Starting Healthy Living

No junk food today.
No chocolates today.
No tea?
Start with a green tea a day.
Add coconut water as well? Let' see....

Starting with #bournvita milk

Innovation Without Disruption

Crispy Roomali @ The Great Punjab, Koregaon Park

The Man Who Wasn’t There

"Yesterday upon the stair, I met a man who wasn’t there,
He wasn't there again today, I wish, I wish he'd go away."

Everybody has a story. At least everybody likes to believe he has a story. The story is born – little by little – from his experience and from his imagination. His belief in the story grows and grows and he folds everyone into it. The fold is sometimes like two palms together that make God listen to a prayer. The fold is sometimes like the leaves of a book that delicately hold a flower forever. The fold is sometimes like the waves of a tsunami that take away entire towns with it. And the fold claims that which enters it. The prayer is held on to, till it’s granted. The flower suffocates till it lives forever. The town drowns till it’s etched in history. And the story consumes whoever plays a part in it.

His story is born – little by little – from his experience and from his imagination. Truth and fantasy mingle. Who knows what’s what, not even he who owns the story. He basks in the glory of his tale and gathers together everyone who he wants to play a part in it. He assigns roles, replacing people with others, but the roles must continue. He builds a character for himself and sure enough everyone plays his or her part to further his image of himself. The story is his and he will let others be only what he wants them to be. He will color his canvas himself and others must accept the hue he offers them.

As his story moves on, a person steps out of it. After all the person has her own story to relay and many other stories to live in. But she remains a part of his life forever. She remains a character from his story forever. Even when she no longer knows him. Even when she does not know how the story has gone. For she has been colored in a color only he knows and she sees herself through the colored lens he gave her.

As she collects new colors from here and there, she sometimes opens the closet in her conscience and brings out the carefully stored away red lens that he gave her. She sees herself through the lens, she sees herself through his eyes. And she does not see the red of love for she sees the red of guilt. The color is the same, the lens is the same, yet how the meaning of the color has changed. She thinks of him, as yellow as ever. But she sees ego and self-centricity in what she had imagined to be happiness and energy.

Surprised, she steps back and drops the lens he had given her. She tries to save it, she cannot let it break, she has held on to it for too long. But it falls hard on the floor and breaks into seven pieces. She gathers the pieces and starts to put it back in her conscience when she chances upon her image in the mirror. There she is, mauve and loved. There she is, mauve and magical. There she is, mauve and balanced. And she knows that red was never her.

She has the broken red pieces with her. Color she would not be colored into. She hopes to return it back one day, when he is ready to see her as mauve - as mauve as she was, as mauve as she is and as mauve as she will always be.

What will I do with what I find in me?

"for whatever we lose (like a you or me)
it's always ourselves we find in the sea"

- E.E. Cummings

I must lose my envy and let my mind fly free .

I must lose my anger and not be snappy.

I must lose my hangups before I am beyond recovery.

I must lose my ego and look beyond you and me.

I must lose my fears of ridicule and mockery.

I must lose my shyness and open myself to discovery.

Only then will I find the actual me.

Only then will I be truly happy.

But if I lose all those that is me,

What will I do with what I find in me?

Shantaram - Titbits Of Wisdom & Wit

"Men reveal what they think when they look away, and what they feel when they hesitate. With women, it’s the other way around."

"Anything that can be put in a nutshell should remain there."

"Fate always gives you two choices, the one you should take, and the one you do."

"The truth is a bully we all pretend to like."

"Optimism is the first cousin of love, and its exactly like love in three ways; its pushy, it has no real sense of humor and it turns up where you least expect it."

"Most loves are like that ... You heart starts to feel like an overcrowded lifeboat. You throw your pride out to keep it afloat, and your self-respect and independence. After a while, you start throwing people out - your friends, everyone you used to know. And it's still not enough. The lifeboat is still sinking, and you know it's going to take you down with it."

"Indians are the Italians of Asia and vice versa. Every man in both countries is a singer when he is happy, and every woman is a dancer when she walks to the shop at the corner. For them, food is the music inside the body and music is the food inside the heart. Amore or Pyar makes every man a poet, a princess of peasant girl if only for second eyes of man and woman meets."

"Fate gives all of us three teachers, three friends, three enemies, and three great loves in our lives. But these twelve are always disguised, and we can never know which one is which until we've loved them, left them, or fought them."

"The past reflects eternally between two mirrors - the bright mirror of words and deeds, and the dark one, full of things we didn't do or say."

"If fate doesn't make you laugh, then you don't get the joke."

"Nothing grieves more deeply or pathetically than one half of a great love that isn’t meant to be."

"Lovers find their way by insights and confidences; they are the stars they use to navigate the ocean of desire. And the brightest of those stars are the heartbreaks and sorrows. The most precious gift you can bring to your lover is your suffering."

"At first, when we truly love someone, our greatest fear is that the loved one will stop loving us. What we should fear and dread instead is that we won't stop loving them, even after they are dead and gone."

"A dream is a place where a wish and a fear meet. When the wish and fear are exactly the same, we call the dream a nightmare."

