Simple things... Take Home #490

Simple things that we do, that we take care about, that we remember can let the life happen to us in a big way. It's not easy and practical to define those simple things as they may vary from person to person! One must be aware of his or her own list and shall of course follow. 

"The importance of simple things is unlimited"

Standing out... Take Home #489

"Standing along with many is the first step towards standing out of many"

Google and people... Take Home #488

Be it from google or people, the information that you get can make you knowledgeable. Its then up to you how much to believe and what to ponder upon to get realised about a lot of things and people. 

New beginning... Take Home #487

Everyday is a new beginning and so can be everything that we come across. New beginnings bring new opportunities and so does everything that we come across. We shall look through the situations and find out the hidden opportunities to make it to success. 

Diwali crackers... Pic of the day #27

First thing that comes to my mind when I think about Diwali crackers is going to market along with my father on his cycle to purchase crackers in childhood. As they, some of the childhood memories stay with us for a long time. The one that I said above is one of such for me. My father used to take me to market on the day of Diwali. I used to purchase crackers for one hundred rupees. In those days, for hundred rupees we used to get a carry bag full of items. After the purchase, we would go home and open up all the cracker boxes to expose them to the sun light. It was said that the crackers would lighten well if they were exposed to the sun light. I would keep them in the sun light until the evening. And in the night, at around 7:30 pm, I along with my parents and grand parents sometimes, would start cracking them out. One of my favorite item then and still is "Vishnu Chakram". One needs to hold the wire in hand and the other side of the wire would have the chakram, after the knot. When I was a kid, my father used to hold them for me and I used to enjoy. While looking at him, I used to wonder when would I hold them myself. After few years, I started holding them myself and just started loving that experience. 

Even during the recent Diwali, we purchased the Vishnu Chakrams and I enjoyed a lot. As the Chakram rotates in front of me when I hold it, my childhood memories occupy my mind to the full time. It's an awesome experience. I also like all other items in crackers and do not prefer to lighten the ones that make sound. Bhu-Chakram is yet another chakram that rotates on the ground, that gives great photos. Selfies and photos have become so casual in everyone's life style these days, but no one can dare to take a selfie when the Bhu-Chakram is rotating on the ground. Well, it can be attempted but not recommended from my side because of safety reasons. Match boxes is another item that I love. They come in all different colors and at different lengths these days. In my child good, the short ones used to be there and I used to lighten them even in the day time! Well, a lot of memories I've with crackers. I have never lost interest in them even though on couple of Diwali eves I did not lighten them supporting the Green Diwali concept. But, somehow, I could not continue doing that. Lightening them is good as they say from mythology, but for me, lightening them is more about reminiscing the memories from my childhood and of course to enjoy the colors and lights.

Colorful bangles... Pic of the day #26

I'd never been a vivid lover of bangles since my childhood until the day I purchased the set of glittering bangles shown in the picture below. It was only during my marriage that I took special interest in selecting various colors and designs of bangles. South Indian marriage is of course filled with lot of gold ornaments but the attraction that the bangles similar to the ones shown below is priceless. Bride's hands look just awesome with the bangles that match to the saree that she wears. So, I too wanted special appearance and attraction in my attire. And the immediate thing that I did was to purchase a set of bangles which had all main colors of bangles. 

The ones that are shown in the second row of the box in the picture are the ones that glitter, and at the same time they are the main culprits since the golden colored 'chumkys' get sticked to the hands and all over the body wherever the hand reaches while wearing them. I used them only during my wedding and later on, only the ones shown in the top row were preferred by me. I've used all these sets on so many occasions yet they still appear just new. And they don't give me a reason to look for some more new sets of bangles. But that's ok, I think as I'm still not a bangle buff. After using them for all these months on number of occasions, I never took time earlier to keep them in an order. I always used to pick up the required color from a complete mix. But during the recent vacation, I deliberately sat with them and kept them in an order. And then clicked them. My memories with these bangles are wonderful and every time I'm going to look at this picture, I will be super nostalgic for sure! Thanks to my cousin, Yamini for being there with me while I was selecting them and the time that we spent then is going to be memorable and cherishable for a long time. 

"Mahabharata" - My Experience With The Epic

The subtitle of the post "The Epic" stops me from calling this post as a book review. I cannot post a review on the longest epic ever written in Sanskrit. I can only share my experiences with the epic. 

