Road to Success ...

The Road to success is not straight ...

There is a curve called failure

A loop called confusionn

Speed bumps called friends

Red lights called enemies

Caution lights called family

You will have flats called jobs,

But, if you have a spare called determination

An engine called perseverance

Insurance called faith

A driver called God

You will make it to a place called Success!!! ...

A~Z Friend ...

A - Accepts you as you are

B - Believes in you

C - Calls you just to say "Hi"

D - Doesn't give up on you

E - Envisions the whole of you

F - Forgives your mistakes

G - Gives unconditionally

H - Helps you

I - Invites you over

J - Just likes to be with you

K - Keeps you close at heart

L - Loves you for who you are

M - Makes a difference in your life

N - Never judges you

O - Offers support

P - Picks you up when you're down

Q - Quiets your tears

R - Respects you

S - Says nice things about you

T - Tells you the truth when you need to hear it

U - Understands you

V - Values you

W - Walks besides you

X - Xplains things you don't understand

Y - Yells when you need to listen

Z - Zaps you back to reality ...

7 secrets of Success ...

One side Love ...

I'm not begging you to love me.

I'm not really even asking you.

But, isn't it alright

If I cherish that hope in my heart?

If I dream of just holding your hand,

It will hurt me - not you.

I will try to keep my eyes from shining

When they see you.

And I promise

I will try not to smile a special smile

When you say hello.

but, please

Don't ask me

Not to love you...

- Anonymous

I Miss U ...

Forget about ...

Forget about the days when

you've been LONELY,

but don't forget the

FRIENDLY SMILES

you've seen...

Forget about the days when

it has been CLOUDY,

but don't forget

YOUR HOUR

in the sun ...

Forget about the time when

you've been DEFEATED,
but don't forget the

VICTORIES

you've own...

Forget about misfortunes which

you ENCOUNTERED,

but don't forget the

TIMES

your LUCK has turned ...

Forget about mistakes that

you can't change NEW,

but don't forget the

LESSON

that you've learnt ...

Forget about the plans that

didn't seem to

work out right

but don't forget to

ALWAYS

have a DREAM ...

--- Life should not be a race. Let's try to make it a Journey of Love, Peace & Harmony ---

The Most ...

The most selfish one letter word ...

"I"

- Avoid it ...

The most satisfying two-letter word ...

"WE"

- Use it ...

The most poisonous three-letter word ...

"EGO"

- Kill it ...

The most used four-letter word ...

"LOVE"

- Value it ...

The most pleasing five-letter word ...

"SMILE"

- Keep it ...

The fastest spreading six-letter word ...

"RUMOUR"

- Ignore it ...

The hardest working seven-letter word ...

"SUCCESS"

- Achieve it ...

The most enviable eight-letter word ...

"JEALOUSY"

- Distance it ...

The most powerful nine-letter word ...

"KNOWLEDGE"

- Acquire it ...

The most essential ten-letter word ...

"CONFIDENCE"

- Trust it ...

Happy Vinayaka Chaturthi ...

... Ganapati Bappa Morya ...

... Jay Ganesh ...

Ganesha — the elephant-deity riding a mouse — has become one of the commonest mnemonics for anything associated with Hinduism. This not only suggests the importance of Ganesha, but also shows how popular and pervasive this deity is in the minds of the masses...

The Lord of Success: The son of Shiva and Parvati, Ganesha has an elephantine countenance with a curved trunk and big ears, and a huge pot-bellied body of a human being. He is the Lord of success and destroyer of evils and obstacles. He is also worshipped as the god of education, knowledge, wisdom and wealth. In fact, Ganesha is one of the five prime Hindu deities (Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and Durga being the other four) whose idolatry is glorified as the panchayatana puja.

The Destroyer of Pride: Ganesha is also the destroyer of vanity, selfishness and pride. He is the personification of material universe in all its various magnificent manifestations.

Significance of the Ganesha Form: Ganesha's head symbolizes the Atman or the soul, which is the ultimate supreme reality of human existence, and his human body signifies Maya or the earthly existence of human beings. The elephant head denotes wisdom and its trunk represents Om, the sound symbol of cosmic reality. In his upper right hand Ganesha holds a goad, which helps him propel mankind forward on the eternal path and remove obstacles from the way. The noose in Ganesha's left hand is a gentle implement to capture all difficulties.

The broken tusk that Ganesha holds like a pen in his lower right hand is a symbol of sacrifice, which he broke for writing the Mahabharata. The rosary in his other hand suggests that the pursuit of knowledge should be continuous. The laddoo (sweet) he holds in his trunk indicates that one must discover the sweetness of the Atman. His fan-like ears convey that he is all ears to our petition. The snake that runs round his waist represents energy in all forms. And he is humble enough to ride the lowest of creatures, a mouse.

