3 Most Awesome Incidents @2014

Now coming to the awesome experiences pertaining to the incidents of 2014, according to me, there is a competition. But below three are the best chosen. 

#1 - Modi as the PM of India and CBN as the CM of AP

I'd not been a big follower of Indian Politics although Politics interest me. But surprising to me even, I followed the news on the Indian General Election 2014 day in and day out. To add to my interest, the Assembly polls of Andhra Pradesh were conducted along with the General Election. That made the occasion more than deserving to follow. Especially after all the protests and issue with the state division, this election became particularly important for both the states, AP and Telangana. A record polling of around 80 % was observed and all it hoped was for good. Curtailing down all the misconceptions, and proving the exit polls right, the BJP almost clean swiped at the central with record majorities at some constituencies. At state, Chandrababu Naidu (CBN) and his party (TDP) rocked the results. After a long gap of ten years, they have come out as a wining side. All that CBN did for Hyderabad and the IT sector did not go in vain. Another capital city can only be built by CBS was the major driving factor. And of course the unforgivable corruption scandles (alleged) of the opposition party added the extra votes required for a clear majority. After a long day of watching TV, I was in all freshness and positive energy at the end of the day, I still remember. It was one of the awesome feelings. Hope to see both these leaders live up to their promises in the coming year. 

#2 - Mars Orbiter Mission

The MoM's successful launch in the last year itself was one of the highlights that I chose to write about at the end of the year 2013. Now, this calender year has yet again seen an awesome and exciting moments later to the successful reach of the MoM into the Orbit of Mars. The scientists of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) have been hailed across the globe for the successful attempt they made. They truly deserved the applause not just for the efforts but also for the design accuracy that they could achieve which played major role in letting the MoM enter the targeted orbit. Prime Minster statement after the success of MoM, "MoM never disappoints", will be remembered long. Hope to see some of the key members of the project get bestowed with the high civilian honors of India. It's just a beginning. A lot more is yet to be delivered by them in 2015 and in the later years too. A lot more is definitely getting expected from the team ISRO in the upcoming years. They must hire, they must encourage the young India and cash in the enthusiasm. I wish them all the best for all the attempts they make. Space is the only place about which no significant wars have been envisaged. I just hope the peace about the space will continue to prolong. 

#3 - Interstellar, a technical marvel

'Interstellar' is the only film that I watched twice in theaters in this decade. Too good it was for me and it interested me more than ever. The scenes just lingered all around me in my thoughts after I watched the movie. Even after a week or so, I could feel the same awe as that of what I had on the day I watched the movie. I did a lot of reading from internet, probably the highest ever after watching a movie, that I prepared myself very thoroughly, I guess, for watching it again. And the next time, I did not miss out on concentrating on the subtitles. I was very much impressed with the taking, the script, the background score and the technological explanation. For a director or a story/script writer to think that way it was thought for this movie, it was a great risk taken I believe. It could have gone wrong too but the technical adviser did his best in conceptualizing the balckhole, wormhole etc. I was stunned to watch such a marvel. You need imagination, you need dedication, you need brains, you need interest, you need risk-taking and you need all these together to make such movies, that's what I feel. This movie has its own dark sides or say unanswered questions but it was never either said that this movie was going to be exceptional. No movie can be exceptional. After all, it's a movie and entertainment is the main aim. According to me, this movie is yet another Oscar-block buster. I just hope the Academy awards in 2015 will bring smiles on the faces of the case and crew of 'Interstellar'. 

Hope to write even longer post next year end on the topic of awesome experiences! That's all for this year 2014. 

3 Most Awful Incidents @2014

Another year passed. We are in the final hours of 2014, the year that has left a mix of awful and awesome experiences. In this post, I wish to write down about the awful experiences I've had with the things happened around the world. Although I was not personally involved in any of those, they pinched me a lot and will keep doing so every time I recollect them. They are purely my choice. I'm not downgrading anything else that's not mentioned here. Here I go.

#1 - Flight MH370 disappearance

The major question that comes to my mind, every time I think about the disappearance of the Malaysian Airlines' flight MH370, is how come a flight gets disappeared in the ongoing times of the much advanced technology! Human  made machines have landed on moon, have orbited a comet and have set the course to orbit Mars. Yet, a Boeing flight gets disappeared with 239 on board and after almost ten months, we are clueless about its whereabouts. Better to forget for now what would have happened in the cockpit. It might need a lot more time than we all can anticipate to unravel the unfortunate moments happened on that plane's last flight. At least some information, a clue, a sign of its presence on earth could have ended 2014 on much lighter note than now.

With absolutely no information about the plane after it went missing from the radar screens ten months back, it's difficult to believe that we are all aging in the times of the advanced technology! We are not. We are not yet there still. If the disappearance was unscripted, this is the most unfortunate flight accident so far. If, by any chance, the disappearance was scripted by someone, this will remain as the most mysterious man-made flight mishandle so far in the history of aviation. Hope 2015 brings in some news, a positive one being the whereabouts of the wreckage, about this mystery. 

#2 - Death of Philip Hughes

How much a cricket buff I used to be is known to many of my friends. I always enjoyed watching cricket, following the news about cricketers since early age. Cricket always made me happy, despite of few tears here and there. In the wildest of the wild dreams also I never thought something sad about cricket except in the one that I had the night before the death of Philip Hughes. This is for the first time i'm talking about it. It was a day before the night that Hughes was struck with bouncer, in a dream, I read a statement from Google News page saying "Doctors confirm the death of Philip Hughes". The experience in the dream itself was awful. When I woke up the next morning and especially when I heard the news about his death, my feelings turned uncontrollably awful. 

Extremely unfortunate incident it was. It appears even more unfortunate, as it has happened to an young yet talented cricketer. I watched the live telecast of his funeral in all tears. The messages read by his family and friends was the most touching part of it. His smile and the news about his death, both could not be taken away from my mind for longer time. I finally did a post on Facebook with a hope that I will be free from those thoughts and that worked luckily. Philip Hughes will be remembered always for his play and for his untimely death. 

#3 - Peshawar school massacre

16th December has not been good since last two years. Two devastating acts by humans make me think what for the technology advancement to be made when people can turn such cruel at times and in moments they can destroy the fellow people. The Delhi Gang Rape happened on December 16th of 2012 still cannot be forgotten. Another December 16th has seen the Taliban attack on the military school in Peshawar killing 145 people and injuring at least 130 people. School children were the victims of the cruel minds  and their bullets. Unimaginable stint was that, but few people made us realize that it was very much possible! Whether that could have been avoided or not, I'm not sure. But henceforth such incidents shall be avoided under any circumstances. 

