Great Insight!

DISCLAIMER: These are my thoughts; one has all the rights to disagree with me.

“I can see so many things going wrong here, but why can’t people sitting on top see the same!!!”

I think most of us go through this thought sometime or the other in our life, and waste too much time discussing the same. Let me put my recent cerebration on this:

• Lately, I realized that majority is the biggest lie on earth. What I mean to say is, whenever we get the thought mentioned above, we get numerous people around us supporting the same, but the fact is that it is not true (I feel so). Keeping the simple thing in mind, all who are above us have gone through the stage where we are today, and believe me, they know the reality on their own. Just that they live with it, and they have their own reasons to do so. But they know the reality.

• Before you say that system is not working, you need to ask the following to yourself:

1. Are you sure that you know what is wrong in the system? Can you “write” them down on paper/presentation?
2. If you write them down on paper, do you have solution for all those problems on your own, with you?
3. Do you think, you can solve those problems if given a chance? Are you convinced, confidant and sure?
   

• Before you go to someone to ask these questions, you need to put yourself in other person’s chain and see - what will be your answers to same questions?

• There is no point saying that you can also be a champion! Win the race at least three times, and say that “I am a champion!” You need to demonstrate again and again before people accept your capabilities. That is the fact!

• It’s better to accept that wherever people are there, politics will be there. You can only choose to be part of it, or not to be part of it. You cannot remove it. No one can involve you in that if you don’t want to be.

• If you really want to be successful, be the buyable and not sellable. What I mean to say is that one has to make one’s place in the world. Now a day’s, most of us want to know something about everything, but at the same time you need to know “everything about something!” You need to have your own USP (Unique selling point).

• Life is long, and you have a long career to go. You cannot even imagine where life can take you. If you start running today, you will reach somewhere for sure, and if you standstill you will not reach anywhere for sure.

• There is no shortcut to success! If you follow the path what every successful person has followed, and you will succeed.

• Your life is the sum-total of all the choices you make; whether it’s the choice to sleep, choice to spend life with your near-n-dear ones, choice to enjoy life, or choice to work hard every moment to be successful in your career. You cannot ask for everything at the same time.

• You need to put tremendous amount of effort “everyday” in your life to reach where other successful people are (if you think, you want to be). The sooner you accept, better it is.

• Last but not least, it is better to accept that some people are lucky in this world; some people are GOD gifted, and there is not point thinking about them, and being sad. It’s not that you cannot beat them, but you need to be ready to put 150% effort to get 90% results in that situation. Are you really ready to do so?

In summary, I would say that most of the time solution to our entire problem lies inside us only. We are the one who needs to solve those problems, and come up with solution. I realized that sometimes we are frustrated because of ourselves and not because of the system/others. If we cannot change ourselves, we should not expect system to change for us any ways – “Be the change, you want the world to me”.

The 13th :-)

Today, one of my very close friend (Blue) made me realize that there are too many 13s in my life :-)

- Born on 13th
- Name (Manish Dwivedi) has just 13 letters.
- First letter in name i.e. 'M', is the 13th character in the alphabetic list.
- I have my very very close friend who is also born on 13th.
- Four other friends are born on 26th (I can't believe it!!) which seems to be another multiple of 13.

I am not sure what other people think about number "13", but I find it too good for me :-)

Seoul Pics :-)

http://picasaweb.google.com/mdwivedi/ManishSokchoTrip

http://picasaweb.google.com/mdwivedi/SeoulPic

Boredom...

The word with which most of us will be aware of :-). I know the three characters which came just before the period "." get disappear once you are in this state. I mean the state of euphoria and boredom are just enemy of each other. As two swords can not live in one "holster", they can not live in same person. And all of us know which sword we want anyways :-).

By the way, If I am inditing about this right now, it implicitly means that I am not in that state, as that state is like a monster. It just eats away all your thoughts, and put you in a world where you really don't know what to do.

As I mentioned, I feel that it is just a state of mind, and nothing else!! So, to come out of it, you just have to fool your brain. Just give it some nice food to eat, and it will forget that it was in that state sometime back. If you can believe me, just go and watch a comedy movie,and all your ennui would have gone for a toss.

Actually just now I realized that although above thing may not work at all times, as boredom is also of different kinds :-(.But it does work most of the times:

Ephemeral Boredom: This type of boredom comes just like that, without any reasons. Sometimes you are bored just like that.I have gone through this state several times, e.g. if I sit at home for more than 24 hours, suddenly, I start feeling that something has terribly gone wrong,I mean, without any reasons at all! But I know this kind of boredom is short-living ,and if I follow what I said above; Bingo!!!! It works :-)

Persistent Boredom: This is of some specific type, where you get into tedium state because of something tedious, or because of something too simplistic and monotonous .... Booooooooo :-(.... you are gone man!! So believe me, it's better that you catch it before it actually starts, and take some preemptive actions to avoid it. Because, if you get into this state, it is gonna eat-up hell lot of your time and energy. And only way to come out of this is: "A Big Change!!".

I know that it is impossible to save yourself from this virtual-behemoth, but I believe that if one consciously keep this (not to get into this state) in mind, and take necessary actions; the frequency of this can be reduced for sure.

