10 travel things- March 2012

There are so many things that you discover when you travel. This time I decided I ll even make a list !!

1. If you find there exists enemity, just understand that it is there for a reason, and that there is no point trying to bring about peace.

2. All morons look alike !

3. Books and Music are the best companions

4. It is not always chivalry when men embarrass you with the "ladies first" principle.

5. Spectacles should be taken well care of. As much as you would for the actual pair of eyes

6. Southies should beware of Northies.

7. Road trip is movement of rolling in dust, and is never pleasant when you are all alone.

8. Delhi metro is goood

9. There is a reason why the song has the lyric "dekha to katora, jaaga to kuan" You ll never understand its gravity until you fall inside a pit in Delhi.

10. Sabko, apna kooda kudh utana padtha hai.

I am going on my vacation tomorrow, and I wonder what more adds on to the list. But this should do for now.

Current track: Jaage hain der se - Guru
 

One Life Well Lived

I was inspired to write this article after listening to Amitabh Bachan sing this song. Although he is old, and you can evidently feel it in his voice, you cannot deny that it adds a significant weight to the meaning of the song. 

Amitabh Bachan in this song inspires me of how I would want to be even when I am as old as he is. This is how AB has influenced me with this song.

Follow this wiki link to find out the meaning of the lyrics, and you would find the video clip here.

           One Life Well Lived !!!

Having something nice to tell even when i can't hear clearly myself

Having something nice to sing out even my voice has worn out

Having things to show my younger ones even when my eyesight starts to wane

Being able to inspire people to live another day, even if I myself am struggling to respire comfortably

To straighten up smiles even after my face has wrinkled

To show people a way to travel, even if my knees don't support me to walk anymore

To leave something worth reading, even if my fingers don't support me to write anything

To show people that you can live to the fullest till you die.

To be of the best use till the moment I die even if I have walked all alone

To be able to spread love even when my heart stops beating

Invisibly Significant

My mom was watching a show where the interviewer asked the interviewee, "If you had the choice to again see two dead people, who would they be? And why?"

So I thought I would write down two influential people I ve never met as they are no longer alive, why I would want to meet them.

1. My grandmother Vimala Rajamani: In the 40 years of life that she actually lived, she lived well enough to set a splendid example to people and greatly influence me.
2. Werner Erhard: My parents attended his seminar "est", and have been live examples of his influence.  If you liked Ayn Rand, the creator of Atlas Shrugged, you would find this man a creator of a John Galt World.


1. Vimala Rajamani: She was married off to my grandpa at the age of 14, had six children, and died at the age forty due to heart expansion.
But her life in these years were extremely significant, and if I had told anyone I was her grand daughter, they all pitied the fact that I did not meet her, and she did not survive to see a grandchild. And people are generally lost recollecting what an amazing person she was.
Her influence on me: I am fortunate enough to have people who have seen her and tell me stories of her. She was a singer, an artist, a fantastic cook, a doctor in the neighborhood, spiritual, divine, and extremely talented.
The very thought that a woman learnt to do all this by the age of fourteen shook me ! With what all I heard about her, I realized that she had known much more about science than I did by the time I was 19, after going through a formal education in Science. And she did it all without harming nature, which is not seen today. Ever since I decided that I am going to follow her footsteps, my life has seen changes. If life ever gives me the chance to meet her (which is completely hypothetical), I would hug her, and never leave her.

2. Werner Erhard: Not much was spoken to me about him till I attained a certain age. But my parents always said what influence he was to both of them. When I grew up, I was told a few quotes of his for awkward situations I was going through, and it made remarkable difference ! The point was well absorbed at my core without any thinking. His point on the situation was extremely precise, and hit me like a dart. You can never disagree on what he says. I somehow regret that my mom doesn't totally live up to all the lessons she learn't back then, but I really wish I attended his seminar on est.
I was told that he died in a plane crash, and I wished his soul rest in peace.I was totally shocked to learn that he is still alive. I wish he has a peaceful life in solitude now. Some lucky people have already got the essence of what he wanted to spread.

