Happyness in the Busyness of Life

Life is a live thing. It doesn't stop for you, it doesn't pause for you to catch a breath, it just runs along. You either fall away, fade away or keep abreast of it. Life is busy, there is work, there are commitments, there are targets, submissions. So many happenings that the chief reason for life is forgotten -Yourself and Your Happyness.

In this busyness of life, the only saving grace can be the MOMENTS. The moments which live on in your memory, the moments you cherish and the moments which take your breath away. And mostly these are the moments which just happen not the ones which are planned. 

Keep stealing these Moments and your Pursuit of Happyness will be fulfilled. 

And you can understand only once you have experienced one. :D

Rolling & Coasting

Emotions & Feelings - Probably the most complex thing in the whole universe - And what makes us "HUMAN"

Fun can go away with a little wrongly timed, misinterpreted word and a heavy weight can lift with another. Happiness brings tears while you can smile through pain. Unsaid thoughts can eat from inside, while a simple note heals.

But when has a journey without any bumps been fun :)

The Inhuman Humans

Statutory Warning - Some gruesome details to follow. So if cant stand blood and gore, please stop reading the post right now.

Still reading. All right. Do not complain that I didn't warn you.

Sometime last week, at 3 in the night, I suddenly find myself awake. Wonder why. The answer comes in a few seconds. A sharp pain in the lower right jaw. Cause unknown. Recedes a bit after an hour or so, followed by  fitful sleep.

Dentist visited. Cause found to be wisdom tooth trying to butt into its neighour. Neighour tooth protests and defends its turf. This showdown leads to pain. Painkillers taken. An OPG done which confirms need for extraction [Aside - I liked the earlier description - Dental Panoramic Radiograph].

Extraction scheduled. Now for the gory part.

4 injections deep into the mouth. Drilling of part of the tooth. The gum cut with a blade. Pliers used in an attempt to pull it out. Attempt fails, so part of bone cut into. Then tooth pulled off with pliers. Ends with 2 sutures inside the  mouth. All this while the mouth is pulled as wide as possible and all sorts of dangerous items are put in (Syringes, drills, blades, pliers, sucker pipe, cotton wool, dentist's fingers, needle, thread).

An hour long procedure. Me is numbed, swollen, slurred speech and exhausted. While the dentist pleased with successfully handling a bit off complex case like this. And I was proudly shown the extracted, bloodied tooth as well.

In conclusion - Doctors/Dentists are healers (the pain is quite under control) but they cant be humans.

P.S. - One positive side of the procedure - Ice cream - loads of it.

Always

Sherlock Holmes to Bon Jovi via Severus Snape.

3 characters totally unrelated.
1st one - A Fictional detective (though there are many convinced he does exist)
2nd one - one of the biggest pop stars on this planet
3rd one - the most enigmatic fictional character ever created (IMO)

Now how did I get connect this trio?

I was watching Sherlock (the BBC series). Its a modernized take on the Arthur Conan Doyle creation set in the 21st century. (In my opinion a simply Bloody Brilliant one). Now while watching the series realized that Benedict Cumberbatch (the actor portraying Holmes) sounded pretty familiar. In fact he sounded like Alan Rickman's portrayal of Severus Snape in the Harry Potter movies. 

Did some Google research on the subject. Landed up on a set of videos where Benedict Cumberbatch was actually mimicking Alan Rickman. Also found that I wasn't the only one who found the voices similar. Check this combo video)

Related videos sent me into the Harry Potter World. Lots of fan made videos on Severus Snape. A few on Snape's love for Lily Evans which were a compilation of scenes from across the Potter movies. The background track playing was Bon Jovi's Always. A catchy sound track with lyrics which seemed to have been written for this story. (Funny how I had this song in my music collection for years but never listened to it). 

And since then this has become my favorite number.

P.S. Found this interesting line as well: "Dear Romeo, this is how you die for your love, Regards, Severus".

Goodbye 2011

Last Day of the Year MMXI A.D. The year of the initiation of change. After having spent a couple of pretty lousy years, I can look back on Twenty11 with some satisfaction. And what is more am actually looking forward to the changes 2012 is going to bring into my life.