Okay, Okay, Let me not bore you anymore. Oh Man! I don't think that I have covered this type above, but I am sure that you already know what to do here :-)

Cherry Blossom

Winters in Seoul are almost over, and that becomes the most amazing season of the year. The days are warm, sunshine is yellowish, and the breeze is soothing; trees are getting leaves back, and the place is becoming lush green and colorful with days. Seeing the sun rising behind the hills from our balcony while sipping that hot-tea in the morning is becoming a visual delight to me.

The cherry trees are in bloom, and everybody seems to be getting rid of their heavy jackets and winter-clothings. After the cruel winter, weather is again becoming pleasant, and It becoming fun to wander around in the Sun. The beauty of the season touches some vein in my heart, and I recall all the experiences that I have had at this place. Some of them were really bad, but many people helped me unexpectedly. Some of them were really good, and I was really fortunate to have nice people around me to share my joys.

One month back when I came to this place, on an official trip, with few colleagues; I did not know that the bond of fraternity will become so strong in so less days, and it will look so true to me. The kind of affection and care, I got from them is immense, and can never be forgotten. All of them are so nice that it feels bad even to think about even one of them going back leaving all of us here.

The place has surely changed couple of my beliefs in life. The place seems to offering me a new confidence in the fields which were always gray to me. The amazing public transport system is giving a feel of being independent even if I am out of my own country which used to be the biggest problem ,for me, in united states.

Communicating with people without knowing their native-language as well as lack of common-language ( sometimes) gives me a reason to learn a new language itself.

Playing Squash gives me an insight that it is not as difficult as it was always being projected to me in college days. Guys! the ball does not come as-fast as you used to tell me always :-(. I wish! I could have tried it there itself at least once.

I always feel that new place always gives you a new energy. May be, it is because you find so many new things, in so less time, that you keep forgetting about all your old stuff, and just get busy in things coming in-front of you. Anyways, that fits into my philosophy of life, i.e. "Life is a time-pass". So, the lesser you realize where time is going, the better it is for you :-).

Right now I seem to find this place very interesting; people are nice, facilities are awesome, culture seems different, and learning seems to be very fast. So, let me enjoy the Cherry Blossom for sometime, and we will see how does it go forward :-)

Reporting from Seoul

Last three-weeks, I have been in Seoul (it's pronounced as Soul),so here are the few interesting reflections of the place on my mind:

• People eat dinner at 6 p.m. itself. Man!. First-day when my new friend Dong Jin (He likes to be addressed as "Tobetter") asked me to join him for dinner, I was almost shocked! What?. Dinner! At this-time ?.But I guess one get use to the system in few days, as now a days we go for dinner at 6 p.m.:-). So,now I am having four meals in a day :P .Morning, Afternoon, Evening, and Night:-)
• Here everybody has an electronic device in hand. I mean whether you see a kid, teen-aged, young, middle-aged or even a old-aged person. Each of them will be carrying a electronic device, or a book while local travel. They just keep playing games, watch video, or listen to music. I really wonder if they even see who is sitting next to them in the train (or bus).I wouldn't be surprised if if I come to know that they dint even notice presence of their close friend(s) in same train. I don't know;may be they are too occupied with themselves.
• They stay too long at work. I came to know that sometimes they do not even go home for several days, and just stay in office itself. My goodness! what do you do in office for so long dudes!!!
• As observerd by one friend (we call him "Chote/Shyam" - real name Sanny though),no one in Korea seems to have mustaches or beard. We don't know why though :-)
• I don't know how many times they brush their teeth in day ;-(. You will see n number of people doing-this just before/after lunch/dinner (actually anytime in the day).It's like in-India we keep comb in our pocket, and here they seem keep tooth-brush :D
• Public transport is just amazing. You just buy a T-money card (like a prepaid-pass), and you can use it seamlessly in any train, bus or taxi. In fact we have tried fooling the system as well. That also works :-).May be, I will update you in some other blog in details :P.
• We are required to change 1 bus, 3 trains, walk for almost 2 km. and climb 300+ stairs to reach office :-(. Now I realized why everyone looks so fit here! Yes, I have not seen more than 10 people who are even plump!!
• Do not put any 10,000 wons ( Yeah! Here, you have only 1000, 5000, 10000 won currency-notes in Korea) in the bus. As driver doesn't have rights to open the money box, and you will loose rest of the 9.000 won (the expected change in return) :-(. Surprised!! Yes, you are suppose to carry T-money card, or loose-money (change).
• During peak hours, traffic in Seoul is pathetic.
• People are very disciplined on the roads when traffic is not there, but once traffic is there; They are just like us :). No difference!
• Whole metro-infrastructure seems to be constructed underground. I think the gap between line-2 and line-6 will be more than 5 floors! "Lagta hai ye sehar andar se bilkul khokhla hai :-)".Jokes apart, Amazing infrastructure for public transport.
• Unlike India, where all of us at-least try to communicate in English (at work), these guys seems to love their native-language, and hence most of the meetings (even in office) are always in Hangul only :-(.It seems that they just don't care; even if you are sitting there, and aware that you wouldn't understand. They will just keep talking in Korean.
• Also, a meeting can go for hours-and-hours!! Meeting just rambles on and jogs.
• I don't know how do they manage to eat "even rice" with those chop-sticks. I tried, but no success yet!! They tell that you need to have really strong fingers for that :-(. Really!! My take is;it's just about habits.
• People are helping, and they will try to help you as much as they can. Although most of the people can not speak English,they can read it and write pretty well. So if we need to ask something to these people, better you write it down and show it to them rather than asking them in words.
• These guys are always in Hurry! And that is the part of their culture. So if you listen too many "Belly! Belly!" (hurry-hurry),don't get offended;it's part of their culture.
• To me, Hangul (Korean language) seems to be pretty easy and nice to learn :-). Already learnt quite a lot sentences,but mostly problem happens when I speak in Hangul, but the person on the other side is not expecting me to speak Hangul; and he/she thinks that I am speaking something in English only :-((nd can not decode it correctly :-(. But they really appreciate if you put any effort to learn their language.
• Somehow, I felt that female/male ratio is relatively height here. Not sure!.
• Hairs!! Man, people have really-good hairs here. I have hardly seen anyone having less hairs (other than My Manager :P, looks like he worked outside Korea for long time :D). Almost 90% people have same coiffure -irrespective of guys or girls - The style with hairs falling on the forehead. Man! You can never read the lines on their forehead :-)
• Seoul is awake through-out the night.
• It has lot of street-shops which really give you a feel of India.
• You should not miss a chance to bargain. Believe me, you can bargain more than you think! You can start from 50% as well.
• People have awesome dressing sense.Everyone seems to be a natty dresser.
• Most of the girls seem to wear skirts.And I wonder how do they manage to survive with them in the winter as chilling as -10 *C. Seoul might be a good place in summers ;-)
• Water seems to be costlier than beer :-S.
• To all the volley-ball players, these guys play it with legs man! But believe me, it's nice to see the control they have over the ball.

