along the journey called life…

 

Toy - Story1 : "Strange Things" - Written and performed by Randy Newman

I was on top of the world
it was right in my pocket
I was living the life
things were just the way they should be
When from out of the sky like a bomb comes some little punk in a rocket
now all of a sudden some strange things are happening to me

I had friends,
I had lots of friends
Now all my friends are gone
And I'm doing the best I can to carry on
I had power (power)
I was respected (respect)
But not any more
And I've lost the love to the one whom I adored
Let me tell you about the strange things are happening to me
Strange things
Strange things are happening to me...
Ain't no doubt about it

You got someone you think you know well
It turns out a stranger
The minute you turn your back
You're in it all by yourself
They laugh at your jokes,
You think you're doing well
But you're in danger, boy
You end up alone, forgotten, way up on the shelf
Strange things are happening to me
Strange things
Strange things are happening to me
Ain't no doubt about it

Strange things are happening to me
Strange things
Strange things are happening to me
Strange things
Strange things

 

Strange Things" - Written and performed by Randy Newman. Toy Story 1

Sleeplessness…

Slept for hardly eight hours in total for the past three days (and counting) Sleep seems to be the next elusive thing after a job. The reason for the sleeplessness is unknown. I just lay on the floor and the eyes refuse to shut.

Tried all the remedies : books(the first alternative :P) ;  soft instrumental music ; long boring movies (black);  TV9 ; complan milk ; dabur chyavanaprash; killing bed bugs ; counting stars ; self lullaby; Tetris ; EA sports cricket; flash games; none of the remedies worked/ are working.

I don’t want to try sleeping pills. So if you have any suggestions on how to overcome this sleeplessness please do post it in the comments section. Now it is back to Saawariya, sigh !       

File Sharing made easy : Leaf Networks

So me and malladi were bored to death orkutting and waiting for that download progress bar to inch forward. Decided to do some online file sharing. Searched a bit on lifehacker.com and hit upon Leaf Networks. Installed in a jiffy. Setup and Creating an account was a minute. Me and malladi added each other. Granted access. Shared a 100 mb video file. Took him 10 minutes to download. Pretty fast considering that we both are on different networks with varying internet speeds in two different states !

I dunno the underlying architecture of leaf networks but it works !!!  But have to be a bit careful about sharing sensitive information because i’m not sure if the information being transferred is encrypted or not. In such a case you are a sitting duck with disaster waiting to happen.   

                                

At the end of the day…

And this too shall pass

A short tale I came across. An inspiring one.

One day Solomon decided to humble Benaiah ben Yehoyada, his most trusted minister. He said to him, "Benaiah, there is a certain ring that I want you to bring to me. I wish to wear it for Sukkot which gives you six months to find it."

"If it exists anywhere on earth, your majesty," replied Benaiah, "I will find it and bring it to you, but what makes the ring so special?"

"It has magic powers," answered the king. "If a happy man looks at it, he becomes sad, and if a sad man looks at it, he becomes happy." Solomon knew that no such ring existed in the world, but he wished to give his minister a little taste of humility.

Spring passed and then summer, and still Benaiah had no idea where he could find the ring. On the night before Sukkot, he decided to take a walk in one of he poorest quarters of Jerusalem. He passed by a merchant who had begun to set out the day's wares on a shabby carpet. "Have you by any chance heard of a magic ring that makes the happy wearer forget his joy and the broken-hearted wearer forget his sorrows?" asked Benaiah.

He watched the grandfather take a plain gold ring from his carpet and engrave something on it. When Benaiah read the words on the ring, his face broke out in a wide smile.

That night the entire city welcomed in the holiday of Sukkot with great festivity. "Well, my friend," said Solomon, "have you found what I sent you after?" All the ministers laughed and Solomon himself smiled.

To everyone's surprise, Benaiah held up a small gold ring and declared, "Here it is, your majesty!" As soon as Solomon read the inscription, the smile vanished from his face. The jeweler had written three Hebrew letters on the gold band: _gimel, zayin, yud_, which began the words "_Gam zeh ya'avor_" -- "This too shall pass."

At that moment Solomon realized that all his wisdom and fabulous wealth and tremendous power were but fleeting things, for one day he would be nothing but dust.

http://www.wscribe.com/parables/pass.html

The most important part of the body

an introspective story I read many years ago. Had to post it. 