The Government of Pakistan has definitely shown some progress in the form of reciprocation. But how efficient all that has been will be understood in the coming year. Hope it gets proved as very efficient. All country meets and hence an united stand is required in handling the cases such as terrorism. It;s not the problem of any single country. It's a common problem. An united voice and acts can only lead all of us towards solutions and not country-ego! Hope to see some strategical and constructive approach towards tackling this matter in the coming year. 

So, that's all for this year. And that's more. Sincerely hoping for a smaller post at the end of 2015. May this year bring on new challenges and that they be handled in a better way. 

Choose battles... Take Home #365

Among the whole lot of battles that we face every day, worthy are only few. Choose them thoughtfully and carefully. Be strategical in getting ready to face them and then go for them in full spirits. Battling is nothing wrong, especially there where you must battle. 

A foggy morning to end 2014!

The below shown picture is evident enough that fog has surrounded all this place in Pune. A day just before the calender turns to 2015, it's the first foggy morning that's probably saying goodbye to the running year. Apart from the fog that's captured in the shot, the location shown has many a memories of mine attached to it. This is the view from the top floor of our office where we usually stand in the early morning sun after breakfast. I've been standing that way since many years now. Many a partners have changed but the freshness that comes to my mind every morning has remained the same, fortunately. 

I miss too many of my friends almost every morning when I stand there. The moments spent with them, the words shared, the gossips lingered, the smiles, the laughs, the debates, are all stored in my memory preciously. Every time I stand here and look at the building captured in the click, I remember all those good moments spent and cherished. 

Meeting and missing

Is what life is all about! 

Memories remain intact. 

So as the moments lived. 

Dhoni retires from test cricket; surprising and unimpressive!

MS Dhoni, famously known as 'Captain Cool', 'MSD' and 'Dhanadhan Dhoni', has retired from the test cricket. He will continue to play the one day cricket and T20s. He was the captain of Indian cricket team this morning and now a former Indian test player and captain of course. How quickly times moves! How surprisingly people decide and declare! All in all, I'm not much impressed with this decision of MSD. I've not been a person who is a fan of his expressions or statements. However, I've always followed the news about him. Being the captain of the Indian cricket team, he has of course driven the team to victories in many tests. He is, as per the stats, the best winning captain so far. But I've my own doubts if he is the best person to captain the Indian side ever. 

In his tenure, he got some players in their best of the forms. Form is a state of mind as Dhoni rightly quoted few days back. Viru, Yuvi, Sachin, Raina and Kohli have been the pillars in many of the famous test victories of Team India. I do not deny the fact that Dhoni has always been a qualitative finisher, probably the best! But in the position that he bats for India, he could not have done more in terms of runs. The attitude of his batting is evident enough almost always to finish on winning note. However, there were number of occasions when he failed to bat along with the tail-end players. There were number of occasions he failed to prove himself as a strong middle order batsmen. Well, not in all matches a player can play well. But looking at the number of matches he has played, and the way he used to drag the innings until the very end of the overs, although he is famous for hitting the sixes including the winning six in the world cup final on the home soil, he could have done much better considering the chances he got to prove as a batsmen. 

As a captain, yes, he has proven himself. Although it was because of the great play of some of his teammates in his tenure, driving the young team to victory in his first T20 world cup and driving the team to many victories at home and hence to the top spot in the test rankings are some of the contributions he has made. Many young players have been lucky enough to get the Indian cap. Equally, many quality players had to leave the team and are still away from the team! Sehwag and Gambhir have been great openers and cannot be seen now at all in any of the tours. Agree or not, there was a cold-war kind sensed among these players and their captain. Eventually or incidentally, Viru and Gambhir were thrown out! Of course they lost their form. But if form is just a state of mind, as Mr Ex- Test Captain quotes, Sehwag and Gambhir should have been given the chance too! A debate on this might never end. So I choose to cut this short. 

Retirement is a player's personal decision. I agree and fully respect Dhoni's views on it. But the timing is appearing to be not correct and hence his decision is unimpressive, to me. He could have waited for some more time! At least until the world cup is played! Anyway there are  no tests planned before world cup, as much as I'm aware of it, except the remaining Sydney test.   This decision could be a savior from much of the criticism for the series defeat down under. But I'm sure he is stronger enough to handle it and he always did. Well, I just hope the decision was taken in as genuine interest of the team as it is appearing to be. Kohli is the next option that BCCI have. But Kohli lags a lot in terms of emotional quotient which is one of the stronger points of MSD. Kohli must adapt his former captain's good sense of humor with media by not being straight forward as he is now. Its a good opportunity for Kohli at this age. He needs to prove himself, now. Because of IPL, Indian team now has many players with captaincy experience including Rohit Sharma. Kohli could as well bag some. I just hope the age group that Kohli belong to does not lead to any 'Gang War' in the team! 

Best wishes to Kohli and co. I think we will get to hear Dhoni's decision about retiring from all forms of cricket from the Down Under, probably after the world cup! It will not surprise me even if he announces his retirement before the world cup. Be ready Kohli! 

Movie: UGLY - Nothing else could have been a better choice for the title!

Movie making is almost like launching a fight against perceptional views of wide number of audience. What you like might not be liked by me. What you think about a particular scene or story line might not be thought in the similar way by me. What you want to watch might or might not be there in the plot. What you expect based on either the director's or hero's last stint might not be fulfilled by his latest pie. No questions asked about the expectations or wishes of the audience. Everyone who watches the movie has the very deserving right to be hopeful of an entertaining or thoughtful one coming their way. This is the very reason why movie making is nothing less than launching the fight as mentioned earlier. Director might be very much clear about the plot and script. But if he forgets the fact that the success of his attempt largely depends upon how the audience will receive it, he will not be able to maintain his self-confidence for a longer time. If success and failure impact him, they do obviously, and if he cannot accept certain facts then he will not be able to be consistent in presenting his thoughts and ideas. Anurag Kashyap might have had his good and bad times with his presentation skills. 'Black Friday' bagged all the best possible ratings. 'Gangs of Wasseypur' was an award winning series, but that did not reach the class audience. And now, Anurag Kashyap is back with his next film 'UGLY'. 

'Ugly' is yet another movie based on true incidents. Living up to its name, the movie depicted the ugly side of the misconceptions and misunderstandings that exists among people even though they are bonded in as stronger relationship as wife and husband or they are two good friends who share almost everything in their daily lives. Heights of police interrogation and investigation is excellently shown in this movie. What happens when a responsible police office himself drives the case in a different direction instead of going for the facts, only based on his experiences with someone whom he eventually accuse, is narrated in a good way. The script and narration should have been more entertaining rather than giving an ugly feeling. How much better it could have been, I cannot comment as I have no idea of what could have been went through by the director and his team. 

