Life’s little instruction book

1) Have a firm handshake.
2) Look people in the eye.
3) Sing in the shower.
4) Own a great music system.
5) Keep secrets.
6) Never give up on anybody or anything. Miracles happen everyday.
7) Always accept an outstretched hand.
8) Be brave
9) Whistle( of course, not during office hours)
10) Avoid sarcastic remarks.
11) Choose your life’s mate carefully from this one decision will come 90 percent of all your happiness and misery.
12) Make it a habit to do nice things for people who will never find out.
13) Lend only those books you never care to see again
14) Never deprive someone of hope. It might be all they have.
15) When playing games with children, let them win.
16) Give people a second chance, not a third.
17) Be romantic.
18) Become the most positive and enthusiastic person you know.
19) Loosen up. Relax. Except for rare life and death matters, nothing is as important as it first seems.
20) Don’t allow the phone to interrupt important moments. Its there for your convenience not the caller.
21) Be a good loser.
22) Be a good winner.
23) Think twice before burdening a friend with a secret.
24) When someone hugs you, let them be the first to let go.
25) Be modest. A lot was accomplished before you were born.
26) Keep it simple.
27) Beware of the person who has nothing to lose.
28) Don’t burn bridges .You will be surprised how many times you have to cross the same river.
29) Live your life so that your epitaph could read, no regrets.
30) Be bold and courageous. When you look back on life, you will regret the things you didn’t do more than the ones you did.
31) Never waste an opportunity to tell someone you love them.
32) Remember no one makes it alone. Have a grateful heart and be quick to acknowledge those who helped you.
33) Take charge of your attitude. Don’t let someone else choose it for you.
34) Visit friends and relatives when they are in hospital; you need only stay a few minutes.
35) Begin each day with some of your favourite music.
36) Once in a while, take the scenic route.
37) Answer the phone with enthusiasm and energy in your voice.
38) Keep a note pad and pencil on your bed side table. Million dollar ideas sometimes strike at 3 a.m. (Means write down your ideas. You have tremendous potential to think and act)
39) Show respect for everyone who works for a living, regardless of how trivial their job.
40) Send your loved ones flowers. Think of a reason later.
41) Become someone’s hero.
42) Marry only for love.
43) Compliment the meal when you are a guest in someone’s home or acknowledge a good gesture.
44) Wave at the children on a school bus.
45) Remember that 80 percent of the success in any job is based on ability to deal with people. Human Resource is precious for you and the organization. HANDLE WITH CARE!! (bottom line)

My Creed

I will seek to balance career and family as best as I can, since both are important to me.

My home will be a place where my family, friends, guests and me find joy, comfort, peace and happiness. I will seek to create a clean and orderly environment, yet livable and comfortable. I will exercise wisdom in what we choose to eat, read, see and do at home. I will not worship the Idiot Box but use it to widen my knowledge and relax after a long day at work.

I especially want to teach my children to love, to learn and to laugh- and to work and develop their unique talents. I will succeed at home first.

I will seek and merit divine help. I will never compromise with honesty. I will remember the people involved in a fight and hear both the sides before judging. Obtain counsel of others. I will develop one new proficiency a year. I will plan tomorrow’s work today. I will maintain a positive attitude. Keep a sense of humor. I will be orderly in person and in work.

I will not fear mistakes, but will fear only the absence of creative, constructive and corrective responses to those mistakes.

I will facilitate the success of subordinates. I will listen twice as much as I speak. And concentrate on the task at hand, not worrying about the next job or promotion.

I will be a self-starting individual who exercises initiative in accomplishing my life’s goals. I will act on situations and opportunities, rather than to be acted upon.

I will always try to keep myself free from addictive and destructive habits. I will develop habits that free me from old labels and limits and expand my capabilities and choices.

My money will be my servant, not my master. I will seek financial independence over time. My wants will be subject to my needs and my means. Except for long term car and home loans I will seek to keep myself free from consumer debt. I will spend less than I earn and regularly save or invest part of my income.

Moreover, I will use what money and talents I have to make life more enjoyable for others through service and charitable giving.

I value the rights, freedom and responsibilities of our democratic society. I will be a concerned and informed citizen, involved in the political process to ensure that my voice is heard and my vote is counted.

A Journey Called 'Life'....

Life!!! The very word symbolizes and generates a lot of positive energy. A new born baby’s first cry, a seed germinating into a plant, the life of a great person, a person coming back to life after being in a coma...

I flip through the pages of the dictionary and stop at the page, which defines life. Common definitions of ‘life’ include:
- condition that distinguishes animals and plants from earth, rocks, etc.
- all living things
- state of existence as a human being
- period between birth and death; period since one’s birth
- way of living

Wow! These five different definitions quite summarize life in an entirety. But what does life really mean to me? Life often throws a million questions at me. Where am I headed? What does the future have in store for me? What are my goals in life? What do I really want to achieve in life? These questions have been at the back of my mind for quite sometime now. I have answers to some of them but am confident that in due course of time I will be able to answer the rest.

