Main aur Mera Chaand

Jalun tere saath main bhi chaand

Chalun tere saath main bhi chaand..

Raat ki khamoshi ki kahaani kaise tu..

Tere jaise main bhi ek afsana chaand..

Jalun tere saath main bhi chaand...

Sitaron ki bheed mein akela kaise tu..

Tere jaise main bhi akela chaand..

Jalun tere saath main bhi chaand..

Ek raat hi purnim, poora fir bhi kaise tu..

Mera ishq bhi saagar mein ek leher chaand..

Jalun tere saath main bhi chaand...

Chakor ke aansun mein bheega kaise tu..

Main bhi roun aise tujhe dekh ke chaand..

Jalun tere saath main bhi chaand...

There is Only One Doer

Accept the World at its Worst

Suppose the worst of the world is given to you; what would you do with
it?

You should not complain if you get the worst. If you have received the
worst, then things can only get better. And you are here to make it
better.

Jim: When things are at their very worst, there is only time and space.
(Laughter)
Patty: When you see life as suffering, then you go within.

Paula: It is like running out of breath and you have to inhale.

What happens when you have to do something all by yourself -- and no
one
comes to help?

Here are three options:
1. Be frustrated and complain;

2. Thank others for not helping so that
you can take all the credit;

3. Be grateful, pray deeply, and know that
you will get all the energy
needed to do it alone. There is only one
Doer.

~~ Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Hello World - Reboot!

A long time has passed since I wrote something. In fact, after almost a year, I visited my own blog today. I was losing my ability to write anything substantial for a long time as is quite evident from the last few posts here. I am happy, however, that the last post on this blog was about the good news on support for Shriya. That was an important cause.

But if we scroll down this blog, the last real post from me was in September 2012. Now that indeed is a very long time. I mean Wow! Writing, which used to come so freely to me, suddenly, left me blank. Let’s keep aside the standards. I hardly held any high standards, both in terms of content and delivery. But the attempt to be funny definitely was something which brought a lot of joy and the comments from my friends (and sometimes strangers) always kept me going.

Life has its own way of getting back at you, though. All the jokes on life and living took a full circle and decided to have a go at me. Suddenly, life which was so easily captured in the funny lines in this blog became so complex that it took a long time to even come to terms with it let alone comprehend it. I became like those cartoon characters being slapped tight on their faces and swirling clockwise and just when they come to a halt another slap takes them on an anticlockwise swirl. Unfortunately, the pain and dizziness associated with these difficult motions is what makes cartoons funny. But life’s lessons come with experiences like these and it is good to have a hearty laugh on these matters as well. There were some important things to learn and they have been learned. Things that could be taken care of have been taken care of. Things that should have been accepted as is have been accepted as is. Life is BAU and all is well!

But I realized today that I miss writing. It isn't important that I “miss writing” because what I wrote was never important. The important thing is that I “realize” that I am missing writing. The realization has come after churning through life itself and now there is some breathing space to feel.

I don’t think I can attempt to be funny like I used to. That bit in me has definitely eroded!  But write shall I. Write on what? Well, we shall see.

Good news for the regular visitors though (now that’s funny because, hello, are there any left?). You are free from the bonds of bribe and blackmail. You were awesome! 

A Ray of Hope for Shriya

Dear All,

I have a wonderful news to share about Shriya. 

Due to continued efforts by Shriya's parents, the Genzyme Corporation (the company which manufactures the drug given to Shriya) has given their consent to sponsor Shriya's ERT, at least for the time being. This is part of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) program of the company. This gives an immediate relief to Shriya's parents. While this is not a permanent solution for Shriya's family, this gives them enough time to work with other agencies for a long term solution for Shriya. 

Shriya's parents have requested to STOP the donations which was generously offered. This was communicated to me in late November last year. But I wanted to wait to see that the situation did not change. So my apologies in case this comes to you a little late.

Please do not stop praying for Shriya and her family. Their life still revolves going to the hospital twice a month and manage their routine lives. It is still not easy for the family and your best wishes will be needed always. 

I thank everyone who read my posts on Shriya and generously came forward with help and prayers. A big THANK YOU! 

Shriya - Update

Dear Friends! 

Just a little post here to update you all about the SaveShriya campaign launched by Fortis Foundation. 

Tweets 14,621

Re-Tweets 3617

Total Tweets 18,238

Which means that Fortis foundation will contribute INR 1,82,380/- for Shriya. It translates to 2 months of ERT for her. Which is a big help for Jaydeep and Shivani!

All these tweets were generated in just about 15 days - through word of mouth, through a friend re-tweeting and then another friend re-re-tweeting, through people like Aman sir and Deepak Singh making it their mission to sit the whole night to tweet for Shirya, through celebs like Farhan Akhtar, Priyanka Chopra, Irrfan Khan, Sandhya Mridul tweeting and spreading the word to hundreds of others! It was all made possible by people like you and me.  

And I want to thank everyone who read about Shriya here on my blog and cared enough to do something for her. Thank you and you should know that you are a star!!