My mother used to ask me what is the most important part of the body? Through the years I would take a guess at what I thought was the correct answer.

When I was younger, I thought sound was very important to us as humans, so I said, "My ears, Mommy."

She said, "No. Many people are deaf. But you keep thinking about it and I will ask you again soon."

Several years passed before she asked me again. Since making my first attempt, I had contemplated the correct answer.

So this time I told her, "Mommy, sight is very important to everybody, so it must be our eyes."

She looked at me and told me, "You are learning fast, but the answer is not correct because there are many people who are blind."

Stumped again, I continued my quest for knowledge and over the years, Mother asked me a couple more times and always her answer was, "No. But you are getting smarter every year, my child."

Then last year, my grandpa died. Everybody was hurt. Everybody was crying. Even my father cried. I remember that especially because it was only the second time I saw him cry. My Mom looked at me when it was our turn to say our final good-bye to Grandpa.

She asked me, "Do you know the most important body part yet, my dear?"

I was shocked when she asked me this now. I always thought this was a game between her and me.

She saw the confusion on my face and told me, "This question is very important. It shows that you have really lived in your life. For every body part you gave me in the past, I have told you were wrong and I have given you an example why. But today is the day you need to learn this important lesson."

She looked down at me as only a mother can. I saw her eyes well up with tears.

She said, "My dear, the most important body part is your shoulder."

I asked, "Is it because it holds up my head?"

She replied, "No, it is because it can hold the head of a friend or a loved one when they cry. Everybody needs a shoulder to cry on sometime in life. I only hope that you have enough love and friends that you will always have a shoulder to cry on when you need it."

Then and there I knew the most important body part is not a selfish one.
It is sympathetic to the pain of others.

Have a Nice Day :)

Dying of the light

A few minutes past midnight Santosh Racherla a student of Electrical Engineering at SJSU breathed his last after battling for the past two days on the ventilator for survival. I don’t know him personally. He was a friend of a friend of mine. I  visited his orkut profile and true to his name he came across as a friendly person with a happy life. My friend also told me that he was an awesome painter. I pray that his soul may rest in peace and he has an happy after life. I pray for his parents and his dear friends so that they may have the strength to  cope up with the loss.

[If you are in the USA and don’t have a medical insurance please take one immediately. It can make all the difference between life and death during a fatal accident or injury. Special thanks to Bay Area Telugu Association for their efforts to help Santosh. It is organizations like these that make you feel at home far away from our motherland]

I lost a friend in my third year of engineering. Shouri was an year junior to me. I always remember how he used to come up to me in the hostel mess and greet me “ hi anna ee roju enti visheshalu ?”  he was right before my eyes all throughout 3-1. We played gulli cricket and chatted a lot. When we left for the holidays and came back after a month I came to know that he was never coming back again. A fatal accident had claimed him. I had clicked so many pictures of him smiling in the hostel and during the cricket matches. I Incidentally took his last picture in the hostel in which he beamed a wide smile (you can see it as the display pic of a tribute community dedicated to him.) Miss you Shouri.

Life is too short to wake up in the morning with regrets. Don’t take people in your life for granted because once they are gone nothing’s  gonna bring them back again. All the love in your heart, all the words you wanted to tell them will remain unexpressed. Carpe Diem -Seize the day. Make the most of today. Zindagi na milegi fir doobara. So go ahead hug , kiss, spread the cheer and celebrate life.

One love. peace. V 

The R – word

The R –word is thrown around so much these days that it’s creating a new fad of sorts.

Let me explain this in Q & A format. The Questions were asked to different respondents and their answers are summed up here.  

Q :  Why watching so many movies online ? How about watching Ghajini on the big screen ? 

A : Recession man. Online print is better. 

Q : Wat !!! you din’t do your laundry since three weeks ?

A : Recession man. Din’t shower since three days also.

Q : Why eating so less ?

A.To avoid putting on Recession pounds man.

Q why this sudden gorging on buffets ?

A.Recession man. Eat all you can.

Q. Why spend so many hours perfecting that score on crazy taxi ?

A. Recession man.

Q Why printing out resumes like the world is going to get rid of all the printers soon ?