Its 8:15 a.m. and I stand here at the bus stand waiting for the company bus to arrive. I stand here in the same manner as I did a few years back waiting for my college bus. Little did I know then, that things would change so much in 2 years. The sky under which I am standing
seems to be looking at me and smiling. :) It is perhaps the only thing that has acted as a silent witness.. watching the transformation of a loud and bubbly person into a quiet professional.

I wouldn't blame professionalism for the change though. It is destiny, or may be you could call it life. Yes ‘Life’, mysterious in the true sense, for one does not understand why you see hundreds of people everyday, work with so many, and still remain lonely.

I am now seating on the first seat in the bus, a seat reserved exclusively for ladies. I’m looking out of the window watching people trying to catch up with "life". Office goers rushing to work, housewives going through their morning chores, school children waiting for their school bus. It's a 20 minutes journey and the only company that I generally have in the bus is the chatter of my colleagues in the background.

I can't help thinking about the 1 hour long bus journey to high school... Well it's a paradox to call a distance of 12 kms "long", especially since my brother covers the same distance in 10 minutes but that is how it has always seemed.

The distance to college too from the Mapusa Bus Stand was 3 kms but the bus normally took half an hour. A typical college day always began in the bus with all the familiar faces; you look forward to all your friends getting in the bus. We would also look forward to the reasonless giggles; the silly jokes and the loud laughter that followed which made the one-hour lectures seem so much shorter.

Well, as I said it was a different life then. The pleasant memories of my school and college life are in itself good enough to save me from the misery of the bus journey.

The bus has just reached the company and I wait for all the males to alight. Of course in the evening it’s a different story cause I’m one of the first Welspunites to alight from the bus. I don’t feel bad or distraught. After all don’t these men have their wives at home with a ready meal whereas I have to undergo the routine task of going through the daily household chores...

From the glass window in front of me I notice that the line has come to an end and it is time for me to get off the bus. I nod at the guard as he passes a relieved look after checking all the males. A short walk to the time office and I’m done with punching my card. I flash a smile of acknowledgement to all the known strangers that I see as I approach my cubicle. A few of my colleagues greet me with their morning wishes and as always, we exchange our pleasantries. Its Saturday and discussions jump to the weekend plans and I wonder what I'd do over the weekend.

It would be just another Sunday staring at my cell phone, wishing it would ring and bring back some wonderful moments that are now missing in my life or maybe the safer option would be to just busy myself with Sunday spring cleaning, for the company provided flat is my new founded asylum on Sundays.

A year back, weekends or weekdays didn't matter to me, I was always busy. I always stood doubting the authenticity of the wall clock that seemed to be running too fast to perceive its movement. Alas, now it seems as though my clock is suffering from some kind of paralytic attack.

There is a time in life, where one needs to go ahead, leaving behind your friends and carrying along only memories. You do make new friends, but then you can never let go of the old close ones ... you do meet people who'd be so good to you that you could tell them anything and everything, but you find it tough to find a person to whom you needn't say things ... friends who just know you. Occasional calls from such friends, have been the only thing that I seem to look forward to now... However, I can’t help but notice the uneasy pause that lingers around such conversations.. A pause not because of the relationship, but because it is too short a duration to say everything, and of course you cannot completely rule out the paucity of words!

As I look outside the office window, I tell myself, may be there will be a day when things will change, when life will offer a rewind, a recap of all the events and I just have to wait.

Capricious are the ways of life, for I know there would be many who'd be able to empathize with me, ironically, even the dear ones that I miss this moment, waiting perhaps!!!

Cause I’ve now realized that we often embark on various journeys. But the greatest journey from birth to death is the journey of life itself.

And so I pledge to take one day at a time......

PLATFORM NO 1…

As I enter the railway station I can hear the nearby clock chiming dong dong dong dong.. 4 chimes to herald in 4 p.m. Yet another day in my life, the only difference being that today I’m off to Goa.

My train to Goa is at 5pm and I’ve reached an hour early. I find myself being pushed by the crowd up and down the steps of the over bridge as I proceed to platform no. 1. Talk about being led by the flow!!

A train had just arrived and the lady at the microphone announced that ‘the train that has just arrived on platform no. 1 is going to Mumbai.’ The train halts and I find myself in front of compartment no. S-8. A total chaos results as people alight from the train in the midst of people trying to enter the train. The pandemonium is spiced up with the various people selling food, beverages & other stuff and coolies looking out for potential baits.

Suddenly, a man starts shouting loudly and people turn to S-8 to see what’s happening as I see a group of young guys trying to enter the train compartment. The man now screaming on top of his lungs has a lot of luggage and is finding it tough to get down along with his charming wife. His pretty wife in a designer salwaar kameez is more interested in her makeup and hairdo rather than helping her poor hubby with the luggage. The hubby a man in his late 40’s and a pucca Gujarathi businessman resolves the situation by thrusting his huge suitcase in front making the group of skinny guys back off. The man jumps onto the platform and looking at the piteous group of boys with a ‘Serves you right!!!’ look gets the remaining luggage out of the train.