There isn't much to say about this movie, frankly. Cast selection did not surprise me, it did not need much better actors and all of the actors have almost justified their selection. Only the narration is the draw back in making this movie reaching the masses. One really needs to be thoughtful enough, and that too after the movie ends, to get the feel of what 'UGLY' really meant! I strongly feel that a voice over could have done well rather than leaving it out to the audience to think over. Conveying the message is important, but I think conveying it in a reachable manner is further important as after making such a full length movie and you leave it on to the audience and you sit back believing that they will get what you wanted them to understand, is according to me not a good ending scripted for such a tiresome effort put in while making the movie. Well, I could understand the message what the director wanted to communicate or I only suppose I understood as I could not be entirely right. Anyway, it was a boring watch on a long weekend, realistic and thoughtful movie to summarize! 

Love at first sight!

I was watching a Telugu movie named "Toli Prema", translates to 'First Love", a couple of days back and once again wondered  about the concept of love at first sight. I've always been a person who has not fully succeeded in understanding the emotions surrounding the 'Love at first sight' frames shown in many a movies in India. Although I do not understand it yet, I do not turn down the truth and the lovely emotions the 'love at first sight' concept might have with it. I will keep thinking of it and hopefully one day I might understand the strength it causes and the motivation it injects into someone who falls for it. Leaving that there, I'd like to share an experience I had yesterday in a shopping mall, which is not much difference from that of what I used to have almost every time I had shopped. But then, only yesterday I realized something. The thought that I had about the 'love at first sight' might have been the reason. 

From the experience that I've from all the years of shopping, I know that if I like something on my first look at it, there have been very few occasions when I do not purchase it. Even yesterday, I went to the shopping mall with as usual aspiration for some good stuff to buy. A hand bag was what I basically wanted to buy. I entered the shop and quickly turned around to the corner where the hand bags were kept. A medium sized bag in purple colour appeared just in front of me. After a few seconds I grabbed it with my hand to see the inner portion of it. But something from within encouraged me to look at the inner space with a wish to become the owner of that bag. Obviously, I liked the inner separations. I then of course turned again towards the bag racks and tried to manage my body language as if I wanted something more. I knew in my deep senses that I had already got what I wanted. It seemed to me as if the sales boy had handled many women earlier and understood my amature emotions that I was only trying to portray in front of him. Then I told myself, "let's go", as I did not want to further enlarge the experience of that sales person with women shoppers. I paid and stepped out of the shop.

The actual subject of this post 'love at first sight' means about the love between people and not with things. But to some extent I strongly believe that be it people or things, the concept of liking someone at the first sight remains the same. The mind knows that it can get further better stuff than what we have just seen, but the heart or whatever, it does not allow us to look for something more. This is probably the only place where we humans do get satisfied with what we have got, for that moment and for a few more moments. This is also probably the only thing that we heart fully own up all ourselves. Amazing all this is by looking at it. Surprising yet lovable to its core. I will keep thinking about the 'love at first sight' to understand it better and better going forward. 

Movie: PK - A theatrical question bank with all logics!

Director: Rajkumar Hirani

Strange enough to me, I entered into the theater without much expectations on "PK". Although there had been many posts from friends on Facebook claiming that Aamir Khan did a fantastic job, I could somehow manage to keep myself away from all sort of expectations on this Aamir Khan's latest Christmas release. Once the movie started and until it ended I did not have time to think about anything else, including the next scene of the movie. The script was so entertaining and equally thought provoking that I barely had time to think about the upcoming scenes! 

'Bhojpuri' troubled me a little, by leaving me understanding the meaning of a few dialogues after few seconds of completion. However, the expressions of Aamir and Anushkha enabled me to follow the flow. Anushkha Sharma's hairdo didn't impress me to be honest. It indeed was successful in justifying the nature of the character she portrayed. Boman Irani did not have much scope though. But the hit combination of '3 idiots' has once again proved a lot rhythmic together.  

The spaceship in the first scene of the movie seriously surprised me. I only hoped for the best, to be very frank. It reminded me of a comment a friend made on his Facebook timeline, that PK had reminded him of "Koi Mil Gaya". I did not pay much attention to that particular comment as I was damn sure that Aamir Khan would never ever touch a script which was kind of a copy of another film of his contemporaries. But the spaceship surprised me for a second. Once Aamir Khan came out of it in normal human form and of course with abnormal human expressions in his eyes, I was a bit relaxed thinking the scene might be a dream of Aamir himself or another character of the movie. But proving me wrong, the film had certainly taken the movie making to its new heights. A sci-fic thought combined with the emotional moments and logical thinking power of a human are the basic pillars of this movie. 

Shushant Singh Rajput's smile did express the love that he had for 'Jaggu' character. Its a guest role but he definitely did what he had to do on the screen. Sanjay Dutt character's length could have been a little more. But that's understandable. Sanjay Dutt is one of the finest actors of the Bollywood. He definitely has maintained his consistency and charisma throughout the length of his role. The director's selection of the artists as the parents of Anushkha Sharma was not impressive. That could have been done better or may be that's negligible before the thoughtful movie that Hirani has once again proudly presented! 

One cannot confront the questions, that have been asked by the Alien character of the movie, in logical terms unless by taking the aid from the 'blind beliefs caused by the so called diverse culture of India'. In all possible terms, the director is correct in claiming all that he has claimed. The 'wrong number' stint was the best idea of its kind that had kept the audience in its grip starting to the end. Particularly, one of the last dialogues of the film still makes me laugh at myself. 'I love chicken', 'I love fish' does not mean that these human actually love chicken and fish, but that they actually like the curry of chicken and fish. This was not an easy dialogue to write. I started heavily laughing in the theater after the first few words of this dialogue by Aamir Khan. I could not control it even after I stepped out of the theater! 

Very well, "PK" is the latest and probably the last super duper hit of 2014. December has once again proved to be great for Aamir Khan and his director friend. Raju Hirani has delivered one of the finest comedies with logical questioning for this year and so far. Well done to the entire cast and crew of "PK". Be ready to attend the award functions and grab a few yourselves!

PS: Awaiting the sequel with Aamir Khan and Ranbir Kapoor!!!

The toughest problem... Take Home #364

The toughest the problem that we handle is the deep and long-term the learning is going to be. Be in full spirits and put forward your best feet. Nevermind the toughness of the problem or the roughness of the road. Strive to resolve the matters. That's the best way!

Turning around... Take Home #363

Tough going can be turned around not by going away but by settling the matters being right there and fully involved in the situations. 

PS: Going away might work in some cases. Although it's nothing wrong from the perspective of the person who's involved, it's not a worthy benchmark. 

Being assertive... Take Home #362

Being assertively open and frank with our loved ones will make sure we are understood enough, if not immediately but within some time. Our love in being so will also be reciprocated. 

Relationships are not meant for hiding our wishes and hence suffering. Instead, a committed relationship always gives chance to express ourselves, or wishes, our fears either to fulfill of to overcome together. 

Interstellar... A two time watch!!

