A country that needs a change…

It is unusually hot this summer in Hyderabad. I was waiting for a friend at a junction trying to find some shade next to a wall of a shop. Then I saw a old man pushing a small cart. He sells fruits in the nearby residentail areas I guess. I couldn’t help but wonder how old this person is and how difficult it is for him to walk several kilometers everyday to make a living at this age.

The question is, what could have made a difference in this old man’s life?

Same day, I was at a bus stop waiting patiently for a bus that only God and the driver knows when it will come. I was simply surprised to see the crowd pushing each other as soon as a bus comes. So big crowd for so fewer buses.

Thats not the worst of all! I saw a old couple trying to get in. It was practically impossible for them in that crowd. They missed the bus. The waiting timer is reset back.

I was trying hard to control my anger on the insensible people who could have let these couple use the so called ’senior citizen preferences’. But, we can’t blame the people entirely, if only we had enough public transport vehicles, these people would have been a little more sensible.

In a contry where my parents can’t safely cross a road, take a public transport and a really poor old person can not sit at home, it hurts to pay 30% of my salary as a tax.

CELL PHONE…who is on the other end?

Lot of inventions have become inseparable in our life. One such invention that always makes me wonder where would have all these conversations if it was not invented - CELL PHONE. We can’t stand in bus stop for 5 minutes without using cell phone. Don’t believe - try calling someone at 6 PM in the evening. No matter whatever service you use, you would not get number in the first attempt.Its interesting to guess whom they are talking to by the things they do and words that they use while talking. We can also guess their mood by looking at their expressions.

• A guy stands in the line for a plate of frozen Idly and keeps on explaining how depressed he was with the Pizza that he ate which was like masala dosa - He is talking to his wife.

• A guy laughs aloud for a joke that the other person shared - Its his girl

• A guy laughs awkwardly while talking on cell phone - he is listening to his manager telling a joke.

• A lady doesn’t even realizes that she is walking on the middle of the road until a truck drives yells at her - She is talking to her boy friend.

• A guy walking to the wipro electric fence and tries to touch it and doesn’t realize, he is talking to a girl.

• A person sits on the lawn near Amphi theater and plucks the grass efficiently than the lawn mover - he is talking to his girl friend.

• A person keep saying ‘yes’, ‘I told you I will not do it’, ‘I will do it’,'ok’ through out the conversation - he is talking to his dad.

• A guy blushing and whose face is like a 1000W bulb - he is talking to his fiancé.

• A guy keeps on cribbing about the work culture in his company - he is talking to a friend working with MNC.

• A guy shouts at the top of the voice - he is speaking to tele-marketing executive.

• A guy curses the customer care executive as soon as he comes to office for not addressing his complaint - he had a fight with his wife.

• A guy would be reluctant to pick a call - he is fined for talking on mobile the same day.

• A guy finding the corners of Tower 8 to attend a call - he is attending a telephonic interview.
• The list continues…..

It takes a lot to be positive…

… and it is worth it.

It just ammuses me how much one can be filled with a positive energy and a positive perception of life by looking at the positives of any thing. I bet it is difficult but it is amazing!! That is why I felt ‘It takes a lot to be positive’.

Off late I have started thinking how important it is to appreciate small things in our day to day life. This has started making me feel glad about so many good things that are around me.

It is easy to identify and discuss about negatives of any thing probably in our day to day conversations among peers or friends. I’m just assuming how it would be to put a period for all this negative talks, instead talk about the positives of the same thing. I will not be surprised if our conversations end in dead silence initially

Something is not right, some person is irritating, some situation is really unbearable - so we don’t talk about all that, but try to find and talk about positives of the same. I bet there are a lot of things that will come out. Of course there are some things that we can never be positive about, but I think they are a minority.

In this process, probably we miss out few lessions that we might learn being negative, but I still feel it is worth it. May be we will find out to deal with the negatives better!!

Silence the noises

Life is changing at supersonic speed. Each day is not the same as the previous day. So much to learn. So much to adapt to. So much to forgo. So much to achieve. So many people to know about…these things push you and push you so much and so hard that it is just hard to live like me sometimes.

Sometimes I feel that I want to go back to days when I was a teen, where ‘listening to heart’ was the way of life.

But, now there are a lot of noises around. Tons of people who would jump to tell you what to do every moment. Loads of books to tell you how life has to be.

Sometimes I feel that I should ‘Silence the noises’ and just listen to what my heart says. A heart that said what is good for my life, how much pressure my system can handle, a heart that said who is the right person in my life, a heart that made me to realize that life is not all about running, but to pause a moment and value each little thing that has ever happened.

Probably a very immature thought of shutting off all doors for the sources of learning like self help books, people in the business of helping, but, just trying to weigh the difference between them.

Reset...

An universal solution to many many problems in software applications, oh wait it is even for hardware problems - Reset/Restart/Reboot.

First time I realized how irritating this solution was when customer care representative told me to restart my device and it will work fine. I was like “What? Is that the only solution??” Why am I talking about a technical topic like significance of reset in this forum?? Sure I did not do that to my PC today or suggested to one my clients who is using applications developed by me

It is unusually cold this morning and I was sitting with my coffee cup in the balcony. I was thinking about a conversation I had with my friend about a strained relationship that he is in right now. Suddenly it occurred to me how it would be to have a reset button in our personal life also.

Most of the times, communication gaps start with one disagreement or one disappointment or one mistake. And within no time the gap becomes so wide that we feel helpless and it takes a lot of effort to bridge it. Within all complexities of egos or age differences, it becomes even more painful at times. Now, just imagine, if there was a reset button handy. The moment we know that there is a rift being created, we could use the reset button and things are back to stability.

We work on tight schedules and under high pressures sometimes. It feels like we can’t take it anymore. Most of the times we see the side effects of it on our personal life and relationships as well. All that I can think of is a reset button again.

We are in the middle of a chaos, probably a never ending traffic jam during peak summer day. Our adrenal rush reaches its peak. We tend to lose our patience. I wish there was a reset button to take us back to the mood just after we get out of the bed.