freshness and the streaming sunlight-perfect to lighten a hectic day at work-perfect for a headache- perfect while hanging out with friends-perfect to spend an evening in the balcony relaxing-perfect when it rains-perfect when its shivering outside-perfect for anytime of the day:)

Anytime u feel low, u know what to do? The beverage is right there, at any corner, waiting to be savoured, waiting to gulped and sink into its ecstasy.

So, What is Everything?

Today I saw the ultrasound image of my room-mate's baby. Astounding!! The image showed the foetus comfortably curled up in the security of the mother. The baby rests there, patiently waiting for the d-day when the world would await its arrival.
And we all started that way- a tiny cell, multiplying into millions to form what we are today. And yes, we all started fresh- our mind was a clean slate. No imprints- fresh as a newly painted slate. Just like this foetus.
As years pass by, we let imprints be left on our mind- some indelible, some evaporated, some faded. This is one of the wonders of life- how we originate.
From nothingness into forming what is everything. So, what is 'everything'?For this baby, everything is the security the mother's umbilical cord offers. For some, it is their work, for others it's their family. And this concept of 'everything' transcends people, boundaries and forms different images in different people's minds.
What if we forget all our prejudice, bias and dissolve for a moment into a state of nothingness and start afresh? Afresh, with new thoughts, visions, zeal from the beginning.
It would be a new life- like this baby-free from inhibitions and conditioning.

05/06/07:)

I like today's date. It is 05/06/07 :) Cool, isn't it? And it also happens to be the 'World Envronment Day'. I remember when I was in Std VI, I had to make a speech in the morning assembly on this topic. And as years passed by, there were more environmental conversation speeches made during competitions. But as I grew, I realised the importance of this conservation. When I reflect back and compare my childhood days, compare what I had read in mythological tales and what I see now, there has been a dramatic transmogrification. And hence, here is a message. It is our duty to conserve the environment that we habitate. Call it social responsibility or belongingness. But the underlying fact is we live here.
If we only pause in our tracks and observe the way nature operates, we would be deriving life's lessons- adaptability, letting go, living in sync, perseverance...the list is endless.

Adaptability- The cactii in the Thar desert and mangroves in rainy forests

Letting go- Pls read my post on the same topic

Living in sync-different species all together in a forest

Perseverance- have you noticed how a plant emerges stronger and lush when it has been chopped off its stems and leaves to get rid of the insects around it?

And as my previous posts go- Nature: Thy name is Beauty!! And yes, it does stand testimony to time.

The Grass is Greener on the Other Side of the Fence...is it???

A very oft heard saying!! True..and how not true! True in the sense that we tend to think and fantasise the 'if only's and 'what if's. Not true when the actual reality actually hits us hard.
We see people longing for a particular job because his batchmate managed to bag one. And the current job seems worthless in front of the plush locales the batch mate travels to. And once this person manages to secure a similar job, does he realise the freedom, working hours his previous job offered. If only he had stuck on to it.
And here is the next scenario. A house-wife sighs and wishes she could also be a career woman and command authority and have a sense of accomplishment. And the career woman wishes for the day where she can afford to quit her job and be a home maker, cooking the choicest dishes for her husband, making up the house, knitting mufflers for the new born and what not.
And how about onsite travel? We see people who really wish they could move across airports for every meal of the day. And vice versa, people who actually do that are desperate to get back home and have a meal from the same old plate that has been in the kitchen for years now, that brings back memories of good homeland.
What this goes to prove is that we forget to live in the present and relish what it actually offers us.

It is this moment that matters. The moment of truth. The moment that actually holds promises that we fail to see.

The third kind...

We meet different people from different walks of lives. Some shaped by society, some shaped due to circumstances, some without inhibitions who can let go. It is the third kind that amazes and certainly can teach a lesson or two on how we should be living and not just merely existing. Setting aside the prejudice of the mind (if at all they are prejudiced), it's a pleasure to see them sing along to the tunes of the breeze, walk through life with gait and joy, shoving aside burdens of everyday life creating a picture that they never exist and dance their way through.
I have come across such people in different stages of my life. Some in school who used to remain unpertubed despite not doing their day's home work, some chilling out in the class rooms and still topping exams, some at work who after a day's work gulp in barrels of beer and watch a basket ball match while others just crash after a day's work, some who sing their way through at work, greeting everyone with a cheery smile, snging jingles as the day progresses..that indeed makes you pause in your tracks and wonder if these people ever have worries at all. Well, maybe worries seem to crumble in front of their cheery disposition.
It is they who actually celebrate living than merely existing through.

