Happy Birthday 2011

A beautiful moment ...

@ Santa Cruz Beach, CA (30th April, 2011)

5 years completion @ KT

The day was of 4^th May 2010, 3 PM. All my teammates joined together to celebrate my 5 years completion at KLA-Tencor India. Actually Ranjith too had joined on the same day when I had joined, that was back in 5 years, on 2^nd May 2005. So this meeting became a joint celebration for both Ranjith and me.

As a customary celebration, everybody (Or, most of the team) says a word or two about the person who has completed 5 years, the experience that they share with the person. The person, too, briefs his experience in his last 5 years. Though, none of this sharing experience is compulsory, people usually get one or two words (Sometimes funny, sometimes directly from heart, sometimes some hidden revenge, so on, so forth) to express before the team.

Usually, in earlier occasions of 5 years of completion, it so happened that the meeting started with the person who completed 5 years sharing his experience and that was followed by the team sharing their few words. But things were different that day. People jumped in sharing their words before we (Ranjith and I) sharing our experience and concluding the meeting.

Here are the comments that I got from the team:

Harikishan V:

The good thing about Chinmaya is that he never binds himself to any domain. He takes opportunity in whatever comes in the way, works in various domains that is really good. Also, his interactions with new-joinees were wonderful. He helped them grew. All the new-joinees personally appreciated his efforts in terms on the training that he gave and regular help in their daily activities.

Vamsee R:

We share a bond beyond language; we usually speak in Hindi language, where we both are good at. And when we talk in Hindi, lot more things come out, both on the personal front as well as professional. He is a real software engineer. Many a times, he just writes a piece of code and says, “It got to work” and it works. I really appreciate his confidence level. Also, he is a good blogger and a voracious reader. He has shared with me lots of books that he reads. Because of him, I could read lots of interesting books. Thanks Chinmaya for this.

Anbarasu S:

Chinmaya was the one who took my interview. By that time, I had already attended 5 interview sessions, and it was the last technical interview that he took. It was good. He helped me a lot in trainings. When Hari was not around, he made sure that I undergo all the trainings scheduled. In all my technical discussions, I go directly to him and he helps me in all those directions. Thanks Chinmaya for this. Also, he reads a lot of books. After seeing him, I too got inspiration to read books and I am trying for that.

Vishnu J:

Chinmaya is a one amongst the few who have knowledge in all domains. I think, we should properly utilize his talent.

Rajeev C:

Many of you guys may not know that he has started writing a book. I was the first reviewer of his book. It was good.

Ranjith C:

He is a cool guy. He also has shared his writing with me, but have not got chance to read that. Also, we have an agreement that I do not want to disclose here. He is a man with smile, please keep up the smile. He is technically very good, helping and surely has ability to move to next level. Keep up the good work Chinmaya.

Aditya B:

Chinmaya is very intelligent. He is good in software and mathematics. When I joined here, he helped me a lot in understanding the domain and various other work areas. I used to go to him for any doubt I had. Even today, if I have any doubt, I go to him.

Muthukumar K:

Chinmaya would have eaten his nails, or fingers by now, always he keeps himself busy biting nails. I have told many a times, not to do so, but still he continues to do so. In his blog, some of the posts are copied and pasted. When I told him about that, the good thing is that, he took it positively and said, “I liked those articles good and informative enough that I put in my blog”. He is a very helping guy; always with a smiling face. If you need solution with smile, go to Chinmaya.

Ranga S:

Apart from all of the qualities he has one more quality. Many of you guys may not know that, he is a good singer.

Hema N:

I have not directly worked with Chinmaya, so I cannot comment much on his technical abilities. But when we were cube-mates, I was surprised to see the number of books that he used to read. That is a very good quality in him, I feel.

Veera G:

I have worked in 3 different companies so far, but I have not seen a person like him. He is very good in technical side and as a person too. He is master in Diagnostic domain. He helps a lot to others and he knows how to talk to people. When he talks to a fresher, he behaves as a fresher and explains in very detail; and when he talks to an experienced person, he behaves so.

Dhruba M:

Chinmaya is “Darling of KTI”. He is a great mathematician; he has a small calculator in his brain. After joining KLA-Tencor, the greatest achievement in my life is “Getting Chinu as a friend.”

Surya T:

A good trainer. Whenever I have any hardware related doubt, I approach him.