And finally I appeal you all once again to not forget about Shriya. She needs the ERT (each ERT costs INR 90,000/-) twice every month for at least another 15 years. Keep tweeting, keep mailing and keep talking about Shirya when you can, where you can. And when you have a little more cash, please do not hesitate in helping financially as well. It is a little girl's life at stake!

Take care and God bless!

Joy of Giving

Dear ones,

October 1 - October 8 is the Joy of Giving week. Renowned healthcare group Fortis Foundation has launched a twitter campaign to support Shriya and raise awareness for Gaucher's disease. Fortis has agreed to sponsor one ERT treatment for Shriya. Each ERT costs INR 90,000. And they have also agreed to donate INR 10 for every tweet for Shriya. This is the easiest way you can help Shriya over the next couple of weeks. 

So how does it work? You just need to have a twitter account. To Tweet visit (http://www.fortishealthcare.com/saveshriya) press “TWEET NOW” icon, put your twitter ID and Password. An auto generated tweet message will appear as “I just donated a tweet for saving SHRIYA you should too #saveshriya http://bit.ly/QZndfy”. Make sure you don't change this message. And then just press TWEET. You DO NOT have to draft a message. All you have to do is click. Three clicks and you donate Rs.10 for Shriya's next ERT. 

You can also send your other messages after this tweet message. Multiple tweets from same user will be treated as 1, so when you RT, you are spreading the message and we need to do it at a large scale. Additional tweets should be ending with “#saveshriya http://bit.ly/QZndfy”. 

Fortis is targetting 8500 tweets. Now this is to cover the treatment of ERT. This is also the bare minimum number we want to reach to help sponsor a month's treatment for Shriya. But 8500 is not the upper limit. There IS NO upper limit and this rare but huge opportunity is for the next two weeks only.

Do you think your tweet matters? It does. I was very lucky when I visited the Fortis website (https://saveshriya.fortishealthcare.com/) today afternoon just to check the status. And here's the screenshot I was lucky to take. anusha30 is my Twitter handle. And my tweet was re-tweeted by atleast 5 other people. That's atleast Rs. 60/- for Shriya!! And I am not even popular or active on Twitter. So yes, your little effort matters. It matters a lot for a family really struggling hard to keep the hope floating for their little girl.

Here's a little video Fortis has created for the campaign. 

Please visit, please take a moment to think and please donate. You will feel very happy. It is the Joy of Giving week after all.

Thank you for all you are doing. 

Save Shriya

Dear Readers,

I write this post asking for a favor. Please read the entire post with a little patience and consideration.

Shriya is a 2.5 years old baby (born on May 31st, 2010) diagnosed with Gaucher's disease. It is a rare genetic disorder caused by a hereditary deficiency of the enzyme glucosylceramidase, which leads to a collection of fatty material in the spleen, liver, kidneys, lungs, brain, and bone marrow. Little Shriya was diagnosed with Gaucher's Type 1 when she was 3 months old.

Here are the links of the case history and doctor's certificate.

http://saveshriya.com/CaseHistory.html

http://saveshriya.com/DoctorCertificate.html

Treatment

• Enzyme Replacement Therapy (ERT): This is the only life saving treatment available world wide. ERT replaces the deficient enzyme with artificial enzymes. These replacement enzymes are administered in an outpatient procedure through a vein (intravenously), typically in high doses at two-week intervals.

• Bone Marrow Transplantation (BMT): This surgical procedure has been used for severe cases of Gaucher's disease. In this technique, blood-forming cells that have been damaged by Gaucher's are removed and replaced, which can reverse many of Gaucher's signs and symptoms. This is a high risk treatment and is very rarely administered.

Monthly ERT is the only treatment option available for Shriya and she needs to undergo this at least until she is 18 after which oral medication can be considered. This enzyme needs to be imported from USA and costs 1650 USD and the dosage (and hence the cost) will change as Shriya grows up. The invoices till May 2012 are uploaded on the website. I have the invoices for the month of July if you want. And you can always request for the latest invoice from Shriya's parents and they are always prompt in replying. I am saying this based on my own personal experience. 

How can you help?

1. The biggest help this family needs at this time is financial. Any sort of financial help is most welcome. If you can contribute 100 USD great! If you can contribute 100 INR great! No amount is too big or too small. I have posted the donation details at the end of this post. I have used the online transfer without any hassles. I have always received prompt reply from Shriya's parents with proper acknowledgement.

*EDIT October 4th, 2012 - Fortis foundation has started a twitter campaign for Shriya. Fortis has pledged to donate Rs.10/- for every tweet with the tag #saveshriya. This is the website - https://saveshriya.fortishealthcare.com/. All you have to do is go to this link, click on tweet and submit. You do not even have to draft a message. It's all done for you. You can post as many, RT as many times. All you have to do is click. Easy, right? I have decided to set aside a time and RT 10 times a week. That's a 100 bucks a week from one person. If we can sustain only this, that will be more than enough! Yeah, that easy!

