Church

"As time passed by, Church made more sense to me". This quote by U2's Bono, i read sometime when i was engineering but never understood. Now that i am married and other side of 30, i realize the vastness of the message. Suprisingly every sunday i look forward to the messages and begining to listen to them. Earlier it was just running out of the Church, roaming on nice empty sunday roads and coming back to Church as soon as the service was finished.One of the beautiful messages i was fortunate to hear was, we need to Love God and each other with all our heart and mind.Give Him and others your 100%.A man does things with all His heart in 2 circumstances. One, when he/she truly likes it and when one is really afraid of consequences.Well, the same interest one must have when following the Lord's word and loving one another. Then u'll truly realise the gifts of God and how beautiful the world is. Wow!!

Time, as they say is the master of all and it is indeed like water which flows and they are seldom second chances.We need to give 100% to things we do and every moment. Sometimes i wonder if i really gave that importance to things i have done over the time and the answer is a big No.Wethever it was college, people or work, i simply did what was necessary never strecthed beyond it.Fortunately things fell in place most if not all the time and it was indeed because of presence of the Lord. It was as if my life was on auto-pilot, even now i feel that. But sometimes when i look back, i should have strechted more, freaked out lesser and worked harder.Justified the beautiful life He gave me.Hope i get the wisdom and focus to do that.

Lessons.

"Life is Beautiful". This simple line says so much. There is so much beauty around us, but we have fallen into trap of so many wants we fail to realize the gifts we have.
Some of the gifts and the responsibilities associated to it, are reminded to us by simple and unexpected lessons. One such Lesson was handed over to me and I thank God who made it happen. It was on 19th August, 1998 when I was in my Engineering second year. Brash and arrogant I was, as I was studying in College of Engineering, Osmania University the number one college in Andhra Pradesh and being a localite.
There is a local railway station Jamia Osmania, behind the University campus which connects to Secunderabab. Favorite pastime was to bunk college, get into the local train and zoom off to Secunderabad. Never bothered about buying ticket as no one used to dare to ask anything to Osmania student. Once the TT asked for tickets and I threatened him by saying will throw him out of the train, after that he never came near me. The ticket money could be used for an extra chaai or cigarette…why waste on silly things as tickets!!

Over the railway tracks, construction of a flyover was started. As usual, on 19th August, I was waiting for the train and could hear its sweet whistle as it was approaching the platform. Then I saw this kid, not more than 8yrs who used to work on the flyover, dart across the foot over bridge run towards the ticket counter, buy a ticket and then get into the train.
That one sight made me feel so small. Here I was doing my Engineering, and there was this hardworking illiterate kid who ran, bought ticket and then boarded the train. Who was more educated?
Now after many years and after doing my MBA am settled in a corporate job, but I see the same irresponsible behavior among most educated….throwing water bottles/trash from car, talking roughly with traffic constable, breaking traffic rules etc. Where is the sense of responsibility, caring? I tell them not to do so, but everyone should realize it and the realization would and will come, sooner or later!!
After being in couple of other cities, I have moved to Hyderabad and one day was zooming on the very same flyover. The feeling experienced was something awesome. Hope others get to experience it sooner as the World becomes a much better and lovely place then!!

Shah Rukh Khan!!

King Khan....its a treat to watch SRK, the way in which he gets beneath the skin of the character is wow. Potraying the diffident guy in RBDJodi, the silent determination in Chak De, the inner turmoil in Swadesh, the savvy n cold Don, the guy who accepts reality in Kabhi Haan Kabhi Naa.....its a treat to watch him.
Like Al Pacino, who can play the composed polished military officer in GodFather, the maverick in Scarface, the impatient cop in Heat, the confident teacher in Scent of a Woman....SRK does bring in a new dimension to the roles.
Waiting for the day when he returns to playing the baddie.Nevertheless, my personal favourite remains Sanjay Dutt- Billa of Musafir.

Office!!

Office...the place where we spend Lions share of our day.Interacting with same people for quite some period, but somehow make very few friends in office.Never understood the reason, its one place where we are gonna be spending more time after college than any other place.

Office is the place which gives u money to do all of your activities, buying food, EMI's, clothes,pursuing hobbies ......everthing, but its looked upon with disdain and disinterest.Why? Coz people are always judging you??.......mostly its the other way round, the individual always asks before doing anything in office "wats in it for me". Before helping a junior, going out with ur bosses, even while making friends.Tat kills half of the joy then n there.

In my first job at Times of India, waz fortunate to meet people who were not of the kind and really made friends for life. It was an office which i really looked forward to go every morning, they waz work and mostly stretching to 10 hours every day, no holiday on saturday and sometimes even of sundays.But it waz a place where office folks were like real friends. Roaming together, pulling each others leg, partying together and having food at each others place. Man i really miss the time spent in Times.