In this decade, Interstellar is the only movie I have watched twice in theatres. Not that I could not wait for its blue ray print to get released and that someone would download it for me. I just could not wait until all that happen. Also the visual effects and the back ground score are the major motivational factors that made me watch the movie for the second time. I watched the movie another time after a gap of one week. By doing that I allowed myself to be up to date about the scientific script which is the main thing to be understood and appreciated about the movie. I had gone through all the possible and available webpages to know the script better. With couple of doubts still remaining after all that home work, I had gone to the movie for the second time with a clear mind to watch few scenes with the maximum possible concentration. I could succeed!!!

Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight series was the main motivating factor behind me going to watch this movie on the first day of its where. Full marks to Nolan according to me. His selection of the scientific advisor is world wide complemented. And I second everyone in supporting that. I especially loved the back ground score at some scenes although not in all the scenes. When I watched it for the first time I thought this was a must watch. But when I watched it again, I was sure that it was a two time watch. Or one should know the script, do enough study and then go for watching it, but that will be the worst spoiler one can afford of. 

Just like the ending of the Inception, this movie too had a paradoxical ending. Leaving that, the rest of the movie is clean to be understood both scientifically and emotionally. The father-daughter sentiment is the emotional plus point for the movie along with the motive of the crew of the interstellar travel to do so for the human species and not for any particular person. The wormhole and the gravitational relativity of time are the scientific advantages which have just matched to the script. Hats off to the story writer, director and especially the scientific advisor.

All in all this movie is a marvel came my way in the recent years. It's been almost three weeks I watched the movie for the second time yet I can still manage to get lost into the thoughts of the movie whenever I want to. That's the impact it probably had on me. Needless to say that I'm eagerly waiting for the blue ray print of this movie get released in the internet, if I may say so here! If you haven't watched it yet, please do so first. And if you have already watched, do let me know what's your experience with the movie. Before I close this post, I would like to mention they I'm eagerly waiting to know how many Oscar awards this movie will have in its kitty. All the best to the team Interstellar.

Saina and Srikanth win the China Open!

I've just seen the Wikipedia page of the 'China Open' super series and I'm excited to see the Indian flag and the names of the two players being mentioned in the winners list for the first time since the beginning of the tournament. Saina and Srikanth are the stars of the day, Srikanth being a bit more for winning it over the two time Olympic Champion and three time China Open champion in Men's singles, Lin Dan.

The news of Srikanth's victory made me realize what I'd missing by being too much of an English movie buff and therefore missing out on watching the live BWF matches from China. I usually watch the semi finals and finals, especially then when the Indian players are in. This time round, both the women's singles and men's singles would have given me one of the most memorable experiences. Well, gone is gone. I'm extremely happy for these two players, the winners of the day!

Saina Nehwal and Srkanth Kitambi, congratulations for the Championships! Keep going! 

'Modi' is the name...!

"Modi" is the name going around India and among Indians abroad lately. Speech of the Indian Prime Minister at the Madison square has won millions of hearts already. His visit to Brisbane and unveiling of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi has once again proved that Mr. Narendra Modi is the most celebrated Indian Prime Minister that India and the world have seen in the recent times. His inspiring personality, his way of social networking and therefore being expressive and to his people, his amazing skill of public speaking have been contributing in making him the most watchable personality in politics across the globe among his contemporaries. It is an undeniable fact that he is definitely doing his best and ensuring that the rest of the cabinet and Indian delegation do their best to the country we all Indians owe a lot to. If it was not for him, the 'Swatch Bharat' would have taken more than expected time to reach out to the population of this country. Its his ways of ruling, decision making, policy making and along with that being close to the crowd have been the pillars of the successes of the programs he has envisaged so far. 

Although moving around the nations, across the globe, is nothing different among the Indian Prime Ministers, every visit of Mr. Modi to another country gives a thick ray of hope. A hope that we all deserve a lot more than what we have been taught to hope for. His speech at the Roma Street and he mentioning of "Mahatma Gandhi is as relevant today as he was in his lifetime" is the evident of his thoughts towards this nation, towards taking the country in a way that once many brave fighters thought of. A lot need to be done for that and I think he fully accepts the fact that he cannot do that alone. That he needs to take the citizens along with him. Hence the speeches, hence the tweets, hence the messages to reach the right and energetic core of the nation, the young Indians. Response from the citizens so far is incredible. May this all continue, may be in a further better way and in a soulful manner!

Well, its anyhow too early to say too much. However, this post is deep satisfaction about what he has been doing for this country, and in great respect for our Prime Minister, the only one of his type in the past two decades. While all my fellow Indians have been hoping for the best, let me also continue my best hopes ever for this nation. Anything can be done will be done. Anything that can happen will happen. Murphy's law, although not applicable directly for the emotions, but I guess there is no spoiler in relating it. After all, emotions are yet another powerful sources for the big to happen. May he be able to keep the nation as united as ever or more than that, probably! 

Its high time to be consistent, Rohit Sharma!

My fondness towards cricket is mostly known among my friends. There were many occasions when I got calls from my cricket-buddies to inform me to switch on TV, in case I was not watching the match, to look at the score card, to ask me to come down to watch the match together and even to congratulate me when India won a high profile tournament. Looking back at all that now, I feel I was a lot remembered, be cricket the reason, and it feels really happy. 

The highly satisfying world cup win or the sachin's retirement or the IPL match that I watched in the stadium, or the fondness i have developed over a period of time for other sports, whatever is the reason, I'm not so fond of cricket these days. I no more feel the connectivity, the craze, the unconditionalness, that once I enjoyed with cricket. It does not mean that I no more watch the game, its just that I just watch it with no much emotional connectivity to the players that I once used to strongly feel.

If there is still any player whom I strongly want to perform well, that's Rohit Sharma. Again, I'm not sure why its he, I just want to see him playing his knocks on consistent manner. In that context, the call I got from a close friend yesterday would stand important. I quickly had a look at the score card and was amazed by seeing the number. 251 notout was his score with nine more balls to go in the fifty over contest. It was a joyous moment as fas as I was concerned. I just hung on the cricinfo site until the last ball, on which he got out, and added many beautiful moments to my memory. Thanks to rohit for all this. Hearty Congratulations to him!!!

Now all that I want, as always wanted after his blistering knocks earlier, is his consistency. Ahead of the world cup down under, I wish him all the very best to prove himself to be one of the valuable players in the squad.

All the best once again and thanks Rohit!!

Well done! Down under is never easy!

Hearty congratulations to Team India for the dominating victory over the visiting Lankans in the ongoing series. One or the other member of the team coming up to the situation and making things with work for the team, which is predominantly important right before the major tournament of the world's cricket. This home series has established good headaches for the team management. It's now up to the management to choose the playing eleven, I guess, and enough of experimentation now! Making the good players feel important at the same time secure is a though task although, many a team managements have proved already that it's not an unmanageable task. Yes, given the untestable Indian mindsets of the Indian players, Ravi Shashtri and team might have to script carefully. Hope they will succeed. 