2. If you are a doctor or someone who can help with the medicine (enzyme) please do reach out to Shriya's parents. I am sure any and all information will be very useful for them.

3. Spread the word! Please spread the word! I can understand if you cannot help financially. Sometimes, we just cannot. But if you are reading this blog, I am sure, you can also copy paste this information on your twitter/Facebook/blog accounts and send it to your local charity chapters. Here is the Facebook group link. 

4. If you are in Delhi, you can make time to visit Shriya and just share your precious time with the little girl at the AIIMS whenever she gets in there for her treatment. I am sure you will feel as good as the Sethis. 

5. Whatever you can think of!

I assure you the validity of this post and all the links posted here. I have verified this personally and I truly believe in the cause. I am sure you will do everything you can. :-)

THANK YOU!! 

************************

Donations

Please make your donations in the name of SHRIYA SETHI

Account No. 911010065008502, 

Axis Bank Ltd,

A-13 Swasthya Vihar, Vikas Marg 

New Delhi-110092, India. 

IFS CODE:  UTIB0000055

Contribution in Foreign Currency can be sent to the PAYPAL Account: jay_hcl@yahoo.com

Please also mail your contribution details to shivanisethi0206@gmail.com for  tracking and acknowledgement purpose.

http://saveshriya.com/Donations.html

Contacts

Jaydeep Sethi (Father) E-mail ID: jay_hcl@yahoo.com Phone No: +91-9958284420

Shivani Sethi (Mother) E-mail ID: shivanisethi0206@gmail.com Phone No: +91-9810033778

Railgadi..

I am travelling home to Bhopal. J I had big plans for this trip but as it goes with planning, most of my plans are bombed. So I thought a simple trip to home is always harmless. Let’s make it.

So here I am sitting in Rajdhani Express heading to Bhopal. Yeah, the best train in India. A lot of people, specially my parents and especially my dad, are not too fond of traveling in the AC coaches. They say that the tainted windows and curtained partitions rob the “experience” of traveling Indian Railways and you can get this “experience” only when you are traveling in the sleeper coach. I have a theory on this, though. You see, while a lot of Indians are making a lot of money, the “core” middle class “Indianness” remains the same. The “Third AC” is the new sleeper class and the “experience” pretty much remains the same.

Take for example, this trip. Being my dad’s daughter, I was the first one to get on the train after being almost an hour and a half early to the railway station. It is a matter of pride and habit to do so which I doubt I will be able to get rid of in this lifetime. Once I am on and comfortably settled in my seat (after taking the maximum space possible for my two teeny weeny bags), some others start getting on as well. Three young men get on first and one of them, unfortunately for him, has a broken shoulder. His friends made fun of him constantly and at the same time ensured that he's always comfortable. The young men are speaking excellent Hindi. At the same time, their informal tone is unmistakably “Bhopali”. And then the most interesting person of this trip boards the train. He must be in his late 50s and let’s call him Uncle ji. Our Uncle ji has graying hair but he has been given a middle berth, which he understandably doesn’t like. He asks the young man with broken shoulder if he can take his seat. That’s the first thing you always do in Indian trains. You exchange your seats. You “adjust”. Our young man’s plaster is hidden under his shirt and he explains why he can’t change the seat. Our Uncle ji gets very furious. Not because he is stuck on the middle berth, but because the young one was so callous to even think of wearing a shirt on when he has a broken shoulder. To shirt kyun pehen rakhi hai? Pardarsan (pradarshan) karo nahi to huemin kya pata ki tumhara haath toota hai. The young man did the pardarsan alright for the rest of the journey. Our Uncle ji decides to step out for a while. Everyone around me exchange meaningful glances to not “encourage” this Uncle ji.

As our Uncle ji is coming back, he stops at the adjacent aisle and asks a gentleman where he is going. Second rule of train travel – It is your primary business and personal duty to know where everyone gets down. The gentleman replies that he is going to Kanpur but he will get down at Delhi. Uncle ji doesn’t like that one bit. He literally shouts at the man and says getting down in Delhi is all wrong and that he should actually get down at Jhansi. And my aisle starts laughing uncontrollably.

Dinner is served soon (it is Rajdhani Express afterall). I refused dinner since I had a very heavy snack. Uncle ji is mad again and I am lectured on how I should never skip dinner. Well if he had the means to look into my stomach contents, his advice would have been to skip meals altogether the following day as well. 

I wake up very early in the mornings whenever I am traveling. I love watching the sunrise through the fields from the train. As kids, Sandeep and I would also open the window to breathe the fresh morning air. This morning was very beautiful as well. The monsoon greenery was all over. The best colors known to the human kind – bright pink, deep orange, sharp blue, soothing green – were creating the golden hour. The fields had new crops growing and I could almost feel the softness of the new leaves. I tell you, it is magical!