To King of Punjab

Before any thing else, I would like to congratulate you on your wonderful results. I know that this was not the first success you have got in last few months, but I think that this-one made you truly happy. And I was really delighted to feel that.I know you have put numerous amount of effort to achieve this. It's really great!!

When I think back, I actualize that it's not been long that we know each other. But it has been a pleasure to spend time with you. I would have learn a lot from you in all these days.I always reckoned that you are really a diligent person, but what you have accomplished in all these days required right aptitude too! I would suggest that you must celebrate this time also as we have always done it :-)

As we often talked, I hope that you are also taking care of all your other fields too.I would recommend you to read some stuff on the finance et cetera in your free cycles. Just don't keep spending time in one area only. I know that you might be doing it already, but in case you are not then it is just a reminder for you.
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I would also advise you to spend some good time with your family as well. Try to make a balance between your professional-and-personal life as they are most precious gift for you in life.

Lastly, I would just say that you already have a real nice attitude about life so just try to be the way you are. I presume that you know how to ignore your success; not to gloat over what you have done, or berate what others have. As I can assure you that you can get what you want even without doing them. All the best to you!

All the Chimps :-)

You can click on the picture to enlarge and read.

Chote Chimpu: Teri ek din bahot waat lagani hai :-)

Promises Don't Come Easy

http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=bD5rVGX3Daw

Does everyone know everything, or How does everyone know everything...

Since childhood I have an few interesting doubts :-). Oh! I din't know that doubts can also be interesting! Okay! Let me get back to the point. The doubt I always had (in fact even now I have it..). Does everyone understands every emotion ? every feeling ? or is it that some people may not know few feelings, just that they would have heard about it. But then how do they empathize when someone talk about it ? I mean, does everyone has felt "electric shock" ? or does everyone know what it means to be get "burnt" ?, what is mean to get hurt ? How does we get to learn what is pain ? Is it that we keep listening to it from other people, and realize that it must be this only, or that only ? I mean, I just have these kind of doubts all the time...

We learn so many things during the puerility, but as we grow up; your learning curse goes down, at least the number of things we learn everyday ( I mean, I know it is not true with everyone, people keep learning all their life), but what I am trying to say here is, in childhood you don't even know that there is something like brain or anything which need to be used, and you just use it.And when we are grown up, we know everything and still sometimes it becomes so impossible to remember or learn something new.. why it is like that ? Is it that it is just about practice, is it just about patience ?

May be in our childhood we just keep doing whatever our folk say, or people around us do, and our body and cerebrum just get used to it. Mostly It would have been this way only. Because the things, which I know that best today, I don't think; I infact use my brain even a little for them e.g. driving, swimming, and I guess there will be illimitable number of other things like this.Hmmm...may be it is just about doing practice! I don't remember when I learnt doing multiplications, but I know that when I came to a stage (or an age) when I was needed to use multiplication, I already knew it!! I think I should be thankful to my parents, my family, and the teachers for that. May be when they would have tried to teach me these things , I might have shot them with thousands of question- why do you want me to do it ? why should I study ? I wanna go home, I wanna sleep et cetra et cetra..And they would have convinced (or bribed :-)) me somehow to "just do it"...Oh! looks like I got the same three words "Just do it agina..." looks like they are very important three words in life..Hmmm...may be it is just about doing it, and even you if you don't know today why are you doing it, someday you will generate a need for it as well.. .

I really don't know where I started, and where I ended... I mean, I am not going to use my brain now ( It's already sleeping :-)). I just did it!!

Let me take it in a positive way rather...