A quick summary of some major happenings (may not seem much but certainly one was a life changer)

• Changed apartments, then flatmate moved on and I started living alone but certainly not lonely.
• At work there were tangible changes. Still at the same company, but the work location has changed and now working with an entire new set of collegaues. A Big Deal & some numbers jump made some tangible additions.
• The usual line of some people moving out of life continued but some more have entered. And permanently.
• There was a realization that with so many books to read, so many movies to watch, so many places to visit, and so many people who you can connect to, you might be alone but you should never be lonely.
• After 3 years the phone changed. Mobile phones are not just another device, they are you. Learnt it the hard way when a new phone got stolen.
• Tried to do something good and felt great about it. Life may be becoming more self-centred but certain acts like blood donation do make you feel a better human being.
• Felt the collective joy of over a billion people when India won the cricket world cup. A feeling which couldn't come in any other sporting event. (Went and watched a couple of IPL matches this year too)
• Added a new travel location - Bhopal
• Facebook kept the known ones in touch while twitter connected the new. Blogs were another sway of connecting to new people.

And as for My Pursuit of Happyness, I think I am getting there :)

To 2012, a leap year (am certainly doing something special on the most unique day of the calendar), a year of Hope & Change.

Wishing a Happy 2012 to all readers

Ten From Twenty11

The year 2011 A.D. is going by. Before we go on into 2012, its time to step back and remember the events to remember 2011 by. Following is my compilation of how 2011 went by. 

1. Trending Topic of the Year - R.I.P.

2011 took away a lot of legends. RIP was an ever trending topic on twitter. India lost legends like Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Tiger Pataudi, Sai Baba, Bhupen Hazarika, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Jagjit Singh, Ustad Sultan Khan. The computer world lost Steve Jobs & Dennis Ritchie. Dcitators and despots also seemed to be having a pretty bad time with bin Laden, Gaddafi & Kim gone (though hopefully no RIP for them)

2. Year of Movements

Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, Sudan, Bahrain, Syria and even India all saw major upheavals backed by the people. Social media acted as the mass mobilizer. Time magazine declared "The Protestor" as the "Person of the Year". However people on the roads certainly wasn't always a good thing. The riots in England & Vancouver, the attack on female journalists covering Tahrir showing up the ugly side of the people agitation. 

3. Overhype of the Year (sponsored by MRF Blimp)

As Diwali approached, there seemed to be only one event happening in India. The release of Ra.one. The promos were here, there and everywhere. It popped up in cricket ad breaks, sneaked on you through youtube, jumped on you through newspapers. Anywhere you went, you just couldn't escape the Chhammak Chhalo. In the end the marketing worked, as it could lure in big audiences before the critical (read bad) reviews had a chance to come out. 

P.S. Kareena Kapoor looked absolutely ravishing as the Chhammak Chhalo (the only universally agreed upon redeeming feature of the movie)

4. Picture of the Year

Quite a few competitors. There were quite a few movements (point 2 above) and natural disasters (e.g. Japan earthquake & tsunami). But the picture of the year comes from the Vancouver riots following an ice hockey match (!!!) as a young couple kiss on the road.



5. Doodle of the Year

Google have been playing around with their logo for quite a while now. Earlier it used to be just an image. Now they have shifted to making animated & interactive doodles. There were a few contenders for the doodle of the year, but to me the best was the Google Guitar, played on June 9th to mark the  anniversary of Les Paul. (incidentally also the anniversary of my joining my current company)

6. Song of the Year

Why this Kolaveri, Kolaveri, Kolaveri Di. So asked Dhanush. And soon the whole world was asking the same question. And everyone had their own version of it. There is the cute Nevan Nigam version, the dancing girls, the Arabic, the local boys, the chipmunks and the best of the lot the Punjabi version. Even CNN declared it to be the song of the year. And yet the question remains. Why This Koaveri, Kolaveri, Kolaveri Di?

7. Understatement of the Year

Planning Commission's revised poverty line which came up to Rs 32/day. While it was immediately hyped up without trying to make full sense of the statistic, it showed a grim reality. There were nearly 40% Indians surviving on even less. Point to ponder upon.