The day goes by with breakfast and lunch served. Uncle ji has a heavy breakfast, burps heartily. He then scolds me for reading in the train and then starts reading the newspaper. And I smile, in spite of myself. People are listening to the music, watching a movie or just idling by before the lunch is served. And then everyone sleeps again after lunch. Once the tea is served, people get ready for casual conversations. An aged uncle is searching for his chappal (footwear). Another rule when you travel – People will take care of your luggage, but your chappal is your responsibility. His wife finds it for him 4 aisles down. God knows how it got there!

And as I start noticing the conversations around me, I am surprised how much people have to talk about even to complete strangers. Tax, VAT, Corruption, Manmohan Singh, BJP, movie stars – it is all covered. Soon they also start talking about the young generation and how the whole family dynamics have changed over the years. 

As I write this, we have just crossed Maharashtra and have entered Madhya Pradesh (MP). The train passes many hills and the art work of monsoons is evident everywhere. I stop writing and bask in the beauty thoroughly. I realize fully now that I am going to be home. The feeling of being home is the most relaxing feeling in the world!

Times have changed. I have upgraded from the sleeper to the Third AC. People are carrying all sorts of gadgets with them in train now. There are even charging docks everywhere. They use a freshner in the compartment. I see a suave gentleman reading through the Wall Street Journal on his iPad. I am even surprised to see one young man from Bhopal speaking flawless Tamil (he has a business there). Another man tells that he is originally from West Bengal but loves working in Bangalore. Times, indeed, have changed a lot but it still is all so familiar. Like I have been through this drill all my life. The more things have changed, they more they really have remained the same.

I have refused dinner today as well. There is a hearty meal awaiting me when I get home. In the meantime, there are still some interesting conversations on and I think I will pay attention to them, maybe even become a part of some.

This is me signing off from B4, Rajdhani Express, India! 

Reading or eReading?

“The habit of reading is the only enjoyment in which there is no alloy; it lasts when all other pleasures fade.”  - Anthony Trollope 

Like everything else evolving around us, books and reading in general has also evolved tremendously over the past few years. Even though dedicated e-book readers existed for a while, the biggest revolution in the field came when Amazon launched Kindle in 2007. It captured the imagination of a generation and it soon became the most popular Christmas gift. I received my Kindle as a Christmas gift. :)

The competition within the e-book readers market is very stiff. Of course, Kindle and Nook with their e-Ink displays remain the most popular readers by a distance. However, when Apple launched the iPad, even Amazon could not resist the temptation and launched Kindle Fire which can let you read books and do more. Whatever e-book reader you may have, though, the advantages are many. I can now carry about 3500 books in a single device which is about the size of a fiction book. No more wondering how to dispose the books which I do not want anymore. And I can now pick and chose what to read when I am travelling.  

But does our brain process a e-book the same way as a regular book? This is a very interesting question. Studies suggest that it takes a while for our brain to adjust to a new information medium because it disturbs the balance between the focal and peripheral attention. But apparently with repeated usage, our brain gets used to the idea. Naturally, our brains are tuned to information with a physical address or entity. Secondly, while we do have an advantage of having an instant dictionary and even web access for more information on our e-book readers but scrolling and typing on e-book readers could be more distracting than engaging.  

I personally mix and match. I can read realms of fiction on my e-book reader. But when it comes to “learning”, I much prefer to have a paperback. Maybe it has got to do with how my mind has been conditioned coming from a generation of textbooks and notebooks. But maybe this generation of kids who are exposed to digital media like never before, will have different preferences.  

All said and done though, there are very few things which give the thrill of the touch crisp pages and smell of fresh print.  

Two beautiful questions for the day - What are you reading next? What are you reading on next?

Shantaram - A Review!

I have what I would like to call a writer’s block. Blogger’s block would probably be more apt. Some may just brush it as pure laziness while others may give a condescending smile on yet another blogger who lost the steam. Whatever it may really be, but it is true that I can’t bring myself to write any more. Lots of people have asked me why I stopped. I have thought about it a lot and the best explanation I can come up with is that life doesn’t happen to me the way it did 4 years back. I am not as sarcastic as I used to be and I enjoy making fun of people and myself only occasionally now. My life has moved on quite a bit, the people in my life are not the same anymore and times have really changed. It isn’t that life is boring or anything. Infact, there is much more going on. I am busier than ever. But most of my writing now happens in the personal journal rather than this space which has been my venting zone for far too long.

However, every once in a while I do visit this blog as a visitor. Ironically, I have to apply one of the illegal motivations that I used on most of the regular people here on myself to visit my own blog. (FYI, a bribe to self of two plates of panipuri is what usually works). Yeah, its come down to that! I read the stuff and wonder. Sometimes it feels like I am reading a stranger’s life, maybe, even intruding someone’s private space. But then, here I am writing, maybe venting a little bit too, again about something which I don't mind sharing with www at all.. J

So, I just finished reading Shantaram, a magnum opus by Gregory David Roberts. It is an epic autobiographical yet fictional story, running over 900 pages, of an Australian convict who escapes a maximum security prison and finds himself in Mumbai living in a slum, speaking fluent Hindi and Marathi, setting up an illegal clinic for the city’s poorest, spending months in an Indian prison, working for the Mumbai mafia and in some Bollywood movies, going on a war in Afghanistan, beating opium addiction and trying to redeem himself in the midst of many lost loves.