Today while driving back home ,I was thinking about my professional life which started more than six years back.And on the spur of the moment I realized that, I have worked with more than 10 boss' till now:-). And have gotten few milestone comments as well :-). So here they are,with my reaction on them :-)

Manager: "Manish has his own set of rules with which he lives!!"....
Me: Boo boo boo!! What the heck is that ? I am not such a bad guy, damm it!! How come, I have created such a brilliant (actually "not" gate se nikalne ka hai) imprint about myself. There should be something wrong.Let me go and discuss it right away!!
Me: Hi! I saw that you gave this (???) feedback to me, just wanted to know why is it like that ? I mean why did I deserve this much :-)?
Mananger: Oh! No... You got it in the wrong way! I meant it the other way round :-). I meant that you do the work in your own way, and it's good..
Me: Is it ? Okay! But when I read it from a third persons perspective, It gives me a different impression.. :-(.
Manager: Com'on, when did you start bothering about these things ?
Me: Hmm... "what does that mean :S, I do care about all that..** "okay, fine. I will take it in a positive way then... Thanks :-)"Gurrrrrrr....***".And after that day onwards, I guess, I was needed to explain it to everyone that it was actually a "+ve" feedback.. I hope, they understood too..

Manager++: You make a very firm opinion about something, and then it is very difficult to change it.
Me: Multalb ? Is it a positive one, or a negative one :S.
Manager: I mean, once you form a opinion, it is almost impossible to change you. It needs lot of hard work to convince you about something. May be because you already do so much background work, that you have all the facts already analyzed!
Me: Heehee... Let me take it as a positive thing then again ;-). So, unless you convince me, I am right!!! "Why can't they give it in the forthright way, or may be I don't get it... No idea!!!...".

It was when I resigned from Mot six years back (don't be surprised, I did that..:)Just after my first year completion in Mot.I didn't have any specific reason though(..??). Anyways...

Manager++: Why do you want to go ?
Me: Hmmm.. Nothing specific, I mean, I don't have any issues though. Just that I want a change.
Manager: Okay, so you can get a changes here also. Change your project, work on some different thing ...
Me: "Arre yaar jaane do naa, please**".. But I am looking for a big change. Give me two years, I will come back to Mot.
Manager: Why don't you give me just six months, and if you don't like it. I will not ask you go stay back again.
Me: " ab kya bolun yaar.......................". Okay :-(

And those six months of my professional life got converted to beautuful six professional years. But...!!!!

5 years Later... I resigned again.

Manager++ ;Manager--;......

Manager: Shall I try to stop you again :-)
Me: Nope, I am not giving any month this time :-(.

I am really grateful to all the managers/mentors I had. I think I had an amazing time with them till today, and I wish that I will have a same or better life going ahead too :-).

**: Ye sab dimaag k ander ki baat hai ;-)

Me and My boss!

DISCLAIMER: If you are my past,present or future boss, and reading this; please stop after reading the first paragraph itself :-), and if I am your present or future boss, then stop reading immediately. ;-)

Some how I never had a trouble with my boss(s) till now (touch-wood). Surprised right! So what's wrong in that ? I should be delighted. Did I say, I am not ? Yes,I am :-)

But the problem arises, when hoi polloi around me come up with this kind of things to me. And I am expected to either solve that, or at least solace them in some way or the other. To be very frank, most of the times I really don't find the problem as problem at the first place, and secondly I don't find the issue from the boss side :-(. May be because, I know that boss is anyways boss, and he will always do what is good for him (or the company). Is that wrong anyways ? So, what I finally end up trusting is, you have to take care of yourself, in your own way.

So, I always find myself enjoining people that actually it is their own faults. They always sit mum all the time hoping that their boss, and colleges will empathize them, and take the actions accordingly. But my dear friends!, it doesn't work this way. You need to plan your own career; you are not suppose to enjoy (and not use your brain), and someday find yourself complaining. You need to be proactive to guess where the things are going, and start working on them immediately. Else, according to me, you are not eligible for quetching. After all, baby who cries gets the milk! So you can take it the way you want. You can say that I am not going to coax the boss or whatever. But this is how the world works. What you need to understand and accept is,informing the boss what you want is not cajoling, and boss is also a human being, and he is not going to get a dream what you want. This is a relative and comparative world, and if you say that because you are good at your work, and only because of that you should get the best things (opportunities, promotions et cetra) , then you need to make sure that "that work" is not define by you yourself. What you do, and what you are expected to do are two different things. And what is important is, "what you are expected to do!". Not because your boss wants it, but because there is a possibility that what your boss is expecting is actually the necessity of the time,even if you are not able to see it or feel it.

So if you want to be happy in your professional life, please make sure that you at least take care of the following extra things (I am assuming that you at least do your work well, and good at it as well - at least what you define as work!).