Varadha M:

He has a small gang with Anil, Ravi. I always treat him as a kid.

Senguttuvan S:

He always smiles. If we have any frustration, we just need to go to him and talk for 2-3 minutes, we will feel relaxed.

Jagan S:

Chinmaya is one among the few who have impressed me in very short span of time. When he was in US and was delivering the first feature, we had a meeting with GSS. As usual, GSS wanted some feature in the final review and I was not happy. I asked Chinmaya to come up with the design, estimation and the plan. But, at the end of the day, when I again met him, he was done with the feature; he had coded and updated the design document too. I was impressed.

When I ask people about NGS architecture, many of them say that it is too complex and difficult to understand. But, Chinmaya, on the other hand, took it as an opportunity, he said, that we have lots of things to learn out of NGS and that really shows his positive attitude.

Also, he is a good architect (painter).

Alex C:

Chinmaya was onsite when I was managing NGS 5.3 project; that time APPs were testing NGS and there were lots of problem with KLARF. I was on fire and I took Chinmaya help in resolving problems. He was real fast in finding the problems and solving those problems one after another. Actually, it was a rare combination of those 2 qualities; finding problems and fixing them too in that tough situation. Thanks Chinmaya for your support and I wish many more years in KT.

Anilkumar J:

It’s been five years working with Chinmaya. He is the only person who does not differentiate between testing and development; that is a very good thing. One thing I got after joining KLA-Tencor is a friend like him.

Swaminathan A:

I agree to all the points being told. All the best for your future.

Mahesh S:

Chinmaya has helped me a lot when I had joined here. Thanks Chinmaya for this.

Hari R:

Well, lots of things told about Chinmaya and it is a good quality to have all of them. What I feel is everything that people told correlates to his software activity. If you are a good painter, you can design good UI; if you are a good mathematician, you can put better logic and algorithm.

Apart of that, I think, Chinmaya can work across tools, SP2, SP3. It is really a good thing. Thanks Chinmaya, keep up the good work.

Am I writing a book?

Well, “Am I writing a book”, rather, “Am I really going to write a book” is a question to myself. For the readers, assume that this post is telling, “I am going to write a book!”… And to my friends, when I threw this idea, comments flew from different directions with different thoughts and here they go:

Aditya:

Yeh sab chakkar mein mat raho… (Don’t be in this fantasy…). Yeh pyar, mohabbat mein mat pado, jaldi se ek ladki dekho and shaadi karlo (Don’t be in this love, find a girl soon and get married!)

Anil:

“Abbey pehle to kitab ka naam sochle… Waise tu kya likhega? Sab sach likhna hai, agar tum tumhare baare mein likh rahe ho!” (First think of the name of the book. By the way, what are you going to write there? Write all truth if you are going to write about yourself!)

Deepa:

I know you can do it. I want to see your name as author of some book. And please do not write your nickname as the author name, I won’t be able to guess whether that is you… Well, what are you going to write the book about?

"Love, Friendship and Leadership" I said.

“Leadership?, Interesting.. I know you can do it, but your book will not be as famous as Chetan Bhagat’s as you are not romantic and I think, you cannot write lots of romantic suttfs…" She said

And to that I agreed sarcastically…

Deepika:

Good yaar (Friend), I know tum likh sakte ho, itna accha jo blogging kar lete ho… (You can write it, as you do good blogging)… One thing, once you are through, show me that first, I want to read that first… To that, I said, may be you can be the first editor to that book...

Latha:

Which language will that book be in?

“English, obviously…” “What, are you thinking I am going to write in Tamil?”

“No no”, we have been just talking about Tamil language and you suddenly told that you are going to write a book… (Well, she was unaware that I always run two threads when I talk. And in this case, the threads were running in two different languages, Tamil and English!)

Yes, the language is English and madam, I am just thinking of this… And you need to wait for 1 year to see if this is true…

Prasad:

No comments. (I think he could not digest what I have been telling to him). May be he was thinking, Chinu and book, usko apne office ke kaam se furusat milta hai, jo who kuch karega…(Does he get time from his official work that he will do something else?...)

Surya:

Very good … I think same thinking process was going through his mind as Prasad’s when he said so…

2009 Vs. 2010

Again a year is gone and I am all ready with my enthusiasm and energy to grasp a new year 2010. As in last year, I have something new to achieve in this year too, both personally and professionally... To remind me for the years to come, let me point the things that I wanted to do in 2009 and how it really went...