It really is hard to separate fact from fiction in Lindsay Ford’s tale. As per Greg himself, most of the events that find a mention in the book are real but the characters and story are fictional. Lindsay meets a local city guide, Prabaker who becomes his best friend without either of them realizing the depth of the bond. The unusual friendship takes Lindsay or Linbaba, as lovingly called by Prabaker and eventually everyone he knows in Mumbai, to a small village called Sunder in Maharashtra where he actually gets a new name – Shantaram, a man of peace. But it isn’t until Lin goes through an adventurous and brutally tumultuous life marked by faith and philosophy, freedom and betrayal that he comes to measure the full meaning of this name and why he was given the name.

The book deals with detailed description of life and challenges in slums, the brutal yet surprisingly honorable working of the mafia, the innocence and generosity of people who have nothing more to share than a home cooked roti but a heart big enough to encompass the whole world. One of the endearing themes of the book is how Lin falls in love with Mumbai herself. It is a beautiful account of the great city I fell in love with the first time I saw it. The famous Mumbai monsoons, the Leopold's cafe and numerous other places to eat, Ganapati and Haji Ali, the dabbawallas and the Zaveri Bazaar - they all find a mention. But the most beautiful thing about the book, perhaps even the most emotional one, is to see my country and my people through the eyes of an outsider who in the end is no different than one of our own. It is true that Indians, the middle class Indians, not the stinky rich or even today’s information technology junta, are one of the most loving, accommodating and hospitable people in the whole world who somehow make tradition and modern work together in spite of, sometimes because of the contradictions, with a sense of humor like no one else has and a smile and happiness that bubbles forth from the core of existence in spite of everything that goes on in and around them. And when Linbaba tells the tales of these wonderful people, you sometimes find tears making their way into your eyes from the deepest corner of your heart.

The book isn’t without its flaws. It is too long for one and sometimes you just know what is going to happen next. Some of the characters and events are just one too many. Some of the names are made up without any thought or research (like a Sardar named Anand Rao!!). Greg succeeds supremely when he is accounting his facts in the fiction but fails more often than once when it comes to fiction itself. Another thing that I find a bit hard to believe is when Lin says and emphasizes that he never killed another person even when he was in a war engaged as a soldier in one of the most hostile war zones in the world. But the description of Afghanistan and the war is beautiful and heart wrenching at the same time.

It is a very good book. I strongly recommend it. But you will have to give the book a chance. Maybe after the first 100 pages, you will see the big heart of all the characters and the amazing, miraculous life of the author himself.

Is it a masterpiece? Maybe not. But who cares, yaar? No, Linbaba? J

Krishna Govinda!!! Reloaded!

I will tell you story today.

It was the year 2008. I was given a small stretch assignment at work which should have been completed in 3-4 days. It was some investigations on an application of which I had no idea. The application team was working on a project which was in total shambles and they had to get all hands on board. Typically my bosses avoid looking at my direction during emergencies unless it is an emergency which requires us to vacate the building. But this time they didn't have a choice. And I thought I knew what to do and kept postponing this work until I actually realized that it is not as simple as I thought it would be. Not for my peanut sized brain anyway. And I had realized that only a divine intervention could now possibly save me. I had to prepare a spreadsheet and was supposed to share my findings and that spreadsheet to my boss on a call. I was in a soup and really needed something to calm my nerves before the call. 

My usual cure for nervousness is music. And being in the situation I was, I needed a bhajan and that is when I heard this for the first time. 

I instantly fell in love with this. There is certain effortlessness in Bhanu didi's singing. There is an ethereal softness and the bhakti is unmistakable. I heard it back to back for a couple of hours while filling something in that spreadsheet. Somehow my boss liked what I filled in there and asked me to do some more investigations on that. The next meeting was in two days. Needless to say, I was in a similar situation and had to get back to Krishna Govinda. And my boss liked my spreadsheet even more and asked me to dig even deeper. This wasn't a simple stretch anymore. I was complete and dirty into this project working on an application of which I had no idea about against a crazy deadline and with a team where everyone was getting on top of each other (and I say this very politely) to get the work done. I was finding myself in a situation every single day and everytime I would turn to Krishna Govinda to calm my nerves. And magically it would happen, things would work out and I was strangely finding myself winning over some really tense moments. 

Well, things eventually do work out. But how we go through the time before they do is the important thing to note my lord! Krishna Govinda always came up to my rescue! Always!! And then there were numerous satsangs in Dallas when I would attempt to sing this. Dallas AOL always was kind enough to allow me to have my way and let me sing a few lines. They would actually join in the fun! 

This is a very very special bhajan. I had the good fortune of doing the Sahaj Samadhi Meditation with Bhanu didi this weekend. There was no electricity today at the venue and it felt actually being in a Bikram Yoga class. She lead a meditation session and answered numerous questions (without a mike walking around the packed hall to ensure everyone could hear her) with a certain calm and poise I usually associate her brother with. :) I had the good fortune to listen her sing this real up close. And when she sang, it was with the same effortlessness and it was the same ethereal softness with the unmistakable Bhakti. 