- You must know that this is a competitive as well as comparative world. So please make sure your actions are always based on these. Don't worry, planning your ownn success does not mean that you are going to be a bad guy. Just don't hurt others, but it doesn't mean that you hurt yourself. Remember that, if you are not happy, you can not keep people around you happy anyways. So, you should be the highest priority for yourself! (I know it sounds to be little selfish, and yes, it is!).
- You should know that Rome was not built in a day, so you need to plan your actions for your future.From today, and everyday that follows.
- You nee to be aware of the surroundings, and what is changing there. And make sure that you are taking actions to cope up with those changes so that cirumstances favor you."Luck favors the brave" or I call it as "Luck favors the prepared".
- Ignorance is foolishness!
- You are suppose to know what you want. And you are suppose to convey this to your boss. He is not suppose to read your forehead, and guess what you want. You may argue why, so my point here is " how many times you have increased the salary/perks of your servants unless he/she cribs ?"
- Once you are in the industry, yo need to leave your image of being a kid. So, the sooner you grow up in your thinking, the faster you grow in the ladder.People might appreciate your nature on being a kid, but company is their to make money, so make sure that your actions are aligned with your companies progress.
- Every action of yours is noticed. Don't think that people around you are fool, or ignoring what you are doing.
- You can either be a leader, or a follower, up to you to decide.
- Finally, "knowledge, used in the right way ,and at appropriate time", pays off.
- If you are suppose to deliver something, then you are suppose to tell what all you need do complete it. So if you ask what you want and deliver it is just fine, But if you did not ask, and could not deliver the things, then it is a "havoc"! And you are the one who is responsible for that..
- As I told in my previous blog, Hard work put "everyday" pays off the most.Make sure that you are doing the hard work to achieve your noble goal, but at the same time, not making "hard work" as your noble goal. If possible, work hard, but don't make the "work" hard.
- One thing which I found always true about the job is, first you have to show confidence that you can do something, and then you have to prove it by doing it. If seeing the work you feel that it looks impossible, and you don't know if it can be done then may be just follow the below line, and I bet that it will work for you " In the beginning, every thing looks impossible, then improbable, and then INEVITABLE".. Once you do this couple of time, you and your bosses both will know that you can actually handle anything given to you :-).
- If your boss is happy with your, and your bosses boss is happy with you, your success is almost guaranteed :-).(It does not mean that you have to buy vegetables for your boss everyday... )

Even after doing all the above, if you still find yourself in the same place, then. I should really say that I don't have answers for you (right now..) , or may be you are not ready to accept that problem lies in one of these area(as far as my knowledge is concerned...)

Are you eligible to knock me ?

Have you ever felt that if you receive a criticism from your family, or friends you feel more irritated, and angry than from the people you don't know (or you don't care) ? At least I do!

I really do not want to know what my parents,my family,my friends, and my colleagues think of me. Because I am afraid that:

1. I may not take their criticism nicely.
2. I may get offended that they do not understand my situation, or just recognize the difference in our opinions about things.
3. I like to think that I am a really caring person and their true opinion may contradict it
4: I may feel bad that even if they know me in and out, and my situation sayin7-g it.
5: I may think that when I accept you the way you are a feel that my critical remarks may put you down, then why you don't think in the same way as I do.
6: Most of the time, I myself know that I am not good at certain thing, so why to tell me again and again. if you can not motivate me, you are not the one who is suppose to demotivate me either/

But apart from all these reasons, I think the bottom line is that I chose to interact with all these people, and live with all these people because I do not expect these people to evaluate me. I wish to be accepted by these people as a person that I am, with all my strengths and foibles, and still feel loved and cared for. I do realize that as individuals, they will hold certain opinions about me, and these will be mixed opinions. But as long as they love me and are on my side, I am happy.

No, I really do not need to know what they think of me. I just want them to be on my side.

I know that some people might disagree wit the idea, but let me tell you that this is what I want, so please do it if possible :-).

And if you really want to be captious to me then please make sure that the timing is appropriate, and the way you tell me is also not disheartening, because as a human being my immediate future might get affected by your criticism. And I don't like it. So if you really want to pass the annotation, make sure it is not impacting my contiguous future for sure..

Human body and the Machine

Sometime back I got a wonderful and enlightening thought, and that is- There is not much of a difference between human body and other machines. You might be wondering why I am telling this after all. Let me tell you something. I realized that whenever I fell sick in the past (although I don't fall sick very often - touch wood) I always got a feeling that it is not going to be cured.. I mean whether it was a small -when I almost broke my thumb while doing skating in college- or when I got a severe cold few years back. I remember that I always had a feeling that it will always be like that, and don't know what will happen! Somewhere I should say that I was always treating human body in a different way compare to other machines.Because whenever any thing else goes bad, I always know that I can get it repaired! So then I realized someday, that why to take this thing differently ?

And hence I could draw a conclusion that in some ways or the other they are actually very similar:

- While reading human biology I realized that the too many laws of physics get applied to body as well.
- If you don't clean or do proper maintenance of the machine, it goes bad! and similarly it happens for the human body. (so do the proper care of your body, one apple a day, keeps the doctor away :-)). By the way, do you know that if you put lemon on a cut apple pieces, it does not go brown for hours :-) and tastes good too :-)
- If machine can be repaired, body can be repaired too :-). So just don't worry if you fell sick sometime. You will be cured, just take proper care, and medication.
- Body is like elastic, the more you stretch, the more it can be used... So just don't think that you are getting tired. It's like your brain, the more you use it, the more you get :-). I think, here it is little opposite to machine ;-),But still let me keep it here. ..
- A yearly checkup may help you keeping an eye on yourself :-). I mean I am sure you are always ready to give your car/bike for servicing in few months. So why not our self ?

Anyways, philosophy bahot ho gayi :-).

Let me go and grab my dinner now...

Our Trip to Mammoth Caves and Smokies....

As always this long weekend also I wanted to go somewhere out of Florida. So two weeks or more of preparation first of all...when we all (Myself, Arvind, Jithesh, Saral, Shakti and Abhijith) thought of going to Mammoth Caves and Smokey Mountains in the Christmas holiday. Although we know it's not the best time to go, but still thought to spend our holidays out there....