1. I wanted to read lots of Technical books, but I ended up reading lots of Novels... Well, the word was "reading" and I think, I did it...
2. My mother wanted me to buy a house for us, but landed up buying some land... Hopefully, some day it will shape into my dream house... So, in a sense, it will come true some day and I think, I stepped the first step towards that...
3. Wanted to watch all hindi movies being released this year, but missed lot of them managing to squeeze only some of them into my busy schedule...
4. Had lots of load at office, which forced me to drag myself away from my friends, that later became one of my achievements to some extent (Though lot of friends kept on complaining me asking the very reason of the detachment, and for them, I always had a lame answer "I was very busy with official work")
5. Somewhere down the line, I did realize that I should do some exercise daily, and hence started "Morning Walk" as first step towards that... Though it started late in this year, I am thinking to carry forward this in the new year 2010.
6. Made holy trips to Haridwar, Rishikesh, Shiridi and places like Delhi, Pune, Nasik, Bangalore this year with my mother... For the first time, my mother flew from Chennai to Delhi and from Pune to Bangalore... This was a happy achievment for me... Hope to do some more holy place visits in year 2010...

The Professional...

One more wonderful book by Subroto Bagchi, that I completed last weekend. Last weekend, I visited my uncle's place where he asked me, "Which book keeps you busy these days?" and I replied "The Professional". Then he replied, "Do not go deep into professionalism, then you will miss the real life". Actually I do not believe so, I think, being professionalism is tightly attached to being a good person and possessing good attitude. To him and to the readers, I want to put some excerpts from the book that says all about professionalism and "being professional" ...

‘Profession’ is defined by Dictionary.com as ‘following an occupation for a livelihood or gain’. It is a ‘vocation requiring knowledge of some department of learning or science’. The Oxford Dictionary of English describes it as ‘a paid occupation, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification’. It defines the word ‘Professional’ as ‘relating to or belonging to a profession’.

Actually being a professional is nothing short of a religion and that the capacity to serve is indeed a blessing of life.

Ten attributes of a professional:

1. Integrity
2. Commitment and ownership
3. Action oriented and goal seeking
4. Continuous learning
5. Professional knowledge/skills
6. Communication
7. Planning, organizing and punctuality
8. Quality of work
9. A positive attitude, approachability, responsiveness
10. Being an inspiring reference to others; thought leadership – Tomorrow’s professional must have a beacon-like presence in a world that will ask for memorability. Because being ordinary will no longer be considered professional.

Self-Awareness: This is inevitable quality that each professional should have. Qualities of self-aware people build on the foundation of integrity and ethics.

Knowing who you are: Do not let yourself carried away; do not start believing in the myth about yourself and your achievements. The self-aware understand what their true strengths are; they know exactly how much of their success is because of their inherent strengths and how much is situational.

Being Authentic: There is no point of being inauthentic and insincere. A true professional has no need for unnecessary embellishments of experience, mentioning ‘connections’, or being put-on or plain fake. Being authentic might sometimes get us a ‘no’, but that is better than the ignominy of being unmasked, because we live in a small world where everything is connected, and the hollowness of our sincerity will eventually be revealed.

Being comfortable: If you cannot add value, then you must not add to the problem with your pretence. The more you pretend, the more naked you become. Sometimes, starting your ignorance can be the simplest solution. Others then take it upon themselves to explain complex technical jargon in easy-to-understand language. Concede the ground and wait, emotionally secure. The team will come back to you when they need you, and then you can truly add value.

Seeking Help: Seeking help is not always about solving an organizational problem. Sometimes we may have a personal problem – an emotional issue, an awkward health matter – which we keep to ourselves. Sooner rather later, it will adversely affect our work. There is no shame in signing up for help – in matters of work, or in matters of mental and physical well-being.

Not suffering false Comparisons:

Having a reasonable view of the Future:

Looking beyond money: The day you feel empty, shift the attention from yourself to others – go and spend time with a bunch of colleagues who have just joined the organization, help an intern with his work, write a series of how-to articles based on your experiences, take on pro-bono work with your industry association... See how the pitcher of emptiness begins to fill again…

Being deeply self-observant: Observing yourself on a daily basis and replaying your actions and reactions does not mean you cease to be natural, or lose spontaneity. Just as the player on the sports field is unconcerned with the camera recording the game, the professional is able to go with the flow, be natural and normal, but has the capacity to record events and faithfully reconstruct them to the smallest detail. Such people do not suffer from illusions.