These two people promise to keep letting out necessary secrets at the right time. Hence they are the invisibly significant people of my life.

A significant Decision

Till last Sunday, I was cribbing about few particular people who get a job done out of me, and forget about it when it comes to giving me my credits/recognition. Worse, I was pushed away having my age as a factor(I never even received anything like "thank you" to add up to my frustration). So at about Saturday, I decided to put an end to it by reminding these certain people of my age whenever I would have to oblige them.

The plan was all set, and I was relieved. Sunday was an event, and I was dropped back home by a friend who is pretty senior to me by age, and I happened to quote this situation and my decision. This is what she said as a reply "Welcome to the real world, where you shall not find recognition at all no matter what you do. You just have to accept it and keep going on. And this will be so till you die"
It struck me real hard, and made me think the whole night. I am a person who believes "You are never too young to work on anything, you are never too late to reach out to your heart"
Indeed, I worked on things that came from my heart. I take pleasure in working even on weekends or late nights at times. I then decided that if I chose to ignore comments made at me for working at odd hours which means nothing to me, I should ignore the "need" to be recognized. As long as my work has touched my heart, I have got the best recognition.
And like I spoke in my previous post, I would be living happily than surviving on credits/appreciation given by others which most certainly wont always be genuine.
I took a moment to go through this picture and use the logic in it in my life. Things that I want to do to make sure I always reach out to my own heart.

Surviving, living, just being

We are at an age where our identity is not our family name nor the achievements/history of the family, but what we are! our studies, our looks, our work.
I would not want to say that this change is bad. I in fact like this change. There are several reasons that such criteria are measures of an identity.

Building a new generation identity, and creating a niche is a completely self made process, and most of the times not an easy task. But doing all this for the people who are judgmental is total crap!

Living vs surviving: This somehow is a major point of ponder for me over the last month. Of how people have different ways to look at life and actually live it.
I just finished reading nandhini's post on marriage, and I relate a lot of the content to acceptance.
Acceptance has a lot to do with personal and professional life.
There is a friend of mine, who is a geek/nerd, who decided to teach engineering students immediately after graduating. It is his life, his choice. But the problem started when he decided he was old enough to have a partner. He was not chosen by people (#Indian arranged marriages ! ), because he did not go to work for an IT company to earn few more lakhs than he actually does.
One fine day when he was talking to my mom about this, he said
"well yes aunty, I agree I could mint money in an IT firm, but the women are too dim to understand that I have something that those guys don't have : the time to spend the money I earn !"
Such a solid point it was !

One has to work hard no matter what their work is. Period !

Then I happened to meet a colleague who was telling that going to an IT firm was absolutely of no use when he got all that he wanted with what he is doing now.


Another colleague whom I immediately took into a close circle, told me "I am not rich, neither is my husband. He works as an architect in a small firm, doesn't earn much. But you see he always earns something for sure, and is not in an eternal threat" #Most valid point !

Another friend (a senior actually) "My brother works in the UK, earns a whopping salary, whereas I started my work here in a very small scale, and over the years, today I earn more than my friends. But if you compare me and my brother, I have something he doesn't- Surety of job, and peace of mind ! "

A small statistics here about Indian men who earn less (< 5/ 8lakhs per anum): These are the men who don't care whether the woman works or not. The ones who earn less than 5 lakhs on the other hand prefer their woman not working at all and take care of her like a queen. Whereas the ones who earn anything more than 8 (there might be some rare exceptions), are firm that their woman should earn (her own) money !
So you see how too much money makes you greedy for more, and how you just survive on probabilities on having a better project, more money, a rich wife, or a supposedly big life. Whereas people who find happiness in every little thing, actually live.

I don't mean to say that you need to earn less to live. You need to find your time to live. You can even earn lakhs or crores a year, and still know where to draw a line, to "live". But for some strange reason most of us are madly driven into building a reputation of earning big, than living big, and I can very safely say that the ones in a rush are the ones who are least happy or peaceful. Having read this, decide if you see yourself surviving the several competitions or living the real life