If I Could...

If I could reach for the stars above

letting go of emotions around

shoving away prejudice and bias

bathing in the glory of present

revelling in the happiness of small things

If I could be one with all

despite differences that glare

uniting the commonality that binds us all

bringing in a sense of acceptance

transcending the obvious disparity

If I could smile with the breeze

as it caresses my cheek

linking the fragrance of the world around

and mellow out till eternity

standing tall with age

glorious would be the path tread upon

for Utopia would be right here

brimming with dreams that come true

with a touch of sunshine in every moment

and a life that would have truly lived.

Atrai Thingal Vaanidum...

A lilt of freshness...melody enraptured....romance filling the air...pure Tamizh lyrics...'Atrai thingal' from the movie 'Sivappathikaram' is a breath of fragrance. Truly beautiful music, excellent singers- Madhu Balakrishna and Sujatha doing justice to the song.

Vidhyasagar has crafted this piece with perfection. The tune, background music seem so harmonious. Set in the ragam Dharbari Kanada, this song creates a mellifluous atmosphere.

The sudden change in the tune between the lines
'Thalumbinean enai nee thoda,paainthida,aainthida' and
'Kaanugindra kaadhal ennidum' brings a surprise and keep you captivated to the melody.

Madhu Balakrishna is a promising singer. His voice is just perfect for this song. Sujatha brings a lot of feminity to the song. Her voice is beautiful.

A brilliant composition...waiting to play the song this evening :)

!!

What would I do if I don't know that I don't know?

All I Want...

All I want to do is dream
dream away from reality's realm-with
a circle of comfort enveloping me
portraying everything I want to see.

Dreams-knocking my tribulations away
while I revel in joy and gay
reaching for the known unknown
clasping it as if it were my own.

Clouds of doubt seem melting
for faith is what dreams bring
sweeping me into wonderland
as hope walks aside hand in hand.

All I want to do is dream
about a rosy world that gleams
as sunshine seeps through with dawn
making my troubles seem gone.

Memories...

Melting visions of the past,
of days gone by, of bliss enthralled
of joys reverberating, of tribulations haunting
all woven into a common thred
linking the present to to that bygone
treasured deep within me
carving the path tread upon
never to be visted again
but to be felt only in thoughts-
the memories of life lived.

Letting Go with Nature

I had been to Scotland recently and to describe it in one word would be 'breath taking'!!Absolutely beautiful!!So much in sync with nature and heavenly.
Nestled within the harmony of nature, the highland tour took us to places beyond imagination. At one place, I saw this huge mountain imposing beside the roadside, huge beyond thoughts and so near to one's path that it looked scary.

The next instance, I saw a small peak hidden slightly behind this mountain and sunshine seemed to stream on it reflecting serenity- capped with snow, this peak revelled in the security of the huge mountain in front of it and enjoyed the glory of the sun's rays pouring on it- slowly, steadily.Awesome.!And looking at this mammoth structure and the gentle one beside it, I stood- gazing at it with wonder and astonishment letting go of emotions and thoughts at that moment. And I was tempted to compare how small we human beings apeared in front of it..almost like microbes, scurrying around, conquering territories, claiming ownership on something that does'nt belong to us while this structure stood where it had been created, for almost a millions of years, looking down on us, not reacting to exploitations but in one place imposing what it should. At that moment, worries crumbled and I felt free. I engulfed the beauty of that moment, savoured the sight in front of me which kept me enraptured for how long, I don't know.

Time seemed frozen at that instance and all I longed was for that moment to last longer.

Filling in!!

I was waiting for the lift yesterday and as it landed and the doors opened, I stepped in but suddenly realised there was little space for me. I was taken aback and realized there was a gentleman in the lift with a lot of things strewn around him in huge bags. I found a cartload of cds too. Well, just as I was thinking that he was moving into an apartment, he said his car was broken into and he was moving stuff from the car to the house. Whoa!! Pretty surpised how much a car can hold. I jocularly remarked that I thought he was moving into here. It looked as though he had practically lived a part of his life in the car looking at the amount of stuff he was carrying..made me think what we also do with our cars, the handbags, the office draws. This reminds me of another incident. I was shifting from one desk to another because of some changes in the seating arrangements at work. I was to occupy a desk previously occupied by a gentleman. He was removing his stuff fro there to make space for me. And as I approached, my eyes just popped out. The draw of his desk literally held a fruit market!! There were dozens of bananas, apples and what not! My! The whole office could have bought fruits for lunch from him.
And then there is this joke about a woman's handbag on how she has everything from a lipstick to an organizer in it.
Makes me wonder or rather feel astonished at how we fill in space.