Reining in Reactions: In extremely high pressure situations, often the best emotion to express is control… And a true professional has a calibrated thermostat which prompts the degree of reaction and control required in any given situation.

Welcoming Feedback: As you practice the art of listening to feedback, you begin to pick it up when it is a whisper, like the sound of your own breathing, and you pick it up from unusual sources.

Not suffering false Attractions: Flirting with false attractions makes us lose affection for what is on hand. If you do not have a serious need for the offered job or assignment, do the professional thing and resist the temptress.

Doing something for yourself:

Being proactive: Someone who is proactive in the workplace is more likely to be proactive with his health, and in his relationships with friends and family…

Taking charge: Developing the power within, to have the confidence to take charge in the most difficult and dangerous of situations, is the hallmark of a true professional…

Courtesy and Humility: A professional does not take respect for granted, but is one who actively cultivates respect and understanding for people who are way below him.

The Big Picture: Only the big picture, the context in which we live and work, makes the facts relevant. And it is only when we understand and actively look at the big picture, will we develop into grounded professionals.

Professional Qualities:

Of Time, Body and Soul:

Doing more by doing less:

The to-do list:

Saying NO:

Quit Whining:

A long view of Time:

White Space:

Creating Reuse:

What is your touch-time? :

When paths diverge:

The power of vision:

Affective Regard:

Commitment to Commitment:

Be prepared:

Ask pertinent Questions:

Intent Listening:

Human beings First and Foremost:

The responsibility of Dissent:

The rewards of Transparency:

The Inauguration ...

The day was 25th Nov, 2009. I was invited to inaugurate Z.S. computer center in a village near Chandwak of Jaunpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located near Banaras (40 KMs). Below are some of the photos of the occasion:

Me and Mahi ...

As others see me...

The day was 4th-Sept-2009 (Friday) and we, office team, were out to Chariot Resort, Mahabalipuram to celebrate some achievement of the team. HR arranged a game where each individual is given a paper (attached to the back of the person) and all others were to write good comments about the person. So, here are the comments that got listed in the paper on my back:

- Great guy, good blogger, always ready to help
- Fully charged and Friendly
- He is a cool guy and intelligent
- Energetic
- Committed and Dedicated
- Good professional who has good attitude
- Good team worker
- Friendly
- Authenticated source to share/discuss professional matter
- Very friendly and hard working guy
- Very good guy
- Passionate developer
- Friendly attitude
- Reliable and helpful
- Nice next-door guy and possess good technical knowledge
- Helping and happy boy
- Good and sincere individual
- Nice guy with good attitude
- Best person with good sense of humor

Thanks to all for these wonderful comments. Hope, I do stand to all of these. If not, I will try to... [:)]

Dhruba's Birthday ...

Happy Birthday Dhruba:Preparing for cake cut:Feeding him the cake ;)Now, its our time to eat the cake (Me and Anil)Group eating now (Anil, Me, Aditya and Limasri)Continue to have the cake...Still continue to have the cake...Now, we 4 only for a snap (Picasa changed the color of the photo...)Last, the gift time...

Indeed, it was a great celebration. Forgot to mention that, Dhruba had prepared delicious food for all of us. Had a great dinner, photos are missing, as all of us were busy eating food that did not get time to capture one moment of that... Thanks to all for coming by and enabling for a great evening of Aug15th, 2009.

Hum Paanch...

From Left to Right: Limasri, Aditya, Dhruba, Chinmaya and Anilkumar (On Dhruba's birthday - 15th Aug 2009)

Are you happy?

There was a guy who was always happy, at least, thats what he was showing outside, always carrying a smiling face. He used to say, "Happiness is not the absence of problems; but the ability to deal with them". When people used to ask him the reason of the same, he used to say, even though I am sad, I donot want to make others sad by being sad before them. So spread happiness even though you are not. Somtimes, a small smile does that. It is infectious. A smile is the universal welcome.
Once he was caught in a big gathering, where he was interviewed on his happiness:

Are you happy?
Yes, I am.
How can you be so sure?
Because I have got too much to live for...