Tournament down under has never been easy for the Indian cricket team. The present team is no exception although there are many heroics have been displayed in the recent times. 

Raina is playing awesome but the change of the soil might impact his game and if that happens, India will be on serious problems to deal with about the middle order, which will have to play an important role in the Australian conditions. Opening batsmen are impressive so far, but again, how these men are going to face the new ball and frightening bowling units teams like South Africa, Australia, Pakistan have! Spinners might be very handy given the circumstances, a lot is still left to toss. Which is not a bright sign of being the reigning world champions. Experience level of the team in the Australian or newzeland's conditions is yet not qualified to be the factor to cherrish. The less we speak about the slag over bowling the better we all can hope for the best to happen at the world cup.

Having said all that, I'm not yet in a mood to believe that team India will come out with flying colours. But I definitely want the team to put it's best effort to fight out the difficult conditions in every match. They must endure! All the very best.

My support this time as well is extended to the South African team, who is yet to win the big cup. With Garry around, I sincerely hope their destiny changes, chowking ends, smiles last until the last moments of the world cup! 

Sachin's autobiography, a feast to come my way!

Ever since I started reading books, otherthan the ones from curriculum, I have been desperately waiting to read the autobiography of Sachin Tendulkar. Having been a follower of cricket and having had received inspiration from this most celebrated Indian cricketer many a times in my life, my wait for his book makes all sense to myself. It's good that Sachin has decided to put some portion of his life in pages. Apart from making money, I'm sure this book is going to help the readers from psychological and spiritual perspectives. 

Sachin is not so fond of speaking out things in public. The deep and an obvious wish to give his very own book a complacent look might have encouraged him to go back in time, in memories, to bring out the all unsaid over all these years. That's going to be an interesting read. Not just book lovers, I think, cricket and Sachin lovers are going to purchase this book to know about their ever lovable little matter and his side of the story. 

The pricing of the book surprised me to be frank. It should have been lower than that of the current price. The price of it might be a problem in the reachability of this book to the mass readers. Piracy might make the things easier but I sincerely hope that does not happen. That's all I can do about it for not. Although the pricing surprised me, the size of it did not. After all, it's about the longest carrier in the history of cricket and about one of the few players the sport loved back. 

I'm all geared up for the read. I congratulate Sachin Tendulkar on the eve of his book release. No doubt, many of the readers are going to believe him and I will be of no different. However, keeping up the commonsense is important. I'm sure I'm going to enjoy this read. Wish you the same, if you wish to do so. 

Book: SACHIN TENDULKAR, Playing It My Way, My Autobiography - Sachin Tendulkar with Boris Majumdar. 

Soft skills... Take Home #361

Most of the happenings about which we have wars of words turn out to be unworthy items if they can be seen at a broader perspective, i.e. with respect to the years of togetherness and long careers we all will have in our personal and professional lives respectively. 

And to look at the matters in broader perspective, it takes positivemindedness, patience and prioritisation. All these soft skills are worth practising by giving a mindful thought as and when the situation demands. 

Overdo... Take Home #360

What can make it can break it too. Beware of the overdo. 

Its all about filling our kitty with inspiration!

A lot goes on in everyone's life. Good and bad. Simple and tough. Happy and sad moments. Inspiring and depressive. Amidst of everything, there are people who strike back at life in all passion, strength, willingness, enduring and come out winning, if not all the times but at crucial modes which eventually turn their dreams as true in their lives. 

We shall know and if possible observe such incidents/people from present and history. It inspires a lot. It, knowingly or unknowingly, develops the necessary medicine within us such that we can use it ourselves on ourselves at certain difficult times of our lives. As I always say, reading biographies and autobiographies do contribute a lot in accomplishing the above said. What's written in the book and how much true and false it could be, do not matter much. I suggest you do not think of all those. We all might have been told many stories since childhood. Though not all of them are true, they surly build up our thoughts. Similarly, although what's written in books might or might not be true entirely, but if we look at them is positive sense they do build our thoughts. Its up to us how to convert all that into an inspiration and move on with our lives and achievements.

PS: Many people spoke to me about certain speculations on biographies and autobiographies, whenever I said that I had been passionate about reading them. I could not answer them all there and then as I did not have any answer. Over a period of time I thought about it and the above written was into my mind lastly. Just wanted to share that with you all. Opinions may differ and I will be happy to read what you have to say in comments section. 

Life is big, live it enough!

We come across many good and hard events when we are there with someone on a job. All these events make our feelings and many eventual emotional moments. Some of these remain as best and bitter memories from that roller coaster ride. 

Our relationship with that person develops over a period of time, amidst all the types of emotions. When we are there around with each other, we definitely think of both the good and hard memories, based on different situations that we come across. At some frustrating times we may also await the last day. 

On the day of separation, certain obvious emotions win over everything else. Forgetting all the hard feelings for that moment, doing which does not seen to be difficult though, we bid farewell to each other. In smiles and in tears. 

Years later when we meet again, though both the best and bitter memories from past pop up in the memory lane, the best memories win over the bitter ones. Bitter memories might also appear as if they all happened for good. Mind w and heart will be fully occupied with the goodness, a pleasing one undoubtedly. We feel happy not just about the reunion but also about the whooping goodness we feel from with in. Out of all the thoughts that go through us and out of all the words we feel like uttering, only very few will be spelt out actually.

Time changes many things and people eventually get changed. However, the joy of goodness does not change. The sweetness of it tastes the sweetest. It feels great. Simply superb. When we experience all this, and that too after being fully involved in the series of events and thoughts happening to us at the moment of reunion, we realise a lot about life. 

Life is not for the bitter feelings for sure. It's big. It's really bigger than any hard feeling we have for someone. It's bigger and better than any bitter memory. If we can think of these and follow them in our present, life will be fully lively. Enjoy people for the way they are. Life is big, live it enough. 

The best leader... Take Home #359

There are two most probable ways of thinking, "anything can happen" and "anything can be done". What you choose as your way of life shows to the world your either never-quit attitude or proactive nature, respectively. A good mix of these two attitudes makes the best leader.

Book: Winning

Author: Jack Welch

I got the reference of this book from my previous read "Nice girls don't get the corner office".  What impressed me to order this book immediately was the author's background. Mr. Jack Welch is a former CEO of the General Electric between 1991 and 2001, who joined the company back in 1960. In the wide spread and understandably dynamic corporate arena, getting to know about and from such an experienced professional, who has worked for a single organization for over forty years and is a CEO of that company on his retirement, is definitely not a daily routine even  for the greatest book-lover. Upon ordering the book online, got it in almost no time!

Out of all that he said in his book, the below are the few things (in my words) and my thought on those that I would like to share here. 