Well the best part was we were supposed to be 6 then finally it happened that all of us decided not to cancel the trip. We had almost four days to spend. We wanted to do so many things but then just 4 days. So had to plan what is to be covered in 4 days...After all these initial things, we decided to start of on Thursday at around 2 PM. So that we could reach the cave city (for Mammoth Caves) early next morning (almost 14hrs drive).But then we started off at 8.00 PM... So 6 hrs late :) and reach in 22 hrs after getting lost here and there on the way :-)....( It’s easy to get lost in Atlanta!!!!!)...

Beginning was all fun... We were tired, but enthusiastic to go for the eventful weekend. But as soon as we started we saw a COP flashing light on the back of the car, but as we were wondering (why?? Did we cross the speed limits?? Did we broke some rule?? ) and slowing down the car we realized that he was just asking for the way and not stopping us  So it was fun (first experience!!!) …...After some 2 hrs of drive we started playing movie in the car... Time went by and in the morning we realized that we have taken some wrong highway and not sure where exactly we are on our way ;-) ...but that was a beautiful mistake as we got lot of good sceneries on the way (any way we are on the fun trip!!!).Again we started, lost, started and finally reached cave city around 8p.m. in the evening.

We rented two rooms in the Quality Inn (for two nights) and we just looked around the place... city was just like a normal city... just that it was a bit smaller... But then we were so tired... and we slept... hoping to have fun the next morning.....

We were supposed to leave at 8.00 AM, but because of our previous days tiring trip, we woke up around 8.30..... 9.....
Just got ready and went out to see how beautiful the morning was... And it surely was... very beautiful and very cold... :).We found out that most of the caves are closed because of the Christmas holidays :-( so we made a sudden change in our plan that we will be driving some more and going to Gatlinburg as well. So we decided to pack up from the hotel and checkout today itself...
Then we went to see the Mammoth Caves and took a small tour (the only running tour in Christmas holidays) to the long and huge caves (with the beautiful guide Ibrow ;)). Enjoyed the “full darkness and complete silence” inside the natural caves. After the tour as we wanted to see some more caves and went to see the Diamond Caves and realized that we are just half and hour late :-( for the last tour of the day. We took some snaps (with great difficulty to stand on one single stone for six people) from that view point and started back to drive through valley to see for the beautiful scenaries...It was a nice and cold.......by this time it was 2.00 PM

We were very hungry. So we drove till we found some place where we could eat... There was this Burger King. So we went in there...We had lots of food on our table... ....we enjoyed our food and decided what to do next...there was only one answer! Drive to Gatlinburg (people had real enthuses!!!!) ...So we went to a gas station...filled our car and found out the route to Gatlinburg (7 hours drive, shall we go??)...And started back. As it was raining heavily, the drive to Gatlinburg was tough, interesting though (Here comes our second experience with the cops!!...As we were on the middle on the way, we started new movie “Dil Chata Hai” and as the first seen started with the siren of the cops, none of us realized that it’s the car speaker from where the sound is coming and started looking for the cops in the back of the car with our heart beats raising again. and later realized that it’s in the movie  (So dumb isn’t !!!), but believe me it was too realistic with just rear speakers on in the car!!!

In the night around 8 p.m. we entered the beautiful City in the middle of the Smokey Mountains; decorated with colorful lights for Christmas...We again took a room and went to around seeing the city for sometime. It was too cold but too nice....As we were already tired, we roam around for sometime. And went to sleep again...
As it was a full adhoc plan we didn't know where to go in the morning. We woke up early...ppl starting taking photos here and there...and as it was raining as well....we thought out day is totally ruined. But it didn’t!!!!
So we had our breakfast and started to drive in the range of Smokey Mountains. We thought of driving for three-four hours and then come back to Gatlinburg and start off back to home in the evening. But we didn't know that time that all the plans don’t really work out always!!!After our Adventure on Saturday... we wanted to enjoy to our level best on Sunday... We started around 10 a.m. from our hotel (that was our check out time...) We headed towards the park...Reached the visitor center...grabbed a map...We thought we will go around the Smokey Mountains to get a nice view (of being on top of the huge mountains) and then headed towards the Pigon Forge and started driving on the foot hill parkway then went towards the tower... On the way we stopped number to places for the view points... The view from there was just amazing... We tried to capture everything in our cameras... But nature is always best viewed naturally... We enjoyed each and every view point...Finally reached the point where we had to climb to reach the peak point of the tower, a nice trail ...We had to climb a steep (not that much) path to reach the point... We made our climb a bit slowly by stopping by and taking photos, enjoying the nature ....Reaching the top we just had to climb a circular tower.... Here is where we could get the 360 degree view :) And after reaching there.... Wow it was just so wonderful... "Top of the Smokies" Small hills around....Mountains around.... we were on top of the clouds and as it was a rainy day...although we were not able to get the real view of the mountains but still as the wind was blowing fast, sometimes the clouds we going away and we were able to see the small city located in the mid of the huge range of mountains...
We were there for around 15 mins... Then started to come down.... Again we stopped at o many points... to enjoy the scenic beauty...