And the last line told everything of his happiness; there were no more questions and there was only huge applause around...

Hey Friend, Please... !!!

Note: All characters in this story are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental :P - Chinmaya

I am very sorry that I did not realize that you did care for me a lot. I remember the day when I did not have any interest in life just because all my past happiness came to an end, life for me shattered and I was thinking I am nowhere to lead a life, you were the one who helped me to get out of that situation and lead a normal life. I did not ever formally thank you for that. I thought we two know each other now so closely that a “Thanks” would sound too formal and that may create problem, however small it could be, in our present relation status. Now I realize that, even in close friendship, we should have respect for each other. I know, I have taken all the help from you whenever I required and now that I am settled little in my new life, I nearly forgot you. Now I realize, I am not good for a holy relation called “Friendship”. I am really sorry. It makes me really insane that I could not value the relation that we had, so silly I am. Forgive me my dear friend, please forgive me. I am no good even to myself now, and I surely can see, how it could have anguished you. But, I know, you are good, you might have continued with your life spreading happiness in other lives. I know, you are capable of that and you have been doing that as you did for me. It was only me, who could not understand you. I took you as granted. Every help and every step towards my good life after the shattering of my past life was with your esteemed help. You did help me without any selfishness and it’s only me, silly me, who had selfishness in every step. I did seek help from you only when I thought; it’s you, who can help there.

Please don’t make me cry… Please say something…
Silence…
Please for God’s sake, say something. Say that I am selfish; say that I am good for nothing. Say that I do not value friendship. Say, please, say…
Again silence…
I know you are so anguished, it is nearly impossible for you to forgive me, but please do forgive me. Without your forgiveness, I can not have this life. I will go back to my old life, don’t know what will happen to me. It was only you who have guided me to this new life, so please just forgive now to enable me to lead this life…
Silence…
Please, please, please….
Silence…
Silence…

Cring… Cring… Cring…; the table alarm clock started sounding… She opened her eye and saw the fan above is rotating in its slow sizzling sound. She did stop the alarm and thought where she was until now, what she was doing late night and when she slept…

It was too late in the night. She was busy in internet and that made time to fly. When she got a glance at the watch that was settled not very far on the same table where her lovely lappy was, it was 2:00 AM. She got surprised that till 2 AM, she is glued with WWW and then the sudden thought of taking a nap came into her mind when she did shut down her lappy and rushed to the bed that was lying just beside the table.

Oh… So, was it a dream? Silly! No, no, wait… It can not be a dream. It is reality of my life. I have done so. What should I do now? Thank God, at least in dream I did seek for forgiveness and I said “Sorry” from the core of my heart. But, he did not reply… How could he, I was dreaming… No…. I have to be real now, It is the time to say in real…

She again rushed to her lappy, started it, logged into yahoo messenger and looked for him… It was 7 AM, and he was not online… Still her inquisitive mind did not stop her to open chat window of him in offline mode. She just cleaned her eyes and started typing all that she wanted to tell him in hurry... With all the eagerness that she was typing there, only tic-tac keyboard stroke sound was coming out of her room while the fan was still doing its job of rotation and rotation around...

A Software Life!

Note: All characters in this story are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental :P - Chinmaya

His father was talking above his usual voice. He was also too happy as his father. Both were seeing no limit to their happiness. His father was telling each known person that his son has achieved something today, and after 3 days, he is going to be called as "Software Engineer". May be his father was recollecting all the moments where his father was imagining him with a good job and in a good profession. And to his father's belief, "Software Engineer" was that kind of profession that his father thought he is suited for.

He was also too happy to get a software job. He had learned from others that he can get good salary and he could enjoy his life as he had wished. Day and night, he was dreaming about his life he is going to live after few days. He met with all his friends in his village, told everybody about his job, his future life style. Friends felt happy too as one of their friends is going to stay in some metro and they saw him as a super-star. The things he wished he will have in the new life are Good Friends, Great working environment, Great city and above that a Great cool life with lots of money!

He was counting the days to go to the metro. For the first time he was going to stay away from home. The high dramatic life at metro that he might have watched in movies had really motivated him to have a taste of same. Countdown came to zero and he is all set to move to the metro now. A big gang of family and friends gathered to see him off at the railway station and in no time, he left all of them and started moving towards his new dream life.