How Ganesha got His head: Once upon a time, the Goddess Gauri (consort of Lord Shiva), while bathing, created Ganesha as a pure white being out of the mud of Her Body and placed Him at the entrance of the house. She told Him not to allow anyone to enter while she went inside for a bath. Lord Shiva Himself was returning home quite thirsty and was stopped by Ganesha at the gate. Shiva became angry and cut off Ganesha's head as He thought Ganesha was an outsider.

When Gauri came to know of this she was really mad. To console her grief, Shiva ordered His servants to cut off and bring to Him the head of any creature that might be sleeping with its head facing north. The servants went on their mission and found only an elephant in that position. The sacrifice was thus made and the elephant's head was brought before Shiva. The Lord then joined the elephant's head onto the body of Ganesha.

Lord Shiva made His son worthy of worship at the beginning of all undertakings, marriages, expeditions, studies, etc. He ordained that the annual worship of Ganesha should take place on the 4th day of the bright half of Bhadrab...

Target Hit ...

A Friend ...

Vande Mataram ...

Here goes my first video post ...

A tribute to India on her 60th Birhtday...

... Vande Mataram ...

Mind and Meaning ...

“What is this?”, “What is that?” types of questions are common and we do answer to them if we know. But most of the time, we do not exercise our mind much on the question, and we answer the simple universal answer “I don’t know”. Simple words; yet are the answer to all questions …

Have you ever realized that you can get an answer or rather, a better answer if you pause for some seconds before answering to that by thinking on that for sometime? When you think “you already know what that is, but you are unable to express at that time”; that actually means, you don’t know the answer or at least clearly.

Heard a question, your mind started thinking, Oh... this one, I know, but rarely can it remember now and hence can’t express the answer. Why don’t we think that we don’t know the meaning of that… Let’s find out… Let’s try to understand that … Let’s try to get a permanent answer to that; so that our mind can have a snapshot of that word, meaning or question, answer for future …

Looks simple, right? But ask yourself the meaning of a word that you are very familiar with; and try to come up with some explanation… Can you? Most of the cases, the answer is NO. Then, take a pause, pretend that you don’t know to yourself and then you think for sometime, I am sure, you will have something better explanation than you might have given at the very first time before this pause thinking.

Why this happens first of all? May be, because, we feel too ashamed of the fact that our mind is unaware of the thing which is of interest in a particular context. Think on this, ask some small questions to your mind, and try to get good meaning out of that …

All the very best!!!

Why do I blog ?

Few days back, my brother suddenly asked me, “Do you know what Blogging is?”… Surprised of his question, I felt happy to hear that question from him as I had something to tell on that as part of his answer. Those days, I had started blogging… After answering to his question, I told him that I have also one blog to my credit and I have already written some 20 posts. I think, he got surprised, as he had never seen me in that habit… And his surprise made me surprise too. I started thinking, Why am I blogging?

I had never thought I would blog one day... for not one but many reasons (one strong reason is I thought, I am very poor in writing). Mention not, I am a person who hasn’t even maintained a dairy to pen down personal thoughts. And so I am pretty surprised with myself; surprised to see my thoughts find their way out and even more surprised to accept that they will be visible to the whole world... (That was my brother’s line too…; hey, it will be open to whole world !!!)

I have always been lucky to have family and friends around me, with whom I could share what I think. Be it my joy or my despair, my confidence or my inner apprehensions; my celebrations on a success or reflections to learn from my mistakes; to share a laugh and to moan a cry; to participate and to guide; to understand and nurture my thoughts; to discuss and to analyze. They've been there all throughout.

But now, life is changing totally, always hectic schedule, seldom getting family and friends around… That time, I think, at least I can pen down my feelings, my thoughts somewhere that I can come back someday and realize myself where I was and how I was. It is always good those to be accompanied by date, so that you can drag your time back to that date and feel what you had felt on that day, realize how you were, and apprehend with your past… And being open to the whole world, will bring some comments on your thoughts that you can improve upon or at least think on ... A beautiful means of put your thoughts up...

Seriously do not know how far I can continue this business, I do not know whether I can withstand the determination to write, or I will come up with some lame excuse of being busy and not getting time to do so… Really do not know... But will try to keep this habit up, so that I can revisit my past some day through these blog pages…

My Stupid Suicide Plan - Chetan Bhagat

Last week, an IITian committed suicide. People who commit suicide do it when they feel there's no future. But wait, isn't IIT the one place where a bright and shining future is a foregone conclusion? It just doesn't add up, does it? Why would a young, hardworking, bright student who has the world ahead of him do something like this? But the answer is this-in our constant reverence for the great institution (and I do believe IITs are great), we forget the dark side. And the dark side is that the IITs are afflicted by the quintessential Indian phenomenon of academic pressure, probably the highest in the world.