Then there was a Dam in the map so we thought of going there. and started toward the place, but as we reached on place we realized that we are actually on top of the mountains from where we can see the Dam clearly but we are some distance (we actually didn’t realize that some distance in hills becomes a huge distance if you want to reach there ) away from the Fontana Dam...As our friend (Arvind) wanted to see the Dam,we started driving towards that...as we started driving on the ghat roads (hilly roads, I think it is called the "Tail of the Dragon" - 318 curves in 11 miles. Turns were so tight we could not see even a single car in front of us. - Still an occasional semi tries to run it at top speed.) We realized we have come away and away from our city Gatlin Berg...and by now it was already 3p.m. and every one was really hungry :-(...But as we didn't have any option of takeing a "U" turn on those roads we kept on driving (to no-where actually).....and after a long drive of almost 2 hours we finally reached the Fontana Dam….The entry to the huge dam was the best; as we took a left turn and the huge wall of the Dam started coming in line of sight for us…That was really a beautiful scene like the scene of Golden Eye movie (as Arvind says) We took some snaps near the huge bridge, although not everyone came out of the car because of the hunger and cold (I guess!!). Suddenly we saw a car coming towards the Dam so we thought of asking the person about some food outlets nearby:

Us: Hi!! How are you?
Old Man: Yaah! I am fine, how you guys doin?
Us: We doin fine, just came to see the Dam…Could you please tell us, how far we are from Gatlinburg..
Old Man: Sure…almost 3 hours away.
Us: Whaaaaaat………!!!!!!.. :-(..Okay…can we get some food outlets nearby?
Old Man: Humm! You can get only after a drive of at least two hours.
Us: Which direction?
Old Man: Any Direction…
Us: Okay :-(
Old Man: Where you guys are actually heading to and when?
Us: We have to go back to Florida…and planning to start today itself.
Old Man: You guys really look crazy.
Us: Yup ,Thanks a lot for the information…Merry Christmas.
Old Man: Merry Christmas…bbye
Us :bbye.

So guys we are in deep trouble. Please hold on for 2 hours before you can get anything to eat!!!!!

As anyway we didn’t have any other option we started driving back towards the place called Fontana Village with the hope of getting something to eat there. We found that the village was quite near by to us. And then someone told, on the top of the village there is a restaurant where we can surely get something to eat, so all of us were really happy to know this and started running for the restaurant!!!But as soon as we kept running/walking we realized that in the whole village we didn’t see even a single human being other than the person who told us to go up... :((….we entered the building of the restaurant and found no-one there :-( to our surprise.....just got a vending machine from which we bought some Chips and Chocolate to eat  ...Listened to the music whose source we could not find out….so as the place so good we started referring it as “Haunted Village” and decided to leave the place as soon as possible. So we left the place and started our journey back on the ghat roads… (Still wondering why there was no one in the whole village????)

Finally we got to city of Maggie and found a open Waffle House…had our dinner there and started back to look for the way to Gatlinburg…it was full dark till now and as soon as we enter the way to Gatlinburg we realized that the roads have been closed because of the snow fall!!! (What else to happen??) So what now???

So we decided not to go back to Gatlinburg, instead start back for the Florida (our main destination), filled the gas and found the route to go back..And as we were not even 1/10 the distance it went so dark. we were just driving down cautiously in the dense fog and wondering what more left to see today after driving on the hills roads with no one back and front…the snow fall started ….as none of us ever seen the snow fall till now it was fun seeing it…it was becoming difficult driving down the hills. :-(..

In the meanwhile it was so so cold....but then feeling satisfied that we did some adventures the whole day... :)...This was the end of our day filled with tension and cold... Or let me say the end of our adventures trip…we kept driving the whole night (got lost once in Columbia, normal till now  as got used to it……but finally in the morning reached home all tired and sleepy with so much nice memories with us……

What it takes to be successful....

Once I read a quote by Brain Tracy " If you do, what every successful person has done, you will succeed.Okay! So, tell me now, what every successful person does ? It's not that all of us don't know this, because somewhere around us we surely see few people who are doing differently in their daily life than rest of the others. Do you agree with me ? I think, you must!

It is said that "Roam is not built in a day", and same is true for everyone.Some people do follow that their tough life style everyday. This is different that we notice them only when they reach the acme of their area, but what we forget noticing is that their achievements stand as a culmination of years (or months) of effort they have put in reaching where they are. They might have put that effort in their childhood, or daily life they are following each day.

Some of the people whom I notice, and I am sure they will not be the part of the crowd of millions some day are :

- Lotus doesn't waste time at all. I was impressed to see that he keeps doing something or the other in the idle cpu cycles he gets... "Good habbit dude!".
- Blessed and Supremo catches very less Z's ,and I wonder how come they keep themself so fresh, fit, and lively all the time.And they have "Awesomeeeeee" knowledge too. I am glad to have worked with you guyz..
- Then comes Mr. Restrain, who knows what he wants (kind of are I guess..), and ready to do whatever it takes to reach there. His logic is simple,and he follows it as well. Be the changes, you want world to be..!!! I appreciate him a lot, a very nice friend as well.
- Here comes Lehar, I have kind of never seen a person so down to earth, and still ambitious. One of the person, you will just love talking to...
- Di is always giving complex to me :-). As whenever she is around I feel, I am damm! lazy compare to her :-(.
- Bluesha, is another person full of energy, and always invigorating the surroundings around her with her lively attitude.