I sang and I clapped and I was in a moment with the familiar feeling of being at home with complete strangers. 

It was a moment I felt grateful for this wonderful life!

The girl next door..

She is a friend from work. I just love the easy going demeanor she has. 

The Women of Substance

I really loved this click a lot. I had clicked this one during our Yercaud office trip earlier this year. A small tribute to all the wonderful women I know!

Hope - At the Traffic Signal

The week started with the worst kind of nightmares you expect at work. Big release around the corner, projects running in red, the usual chaos on the floor and yeah, yearly appraisal looming around the corner. Work can get really crazy at times. But you already know that! But in the midst of all this madness, something beautiful happened the other day. Something which gave me a lot to cheer about.  

I drive down to work daily. The 40 minute ride gives me enough time to plan my day. Sometimes I sing and that somehow makes me forget about the traffic I have to battle everyday. It puts me in a zone where all I am really bothered is the next note and how to zoom around and be right in front of the red signal. I think it is the monotony of the routine which makes you want to block your immediate reality out of the mind. I suspect everyone who drives in Bangalore have their own way of coping with traffic and stress like that. 

However, sometimes, something happens which snaps you out of that reverie. I was at the signal near St. John’s Hospital on the Hosur Road. (I work at EGL, Bangalore). This is a really long signal which can make you wait for 3 minutes if you are lucky to cross the signal in one go. During peak traffic hours, you may have to wait for almost 5-6 min before you can move on. It was such a morning. Somewhere at the end of that sea of vehicles stood an ambulance with its siren on. The really loud siren made people turn around. It sounded a desperate plea more than a warning signal. For a split second no one moved. And then all of a sudden, as if there was one collective consciousness and not our individual selves, began the honking from everyone waiting there. Everyone wanted to make way for the ambulance. Some moved left, some right a bit to make space. And soon the ambulance was moving amidst incessant honking. People actually peeped out of the windows and called aloud to make the person ahead of them move. People out of the way of the ambulance did not just wait. They all honked.  

It worked. The ambulance could move ahead of all that traffic and was right at the front before the signal turned green. It gave me goose bumps. I did wonder about our emergency management systems and how badly we are equipped to handle something as basic as this. But more than that, this small incident gave me hope. It made me believe in the human spirit that means only good. It also made me believe that we all can make a difference if we uphold the spirit of contribution.  

It was wonderful and it had made my day!

The Free Spirit!

I had not seen a face more beautiful than hers. She looked familiar as if I had known her as a friend forever. She had a perennial smile and could laugh at will. And when she laughed, everyone and everything around her would laugh. The flowers could bloom and the raindrops could shine. She walked with the grace of a swan, the pride of a young maid. She spoke the words of a Zen with the innocence of a child. She walked through the clouds with her feet firmly grounded. She was with everyone yet she was different. She looked at me once and she said a thousand words in her glance. She wanted me to do something and I could have done anything then. She met for a moment and yet she touched lives. She believed in love and yet she did not fear the hurt love might bring. She was special and she made me feel special, if only for a few moments. 

She was everything I ever wanted and ever wanted to be.  

I saw the free spirit today, I met a free soul!

The Second Homecoming

Yeah, yeah, I know what you are thinking and possibly even asking in the online gossip rooms. What has happened of me in this last one year? I have been getting a lot of concerned calls and comments on this blog asking me whether I was still alive, or worse I got married or something. So let me begin this post by assuring you all that I still exist and am very much single. Some of you might argue that existing and being single is really one and the same thing, but yeah, whatever.

So what really has happened of me in 2011? Lots, to be honest with you. So much so that I could have posted reams on my blog and blogger would have actually started charging a handsome for every post. But I did not have the heart to post any of it here. That’s because none of it was funny or just a tidbit. They were major happenings, the kind of events which shake the earth beneath your feet, make you cry like there is no tomorrow and change you as a person forever. You try to hold on to things and people. But you realize that they are gone and your tears will not bring them back. You are humbled and brought down to your feet and 2011 suddenly starts feeling like 2008 all over again, if you know what I am saying. No, you don’t blog about such things. You write them in your personal diaries and cry every time you go back and read them.