Choosing a mentor for yourself is important. Choose the one who grew up the ladder quickly if you are really interested in becoming another one to do so. I do agree that a mentor plays an important role in everything that we do, although at times we listen only to our inner-selves. Choosing the one who has already moved up the ladder as your mentor might or might not work for you, but choosing none does not work either. Obviously, that's the best guess, if only it turns out to be. 

Retaining talent is important but not at the cost of the team spirit and project. When you get a resignation on your table, you must be ready with a replacement by the same day evening. That's exactly what I used to think. No wonder if I have to say that I can't agree more. Organizations or projects should not be people dependent. They must be process dependent. Of course, people play the major role. But the only role of any manager is to keep things people independent. That's all he is paid for. Never let anyone think that they are bigger than the project that they work for. Find a replacement as soon as you can and hit back. After all, organization has to move on and it moves on too. History has many examples. 

Handling difficult bosses is not done just by you but by many people in all organizations. So remember to work it out smoothly. Never fight. It's known that no one can win a fight with his boss. If you think you have just won one, you may have to seriously recheck if it's at all fight or not. Handling people is an art to be practiced every day. Handling bosses is equally to be practiced. 

Prepare yourself or the bigger roles you need to play in future. Use free time to chalk it out what will you do if you be the one the next day. Wait for the opportunity, even if you need to stay back in the same organization for years and just continue your good work. This might not appear so interesting when you just read it. But if you have some years of experience in your kitty, and if you are the one who observes the organizational changes keenly, whatever is said by Mr. Welch might appear making some definite sense. People come and go; this is not just a life's philosophy, it's more than true in corporate world too. Opportunities always keep lingering around every corner that many people choose to move here and there. There you get the nut you deserve. Just wait and be as good of a worker as you have always been. Try and build some reputation as well along with the CV, things will work out for you.

Maintain your corporate networking. Do work it out all the time. It works back at certain crucial moments. The author gives an example for this, a real life use case of a woman. As many similar other books also do suggest and as my experience has also proven to me, I can quote maintaining network at work is one of the best things to do as part of one's regular work routine. You never know what comes from whom that can change the way your career is heading to. Do spend enough time on this. Have some friends, have them all across and remember to be one in return. It's not as difficult as it appears to be. You just need to be open knowing fully of the extent to which you must be open. That's all it is. 

So, that's all from my side about this book. I suggest this book to you all. Read it as earlier as possible in your career. You might just learn too many things! Practicing them is thereafter up to you of course. 

One last thing from the book, and in full confidence of the positive energy in me: 

Love, a beauty in itself

Love is in the wish,

To  rest the head,

Over his shoulder.

Love is in the wish,

To have someone,

To share your words.

Love is in the wish,

To be the one,

For your man.

Love is in the wish,

To stay all night,

Awake in his arms.

Love is in the wish,

To believe him,

As your this life's hero. 

Love is in the wish,

To do crazy things,

Along with him.

Love is, in a girls' perspective, a beauty in itself.  Love starts with a pool of small things, which put together appear as a miracle just happened, leaving no exact answer for you about how and when! Which, over the period of all these years and centuries, has remained the same. 

To get back to life... Take Home #358

Amidst the all lost touch, one small event or incident is sufficient, at times, to get back to life, to get back to doing what you like the most. It is, I think, not wise to wait for that event or incident to happen by itself. Find out ways to make sure you get inspired again. Take up that responsibility and do your best. Life anyway happens, do not let it happen in its own way.

Cherish the present... Take Home #357

What you have in your life might not be the best to have, according to you. Never mind, learn to cherish what you have. Always remember that what you are going to achieve in life is all based out of what you have during your struggle. Cherish the present. Strive for future. Success will be yours. 

Book: Nice girls don’t get the corner office

Author: Lois P. Frankel

I got introduced to this book by an article published in a local newspaper (www.eenadu.net) in Telugu language. By the title of the book itself I decided to but it. I got the discounted price from ‘Flipkart’ and in next two days’ time I had the book delivered. The first think I noted about the book was its weightlessness. I thought that was a perfect pie for a handbag-carry.

The subtitle of the book says it all. 101 unconscious mistakes women do that sabotage their careers. The word to be marked here is ‘unconscious’. If this one word was not used, every woman reader, like me, might get depressed to the core while reading the book. The reason is that many incidents from your past, especially if you are a working women in a corporate office, replay in your mind irrespective of the pace with which you decide to read the lines. The author explains in around two pages about each mistake. The author provides lots and lots of insights into the routine followed by women at work. After reading about every mistake, I ended up folding the book  and got lost into the memories.

This book is one of those very few books which give you practical understanding of the necessity of common sense. I liked this book very much not just for the practicality it showcased but also for the appropriate way the author did put the facts on paper. I read this book long ago. I’ve been miserably failed in writing this post soon after reading this book. Well, better late than never, here it is. I would prefer to say less about the mistakes mentioned in the book. You better read them yourself. After almost three months of reading it, I tried to put down what I could recollect. Below is the list. I’m sure, if you read the book you will learn to be conscious about certain acts, called as mistakes in this book, that you do as part of your regular work routine.

• Apologizing frequently and for less valued mistakes
• Cooking food and servicing it to colleagues
• Not concentrating much on looks
• Asking for permission instead of informing (say, taking leave)
• Occupying less space while being seated
• Trying to be a ‘man’
• Asking doubts/questions instead of proposing answers for your own questions
• Avoiding attending high profile meetings
• Not or less speaking in the meetings
• Combing hair/applying lipstick in public
• Not applying quo-do-pro
• Avoiding social networking
• Doing hard work instead of smart work
• Being modest more than required on receiving an appreciation
• Feared of taking responsibilities
• Allowing people to waste your time
• Staying away from high profile people
• Seeing boss as a father figure
• Silently accepting the unfair/discrimination
• Waiting too much to get recognized for the good work
• Striving too much for perfection
• Accepting the bad work immediately, unlike  men
• Thinking that raising voice is not allowed for women, crying in anger

I don’t relate myself to all of the above mentioned. I do connect with few of them. There is a lot change that I observe in myself, in the unconsciousness that I could win over in the past few days after reading this book. Since many incidents from your past come to you while you read the book, it becomes easier for you to be conscious about an act, called as mistake in this book, when you do it or about to do it next time. 

This book is a must read for every woman. I’ve already suggested many of my friends to read this. I gave it to my mother after I had been done with it. She is a working woman and I’m sure that reading book is going to help her too although she does not work in a corporate office. Human mentality is the same. Be it in a corporate arena or some where else, psychology remain the same more or less, I guess. 

The flights, from the train!

Travelling by train in the night can be proven as an absolute bliss given certain coincidences as following. 