I can rant about the educational system and how it requires serious fixing, or I can address the immediate-try my best to prevent such suicides. For this column I have chosen the latter, and I do so with a personal story.

News of a suicide always brings back one particular childhood memory. I was 14 years old when I first seriously contemplated suicide. I had done badly in chemistry in the Class X half yearly exam. I was an IIT aspirant, and 68% was nowhere near what an IIT candidate should be getting. I don't know what had made me screw up the exam, but I did know this, I was going to kill myself. The only debate was about method. Ironically, chemistry offered a way. I had read about copper sulphate, and that it was both cheap and poisonous. Copper sulphate was available at the kirana store. I had it all worked out.

My rationale for killing myself was simple-nobody loved me, my chemistry score was awful, I had no future and what difference would it make to the world if I was not there. I bought the copper sulphate for two rupees-probably the cheapest exit strategy in the world.

I didn't do it for two reasons. One, I had a casual chat with the aunty next door about copper sulphate, and my knowledgeable aunty knew about a woman who had died that way. She said it was the most painful death possible, all your veins burst and you suffer for hours. This tale mademy insides shudder. Second, on the day I was to do it, I noticed a street dog outside my house being teased by the neighborhood kids as he hunted for scraps of food. Nobody loved him. It would make no difference to the world if the dog wasn't there. And I was pretty sure that its chemistry score would be awful. Yet, the dog wasn't trotting off to the kirana store. He was only interested in figuring out a strategy for his next meal. And when he was full, he merely curled up in a corner with one eye open, clearly content and not giving a damn about the world. If he wasn't planning to die anytime soon what the hell was I ranting about? I threw the copper sulphate in the bin. It was the best two bucks I ever wasted.

So why did I tell you this story? Because sometimes the pressure gets too much; like it did for the IITian who couldn't take it no more. On the day he took that dreadful decision, his family and friends were shattered, and India lost a wonderful, bright child. And as the silly but true copper sulphate story tells you-it could happen to any of us or those around us.

So please be on the lookout, if you see a distressed young soul, lend a supportive, non-judgmental ear. When I look back, I thank that aunt and that dog for unwittingly saving my life. If God wanted us to take our own life, he would have provided a power off button. He didn't, so have faith and let his plan for you unfold. Because no matter how tough life gets and how much it hurts, if street dogs don't give up, there is no reason why we, the smart species, should. Makes sense right?

by Chetan Bhagat

Why watching cricket ???

One Life ...

Simplicity ...

• The aspects of things that are most important to us are hidden because of their simplicity and familiarity.
• A taste for simplicity cannot last for long.
• Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.
• Simplicity of character is no hindrance to the subtlety of intellect.
• The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.
• It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.
• Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity.
• Purity and simplicity are the two wings with which man soars above the earth and all temporary nature.
• Simplicity, clarity, singleness: these are the attributes that give our lives power and vividness and joy.
• Simplicity is indeed often the sign of truth and a criterion of beauty.
• Simplicity is the nature of great souls.
• Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. I believe that a simple and unassuming manner of life is best for everyone, best both for the body and the mind.

When a GIRL ...

Nostalgia ...

From day 1 of my blogging, I have been thinking to write something on my college days, but I always start typing a few sentences and feel that I am missing something out here. Sometimes, lots of thinking go in my mind that I would think it would be a very long post if I pen down all that, but never ever I could do that. May be the thirst of completing it perfectly is not gone yet, so could not catch the start of it. Then, my second mind says, come on, you have experienced this… and you are not writing something that you need to create before penning down…just write what you have experienced… how did it go…how you miss those days…So with all my patience put together to write this, here I go…

Passed my college life, started struggling for a job, (BTW, it was not that stringent struggle, but can be termed so)...Time passed… got a job… really brought a lot of happiness for me and for my family too that were eagerly waiting for that stage of me, may be more than me. Met new people there and life was totally new there. (I cannot forget those days in my first company. will write more on this in another post… this place is reserved for something else)…

I was talking about my college days, 3 years before my job life. My life was totally different then, I was kind of shy guy not caring of others… did not know what a friend is and what life outside home is… Mention not, that was for the first time, I was about to stay in a hostel far from my home and family…I was feeling very uncomfortable there as I was too reluctant to make new friends… I was kind of thinking that the whole world is just opposite to me… Will they accept me as I am? Can I be a friend of them? Lots of questions were creating waves in my little mind…

Days passed and I started making new friends. Every person I saw had something unique, that I can learn. Initially there was some language problem as most of them were talking in Hindi, and I was not that good in that language. But, things became clear day by day. I think, more than me, they started believing on me… Then the wave of belief changed my thinking on the same word... I started believing others.. I thought, may be I could learn something from those guys.. I have something missing that the other guys had… thereby; I could be a friend and learn those things from those…