I watched a lot of movies, in bits and pieces though, on Mahabharata. Having been born and brought up in India, I heard many a people mentioning about this epic at number of occasions since my childhood. I of course knew the over all story of it but never knew some of the important relationships among the characters. Without knowing that, the story that I knew always used to feel incomplete and used to create a lot of enthusiasm in me to read "Mahabharata" once. Some how I never could do that all this long and finally, and the recent Diwali vacation did give me a chance to fulfill my long pending wish. So I did. I read one of the books on Mahabharata my dad gave me from his collection. The book was in Telugu language, my mother tongue,  so I enjoyed reading it more than I had expected it to be.

Since I knew a major portion of the story, I decided very strongly to read the epic by keeping the logics aside. My logical brain was all the time disappointed by suppressing it every time it popped up a question like "How?" while I was reading the book. And by doing that the emotions and the characterizations have been thoroughly understood and enjoyed. Since it's a vast story, the number of characters is huge as known. Remembering the significance of each and every small character was not possible for obvious reasons. However, going back the pages and referring to the related portion of the story helped a lot in maintaining the connection among the characters in my mind. What particularly I liked was the way the naming of the characters was done! Brilliant. Just great. I came to know a lot of new and beautiful names. 

My dad said an interesting thing while I was discussing the story with mom and him. He referred to some of the names of 'Kauravas' and said which parent would name his or her son like "Dussasana, Dustha buddi etc"! Since it was the writer who named all those characters, the names were so chosen that they were near to their respective characterizations. I completely agree with what's said by my dad. This reminds me of yet another story that was read in childhood about three fishes named 'Sumati', 'Kumati', 'Mandamati', which would behave just according to their names as said in the story. It was the writer who named them and in Mahabharata as well, it was the writer who named all those characters and not the parents of the characters. The epic is written, just written, and I think it did not happen as most people believe. 

Fortunately I do not have any 'favorite' character. Each one of the main characters has been portrayed in a great manner. A lot to learn from! Actually, more than learning, what I felt was, all that was happened, all that was done by all the characters was just human. It was just to the  moment. Be it the way 'Dharma raja' say about 'Ashwathama', the son of 'Drona', to distract the concentration of Drona, be it the way 'Draupadi' lashes at  her husband indirectly for having lost  her in the game of dice, be it the way 'Bheema' was asked by 'Srikrishna' to hit 'Dhuryodhana' on his thighs, and many other incidents, it was just human and the need of the moment to win over the people who cheated! Well, the other side also, kauravas cheated because pandavas played further and further! No, again the writer made them say all that 'Dharma raja' said or did. Mahabharata to me appeared as a well sequenced story with the exaggerations at most of the places. Nevertheless, the way its portrayed, the way its narrated, the way its constructed into huge volumes, its simply unbelievable that someone wrote it with such a grip in those early years of human civilization. 

If all that written was happened, then something great happened. And if all that written was just written, then some thing more than great was written. Either way, it's just awesome! 

I will write in my later posts about the leanings from Mahabharata. This post is just about my experience with one of the greatest epics ever written in the history of mankind. I'm very happy to have read it, to have known about it, to have liked it, to have enjoyed reading it.  

Perspectives... Take Home #486

Perspectives can neither be judged nor be concluded as right or wrong. They are just true. True to the core! It's very difficult to understand various perspectives but if tried to do so and succeed at least to a significant extent, it will be immensely useful to all the parties involved.

Truth and false... Take Home #485

Truth appears negative for those who do not believe it and positive for those who believe it. Ironically same is the case with false too! It too appears negative and positive for those who do not believe it and for those who believe it respectively. 

Rice crops... Pic of the day #25

Rice crop is one of the main crops in India. And India is one of the world's largest rice producing countries. For a maximum portion of people in the southern part of India, rice is one of the main food item. Also, the southern India produces a larger portion of the total rice produced in India. Rice crops look very beautiful apart from being the main source of income for many a farmers. 

While we were going on a road trip lately, I clicked the above. The scenery has come awesome with the mountains in the back ground and the rice crops dancing to the tunes of a mild wind next to a national high way. While I love to drive, I like to click too. So, when I'm in car, I enjoy it thoroughly, be it when I've to drive or when I've to sit in the co-passenger seat. Both ways it's good! 