Rhyming through....

I remember the nursery rhyme,
“Row, row row your boat gently down the stream,
merrily merrily merrily merrily, life is but a dream”

When I used to recite that rhyme during my nascent ages, it used to sound good especially with the rhyming words. But now, I understand or rather perceive the philosophy that the rhyme proponents. And here it is as follows.

The act of rowing the boat can be compared to treading the path of life. And the path meets with a lot of trials, tribulations, pleasures, memorable incidents, pain and what not. But as we continue rowing/treading merrily, and as we encounter numerous incidents, what finally seems is that life is a dream. When we wake up to reality from imagination, we see something different from what we have dreamt. And so are some of our hopes, expectations and anxiety. What we get may not be what we have dreamt of.
And no matter what turns up, we need to go along the currents with merry because at the end of it, life is but a dream. And hence, I sing..

““Row, row row your boat gently down the stream,merrily merrily merrily merrily, life is but a dream”

Onomatopoeia

Learnt a new word today- 'Onomatopoeia'- this is a word or sometimes, grouping of words, which actually imitates the sound that it is describing. Therefore, it suggests the source. For example, 'buzz', 'smash','sizzle' etc.
Example of sentences:
The buzz of bees increased as he appraoched the beehive.
She squealed in astonishment.

Very Interesting. Learnt this from a mail that I got at work today.

English is definitely an interesting language!

Scintillating Lyrics

"veyilin veppam aanandham mazhaiyin saththam anandham -
ada mazhaiyil koodach chaayampogaa vaanavil anandham
vaazhvil nooraanandham vaazhvae paeraanandham pennae
narai ezhudhum suyasaridham adhil anbae anandham anandham "

What beautiful lines!!! Taken from the song "Pachai kiligal tholodu" from the movie "Indian", this song beautifully captures life's celebration and the reason to celebrate life.

I admire the sheer creativity and the imagination that has beautifully captivated the simple nuances of life adding colour and smiles.

The lines in 'bold' are absolutely wonderful!! I would love to translate these but I am afraid Iwould not be doing full justice to them.

Sensitized!!

Many a time, I wonder if we are indeed sensitive to the people around. Much has been ingrained in us about the concept of ‘Sensitivity’. And if you are working for an IT company and have to go onsite, chances are you might have to undergo a ‘cross-cultural’ sensitivity training. But deep down us, in our hearts, are we really sensitive to the people we move with? Do we understand the emotions of our colleagues, our friends, family, the grocer, the maid, the watchman?
The action could be as simple as mundane things. Don’t we see people buying food right in front of a street urchin pleading for money to buy his breakfast? Don’t we ignore the traffic policeman when he shows a stop sign thereby disrespecting his duty? Don’t we see situations where a new comer to a team is ignored while the rest of team goes out on a tea-break? There might be justifications for all these situations mentioned above. People might say begging should not be encouraged and hence it does not matter if the street urchin’s emotions are taken into account. A driver may say that the signal was green and turned red only after he crossed the stop line and hence ignored the traffic policeman. The team at work might say that one should be an extrovert and cannot expect people calling you for every tea-break. Oh yes, there are justifications for everything. But we are humans with a heart to feel and a mind to think. And when these synchronise, we step back in our tracks and look at the world around and realise how much we have been floating in our own internal world that we have forgotten to see how others feel.
Have’nt we seen people talking bombastically about their jobs when the person sitting right in front of them is fed with his work? A husband ignoring his wife’s yearning to spend with him during the week-end and going out with his friends, a friend belittling his/her friend’s passion, a boss asking the subordinate to work on a Saturday when the subordinate already has other plans for the week-end… the list can go forever.
Sensitivity is something that has to be a part of our actions- something that has to exist to make the place around beautiful and meaningful for the people around.

And when you start showing people you care, it certainly creates a wonderful feeling from within.

Just One More Time...