He reached in the metro. Some new friends had come to pick him up from the railway station. He went to the room. When he entered into the room, he could not believe that was the room he was going to stay. It was so dirty, a surely bachelor room in metros! But he was ignorant of the same; he had never seen that much dirtiness in his life before. Then he started to his office, and he had to catch an auto for that. The way the auto drivers were talking was awkward to him. In his village, there used to be mutual respect for each other, and here he learned that everything is just for money. When he refused to give the money that the driver asked for, the driver just scolded and drove away. Somehow he managed to go to office. Several days passed and his view of a software company started changing. He was thinking that all the people will be friendly and he would have a great life there, but eventually he learned that here people live for themselves. Nobody helps others. All were selfish to their lives; it was not the life that he used to live in his village.

With all his expectations going in the different directions, without his notice, he started missing his family and friends back at village. Now he realized that “Grass is always greener on the other side”. When he was at village, he was longing to be here and now that he is in the metro, all his past memories were waving in his mind. He could not find anybody to share all this as he felt, they would start teasing him and they would not understand him.

Finally, he decided to take some days of leave and go back to his home. Again that was a big process to take few days of leave in the software company. Starting from his manager to higher level management had to approve that. After many struggle, he managed to get one week of leave and started for his village.

After 1 day of journey he reached at his village. All people were waiting to see him, as if a super-star was coming to visit them. All were too happy to see him and talk to him. As he approached his house, his father, mother, sisters and little bother hugged him. They were all missing him a lot and after nearly one year they saw him. But they never complained of this long delay as they thought, he is too happy in the metro and he is living a royal life that they can only dream of.

He had just 5 days to stay at village. In the each and every act and in every minute, he started comparing metro life and village life, to himself, not to tell anybody. Now that he had lived both the lives, it was very clear to him, where closeness is, where affection is, where love is and where is helpfulness. When he went to Raju chacha’s shop (barber shop), Raju chacha became so happy to have him as a customer. He gave little more money to what he used to give when he used to live in village; still it was too less as compared to metro price. He told all great twisted stories of metro to all his family and friends so as to give them a impression that he is leading a great life in metro.

His return time had come and he had to go back to his metro life which he did not wish anymore. But he did not want to tell that to all. He pretended to be happy to go back to the metro. As he was stepping out of his house, his mother kissed him and said "Take care my son". As he replied, “Surely, you too…”, few drops of tears rolled out off his eyes and he just told in his lowest voice “This 5 days were the greatest days of my life” and he left… All family members stood there surprised, as the last few drops of tears had told every truth of him to all of them... !!!

Love or Attraction?

Note: All characters in this story are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental :P - Chinmaya

For the first time, she was going to be out of her home. She was accompanied by her father to the college admission. In home, she was living a restricted life, never she was allowed to go out with friends for picnic, not for movies too. Always being alone in home, she was really longing for a free life. And once she joined the college, where she had to stay in the college hostel, she was happy thinking that she could live a life that she was longing for a long.

Her father left her and she started going to her hostel with a heavy smile. She was so happy that she rarely was able to see what was going on beside her. As she was passing through the cricket ground, she felt somebody had fallen on her and she too had fallen down. He was a great cricket player and while he was aiming the ball to have a super catch, he did not realize that he was bumping into her.

They both got up, totally forgotten by that time, just 1 minute past life that they were in. Their eyes met, their heartbeat started increasing, they could not understand what was going on. He almost forgot that he was playing cricket and the screams all over the ground brought him back to reality when he said "Sorry" to her and started to leave. When she came into reality, she found herself being too angry on him and she looked for something to be done as the revenge. A paint vessel caught her vision, she took that and threw on him. His shirt became filled with that paint! He shouted and in return she just told, "You are the first to do!, okie??"

Days went by, both were remembering the same incident every time, a kind of attraction started between them. Then college life started, both of them got lot of friends with whom they started sharing this incident. Their friends took this matter as a sure and crisp way of teasing and leg-pulling. Slowly, they made realized that they were in love with each other, but they were not ready to believe this. How could that be love? Was that just an attraction?

The million dollar question that both were having was "Is this Love or Attraction?"...

They started finding chances to meet alone, they talked a lot, they shared a lot. Once they asked the same question to each other, "What do you feel? Is it Love or Attraction?"