8. Camouflage of the Year

Baba Ramdev dressed in salwar kameez. With his appearance wonder how much of a help was this dress.



9. Self -created newsmaker of the year

Poonam Pandey followed Larissa Riquelme's footsteps. Unlike Ms. Riquelme who fulfilled her promise inspite of Paraguay not winng the football world cup, Ms Pandey did not despite India winning the cricket world cup. And she hitched her name to the team without any rhyme or reason and continued with her weird antics throughout the year. Wondering if the Indian team's inconsistent showing post the World Cup was a result of this? (:P)

10. New borns of the year

There were some famous new borns in the year. First came the so called 7 Billionth baby, who was born in at least 3 different places. Then followed the media frenzy over Baby B. If this is the frenzy on just being born wonder what would happen if they do anything notable.

So this was 2011. Lets see what 2012 has in store for us. Though if the Mayans are correct, this might be the last year-end list I would have end. Certainly a nice thought to enter the new year.

Wishing all readers a very Happy & Prosperous 2012 :)

In Remembrance - The Evergreen Star

A post dedicated to a true legend of Indian cinema. By the time I came into being his heyday may have been gone but the legend was very much there. His recent films may have been eminently forgettable which is probably a good thing since they should not take the gloss of the exemplary work he did in the 1950's, 60's and 70's. Probably the greatest style icon - his pose on the stage while collecting the Dad Sahab Phalke award from APJ Abdul Kalam is unforgettable.

RIP Dev Anand - a true cinema legend. I am not qualified to write/comment upon such a personality. What I can do is compile a list of my personal favorite Dev Anand numbers. 

In no particular order here goes

1. Main Zindagi Ka Saath Nibhata Chala Gaya - (Hum Dono) - A song which is probably everyone's favorite Dev Anand number and also in every one's greatest Hindi film songs list.

2. Phoolon Ke Rang Se - (Prem Pujari). Song appears on radio/TV and you have to sing along to it

3. Kabhi Khud Pe Kabhi Halat Pe - (Hum Dono). Perfect comment on life

4. Hai Apna Dil To Awara -  (Afsana). A great number on the mouth-organ

5. Wahan Kaun Hai Tera - (Guide). Probably SD Burman's best sung song. Also sets the tone for a brilliant movie.

6. Kya Se Kya Ho Gaya - (Guide). If your life suddenly hits a terrible phase, the song appears somewhere in the mind's playlist.

7. Ye Dil Na Hota Bechara - (Jewel Thief). A fun song for the road. Just wondering where he found that fish.

8. Phoolon Ka Taaron Ka - (Hare Rama Hare Krishna). Dedicated to everyone's sister.

9. Di Ka Bhanwar Kare Pukar - (Tere Ghar Ke Saamne). Innumerable quizzes have had this question in the video clips section. Where is this song shot? (Ans - Qutub Minar)

10. She Ne Khela He Se Aaj Cricket Match - (Love Marriage). Totally surprised that in a cricket mad country like ours this song is hardly heard.

10 is a very insufficient number to capture my personal favorites. I can count many many more. 

RIP Dev Anand

The Short Story

For Sale: Baby Shoes, Never Worn.

6 words, that's all, make up the shortest story ever. The author - Ernest Hemingway.

6 words tell a story. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. But there are many items just open for interpretation. And everyone can have their own.  The six words (somehow am unable to refer to it as a story) open up a lot of questions.

• Why are the shoes for sale? (The seller doesn't need them)
• Why were they never worn? (They are stolen from expectant parents OR Maybe the baby never came into being OR never lived long enough to need them)
• Who is the seller? (A thief OR A pawnshop OR the would-have-been parents)
• Why only the shoes? Are there any other items also? (No answers here)

Lots of unanswered questions here, and there could be more. The words in ( ) are what I think might be the probable answers. Probably lots of stories can be woven out of these six words.

All I can conclude is Hemingway was certainly having lots of fun at his readers' expense.

Flying High...or not...

13th February, 2006 - A pretty important meeting. And the beginning of a life-altering affair.