But my dear readers, if there are any left that is, there are a few things which you might be interested in knowing. Three of my favorite people got married – my cousin Rachana, my good friend Amit ji and my best friend Varsha. “Varsha”, probably, has been the most used word in this blog after “I”, “me” and “myself” so you all already know her. She is married to prince charming from Pittsburg - Shashank. I do have a hand in helping these two meet. You see, theirs is an arranged marriage and the ceremonial tea which Varsha took shyly in a tray when she met Shashank for the first time was made by yours truly. Like coffee, a lot can happen over tea as well and Varsha and Shashank can vouch for that. The celebrated and highly bribed commentator on this blog, Amit ji got married to this amazingly warm person Archana. Now I do take some credit for their marriage also because I have a habit of taking credit for everything good that happens around (? Ok, in spite of) me. The thing is Amit ji, at one point of time in his life, decided that he will never ever marry. And at that precise point of time in his life I let out a laughter louder than a F18. That, people, was the turning point in his life. But to be honest, one look at Archana ji is enough to understand why Amit ji is married to her. Yeah, she is that good. And finally, my sweetest and naughtiest sister Rachana married this cutie pie from Ahmadabad – Ravi. Do I have a hand in this too? Hell yes! Rachana could never have married any guy without my approval and she knows that bloody well!!  

But for these joys of life, I can’t imagine how I would have made it to 2012. Almost everything else tested me. I was tested for life and the results came positive. Wow! I like that sound of that! But in the midst of all that, I completely ignored this space. I did not feel like writing. I am back not because I have found an urge to be funny again. No, no, not that. But my friend Vishu, disguised as an anonymous, made me realize that it has been almost one year since I last posted. This has been my longest time away from this blog and I almost felt a little sad. It is not time to say sayonara, yet. But one more year of draught of posts, I think we can then call it a day.

Let me take a chance to wish you all a wonderful 2012. I don’t know why but I have a feeling that some wonderful things are in store this year. Some are shouting Armageddon already but hey, it might be the best thing that happens to us, who knows. Look forward to hope and happiness, take care of your health and your loved ones and love a little more than you did last year.

I sure am going to do all of that! 

United States of Anusha

Hello World!

As a lot of you might already be aware, due to sudden and unforeseeable turn of events, I am back to India.  The American life looks over, for now, at least. To say that the last few days have been tough would be an understatement. I had the worst kind of emotional upheavals, way too much physical labor, lack of good food, terrible weather and every other kind of problem you can think of. A lot of people who know me asked how I was feeling about the whole deal of moving back to India. Well, coming back to India was never an issue for me. I never expected to stay for 2.5 years in USA to begin with. It was the timing of it, just like my coming to US, which left me shattered and confused and happy and strangely satisfied.

The thing about having so many varied feelings at the same time is that, you don’t know which feeling is real and which one is just a natural response to a sudden drastic change.  I am happy to be home but I miss my best friend terribly. I have been so used to waking up to Varsha’s phonecall and sleeping after wishing her good night that I always used to tell her that – tere bina meri subah nahi chalti, tere bina meri shaam nahi dhalti etc. If there is one thing that I am going to miss about my life in USA would be you Varsha. Thank you for being there by my side, helping me out, with the toughest of situations and you know very well what it meant to be with you in the last couple of days there. Even being home with everyone I love does not overcome the sadness of not having you around. Your presence kept me going and it is because of you that I did all the fun things I did. Thanks for being such a wonderful, beautiful friend. You are one of the biggest blessings I have in life. Other than that, there were some friends in Kansas without who my stay in Kansas, my packing and moving would have been impossible. Sumit, Sandeep, Shraddha bhabhi, Sujay – Thank you guys. It would have been a mess without you being there. And yes Vishal – thank you for doing nothing. That really helped. :P  

I always took my work very professionally. Work and life rarely got mixed as far as I am concerned. But I did not realize that I made some very good friends in some of my colleagues/peers/competitors/bosses/customers. I never expected that I would be getting books and entertainment cds to keep me company for the long journey I had (and it helped a lot!!). I never expected that someone who is not required to even respond to my emails followed every facebook update I made and just wanted to know that I reached home alright. I never expected to hear some great things from my managers about what I did in the last couple of years. I honestly never expected that.  So thank you Allen, Bonnie, Karen, Don, Staci! It was a pleasure working with you and for you. I would love to do it again! Thank you for everything.

I made so many friends in US. I made more friends in the last couple of years than I did my entire life. And these are not passing acquaintances. I am talking about friends for life – V3, Alok-Reena, Shagun, Amar-Garima and everyone else. And of course the whole Art of Living group in Dallas, Houston and elsewhere. You guys are rockstars. My best days and moments were with you. I am going to miss you all, but I am so sure that we all will meet again that my goodbyes to you really mean nothing. But till we meet again take care and keep rocking as you do!

And oh, by the way, it was 14^th Feb yesterday - the day of celebrating love. Well I slept from noon till 9 PM and that helped keeping the red shaped balloons out of my way. But my jet lagged mind did some pondering and realized that maybe this love-shove is not for me. I know I am going to get some angry looks from V and some consoling comments here (please avoid if you can!) but it really is very weird. I don’t think I need to be wooed. I just need the presence of the person, an anchor who I can rely on and easily reach out to. I like to hear and be heard, I like to have fun, be funny and enjoy the big and small things in life (I have too many of them). Why in the name of love is that a very difficult thing to find? Isn’t that what the whole world is after? Maybe I am missing something here, maybe I am expecting too much, maybe I will find the person in due time. But matters of heart are so simple that they are way too complicated. I don’t think I have reached the point of frustration, yet but love (the Valentine’s Day, red ballon, pink teddy and chocolate variety) definitely eludes me. So maybe it is alright to experience all that I am experiencing in life in the grand scheme of things but it would be nice to have someone. Yeah…

I did get pink roses though from two lovely young kids from the family above our apartment. It was a very sweet homecoming.

