The Eclectic Impetus

I am always fascinated by the sun. It never fails to rise every morning, no matter how the previous day has been. I see the sun for inspiration and it always inspires me to rise after every fall. No wonder the best day of the week is named after the Sun. Photo Courtesy: 8XH

Desire is the root cause of all evil, said the wise Buddha. But as humans we have a tendency to ignore the wise teachings and follow our own path. "People Always Leave" from One Tree Hill Photo Courtesy:  http://www.fanpop.com/

You are not a star, not even remotely famous, You don’t even have the looks of an ape, Yet you expect to find someone with everything right, From beauty to brains to fortunes. But did you stop to think for a moment? What have you got to deserve all that? You think too highly of yourself, but can’t fend for yourself, You need your mother for every aspect of your life. Still I cared for you, without any fear or hesitation. In the end, you squished and trampled my heart, Draining out all the emotions that I had, Now I have nothing else to give except this wish. I wish that you live a l life longer than your peers, And you get all that your heart desires. At the end of it, when you are dying, I wish that you see me, just a glimpse.

A single fleck of light is capable of causing a forest fire. However, by using this property, one can create magnificent displays of fireworks, like this one below. All it takes is a small spark, at the end of the wick. Due to the presence of fuel, the spark gets all the material it needs to evolve itself into a fireball. With the right direction, it can either create or destroy, very similar to the opportunities around us. Photo courtesy: Jeff Huber

Warning: The below piece of work is not an excellent work of poetry. There are times I wish, That the skies open up and pour, And drown away my tears, Before I become a horrible sore. Then I wake myself up, From the abominable reverie. What has become of me? To drift into unhappy memory. No one has a merry life, That is just an illusion. But truth is way beyond it, It is always a messy fusion. There is only one answer, What you sow, so shall you reap. In the end, nothing else matters, Only your thoughts you shall keep.

Among the other complaints about Chennai (read horrible weather) that most people have, what strikes me as irrational is when people say there is nothing much to do and no interesting places. But I disagree. Having lived in Bangalore all my life, I find the beaches at Chennai very relaxing. One trip to the beach on a Saturday evening gives me all the rejuvenation that one expects to receive. Of course, being a Metropolitan, beaches in Chennai are not quiet. At any given point of time, there will be thousands of people. But unlike the beaches on the West Coast, there are fewer people in the evenings thanks to the unavoidable handicap. And our lazy lifestyle doesn't permit us to witness the sunrise. Mahabalipuram is one of the closest getaways from Chennai and I find the place appealing. You don't have to necessarily like history to enjoy its heritage but if you do, the place is a treasure trove.

Aadhar is a unique 12 digit number for proof of identity and residence. As a responsible citizen, I wanted to get mine done too, for over a year. But it was only recently that I took a firm stand and finally got it done. Turns out, it isn't a piece of cake. First of all, it is very difficult to locate the enrolment centres. They have a very short lifespan. My folks have been trying to find one but they had been unsuccessful until two weeks back. I had been planning on a visit and they suggested that I get it done this time. I was all eager and excited. Everyone around me seemed to have the UIDAI number, which identifies them uniquely, while I was left unidentified. Take 1: I was home on Saturday, and went to the Post Office near my place where my folks had got it done. But the disappointment that awaited me was nothing that I could imagine. Not only had they stopped processing more applications, but there was no sign to suggest so. On top of that, the clerk at the desk look

With all the festivities around, I thought it would be a good way include this picture as today's Monday Muse. This is supposed to be old Christmas light but in a totally new avatar. Photo courtesy: David H

Over the last nine days, I have managed to collect a few pictures from different sources, showing the different ways in which people celebrate Navratri/ Dasara. Hopefully you will enjoy them and I hope you all had a great festival. Photo Courtesy: Vigya Prakash Photo Courtesy: Soumya Dutta Photo Courtesy: Pramod Srinivasa Photo Courtesy: Pramod Srinivasa Photo Courtesy: Shilpa Raju Photo Courtesy: Madhavi Tendulkar Photo Courtesy: Hemanth Narayanam Photo Courtesy: Pushkala Jayaraman Photo Courtesy: Balachandar M Photo Courtesy: Arthika Nagarajan

We have an office outing tomorrow and I am pretty excited about it. But not everyone in my team is as enthusiastic about it. But most of my colleagues are coming to the outing and it makes me cheerful. There is this girl in my team and she is quite a workaholic. Her idea of fun is coming to office and completing the assigned tasks. And I don't mean this in an offensive way. She is extremely talented, hard working and helpful. Having worked with her for the last six months, I have been close to her. When she said that she isn't coming, I literally pestered her into coming and she agreed. So today, she, me and another colleague left office together and we talked about the outing. All through the day, we had been talking about it and she had been telling that she is coming for me. I found that unusual as nobody does anything for me. So at the end of the day, curiosity got the better of me and I asked her. Our colleague said that he was surprised that I had asked the qu

I have always been a believer of signs and after reading Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist  my belief has only strengthened ever since. Scene 1: The lift I was lucky enough to find spots for two of us. I stood at the back, allowing the incoming crowd. It stopped two floors below mine and I heard a familiar voice. On close inspection, I saw my old manager. Just yesterday I had thought about her, and how wonderful she had been. In fact, I remembered an anecdote about her that was told to me by another colleague. It was totally unexpected and she looked just as cheerful as she always was. Scene 2: The cafeteria I was confused with my choice of lunch. The South Indian meals had Peas pulao while the North Indian meals had Veg. biryani. My heart went out for the Peas pulao but I resisted the temptation. I do not prefer that meals due to its larger serving size and I already have trouble staying awake after lunch. I forgot about it until I started eating. My portion of the biryani had a

Navratri started on Saturday and it is here to stay until the 14th of October. It literally means "Nine Nights" and is celebrated in different forms across India . During this time, nine forms of Shakti/Devi are worshiped. The below picture is of golu , which is common in Tamil Nadu and was taken at my friend's house. Wishing you all a prosperous Navrathi. Photo Courtesy: Pavitra Muralidharan

For a lot of us, freedom means being able to do whatever we want to. But that is not the end of it. Freedom comes with a price and that is being responsible. I would be wrong if I said I didn't want to be free from all the troubles in my life. It is easy to be carefree and let someone take care of all our needs. I sure as hell would want that. Right from a young age, I was told to be responsible and like all good kids I was. I did pretty good in school and managed to get into a decent job. As time grew, I was given more freedom but I was expected to behave more responsibly. Responsibility is a big word. It can shake anyone irrespective of their station. As adults, we have to look after our families, pay our bills, clear our loans and pretty much survive whatever happens in our day to day lives. People expect someone else to be responsible for their actions. It happens quite frequently in workplaces. When something goes wrong, the blame game starts with everyone trying to s

The First Milestone This isn't going to be a babble about growing old and ageing. I have thirty posts on this blog and this is the thirty first. Congrats to me on completing one month of blogging. On a serious note, publishing thirty posts was quite a daunting task. I had intended to write a post per day but due to other commitments (read excuses) I have been quite unsteady with the posts. However, over the last few days, I have got a lot of inspiration, and a zeal to be more organized. Taking this as a stepping stone, I will be making some changes to the blog. But it won't be anything drastic, just a few tweaks here and there. Hope you all will enjoy it. Do keep me posted about your suggestions and ideas.