I sip my cup of coffee and look around. Everyone is engrossed in work or is glued to their systems. A few meetings seem to be happening in the conference rooms in front of me. One look at the world outside, and I am tempted to step out. The weather is beautiful. Jut perfect for a stroll outside. And just one look out of the window brings these dreams.
Just once- how many times have we wished for just one more chance? Or probably for just one more day for the same incident to reappear. A second chance to amend for deeds. One more opportunity to excel. One more moment of that look of kindness. One more day to complete pending work. One more rehearsal before the D-Day. A lot of one mores in our lives….
Time doesn’t seem enough with its 24 hours bestowed on us. We do not realise that we might yearn for another opportunity, which might never come our way. Is that why people say, “Do it right the first time”? Or probably here is an irony. The more we do things right, the more we yearn for one more opportunity. Like winning a competition. The more we win, the more we yearn for one more. The less we win, we still yearn for one more to give an opportunity to win. A neat paradox!
And our yearning for just one more continues…..

Distance

It is true that distance does make the heart fonder. When we are closer, we tend to take people for granted- whether it is to get work done, showing emotions, not doing something, having a lackadaisical attitude. And when we are away from the people whom we have taken for granted, we realise their importance, the role they play in our life. That is when we start introspecting and run a flash back of the days gone by. And then regret for actions done and not done slowly seeps in. Next starts the cycle of mending for deeds. Now all we would want to do would be to be there next to those very people at that moment.
Strange are the ways of life. One moment we might condemn the person. And another moment we yearn for them.

Emirates-Word Building

I was sitting at the airport waiting for the Emirates flight..and in the meantime decided to form as many words as possible from the word 'Emirates'..managed to form a 100 words including plurals. Here is a sample from that list.
stream,smear, steam,rates, irate,tease,mare, tame, tear,tier, tire,star,seem,seam,term,trim...
will post my list of 100 soon..

Week-end Arrives!!

The sun shines brightly piercing through the venetian planks draped across the windows of my cubicle. Outside is bright and full of life. The occasional clicks and taps on keyboards from neighboruing cubicles are heard. Low whispers, loud voices, the a/c humming gently....
It's a friday evening..time to rejoice!!!! time to celebrate the arrival of the week-end!! time to pack up for the day and let loose!!!

Happy week-end!!!
:)

Are We Schizophrenic?

A daughter at home, a boss at work, an employee to the organization, a good Samaritan to the society… these different facets of the same personality makes me think if we are all schizophrenic?
We wear different attitudes, emotions, and feelings depending on the scenario we are in. Are we the same person to two vastly different people? We would be extremely polite, lovable, caring to a kid but would we be the same to a boss who is domineering and vastly ambitious? Doesn’t our personality take a 360 degree turn immediately? So what is reality? This is the same question that Aparna Sen raises in the movie “15 Park Avenue”. She raises this question through Shabana Azmi who asks the doctor as to whose reality is true?

Schizophrenics do have a reality of their own which we are unable to envision or feel. Does that make their visions unreal?
Extrapolating the same logic to this topic of discussion, we see reality as we perceive. The same person who appears to be domineering, impatient and ambitious might cast a totally different picture to someone else. To that someone else, this person might appear to be a good listener, encouraging and a good motivator. So, what is real?
Wikipedia defines Schizophrenia as follows: “Schizophrenia is a psychiatric diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by impairments in the perception or expression of reality and by significant social or occupational dysfunction.”Notice the phrase “impairments in the perception or expression of reality”. When we face attitudinal changes with respect to the same person would that qualify as “impairment in perception”?A good example to elucidate here would be that of the roles that a movie star portrays. He may become a super hit by playing a good samaritan who rescues women in despair, who rebels against the constitutional system to create laws of his own which he determines to be of social good. And here, we create an image of this movie star in our minds.The next release of this same person could be a movie where he plays a comedian unmindful of the petty nuisances he creates to people around only with the intent of creating ripples of laughter.
Our earlier image is replaced with this.So what is reality? Is this an impairment in perception? What about social and occupational dysfunction exhibited here? Social dysfunction could be the roles that are portrayed that are socially different – one of a good samaritan and the other being that of a careless joker because of the change in the expectations of the film goers.

I end this with irony lingering in your minds.What is your alter ego at work place saying today?

Innocence

She was innocent and believed that there was a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow- until she grew up and realized that the rainbow was a mere scientific and natural phenomenon. It no more fantasized her.

He truly believed that Santa Claus would gift him something every Christmas and tried his best not make a noise when he went to bed on Christmas night –until he realized that Santa was just fiction. He no longer waited for gifts to shower on Christmas.

Magic shows thrilled him. He used to sit on the front row and watch magicians weave the spell and throw up pigeons in the air, create showers of coins, vanish and appear – until he realized it was illusory. Magicians no longer interested him.

She always made a wish by placing an eyelash on her fist – until she realized she was just being kiddish. She no longer cared about secret wishes and eyelashes sticking to the corner of her eyes.