Below one is yet another picture taken from the national high way. It has also some very nicely with a free road and the coconut tress alongside. 100 kmph did seem nothing! 120 and 130 kmph looked like we were driving! In Pune, we do not get to drive on so vacant roads except on the express way from Mumbai to Pune! Every where its traffic and traffic. Even on the high speed way, you cannot go beyond 80-90 kmph as there are rough patches on road; unless you have a robust car, you cannot jump that speed figure. The Chennai-Kolkata national high way that we traveled on was too good for a long and fast drive! Try it once, if you ever get a chance. On a mild sunny day, the drive feels further beautiful. 

Scenic train journey... Pic of the day #24

The train journey between Mumbai and Pune is one of the best scenic journey I've ever been on. Train journey in Kerala first made me click the nature and landscapes in green. Since then I've been clicking the photos from train wherever I go, provided I like the landscapes, fields, house rows etc. It gives me great pleasure. When I reach the destination and look at those photos once again, the memories from the journey entertain me to a great extent. I enjoy the recollection. 

Above shown image was clicked around Lonavla city, which comes between Mumbai and Pune. It's a widely known tourist spot for the greenery, water falls and landscapes, especially in rainy season. I'd been to Lonavla earlier along with friends a couple of times. It's full of parks, view points and water falls and of course traffic too, in weekends though. The city is full of shops, small houses, independent row houses constructed in different adorable shapes. "Chikki" is a sweet which is very famous there. Many a types of Chikki is available but the one with ground nuts is the most famous. It's very tasty, at least once it must be tasted I'd say.

When we had been to Lonavla for the first time with friends, we had taken bat and ball and other sport items. We played in a park until the evening. It's an ultimate relaxation! We had taken a day off and had been on this trip hence it relaxed even further. One must agree that the trip that's planned on a working day gives more pleasure than the one arranged on a holiday, at least I feel so. Most of the people who came on that trip are not now with us in our company, as it's been at least four years now! These days, you know, people switch jobs as easily as the outings are planned. Well, that's better too, may be! It depends, as we cannot generalize. 

My recent journey, when the above pic had been taken was enjoyed to full extent. The tunnels that come on the way from Mumbai to Pune are the special attraction! Kids and college students, especially, enjoy them outwardly. It feels good to be amidst them while on journey. If you get a chance, please do this journey and do enjoy the scenic way!

Whosoever you may be... Take Home #484

Whosoever you may be, you need not know everything and you need not be known everywhere! The same is applicable not just for you but for every person. Knowing this basic fact of life cures your way of expecting and enhances your way of living. 

Handle in silence... Take Home #483

Certain behaviours cannot be complained against. They just need to be handled in silence and peace. You are the best judge to pick such behaviours which you come across in your day to day life. 

Status and stature... Take Home #482

The big things that you achieve elevate you and make people come to you. The small things that you do define you and make you come closer to people. 

Both are important, I guess. The former is your status and the later is your stature! 

Maintain the distance!

What's important for us at one point of time might not be important for us at some other point of time. What appears as if it's everything at one point of time might no longer matter at later times. What makes us desperate at one point of time might never succeed at later time in inspiring us even to think about it. 

Anything that appears important in the present time might not carry any value in future, although this does not applicable to a few things, people and relationships. In general this is so with a lot of tasks that we do, a lot of things that we encounter with, a lot of people that we meet in our life's journey. This is nothing bad, this is just the fact! 

Make as many memories as you can any maintain a minimum distance with everything, so that you can move forward with a hope that there can be a better thing coming your way. 

Get going!

What's important for you might not be important for the world. However, what's going on with you is your world, handling which is important for you, winning which is the way forward for you. This is how it is for each and every person around you, not just for you. Accept this and work it out. 

Attention need not be there while you are connecting the dots, while on a job. Your success, for sure, brings the deserving attention from all around. Let your success speak, and never mind if you have to go through a long silence for that. Efforts pay off. Sometimes quickly and sometimes a bit late. Everything has to converge somewhere! Believe that everything falls in place. For you. For everyone. 

Just get going and let others get going too.

Finding the way... Take Home #481

There is a way to say and handle anything. We must concentrate our energy on finding out that way together rather than, wasting our energy on trying to pull each other down with our gestures. 

Be counted... Take Home #480

Strive to make your presence feel counted to begin with and then you must continue to strive to be counted in every given opportunity. Nothing can be taken for granted and that makes life interesting!