After MBA, my second job waz in Atos Origin..... along with me , 26 other B-school grads where picked. We chilled together and used to wonder, even from IIMs and top B-schools how Atos managed to find people who are total timepass . It was like college after college. After sometime one by one started to leave and i waz begining to interact more with other people.Suprisingly, most people looked tense, atmosphere looked mundane and as the saying goes "A merry heart spreads joy, but a worried soul drieth the surroundings", the atmosphere was really dry. Even after earning good amount, having a good life why the worry ?? thinking if the other person will get more increment, if the other person will go abroad earlier, if i do this how beneficial it is to me and my career.Dont know??In Atos too, made some real good friends and used to fool around and i miss the time spent with them.
Infosys, my 3rd job and am waiting how it will turn out to be..........
But i still wonder when office will be like a college.....or is it too wishful?? Don't know.

Shiva.

Shiva- The Rudra (feared one), The Mysterious, The Destroyer, The Celestial dancer .

The name always inspires awe and respect.
Shiva is both feared and respected for the tranquility and anger He posses.
Hindu mythology has such wonderful stories which are slowly being ignored by the new generations. Most, if not all the stories have direct relation to the tradition and customs followed in India. Shiva, was and is my fav God from Hindu mythology. The God who is the last resort for things beyond control, the calmness with which He puts fear and awe in the demons and Gods alike is so powerful.
The God worshiped by Demons-Gajasura ( the demon who's elephant head is attached to Ganesha), Ravana, Apasmara ( the demon on whom Shiva is show dancing in His Nataraja statues) were all ardent followers of Shiva. Apart from these He leads other demons smoking pot, drinking bhang and on an eternal high which reaches its cresendo on ShivRatri.
The master of astetic yoga, music and wisdom- He is followed by majority of the sadhu sects.

Shiva-serene, in solitude, in eternal trance is the Hindu God who is truly magnificeint.
I really wanted to be in Benares for few weeks to know more about Him and on a Shivratri -hope am able to tat soon.

-jeevs

Cats n Dogs.

Cats n Dogs....the enemies from ages. Not many people like cats, i always wondered why. Dogs are as they say, Mans' best friend. Why, becouse it alwys eager to please or listen? Just observe a dog, look in its eyes....its always unsure of what to do or what am I. Constantly begging for recognition, just a snap of fingers or "chu-chu" n it jumps as if its life mission is fulfilled.
All the time, looking here n there not minding its own self, dog is the ultimate nagging creature. Never understood why a dog chases a car or bike...what it intends to do if it catches..... just for the heck, it runs behind n don't knw if it really gets a kick out of it. As the joker says in Dark Knight " Its the dog in me who makes me chase things, I do not know what i'll do if i get them".
Cats, wow...most consider them as evil..mostly becoz they are it doen't listen to any one and partly becoz of Egyptian mythology in which cats are the gatekeepers of hell.Cats are cool, not tense or hungry for recognition and are timepass. I still remember my cat-Rocky. One moment it used to run among the flower pots, jump here n there and if you tried to call it, jus a nonchalant look saying "pls don't disturb, am busy". Man, one fine day when i returned from college, it was lying dead....it drank paint and my mom took it to vet n all....but it died.
Just see a cat when it is walking, full of grace n no hurry.Its as if a tiger has been shrunk in size.Best part are its nails, they are hidden so nicely and used only when essential. I almost had a cat in symbi hostel, but it did not work out. Well now that am back in H'bad....if u visit my place anytime, be sure to find a nice little kitty running around.

-Jeevs

PUBS!!

The word itself is so relaxing. Jus step into a pub on a hot afternoon or after playing a good game of football, it instanatly dissolves the tired feeling inside.
The first time me n my friends entered a pub was in 9th standard when we were out for 6 days from home on a NCC camp. Sneaking out from the camp in night and roaming around, we landed near JukeBox, one of the old pubs in Secunderabad. The feeling we got when we went in, was as if we landed on some other planet. It was awesome.....the music, i still remember, they were playing Tears for Fears-Everybody Wants to Rule the World song,. But the cashier shooed us away saying school kids get out from here, but somehow managed to get a bottle of beer. The first sip was horrible, hated it first time when i sipped, it tasted like crap. After that it became our fav pub in college.
As soon as i moved to H'bad, me n my friends went out to check out the place, we hadn't been there in ages.And the place where JukeBox stood, there stands a saree and jewellery store. Yuck, thanks to teetotallers with money.Something in me also shut down when i saw JukeBox shut.
Whenever in a pub, its soothing n so peaceful.Just the music, sipping your fav drink and the worries, rat races of the world seem so futile. Its like Metallica's "Nothing Else Matters". I always ask to my friends, what makes a pub so good....is it we that are bad?Well,no one knows yet.