A. Recession man. Jobs are not there. But you must be ready with resumes anyways.

Q. Why filling up your hard disk with so many movies which you will hardly watch ?

A. Recession man. What If internet is disconnected ?

Q. What ? you din’t buy a metro card for the past two months ?

A. Recession man. Using it on a time sharing basis. One card per room.

Q what ? you dumped your boy friend / girl friend ?

A. Recession man. cost cutting.

Q. Why did your grades  drop from last semester  ?

A. Recession man. Professor is preserving marks for future use.

Q. You dint do your assignment ?

A. Recession man. Saving the precious resource called time.

Q. Why sleeping for long hours ?

A. Recession man. Hoping that this is one bad dream and will end when I wake up in a few years. 

Q. why did sajid khan and farah khan rub Ashutosh Gowariker on the wrong side ? (link)

A. Recession  man. They have to be in the anchoring business to make that extra buck to produce those grossly un-humorous films of theirs.

Q. Why this shift from starbucks to shitty deli store coffee ?

A. Recession man. Deli store coffee ain’t that bad.

Q. Why downgraded to corona light from corona extra ?

A. Reverting back to extra man. Recession or no recession corona zindabad.

Q. what’s you favorite recession movie ?

A. Fun with Dick and Jane.

Q. Why only one pack of cigarettes per day ?

A. Recession man; Others stealing  my smoke sticks.

Q . Why no shave for past three weeks ?

A . This is my rough look re. Recession man.

Q. why is the photos/ scraps count on orkut going down ?

A. Recession man. Not wasting bandwidth uploading and replying.  

Q. Why posing for so many photos ?

A. To remember this recession period, man.

Q. What ? you were able to fit all your material possessions into three suitcases while leaving NYC ?

A. Recession man. Got rid off a lot of steel utensils. less luggage makes it easy to relocate.   

Q. Why applying for more credit cards with greater credit lines ?

A. Recession man.Doing my bit for the economy trying to encourage a spending stimulus.  The American way of life is all about spending without restrain on goods we don’t need in the first place. 

“We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But
the ocean would be less because of that missing drop.  - Mother Teresa”

Q. Why so many questions ?

A. Recession man. On the bench. Got nothing better to do :P 

p.s. finished listening to masakali from DELHI-6 for the thousandth time. Never wears out. [;)]

New York Times exclusive page on layoffs.

The Change is not near; it is here !!!

"There are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short.  For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage. What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them -- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works." – Barack Obama

      The breathtaking images from the swearing in ceremony.    

     Check out this stunning collection of images from Barack Bhai’s election campaign.

State of Innovation in India

State of Innovation in India: 2009

http://praba.wordpress.com/2008/10/02/swadeshi-in-it-industry/

http://www.hotteststartups.in/

How bad is your bad ?

Today, I saw a man cry. A man ! A GOOD man. A person who wished no ill on anyone and helped everyone. Personal problems pushed him against the wall into a pit of despair. All around he see nothing but darkness; no beam of light or a rope to hang on to. It saddens me to see such things happen to good, god fearing people. The person in question sacrificed a lot in order to get his bit of the American dream.  Fighting battles at every nook and corner. Battles with unresponsive people, battles in the mind and even battles against faith in GOD. Smoke and Alcohol seemed the only reprieve. Each day he sits by the window puffing smoke into the air wishing life would soon pass; the cold winds would make way for warmer days. Hoping the smoke would carry away in its dense fumes the problems in his life. Hope.

Many of you may stereotype him as the archetypal looser who gave up on life too early. But you know that thing about life     

“ life lives, life dies.  life laughs, life cries. life gives up and life tries. but life looks different through everyone's eyes.”

Such are the horror tales from the bench. Life is tough.

I started out writing something funny about how cartman appeared in my dream or something but for the scenes unfolding before my eyes, I cudn’t think funny. It is difficult to remain insensitive. 

On a personal note the past one year has been an emotional rollercoaster with no stops in sight. And when I see scenes like the one today unfold before me I again thank the heavens for all the opportunities that have been given to me and strive to make the best of them. Never take what you have for granted : Family,Friends, Love, Health, Money and Cartman. Cuz you never know when one day you’ll wake up to not having one or all of them.