"A good man is as strong as the right woman needs him to be."

"Silence is the tortured mans revenge."

"There is nothing so depressing as good advice, and I will be pleased if you do not inflict it upon me. Frankly, I am shocked at you. You must know this, surely? Some years ago I suffered such an offensively gratuitous piece of good advice that I was depressed for six months afterwards. It was a very close call - I almost never recovered."

"Wisdom is just cleverness, with all the guts kicked out of it."

To be or not to be, that is the question

Kehne ko Jashan-e-bahara hai
Ishq yeh dekhke hairaan hai
Phool se khusboo khafa khafa hai gulsan mein
Chupa hai koi ranj fiza ki chilman mein
Sare sehmein nazare hain
Soye soye vaqt ke dhare hain
Aur dil mein koi khoyi si baatein hain

Kaise kahen kya hai sitam
Sochte hai abb yeh hum
Koi kaise kahen woh hai ya nahi humare
Karte to hai saath safar
Fasle hain phir bhi magar
Jaise milte nahi kisi dariya ke do kinare
Pass hain phir bhi paas nahi
Humko yeh gum raas nahi
Seeshe ki ek diware hai jaise darmiyan

Sare sehmein nazare hain
Soye soye vaqt ke dhare hain
Aur dil mein koi khoyi si baatein hain

Humne ne jo tha nagma suna
Dil ne tha usko chuna
Yeh dastan humen vaqt ne kaise sunai
Humjo agar hai gumgin
Woh bhi udhar khush to nahi
Mulakato mein jaise ghul si gai tanhai
Milke bhi hum milte nahi
Khilke bhi gul khilte nahi
Aankhon mein hai baharein dil mein khilza

Sare sehmein nazare hain
Soye soye vaqt ke dhare hain
Aur dil mein koi khoyi si baatein hain

Red, Orange and Golden

No autumn colors tint that side of the mountain: a one-sided love.

- Kaga No Chiyo

Freaking Out

I am totally not sure now if what I want is really what I want!
The last week has been a rollercoaster ride... I dont think I will ever want to go to Wonderla again!!
The mind is taking over.. HELP!!!

I know no patience

Patience, they say, is what I should have.
Patience, they say, is with what I should deal with all that is unsolved in my heart.
Patience, they say, will bring all the answers.
Patience, they say, is the companion of the wise.
Patience, they say, is the most powerful warrior.
Patience, they say, will attain all that I strive for.
Patience, they say, is passion tamed.
Patience, they say, is the principle part of faith.

But as I know how I want to spend the rest of my life, I want the rest of my life to start as soon as possible.

Patience, please say, how do I find any room for thee?

Mein thehra raha zami chalne lagi..

Ignorance is bliss. When you dont kno yourself you are busy finding out.. and it pretty much takes the focus away from the aspects of who you might be. But when you find out, the sudden rush of realization goes wooshing past and you are left behind, standing, staring, totally oblivious of what just hit you and wondering if it was better when you did not know...

Ae waqt ruk ja, tham ja theher ja
Wapas zara daud peeche
Main chhod aayi khud ko jahan pe
Woh reh gaya mod peeche

Dancing in the Rain

So close to my heart.
Your thoughts cannot part
From me
No matter how much I try
You were, you are, you will
Remain…
A beautiful song which I sang!

I cannot name this feeling
Which I feel
With you by my side
You have cast a spell on me
I call it
Magic
A mystery

You feel so real
Not just a character I dreamed up
Believe me
But if you really are my imagination
Never mind,
Stay put where you are
Just let it be

You made me cry
And laugh
Made me feel all the Emotions that exist
Life is not the same anymore
Without you.
Things seem dull, insane

Why is every face Like yours?
Every voice,
like yours?
Like a misty fog
An unexplainable joy
So profound
I feel like Dancing in the rain!!!

by Nazia Praveen

It works

If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you.
-Oscar Wilde

Oh That Smile

Brilliant fireworks in the night sky
Golden color of autumn
First drops of summer rain
Magic in the moment

Enchanting moon on a bed of shining stars
The green of the sea
Fairy tales told at bedtime
Blueberry cheese pastry

Romes and Parises of the world
Beautiful pieces of art
Unexpected pleasant surprises
And poems that speaks the heart

Each time you smile at me
The smile has similar effect
I tumble down falling free
And life seems so perfect

Yet, all the joys put together
Could not possibly match
The way my heart is intoxicated by
That smile... oh that smile of yours

(Disclaimer: The characters appearing in this work are fictitious. No similarity to actual person/s is intended or should be inferred.)

Delusion

Daydream delusion
Limousine Eyelash
Oh, baby with your pretty face
Drop a tear in my wineglass
Look at those big eyes
See what you mean to me
Sweet cakes and milkshakes
I am a delusion angel
I am a fantasy parade
I want you to know what I think
Don’t want you to guess anymore
You have no idea where I came from
We have no idea where we’re going
Launched in life
Like branches in the river
Flowing downstream
Caught in the current
I’ll carry you
You’ll carry me
That’s how it could be
Don’t you know me?
Don’t you know me by now?