Boy: What is Love according to you? How is it different from Attraction?
Girl: Love is long-term and Attraction is short-term?
Boy: So simple?
Girl: Yes, when I am with you, you think of me and when I am not there with you, you don't think of me, so just attraction only. No Love.
Boy: How can you say that? I mean..., I may think of, I mean..., it can be love too.
Girl: Sure?
Boy: You tell me a way, where we can confirm our love over mere attraction?
Girl: OK, let us do one thing. In the 5 days holidays, when we both go to our homes, let us try to count how many times we missed each other. Okie ?
Boy: Sounds like a good idea. Ok, fine, See, I will win.
Girl: Lets see...

Both were gone for holidays... They were not living in the present, they were just living in the past. All past memories were flowing in their minds and they were counting all these moments.

They met again after the 5 days break.
Girl : So, how was the counting going?
Boy: Great! For you?
Girl: Great too. OK, now tell me, what is your count on first day?
Boy: You tell first...
Girl: You first
Boy: You.
Girl: OK, 4321
Boy: Only 4000!
Girl: So, yours ?
Boy: 5000
Girl: OK, second day?
Boy: Yours?
Girl: 6000
Boy: 7000
Girl: 8000
Boy: 9000....
Girl: OK OK stop now. I think, Love is confirmed!
Boy: Yes, Love is confirmed. What next?
Girl: What next!
Boy: Something should be special, right?
Girl: What special? OK. This Sunday, we girls are going for outing! Will bring Gift for you...
Boy: Sunday...! Gift...! Ha ha !
Girl: What happened ?
Boy: I will give special now only.
Girl: What?
He just went near to her ear and whispered "I Love You"... [:)]

The missed call ...

Note: All characters in this story are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental :P - Chinmaya

She was waiting for the call. It was almost 2 months that she did not get any call from him. Suddenly, to her surprise, the phone rang. There was no limit of waves of happiness in her, but as she approached the phone, it stopped ringing. The caller ID though proved that it was only him who just called, but they failed to talk again.

They had stopped talking to each other for no reasons, no quarrels... Without anything happened that they could associate to be the reason of that, there was silence in their lives. Both were missing each other badly, but each of them wanted to see if the other would call even if he/she did not call first. Nobody called, but the other was still believing that he/she would surely get a call.

But when that belief was fading in her mind, came this moment when she got a call, but phew!, she could not talk to him. She kept cursing herself as why she was late to pick the call. Now that she missed the call, Was she going to call him again and ask what was the reason of his call? May be, he had nothing to talk and he did not dare anymore to talk as the silence between them had really created a long distance that they needed to think a lot before uttering a single word. Lot of things popped up in her mind, some good and some bad remembrance of the past. And that made her more disturbing. At the same time, he was too disturbed thinking why she did not pick up the call at the first few rings, was she still ignoring him, did she not like to talk to him?

Distance grew and they became more disturbed day by day...

Sorry...

"Sorry !"....a small word, which we use very frequently after doing any type of mischief or any wrong thing. We use the same word for all the range of wrong this, ranging from "It's OK" type to "I don't believe you did this! ". How bad it is! The wrong thing has already happened, and then what's the use of saying Sorry later ??? May be you want to hear "It's OK" from the person you just said the word "Sorry" or you repent to the core and you believe your "Sorry" would create a greater wave in his/her heart and that can change his/her view on you. The small word being told by heart, has its value of changing the view altogether....Then the small word "Sorry" means a lot !!!! It can stop from breaking a relation/friendship or it can create a cute smile on the angry man's face...and also can create new relationship ...
Wow...How important is the word "Sorry " !!! ... Carries a lot being really small !!!

17-Mile Drive

The 17 Mile Drive is a scenic road through Pacific Grove and Pebble Beach, California, United States, much of which hugs the Pacific coastline and passes famous golf courses and mansions. It also serves as the main road through the gated community of Pebble Beach. Like the community, the majority of 17-Mile Drive is owned and operated by the Pebble Beach Corporation.

And above few are the snapshots of my trip to this place ...

I Miss You Papa...

That was the last day of my 5th semester exam of my MCA. The exams were over and I was taking a long rest. I was really happy that I have nearly completed my MCA and will be soon in the corporate world. Just to mention that, I had already a job in my hand unlike most of the guys and gals of my class.