The next innings start in Bangalore in just a few days. I have a lot to look forward to and I will do everything it takes to make these days bright and fun.

Keep checking this space for I have a long life and the tidbits keep happening to me more often than not! 

Happy Two Zero One One - Everyone!

Hiya people!

I did not have the customary end of year post this year..I did not have anything to write about..It was a strange year and it has gone by! Tata (tootles! LOLMAX!!)...

And as I stand on the threshold of 2011, unable to comprehend if it is 2010 or 2011 (much like the state border in Kansas City, unable to decide which state it really belongs to - err OK bad joke), I just see a lot of hope. Don't know for what, but dear ones, I pray for a lot of hope for everyone of you this year..However things turn out to be (some of them will be massive disappointments, some pleasant surprises), 2011 won't be too different from 2010 or any other year for that matter..But you have a chance to be different (don't be unrecognizable like the anonymous posters here.. :P) but be different like Maggi hot and sweet tomato chilly sauce..There is hope..And that will keep you going, inspite of everything!

Make the time of this year count..Learn something new, meet new people, select one dream you had a few years back and work hard to achieve it, earn a lot, spend a lot, smile a lot, laugh a lot! And then this time will be unlike any other year..

I know this post is more like a note to self...And I know I need it.. :-)

I "hope" you have a rocking 2011!!

Back With A "Vengeance"

Hee hee hee..How are you people?

Things have changed a lot since my last post. I conjured a full body patronus and the dementors are no where in sight now. (If you don’t understand what I just said, shame on you!). I am my cute, happy, cheerful, caustic, sarcastic self again!

That last post was a result of a mini heartbreak. Yeah, don’t give me that look, I do have a heart. Reason? Well, it’s complicated. That said, it was great fun to see some of the reactions to my last post. First up I realized that many read it. I did not know I had that many readers. In general people became extra sensitive in showing their disapprovals to my jokes. The usual “shut ups!” became “please, shut ups”. The look of disgust I normally get became looks of sympathy. And I was fed a lot in India in spite of mom’s instructions to all my relatives!

One anonymous dude (check out the comments in the last post) even went on to suggest that I should have trust in the Lord. Arey baba! Trust in the lord is what keeps me going every day. Given that I spend the entire year annoying people, I would not be alive but for the Grace of Almighty. And who did you call little girl, huh? Have you seen me? No? I never was a little girl, ask my mother! And you think I was a depressed birthday girl? Did you see how many cakes I cut that day? No? Did you see the big candle I blew? No? Did you know that Jiva restaurant, Hyderabad have stopped having buffets after I had my lunch there? Word is that their losses are way too heavy to recover. Do you know that I made tomato-green chilly maggi for a bunch of cousins at 2 AM, "on my birthday" and woke up all the people in that building after falling down on a basket full of washed utensils? (Please don't ask how I managed that!). You call me depressed? Dude, you don't know a thing! I am the reason for depression for many in this world. And yeah, thank you for reminding me, “on my birthday”, that I have very limited time left. Are you suggesting that I am getting old? Because if you are, thank God that you are anonymous. Pray to God that you remain anonymous, because hell hath no fury like a pissed off me, trust me. OK, tata, “tootles” (do you even know what that means?), shoo away!

Wow! It feels so good to be back!! :P

All is well!

Happy Birthday!!

October again..Another year goes by..

I am at home after a very long time...And For the first time in years, I had a plan for this day..I had a real grand plan..Of celebration, of joy, of love..I was looking forward to it..I had hope in my eyes, a certain warmth in my heart which was new..I thought there would be smiles..I thought there would be laughter...I thought there would be fun..I thought there would even be some happy tears.. 

But as it often happens, things in my life hardly go as planned...I am right in the middle of happiness and sadness, joy and tears, frustration and helplessness...It is funny that it had to be this day..I don't know what hurts more - the pain itself or the joy of my people on this day inspite of the pain.. 

It is not the best of my birthdays..But it sure reminds me of the fact that I exist. And as it goes with existence, you will get a mixed bag..And the funny thing is you are blind folded and so you don't know what you pick is good or bad...

Thanks a lot everyone for your wishes..Thanks for remembering me..Thanks a lot for reminding me that this day I should have a blast for it is my day..Your wishes mean a lot, even if they were just a scrap on facebook or a one line email, specially today..It not just filled my heart with joy, but also with the sweet warm feeling of knowing that I have some relations which stood the test of time..I am sure some of you are disappointed with me or wondering how much I have changed in these years. But we will work on it..Birthday hai yaar, come on,  maaf kar do.. :-)

I am accepting wishes for this birthday this entire week..Please keep sending them in cash/kind etc!!