Every year, she would sit by her Mom’s side as her mother diligently drew small feet on the floor on Krishna Jayanti with the hopes that Lord Krishna would sneak into their house that night. She would keep her eyes open and remain alert to any sounds during the night –until she realized that this was tradition and one’s beliefs. This festival remained just a ritual every year.

Innocence, was truly blissful.

Lettering My Thoughts

I wipe a thick layer of dust from my post box. It has been lying that way for the past 9 years. Bright and sparkling, it had remained a loyal carrier of all my letters, cards…and now, time and technology seemed to have taken a toll. It’s been quite sometime since I received a hand written letter. With a flurry of e-mails flooding my inbox, the inlands and postcards have been forgotten.
I remember how eagerly I used to wait for the postman to deliver my letters, especially during summer vacations when my cousins and friends could find time to write. And of course during brithdays and festivals, the postbox used to be filled with bright coloured greeting cards. Ad then came the era of sending letters with scented paper, pens, musical cards, handmade cards…It used be so thrilling to read a handwritten letter.
Yes, e-mails have certainly made it easier for us to get in touch with a lot of old friends and to remain in constant touch. But somehow, the magic of a personal touch does not exist. Birthdays are celebrated through virtual wishes these days. The joy one receives when he/she gets a card from a friend is beyond words. There were times when I used to decorate letters with colour pens, sparkles etc. Cards were also made with glitters, flowers, stickers..
We used to have courses on the ‘Art of Letter Writing’. The art seems to be vanishing soon. My postbox seems to be leading an insipid life these days having been filled with premium receipts, mobile bills, credit card statements, notices et al.
It waits..patiently for that day..for one single handwritten letter to breathe in a whiff of fresh air…

Metrics..Do We Know Them?

Two months of the year already have rolled by. It’s the first of March. Are we still sticking to the resolutions that we have made? Have we moved on? Have we learnt something?
Yesterday, during one of our team sessions, our Manager asked a very thought provoking question- “How do you know that you have grown over the last year?”. That indeed set me thinking. Do we measure ourselves by the goals we have set? Do we analyse how differently we have reacted to the same kind of situations in two years? Do we measure our levels of satisfaction? Do we see growth as maturity of the state of mind?
Lots of questions, lots of thinking to be done. But I should say this would definitely act as a compass to the direction we are moving on. Submerged in the hustle bustle of the daily routine, do we stop for a moment to reflect back on the path that we have tread?

Sporting Memories

Today is Pongal. May this be the time to thank God, reap the harvest of hardwork and dedication and celebrate success.
Pongal used to be a festival to celebrate with the Sun God. Back home, it used to be wonderful to offer Pongal in a paanai (earthen pot) in the balcony, pray and enjoy a sumptous meal.
Tracking back the days, it used to be fun to eat, watch numerous TV programmes, new releases and so on.
While I track down memory lane, let me write what we discussed this week-end. My flatmates and I were in a serious mood of chatting that we found ourselves talking about all those cute, funny, 'intellectual' games that we used to play as kids.
And I list a few of them here and expalin a few of them.
Hide and Seek
Snakes and Ladders
Ludo
Scrabble
Frisbee
Business
A board game where mock currency is dstributed amongst players, and trading is done, cities are bought, mortgages are performed etc.

Cut the Cake
It is similar to the 'Running and Catching' game. The difference is that when the person who is being chased feels she might be caught, she shouts 'cut the cake'. When she does, another person runs in between the chaser and the runner. The chaser now has to chase this new person. When this new person feels tired, she shouts 'cut the cake' and another person runs between the chaser and the runner and so on....

Chain
A chaser chases a runner. When she catches the runner, both of them join hands and chase another person. When this person is caught, the three of them join hands and chase another and so on..

'Killer'
This is an indoor game played with chits of paper. The chits have 'King', 'Queen','Minister', 'Police', 'Killer' written on them. They are then folded and strewn. The players have to choose a chit. The person who is the 'Police' has to find the 'Killer'. The 'Killer' in the meantime has to wink at the others one by one by ensuring that the Police does not notice him. Obviously, the 'Killer' would not know who the 'Police' is. But he needs to wink at people one by one. And the person who is being winked at by the 'Killer' responds by saying 'I am Dead'. The 'Police' needs to make a guess who the 'Killer' is before the remaining person says 'I am Dead'.

'Name, Place, Animal, Thing'
Each person has a sheet of papaer with four columns- Name, Place, Animal, Thing. A letter of the English alphabet is chosen and each player, writes a name, a place, an animal, a thing starting with that letter. No two players should have the same entry.