But this post is about the events which happened the next day.



14th February, 2006.

After the events of 13th, I was returning to my then residence in Duliajan. Had a flight booked from Calcutta to Dibrugarh hopping at Guwahati. Unfortunately, ULFA had decided to have a state wide 12-hour bandh on that very day (and the day before as well). And when ULFA declares a bandh, it means Assam is shut down. While checking-in at the Calcutta airport, I was informed that Dibrugarh airport was shut down as ground crew could not reach the place. This had led to the cancellation of the Guwahati-Dibrugarh leg of the journey. I was given an option to cancel or go to Guwahati. I had to return urgently so took the latter option while thinking of options for the journey onwards.

The flight to Guwahati was uneventful. Then had to get off at Guwahati airport itself. Was wondering about the options ahead. The whole state was closed down, so even overnight buses wouldn't have been running. And nothing was going to open before 6 P.M. till the bandh ended (One point to be noted here, in Assam the bandhs are called off exactly at the time mentioned). While I was thinking about the options, the airline ground crew began collecting the passengers who were in the same predicament. Also at the same time I received a call from the airline, detailing my options. The offers included a ticket two days after with stay arranged for in the interim. However, I had to report back to work as early as possible. So the caller promised to look into some alternative arrangements.

In the mean time, the airport manager had already started making alternate arrangements. Refunds for those who wanted it or else transport to Dibrugarh via road. I preffered the second option. This option was also confirmed by the airline office via call. However as the bandh was still on for a few hours more road journey couldn't be started immediately. Thanks to the staff, the next few hours at the airport were as comfortable as could be possible in the cirucmstances. In the evening, our vehicles had arrived and an overnight journey followed. And they ensured that the passengers were taken to their actual destinations and not just the airport. For me it was my rooms in Duliajan which was a further 60 km away from Dibrugarh airport.

This was a good experince on customer relationship management which years in B-school wouldn't have provided. The airline in question? Kinghfisher who really treated customers as guests.

Why am I writing this today? Well, two reasons. (a) I had promised to write about this experience someday (taken over 5 years though), and (b) reading about the troubles at the Kingfisher Airlines with fears of the airlines being shut down. That day's experiences had got Kingfisher a fan for life in me. This is a story that I have oft-repeated, whenever talk of airline services arises. And I certainly look forward to travelling on Kingfisher again. Hoping Mr. Mallya and company are able to sort out this trouble.

P.S. The life-altering event was the interview for IIM-Indore. Sometimes I do wonder what would have happened if the bandh had begun on 12th instead of 13th & 14th and I had missed that interview...

The Writer's Block

Occasionally, this blog endures periods of extended silence. These are times when I do not feel enthused enough to put thoughts in writing on any subject. Its not that there is any dearth of ideas. The problem is they are just ideas. Like a nice little sentence which makes a great punchline but without any background (So it goes onto twitter) 

At times like these I post just for the sake of posting. (e.g. this post). A post for the sake of a post results in a series of incoherent ramblings (again, refer this post). Given that I have leased my soul to the devil and in return having a zombie like existence for the past few days (basically doing overtime as a salaried person), this is the kind of post that could emerge.

I did try looking at world in general to get some ideas for a post. All I could turn up with were

• My own recent zombie like existence - Nope, not crying to the world for seeking attention (or maybe I have already done that here :P)
• Anna & his teams latest - Already expressed my misgivings on the subject. AND I am not a journalist and neither is this blog a newspaper.
• England playing India - Good idea, but wait I have a separate blog dedicated to cricket for that (like Star Cricket, Ten Cricket, Neo Cricket). [Aside -I did some promotional work here. Will I get paid for this?]
• The most over-promoted film of all time. RA.One - still a couple of weeks to release and I am bored of it jumping out of TV, cricket, twitter, youtube and from GOK where not. [And here I go again, inadvertently doing some more promotion work]

In short, nothing to write but still have managed to put in 342 words here.  (Yes the words have been counted, I am that bored). Which reminds me of this demotivational poster (copied from despair.com, link here)

Enough for now.

Till next time, hopefully with some actual ideas (which are nobody's monopoly)