You manage to get the lower berth, most important than that is you manage to seat yourself next to the window. Getting seated in your allocated seat needs to be hardly fought for at times, especially if you are travelling from northern India to southern part. The train crosses so many states, you get to travel along with people from all those states, that makes you all of a sudden realize the diversity in the Indian culture and people about which you must have studied in the early schooling days. That must be a moon light night, moon shall at least be shining more than half. The train crosses the river or a canal which is wider enough to see the waves. From the window, you be able to capture the scenery of the night. The water waves in the silver shade shine from a distance. You be dumbstruck! Well, this is one of the blissful moments. Likewise, everyone of us must have had something or the other of equivalent experiences. 

In the recent train journey, I've experienced another scene. This is not that typical one as above that I can ask you to recall one such that you had. Of course I managed to seat myself next to the window. I was travelling from Pune to Trivandrum; hence fortunately I needed not to fight much to grab my very own seat. Our train was crossing Pune, it was about to leave the last stop of Pune. From the window I spotted a flight in the blinking lights. After looking at the angle with which the flight was travelling, I took at least a minute to understand that the flight was actually landing in the Pune airport and was not just took off. Following my habit of eyeing the plane until its disappearance from the sight, I kept looking at it. It reached the run way, the height of it was so low that I could no more spot it from the train anymore. I thought the pilot must have landed yet another flight to add up to his experience. 

I was not yet out of the thoughts about that flight, and suddenly I saw another flight moving ahead in the same direction to land. This one was, may be, a minute away from the earlier flight. I then followed it again to keep eyeing it until it reached the runway! Immediately after that I jumped into the thoughts about my memories from my previous visit to Delhi. Our cab did not even move more than half a kilometer, there were two flights already crossed our cab to be successfully landed in the International terminal. Along the rest of our cab journey, I kept watching the sky only to spot the flights, one after the other, getting ready for landing. India is still 'the developing country', what must be the time difference between the landing of two flights in a developed country! I wonder if that's a worthy comparison!

After I saw the two flights from the train, and after I was done with the recollection of my 'Delhi' memories, my wish to spot yet another flight climbed up. I kept looking for one. Only after almost fifteen minutes of not being able make at least one flight, I discovered that I actually had to look further up in the sky, and in angle, to be able to spot a flight, as our train was moving away from Pune and hence from the airport. At that particular location, flight might still be up in the air as it would be minutes before it dripping down for its landing. 

I could go back to listening to music and sleep only after I spotted another flight up in the sky. I wondered how physics, the subject that must have almost killed many of us in plus two days, could be forgotten when it was supposed to be applied. And I'm going to remember this for the rest of my life, in all train journeys. May be that's why they say, experience is the best teacher!

Book: half girlfriend

Author: Chetan Bhagat

The title of the book did not impress me when I heard of it for the first time. 'Half Girlfriend' appeared to be the story of a girl who was halfhearted in her relationship. I also thought that this story had been probably narrated by a boy about his so called half girlfriend. One more reason why I delayed reading this book was the news I had read from the internet saying that a Bollywood movie was being planned based on the story of this book. I thought watching the movie will save at least three hours of my time. But the recent big billion day sale in 'flipkart' had assured I ordered this book for 99 bucks. We ladies buy mostly everything if there is a discount offer to it or at least something comes free along with.  

Initial two pages of the story proved that the decision I had taken on the big billion day made some sense, if not entirely correct. Mention of the 'journals of a dead woman' do create the all needed over-enthusiasm to make you delay your food routine. The story telling skill of the author definitely deserves a pat on the back. Because I had heard about the movie-plan off the novel, every line that I read and every situation made me imagine the typical Bollywood movie scenes. At few instances I actually searched for the actress who suits best for the 'heroine' role of the story narrated in the book, I could not be successful although. 

Yet another fiction work from Chetan Bhagat! A typical, of his type, fiction. As the story was about a half girlfriend, the author could not bring in the hard core romantic scenes in between. However, he could manage to hold the readers, at least me, to the story line. Narration was not so great, to be honest, so as the middle portion of the story. It bored me to the core when all of a sudden the heroine was out of the story for a while in between. Basketball was a good choice to build the story around in a college environment. No other game could probably have been a better choice for the theme of the story. 

The last part of the story was the best. Frankly, that's like a second-life for this novel. Since the story was to be built around almost ten years, there were certain sudden jumps the author had to take. To an extent they were wisely chosen. Bill Gates episode was too much to the plot. Well, I'm more interested in knowing who will play this role or how the director is going to change this particular episode of the story while making the movie. Anyone can be imagined while you read through, picturization is somewhat different I guess. 

Whatever, it was a good read. An interesting one to be specific. Although not the entire story but some twists of the story made me unable to keep the book aside and do something else! For me, 'Five point someone' and '2 states' still remain the best of Chetan Bhagat's novels so far. Awaiting another cracker of a fiction from him! 

Team delivers... Take Hone #356

A job can be started by a person, but to accomplish it in a fulfilling way, a team is definitely required. It's not just about setting goals, but it is also about planning it out in terms of resources that matters in winning businesses. After all, what a team can deliver is, most of the times, more than what an individual can contribute, or should I say 'always'!

Post-1100: A special dedication

Time changes.

Life moves on.

People come and go. 

Memories remain.

Love remains.

You gave your everything to us.

You gave up many things for us. 

You were always there with us,

You kept us united, as a family.

I could not do to you anything in return.

Except loving you back so much. 

My dear loving Grand-ma,

Love you so much!

Thank you for everything. 

Owe you a lot!

I miss you so much. 

PS: This is in loving memory of my grand-ma. I dedicate to her this 1100th post at my blog, written on her 12th death anniversary, tears being the witness! 

Relaxation... Take Home #355

A deep wish for relaxation is the strongest hurdle between success and yet another start, which shall be crossed in style by planning it perfectly and also by realizing the fact that relaxation does not help in defending one's own success feat. 

It's not that you should not relax anytime. It must be done in a highly controlled manner.

Congratulations to the Asian games medalists!

Firstly, congratulations to the Asian games metallists from India and all other countries. Podium finish is never easy. It takes lot many hard practice sessions and too many sacrifices in personal life. Yet, there have been players and their coaches who have done their best to come out well in the recently held 17th Asian games. Congratulations to them once again! 

Out of all the medals India have won, the one which has inspired is the good medal won be M C Mary Kom. By saying that I have no intentions of conveying that the rest of the medals are not valuable. It's just that I'm most touched emotionally by this medal superbly won by this woman. That's a real come back to the boxing ring. It will become one of the best come backs of sporting world, if she manages to wi an Olympic gold at the Rio Olympics 2016. All the best to her. 