It was nearly night 11 PM and my friend Ratnesh got a call in his mobile from my uncle. Ratnesh rushed to me and handed over the phone to me… I was half asleep by the time and the news that came from the other side of the phone shattered me. I was speechless… I did not know what to do… I could not tell anything to my uncle… I still remember him saying, I know you are a brave boy, you can handle this… Come soon… We all are waiting for you, your father is no more, he left us today evening… Really shocking news for me… I could not even cry…

I directly went to my bed and slept… My friends talked to my uncle and arranged air ticket for me from Cochin to Chennai. I had only Rs 300/- in my pocket and a train ticket to my home, the trip was scheduled after 2 days. All the people from my hostel came to my room, even my friends from other two hostels came in the night to my room, all collected money by sharing the little money that they had… Finally, they collected Rs 33,000/- for me and with that money in my hand, they dropped me at the airport at around 3 AM. The flight was scheduled to depart at 4 AM. I boarded the plane. I was nearly senseless; I did not know what was going on in this earth that time. I could not formally thank my friends for all the timely help that they did. Not to mention, I found, only friendship is the relation that lasts forever… I still remember all the faces of my friends and all the help that they had shared …

My dad, our guiding star he was. Without telling a single word to us, he used to take care of all the things for family. I never asked for anything to him, as that was never necessary. He knew what we should have, what we should eat, what we should drink and all… Being a child, never realized that he is doing all this without ever being selfish to himself.

Once he left us, the whole family responsibility came to us. Thank God, by that time, at least I had a job in my hand, though the joining date was little late. We did not have to go through many problems. We shifted to other city, and life moved on… Though we all missed him from core, nobody told other that he/she misses him… The cloud of loneliness was always there in the house for long… Whenever we do celebrate something, we missed him… We missed him in all our happiness and all our sorrows… Whenever we had to take a decision, we missed him a lot… “May be this is what his choice would have been, may be this is the decision he would have taken”…

When he was around us, I could not formally say "I Love you Papa, I admire you for all the works you do for us”… Now that he is not here, I really miss him a lot. Especially when I am alone and in silence, without even I know, small drops of tears roll from my eyes when my mind thinks of him… Today being “Father’s Day”, I do really miss him a lot… I really miss u papa and I Love you so much… As I write this, few tear drops have rolled indicating that he is still there with us guiding us in our paths being somewhere unknown, unseen ….

Friendship or Love?

Note: All characters in this story are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental :P - Chinmaya

There was a guy who loved his family and friends so much… He was innocent, immature and always believed that life is so beautiful to live. He was enjoying his life with his friends. He was always ready to make friends but never thought about LOVE. Actually he did not want to hurt any girl as he knew he could not fulfill his commitment as his parents would never allow such relationship and for him, his family meant a lot. But he did not know that “Love can’t be done, it just happens”…

One day he met a girl who really cared for him and understood his feelings. With the time, they became very good friends and on the path of the strong relationship they shared, one day she proposed him. He refused as he did not want to do such things and also decided not to talk to her. But somehow their conversation began and the girl told that they would remain Friends Forever. He agreed and talked to her as he talked earlier…

He did not realize; but slowly he was also falling in love with her… The sweet river of love started flowing in his heart… He started seeing the girl in some other position; he wanted to give all the happiness to the girl…

Later he realized and proposed her one night while they were exchanging messages. She did not say anything. But the instinct of listening “Yes, I love you too…” kept him irresistible. He could not sleep that night… Again, next day, he asked the girl. She replied, “Now, I don’t have such feelings for you… You have changed now… You are not that boy now… I don’t see you in that view anymore…”

Tears rolled down from his eyes, but he could not say anymore… First time in his life, he cried for someone. He also wondered how such feelings can be changed soon and a lot of questions were arising in his mind, but he did not say anything to her as he did not want to force her for loving him….

Somehow he consoled himself and reminded his favorite quote “Everything happens for a reason; God has reason in whatever He does”... He had very positive attitude towards life and always believed that God was always with him… He did not show his sadness to others, in spite of being so lonely, so sad from his heart… Still, he did not have any complaint towards that girl; in fact, he was thankful to her for introducing the realities of Life to him… Now he had come from the world of dreams to world of reality of life. Now, he was more focused towards his aim in life… He accepted her only as his very good friend. But somewhere in his mind, the questions are the same….

Days went by and they lived as very good friends ever after ….