(from Before Sunrise)

Boss-isms

My boss gives me really good stuff to think of.

He says:

"Its better to take a wrong decision than no decision at all."

“Learn how to differentiate between Urgency and Importance. Never become a victim of other people's urgencies and give up or delay what is important to you."

"Khushboo, presentation is everything in consulting business. Even if your content is a little shaky, a good presentation can cover it up and leave the audience in awe."

"Learn by taking baby steps. You can run only after that."

More to follow...

The Good, the Evil and Me

"There is an old illusion - it is called good and evil."

Yesterday, I saw a picture and it got me thinking. It had a clear message: everything is black or white. There are no shades of gray. You can choose to be good or you can choose to be evil, you cannot be indifferent and choose not to be any. Being good or evil is just a binary choice.

Is it an illusion we are living in? Had it been so simple all evil would have been dead by now. Only good would have prevailed. If you could sieve and separate the two, people would probably choose to be good all the time. Being evil isn’t everyone's favorite state of being usually. At least people don’t accept it.

Even if there were people who liked to be evil, it would just be a matter of choice. Life would be oh so simple. It would in fact lay down a very clear path for everyone's life. Every time there is a fork on the road, people would know which way to take depending on what they like to be, good or evil.

There is a big flaw in this theory and that is because of the assumption of ceteris paribus. This theory assumes that every time someone is at crossroads, it is just the choice between good and evil that matters. It ignores the ever changing circumstances and it ignores the effect the decision will have on other people.

What is good for one might be evil for another. Let’s take war for example. A soldier would go to the front and kill a few for his country. It is good noble deed. But it is a gross evil for the family of those who he has killed. For that matter killing itself is evil. How do we define this action? We cannot ignore the trickle down and trickle up effect of anything.

There is gray. In fact there is red, blue, yellow, green, mauve, magenta, peach, brown, lilac, maroon, orange, turquoise, purple, gold, cream, off white, ivory, charcoal, beige, cyan and indigo too. And this is what we choose from. Not just black and white. We can choose to walk on the grass or take a detour through the woods instead of taking one of the paved paths on the crossroad. This is what makes life interesting.

Between the heavenly good and the forsaken evil, I live my normal unpredictable life. I rationally hear the arguments of the angel on my right shoulder and the devil on my left, mix the black and white and get a totally new hue of life.

Between Mind and Heart

I have a very neat mind. Everything gets compartmentalized in it. Every thought is processed carefully and consciously. It uses basic formulas to calculate the output. These formulas are based only on facts. Nothing is abstract. The output, my thoughts and decisions, is hence sound and simple derived from pure logic. I have lived with this mind for 25 years now. I have a sneaky feeling that it’s started malfunctioning.

The calculator in my mind is fairly simple. It does not use any formula with functions of heart. I let my heart do what its good at: pumping blood. With heart problems being so common in people these days, it’s best not to exert it unnecessarily. Also I strongly believe in the concept of comparative advantage. Everything should do what it is good at. This is the most optimal use of resources and leads to pareto efficient point of being. The job of the heart is to pump blood, it should do just that. The job of the mind is to think and analyze, it should do just that. And with the mind sans any pumping mechanism, the situation becomes really complicated when the heart starts thinking. It leads to inefficiency and sometimes even complete breakdown of the system. Now I would definitely not want to run my life like the economy of some country...

I believe it has been established beyond all doubt that 'Every man (thing) to his (its) job' is the philosophy of an optimal life. I would like to point out that this works best with laissez-faire. But I had forgotten to factor in the externalities....

This misassumption in the design of the mental calculator has led to slight complications and malfunctioning. Now the heart is being overworked as its doing its own job as well as doing some of the thinking for the mind. The heart has started calling the thoughts feelings. So now we have a jargon problem too. And as the mental calculator is getting data from the mind as well as the heart, its confused as to which statistics to pick for final output. The result is getting messier by the day and unless some higher intervention is introduced it might lead to system failure.

What is important at this point of time is to remove the externality. It is a temporary solution I know, but it will buy me time to redesign and get back previously prevailing sanity.

Smile

That smile you give. God, every time I think I can live without you, you give me that smile. You really shouldn't do that to me.

Stuntman

Another of my pictionary drawings :)

Nostalgia

Questions unasked, answers unsought, words unuttered, lines un-scribbled, emotions unexpressed, gifts not exchanged, apologies not offered, jokes unshared, places unvisited, pictures not clicked, farewells missed, walks and bike rides unfinished, games not played, conversations unfinished, won while losing and lost even after winning. This is how it ended. One of the most beautiful chapters of our lives comes to an end. An experience which was so gratifying and yet so incomplete. Adieu GIM, only till we meet again!

Thats Joey's status message on gtalk... as the batch of 07-09 say their goodbyes to GIM, they trigger a feeling of deja vu. The strong feeling of missing people, places and things is almost tangible. I guess we will let go.. slowly.. a little bit with every next batch's goodbyes.