Dodge Ball
A huge circle is drawn on the ground. Few players stand inside the circle and the remaining stand outside thecircle. The players outside the circle need to throw a ball at the people inside the circle and ensure that the ball hits someone inside the circle below the knee. That person is sent out of the game. The idea is to remove people inside the circle one by one.

Are these being played any longer?

"C" for Creativity

When someone tells you to creatively solve a problem what do you do? How do you start? Lateral thinking, out of the box solutions seem to be the jargons that every manager is fed with.
With increasing competition in the economic scenario, companies are forced to employ ‘creative’ strategies. With increasing competition from their peers, managers are compelled to deploy ‘creative’ solutions. But what exactly is being creative like? Is it doing something that no one has ever thought before? Is creativity based on facts?
I remember participating in creative writing competitions during college and even won one of them. I just had to think and write a story for which only the first and last line were given by the panel. Simple, isn’t it?
I worked with a multi national company that was bent upon improving employee satisfaction more so for its call center. Employees were given awards for numerous ‘excuses’. A customer complimenting an employee would automatically fetch a gift coupon for him/her. An idea of the employee that the company feels would be beneficial for it would fetch a reward. One of the managers came up with a practice called “peer-peer’ awards wherein boards with posted sheets were stuck on the wall. Any employee willing to appreciate another employee could go to the board, write on the sheet. The first three employees who had the maximum number of appreciations each month were rewarded. Apart from this, parents of all employees were sent a letter signed by all the mangers stating that their son/daughter was a star. Such small things mattered to the employees.
I remember hosting a debate competition at my college. I had prepared a few topics out of which one of the topics was “1+1 = 1X1”. I did not know why I gave that topic but I had nothing in mind then but just plain curiosity to see how the participants would think in a short span of 2 minutes. And yes, the participant who got this topic did justice to it. She immediately conjured up with the idea that 1+1 represents two individuals in the institution of marriage and after marriage they become one thereby representing 1X1. I think that was a brilliant explanation.
Let us take the success of the book “The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari”. With numerous self-development books flooding the book shelves, this was one book that carved a niche for itself. The recipe of the book was different. It had things that had been told to us before but it was packaged differently. It spoke of a story of a successful lawyer who failed at his personal relationship and who was on the verge of a breakdown until he discovered what life had to offer. This story added spice to the book and enabled it to become a best seller.

To be contd...

Digging Around and into the Mind

Gardening is a wonderful experirnce to be totally in touch with nature, forget the mundane happenings and be in sync with the greenery around. During one such afternoon, after a good drive, I was busy mixing manure for the plants in our small garden comprising of flowering plants. It required mixing three varities of organic manure. And after that, Dad asked me to dig around the plants to pour in the required manure for each plant. As I started digging around one plant and started filling up manure and mixing it with the sand, I was asked to dig more. I was told that the manure had to go in deep into the ground surrounding the roots of the plant for it to act. And hence I started digging. And at the same time pondering.
It is the same with life. To grow in our attitudes, values, we need nutrition to be supplied very close to our root-the root being our mind. It is essential to conceive what we want to grow at and apply this thought to our mind that would absorb and reflect it in our actions. The more nutrition we apply to our mind, the more we grow in a healthy manner. The resolutions that we take every New Year need to have a deep will in ourselves to see that they are followed. This conviction stems from the resolute mind. Thoughts keep appearing in our mind and vanishing. We resolve to do a lot of things but many a time, we fail to keep up with our convictions.
Those that stem deep from within have a greater impact.
Nature indeed teaches us lessons in a subtle manner.

A Culinary Lesson on Life

I was very enthusiastic about cooking pasta. It had been a long time since I made it and that day, I indeed wanted to savour it. After having the tomato puree ready and having chopped onions, I set some water for boiling. Once it boiled, I dropped chunks of macaroni into it. As I was stirring them in the water, I noticed that it took some time for the macaroni to get cooked. And as the water started throwing up bubbles, the macoroni started responding to the temperature by getting softer slowly. And as each moment passed, it got softer until it was just perfect to be mixed with the other ingredients.
And that is where it struck my philosophical bent of mind. Under extreme conditions, the macaroni, already hard and bland, reacted by getting softer and so perfect that lead it to being tasty. Is that how life treats each one of us? Probably extreme situations, mould us to become better individuals to sculpt ourselves better that we already are. Probably extreme situations are created to enable us to realise that we have the capability to handle them and react in a positive manner.