Hockey team played their best sport in the past few weeks. Absolutely unexpected yet the most cherishing and satisfying. When they were on the podium and when the national anthem was played, it was one of the best experiences I ever had. May be it's too much to say it now, but I'm hopeful of a medal at the Olympics. Also, I hope this team will not take this win to head. Kabaddi is the sport I have a special affection for. Those moments of witnessing our school team practicing it hard for the zonal games from a closer distance and encouraging them to win it at the zonals just come to my mind every time I think of kabaddi. Those were some of the beautiful moments from my school days. Kabaddi teams won the gold medals as expected although not in the expected manner. Iranian teams played really well to put forward a tough fight. They will definitely, I think, take these losses seriously and will try to put forward their best in the upcoming games at Jakarta. Indian teams must prepare themselves very well by being extremely careful and aware of the opponents. 

4*400 m relay gold win run by the girls was fantastic. It's not that easy to win it for the fourth time consecutively. That too after all the misery the team had to go through after the ban they had to face in 2011. Well done girls, keep it up. Again, this is one of the events to look forward at the Rio Olympics. Seems Poonia got a life stabilising medal. She must have already been geared up for the practice sessions for Olympics. She must be consistent in her throws.

Every medal is important and hard fought in the games. Although the Indian squad could not manage to get more medals than last year, they have got some important ones this time. Saket Myneni and Sania Mirza did well. Appreciate the decision of Mirza. Badminton squad disappointed. So as the weight lifting, boxing, shooting etc. Abhinav Bindra's retirement decision surprised me. Good that he is still thinking of the next Olympics.

All in all, that's a good show by the team. But the fact is that it's incomparable to that is the Chana's, our neighbours. Wonderful show they did perform. All appreciation to the facilities created by the authorities. Indian authorities must benchmark this. Hope they do. 

MOM... A history, designed and created by Indian Scientists!

There have been many emotional moments round the country since the news was aired that India's Mars Orbiter Machine had been steered successfully into the orbit of the red planet. It's definitely a history created, a pure indigenous to be specific. Along with every other Indian, I'm too proud of this spectacular achievement of the Indian Space Research Organization. This project now has become a benchmark for many projects of  many other domains and not just space research. A well versed and truth filled book about the MOM will surely help the next as well as current generations. Hope to read one soon.

Congratulations to the team worked for this mission. I've read about the design accuracy needed for this mission to get accomplished especially when the MOM enters the orbit of Mars. Hats off to the team work and to the leadership.

There have been enough articles about the technical details of this mission. As always, I keep my post only to the point of my experience with MOM's success.

It felt great to see the Indian Prime Minister coming down all the way to watch the historic moment live. His speech later made every Indian recognize the importance of this mission. 'MOM never disappoints' was awesome too! It felt as if the country was in safe hands and most importantly under the rule of an inspiring leader, after a long time. A leader, who not just speaks but does it commendably. Thank you Mr. Modi, for that short yet memorable one.

When the mission was first launched, frankly, I thought, let's see if this MOM really survives for so many months in space. I had no idea what was the main aim of it. Over a period of time, especially since past few weeks, I started following its news. It's like this. Watching a movie not on its first day but after it is tagged as one of the biggest hits. Or may be like, following the news about a sports personality who is in news for a tremendous performance and who was no one before that. In India, Bollywood and Sports occupy half portion of the news. And why not? After all they interest to an extent that whichever is the topic, these two items do come in between, like the way I mentioned them as an example above while writing about world's first of its kind mission, produced by the Indian Scientists, Managers and work-force. 

As I said above, MOM's success story now has become a benchmark. In many of the recent discussions and debates, MOM was shown as an example, saying that if MOM happened, anything can happen! That's pretty much correct, but only if the intent and the hard work do match to that of the staff worked for MOM. Hope, MOM becomes the benchmark world wide by performing its intended job roaming around the red planet. ISRO must become an organization, by working for which people feel it prestigious. I will wait for that day. All the best team ISRO for many more endeavors to come your way. This nation is proud of ISRO and that itself is the proudest ever achievement for ISRO and its employees.

Jai ho!

Handling success... Take Home #354

Handling success is not any task to accomplish. Rather, it's an attitude to be developed and maintained to keep succeeding. 

Jumping to conclusion... Take Home #353

Jumping to conclusion is neither a fairer nor a wiser thing to do, especially then, when you are analysing something in which you have not involved yourself in the sequence of the events happened earlier. Take time, give everyone the chance they deserve. 

Live and let live!

Disbelief may occupy some space in any relationship, over a period of time, based on a given sequence of events between the partners. Most of the times  the partners end up fighting out the misunderstanding than the truth. Whereas the matter needs full attention and work out, it also helps if the partners open up and have a healthy confrontation. Silence between the partners might kill the show beyond anyone's imagination; it only adds up the distance if not anything else. 

With whatever the understanding I have on this topic, I would like to suggest the below. 

Disbelief is not a mistake of your partner. Feel the responsibility yourself for any disbelief shown by your partner. Try and understand where it would have probably gone wrong rather than pinching him or her for expressing the disbelief. Feel good about the openness in your relationship than pointing finger at the other person for being doubtful. Try your best in making your relationship come out of the expressed disbelief. Remember that it can happen to you too! May be at some or the other point of time, you may end up in disbelief too. Do not blame. Blame game does not work in any relationship, it turns out to be miserable if it happens between the partners for life long! As much as possible, don't feel bad about the other person for being so mean and all. Don't let that thought come to you. Understand that it's quite human and move forward in right spirit. Contribute your maximum in building back the trust. I don't believe in saying that if the trust is broken once it's broken forever. It can be worked out still. As long as the partners wish to be in the relationship, every thing is possible, every miracle must be hopped for. 

If you are the one expressing disbelief, first of all don't feel bad to have been doubtful about your partner. Being doubtful is not a sin. Of course, it might not be entirely correct to be so, but it's not entirely avoidable either given the circumstances and different brought up patterns the partners hail from. Try to be calm from inside as much as possible when you talk to your partner about it. Be specific, avoid being generic as maximum as possible. Have an open and to-the-point talk. Don't take your partner for granted if he or she gois listening to you. Don't say anything and everything and then don't expect him or her to listen to you fully. It's not fair enough. You yourself might not be able to do it too, if you are in the receiving end. Try as maximum as possible to express your feelings than doubts. Tell him how do you feel along with why you do feel so. Make the discussion thoughtful rather than argumentative. Do not expect answers on the fly; allow your partner to have time that he or she might very well deserve. Believe that thinks will work out. Be patient and determined enough to get the solution for this problem. 

Certain relationships in life are the beauty of human evolution. Be proud to be part of one such. Do your best to be true and dedicated to your partner. Set examples, positive ones. Live and let live! 

Don't underestimate... Take Home #352

When you underestimate someone you give him an opportunity to prove himself. Doing this with an opponent or a rival may get proved to be your first contribution towards your defeat. 

Don't underestimate anyone. Give yourself the benifit of doubt that you very well deserve.