I came to know that to survive in this world; you need to know lot of things that I was literally unaware of. The spirit of friendship flew through my blood… I respected that relation more than all… I learned, that is the only relation that you can have faith on… and that relation can change you completely… Well, the change depends on the way you want to drive it… Well, for me, it was a good experience to get along with so many new friends.. Life was too happy that I cannot describe here other than telling that, all days were passing without my notice. . too good were those days… I always wished, I could be among them forever…

But the final day came… We had to leave… did not know who will go where and what will they do after going from college… Everybody had a strange feeling… We all gathered together, Everybody were asked to speak something.. Lot of friends told a lot… but, in my mind, I was feeling something else… I was feeling like I am loosing something valuable from my life… did not know whether I will get these type of environment again and friends like these… I felt like a looser and I wished if I could stop them, I could explain them what they meant to me. My turn came, and I could not speak anything…although, I wished to tell a lot… I was really upset and the moisture in my eyes told all that I wanted to tell…. I was listening to all of them telling the line “Be in touch…”, but I was thinking, there is a lot of difference in “Being actually there” and “Being in touch”….

Gone are those days… But, still when I am alone, I go over all the past memories that I carry from there .. I can never forget that memory in my life time… I am still “in touch” with all my friend as far as I can, but I really miss “Being actually there” ….

Timepass with "Khosla Ka Ghosla" ...

I was getting bored at home, suddenly Yahoo messenger message window popped up.

sk: Chinu bhaiya, How are you ?

me: Fine sir. Tum kaise ho?

sk: Fine bhaiya. Aur kaha ho aaj kal aap ?

me: Filhaal US mein huin. Aur sunao kya chal raha hai ?...

----- Long gap ----

sk: Sorry bhaiya, movie dekh raha tha.

me: OK, kaunsa ?

sk: Khosla Ka Ghosla. TV mein aa raha tha...

me: Good movie, right?

sk: Yes, too good. It's too late night now. I have to go to bed.

me: Ok, bye. Take care. Good Night.

sk: Bye. Take care....

The chat session ended and I searched for the movie in "Youtube.com" & a series of movie parts were there. So I thought of watching those... Thanks a ton to "youtube.com" for holding the largely acclaimed movie "Khosla Ka Ghosla"... I had heard a lot about that movie, but never had gotten a chance before... So I eagerly watched and the movie ended in no-time....

They say, you are watching a movie, and if you see suddenly the end screen without realizing that you have actually finished the movie, the movie is "Good"... then... lot of categories follow... "Too Good", "Wow..Amazing".. and lot more .... No doubt, "KKG" is one of that category movie...

KKG is a film that has a plausible storyline, identificable situations and characters and it is portrayed in an extremely intelligent way. The story has caught the plight of common man, average common man's life struggle; not showing anything extraordinary. And that made this movie different and a complete joy to watch; a total refreshing movie indeed...

Lively characters played by all, especially Anupam Kher (K.K.Khosla), Vinay Pathak and Boman Irani (Khurana)... This movie is about the dream of Mr. Khosla who wanted to buy a land and own a house by investing his entire life's earning and finally cheated by a corrupt (Khurana), who usurps the land that belongs to Khosla. Then, with a strong support by Vinay pathak, how both of the sons of Khosla, try to get back the land....

The movie is a clean and honest one... The humor injected at regular intervals kept the movie more interesting and alive... A must watch movie...

How to Succeed ? ...

Got a very good presentation on "How to Succeed"... It points out 15 tips... Here they go...

1. Don't talk negatively about people behind their backs. If you gossip, people won't confide in you. Mind your own business.
2. Try to work for someone who'll challenge your powers. You'll learn more in a year than 4 years of college.
3. Successful bosses have good communication skills. They learn from people, including their employees.
4. Work in such a way that makes your boss look good. It's not flattery.
5. On downsizing, the first to go are those with few friends. Bosses prefer competent people whom they respect.
6. Dress for the job you want, not the one you have. Let your dress reflect your professionalism.
7. Workout to get in good physical shape. unless exceptionally skilled, the unhealthy are at a comparative disadvantage.
8. Personal integrity is crucial. Tell nothing but the truth. Bosses can forgive mistakes, but if you lie, you're gone.
9. Be on time. Try to arrive fee minutes early. It saves you from stress. You'll be much relaxed & work better.
10. Strive your best to keep a deadline. If you cannot meet it, then apologize & ask for an extension.
11. Don't take things personally. If some people are unhappy with you, it's their problem. But always strive to give your best.
12. If you must correct someone, don't get personal about it. Do it never in front of others.
13. Spend some time alone everyday. What's the mission of my life? What do I want to be? And how to go about it?
14. As you move along Plan A of your career, maintain a Plan B as well - an alternative course to rely.
15. Always remember that the secret of success is passion. Always think big. Spread love & joy. You'll have blissful years ahead.