“Benjamin, we're meant to lose the people we love. How else would we know how important they are to us?” – Mrs. Maple, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.    Don’t let this be your case.

Don't Quit - by John Greenleaf Whittier
When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all up hill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit,
Rest, if you must, but don't quit.
Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As everyone of us sometimes learns,
And many a failure turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out,
Dont' give up though the pace seems slow,
You may succeed with another blow.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.
For all the sad words of tongue or pen,
The saddest are these: "It might have been!"

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

charming, hypnotic,engrossing, innovative and timeless

“Life isn't measured in minutes, but in moments”

my fav lines from the movie :

• Along the way you bump into people who make a dent on your life. Some people get struck by lightning. Some are born to sit by a river. Some have an ear for music. Some are artists. Some swim the English Channel. Some know buttons. Some know Shakespeare. Some are mothers. And some people can dance.
• Your life is defined by its opportunities... even the ones you miss.
• It's a funny thing about comin' home. Looks the same, smells the same, feels the same. You'll realize what's changed is you.

• I wanna remember us just as we are now.

• Sometimes we're on a collision course, and we just don't know it. Whether it's by accident or by design, there's not a thing we can do about it.

• For what it's worth: it's never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit, stop whenever you want. You can change or stay the same, there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. And I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.

• Benjamin, we're meant to lose the people we love. How else would we know how important they are to us?

• It's funny how sometimes the people we remember the least make the greatest impression on us.

Pennsylvania Chronicles...

Away from the humdrum of NYC; Bristol, PA is a much calmer and less happening place. The following comic sums up my first impression of this place.

The Tetris Placebo

Playing the video game 'Tetris' could reduce trauma, claim Oxford University. 

Playing the video game "Tetris" after a major shock could reduce the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, claim scientists. Check out the full story here.

online Tetris. Game On !!!

Sleepless in New York

So as I sit by the window watching the street lamp beam a powerful streak of light straight onto my pillow making it impossible for me to sleep; and this place doesn’t have window blinds too. After much fidgeting around making futile attempts with the comforter to block out the light I give up. A comfortable nap  is out of question. So I sit up and fire up the word processor to type out an another rant. This is my last night in NYC. Tomorrow it will be a new state; a new city; and a whole new environs with all unfamiliar faces. Change they say is essential for life. But am I ready to embrace change ?  Everything that has gone into my education for the past 21 years has never told/taught  me to experiment with the unknown. I was always told to stick to convention. Education/Dressing/Food/Career. So exploring the new and the unknown is something I’m not accustomed to. But life comes at you fast and sometimes you gotta run even before you can walk. The past one and half year in the US of A has been a great learning experience on the intellectual and personal level. Now it’s time for the professional level. Yes there are fresh news bulletins everyday quoting jobs lost and the economy is bad and the hiring scenario for fresher's worse. But there is this deep rooted gut feeling of an inherent and innate ability to swim across the storm. As I smash another bed bug between my palms of my hand the moon is slowly slipping into oblivion making way for the sun to usher in a whole new glorious day. 

If you have lived in New York, you end up loving it; and this love will last a lifetime.      

Keep Holding On..

Satyam

Woke up to the entire online media; blogs and news websites buzzing about Ramalinga Raju, the iconic chairman of one of India’s leading software companies, walk to shame. Everyone is outraged on how he inflated balance sheet to show nonexistent profits. In Raju’s own words on the scam  : “ Every attempt to eliminate the (balance sheet) gap failed. As the promoters held a small percentage of equity, the concern was that poor performance would result in a takeover, thereby exposing the gap. It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten.”  

I’m reminded of a few lines from LOTR : Fellowship of the Ring : “ The Ring passed to Isildur, who had this one chance to destroy evil forever, but the hearts of men are easily corrupted. And the ring of power has a will of its own. It betrayed Isildur, to his death. And some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. History became legend. Legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge. Until, when chance came, the ring ensnared another bearer.”        

Value the Emptiness

 

We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel, but it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the wheel depends.

We turn clay to make a vessel, but it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the vessel depends.

We pierce doors and windows to make a house, and it is on these spaces where there is nothing that the usefulness of the house depends.

Therefore just as we take advantage of what is, we should recognize the usefulness of what is not.  – Tao Te Ching

Happy New Year