Wish you people all the best to achieve what you want to...


I think, it does not happen in one day.it takes years to reach where you want to reach..and more than that you need to be consistent, and persistent....Baki ka pata nahi, lekin I really believe that ki boond boond se sagar bharta to zaroor hai, at least sea of knowledge for sure!!!

Just do it…

It's almost four long months, and still things seem to be at the same place where they were. hmm.... is it so ? May be it's not. Four months back when I started, I already knew that things may not work, and today I guess I am in a position to say that they will not work. So what was I trying to do for so many days ? I guess, I was proving to myself as well as to the world that I can prove that what I am saying is Right!!!

Anyways, whatever the final result is, the story started from a place where I was not even sure whether it is really possible to do or even not do what we are thinking. And when things were looking really “Impossible” to me, I came across a wonderful quote by Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam:- " Everything in the beginning looks impossible, then improbable and then INNEVITABLE" and somehow this inspired me so that that I could really start from the scratch and reached the levels where I wanted to.... even if it is the position where I know that what I was trying to do is not possible et all!! (in the given circumstances..), but at least I know that. And I always believe that your path to success which is full of failures gives you more learning than your straight path to success. As, if you get something in the first trial itself you have not explored the untraveled path in that case…...

So once again life has taught a lesson that it is: just about starting something. And you will always find your ways…. So it is just like “JUST DO IT!”…

Athough deep in my heart I know that I wish that things could have worked…..

Just Random...

- Brain always try to make you fool. And most of the time in the examination times. It always tries to give you the easiest option available. e.g. Let's sleep now, and I will finish thing in the morning. Guys, believe me I was caught in this trap so many times :-(.
- The day you start going to gym, your work at office you go up. And then you will stop the gym (using that pretension!), and then one fine day (minimum after few weeks) you will realize that work was over long back, but still you are not going to gym :-(.Good habits come late, go fast; and bad habits come fast, go late.
- Why it is so difficult to be happy ? And so easy to be sad ? Is it that we like to be sad ? hmm.. does that mean that we are happy being sad ? Ufffff... too confusing!
- You need to put conscious effort to achieve anything in life. It doesn't come from within or anything like that. Ye dharti pe hai "Karm Yuddh...".
- Change is always good. At least when you know that present is bad anyways :-).Believe me it can make wonders...
- Memories can not be created or destroyed; they can only be converted from one form to the another :-).
- The longest journey in the world is that distance between two people.
- You will be happy if you do anything extra than you regular work (with your regular work).
- Everyone needs accomplishment to keep the life going. The moment you stop; you are bored.

From the childhood...

Yesterday, I was coming back from Mumbai, and on the way I was thinking what all events I remember from my childhood. And I came up with these (few which came first in my mind):

- My first day in school. Yes, I remember going to the principal office with mom for admission. I still remember my first book. It was a book with polythene cover with A,B,C written on it. Although it has all the subjects covered in it :-).
- My stuffed horse, and the toy jeep, I used to drive at my uncle's place.
- My friend cycle. I didn't have it :-(.
- Meeting with Mudgil first time. We met in the school bus 24 years back :-). And he is still one of the best friend I have. We talk once or twice in the year, but still we know almost everything about each other.
- I still remember that I always wanted to go to dad's office, but I could never go there. In fact till today, I never entered the premises of his office. And I wonder how!
- Whenever I used to see raindrops, I used to feel that I have something special in me and that I can see them and tell everyone that it's raining :-), before everyone else can find out. Today, I just smile of that thought.
- First time I rode my bicycle after almost 1 year of continuous effort in standard 1st.
- Some fine day,me and bro used to start laughing on something without any reason, and we will keep doing it until we get scolded from dad or someone else at home; Because we could never tell why were we laughing (actually what used to happen was, we used to forget why we started, frankly!).
- Going and plucking bairs and other fruits from the garden near Vedu's house. We did get caught few times ;-), and did get hurts from thorns so many times :-(
- Our bicycle rides to school. They were so much fun everyday.Without getting down me and Love Light (his name was Prem Prakash) used to change the driver. We used to be too good in doing that. I still feel good about it.
- I could never understood how Jyoti (my classmate during 1st to 8th standard) could figure out what it means by "chakkar aana". She always used to go home early using those word "Ma'am mujhe chakkar aa raha hai". I could figure out what it means only in standard 8th, after experience the mary-go-round over too much speed! I was jealous throughout my childhood that I could not go home early!
- I never enjoyed even a single rainy day. Why rain always used to stop just at the last moment :-(. At least ek baar to hona tha yaar!! I heard; now a days every winter people in Kanpur also get winter vacation too! I am jealous!!!
- I still remember seeing my best friend first time.
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Looks like, I have got good memory,and if I kept writing, it will be too long :-)

Let me stop here itself :-)

Few Wonderful Quotes

Faisla hone se pehle, hum bhala kyun haar maane;
Jab abhi jeeta nahi hai, aur hum abhi haare nahi hain!

The More You know, You know, How little You know!

Doosron mein khud ko kho k, mai to paana,
Bada he mushkil kaam hai, Zindgi isi ka naam hai!

Dream are not something, what you see while sleeping;
But they are the one, which keep you awake!

Everything in the beginning looks impossible, then improbable and then INNEVITABLE!!

If you do, what every successful person has done! You will Succeed!!