Well, it’s an usual thing at the station. People fight with all their might as they bully to get in and out of the train. I remember the times when I was young and used to wait like a martyr at the bus stop, waiting for people to enter the bus instead of fighting my way through. My Mom though was smarter as she used to push a shopping bag through an open window informing the person closest to ‘catch place’ for her. Of course in the good old days people would not dare remove a bag which was placed on an empty seat not only coz of the good manners people had then, but especially since the bag was also under the captive gaze of its temporary care taker.

I somehow wonder how we can be so cruel and fight just for a seat. Normally, one should wait for the persons to alight from the train/vehicle and then get in. But people just wanna rush. I do like the bus queue system followed in Mumbai at the bus stands where there is complete discipline. Also knowing that the greedy private bus owners in Goa want to get the maximum number of passengers into their bus it sure is bad luck if you don’t manage to be pushed in the bus by them. Needless to say, their buses tend to resemble a tin of packed sardines. But hey! I am deviating from my main posting so back I go to Platform No. 1.

As the vada pav walas made brisk business selling hot (I sure wonder how people can eat these left over vadas made hot just before a train arrives) vadas to hungry travelers and others selling bhel, water, biscuits, ‘phoren’ chocolates & ‘chim’ gum.. the train started moving slowly away from the station. A few hurried goodbyes and people collecting the change from the guys selling foodstuffs, the train moved on to the next station.

After about 5 minutes Platform no 1 changed from the animated racket to a more passive location. And that’s when I spied a vacant stone sofa on the platform. My tired legs sure needed a well-deserved rest and so I headed to sit on the sofa.

Plop! Went my backpack as I placed it next to me on the seat. A black dog was under the sofa and it looked up as I sat. Not a menacing look but with more like a welcome and be my guest type of frown. A man in rags was sleeping close to the sofa. And I sure thought until the next train comes there would be no boisterous activity. But I was mistaken!!

As I looked around me, I could see the vada pav guys hurrying to their ‘bosses’ to tell them of the brisk business they did and to return the remaining vadas for ‘warming up’. A few filthy guys emerged out of nowhere and jumped onto the tracks with sacks searching for empty plastic bottles and other ‘rich’ trash. A crippled beggar nearby counted the coins in his hand and bought a ‘chai’. Two eunuchs were flirting with an equally sad looking man. A cop came and tried waking up the sleeping man in rags. But he didn’t stir. Someone muttered that he was a drunkard and would regularly be found sleeping on the Platform. People slowly started trickling in as the clock ticked away.

Suddenly, the doggie below my seat stretched and I look at my watch and realized its 4:50 pm. The doggie sure seems to have doubled up like an alarm clock for me. I found that I have enough time to buy a bottle of Amul Cool. The platform is now filled with people waiting to board the next train and sorrowfully I say bye-bye to my comfortable seat and the harmless doggie to go and buy me a refreshing drink. As I get up a lady gives me a thankful look as she parks her kid and bag in one go on my now vacant seat.

I proceed to the nearby stall and the stall owner gives me a grim look. I’m sure he must be thinking why I didn’t come earlier instead of sitting down the whole while. Obviously he wants to catch the new bhakras who have come on Platform No. 1. I give a sheepish smile as I ask him for my favorite flavor. Another announcement indicates that the train is arriving and as I put down the bottle and hurry to the edge of the platform I say a silent and combined prayer for a safe journey, that there won’t be any hassles, I won’t be pick pocketed or get in the wrong compartment.

As the hullabaloo grows and I get in safely into the train, I’m thankful that I’m not shoved back out by an irate traveler’s suitcase. I then progress to quickly locate my seat and put my bag down. I open the window and look around at all the now familiar chaos, the bedlam and the commotion…

As the train starts with a slight jerk, I take a fleeting look at the place I occupied minutes ago on Platform No. 1. Everyone’s busy except for a silent figure who is oblivious of the din around him. It’s the same man dressed in rags. The entire pandemonium has had no effect on him and as trains go and come he will be totally unaware of the same. He’ll be fast asleep on his comfortable bed on Platform No. 1…

Things that puzzle me....

1. Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wake up every two hours?
2. If a deaf person has to go to court, why is it still called a hearing?
3. Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are flat?
4. Why do banks charge a fee on "insufficient funds" when they know there is not enough?
5. Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?
6. Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?
7. Why is a building called a building even when it’s already built?
8. Why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard?
9. Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?
10. Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?
11. What is the speed of darkness?
12. Are there specially reserved parking spaces for "normal" people at the Special Olympics?
13. If the temperature is zero outside today and it's going to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold will it be?
14. If it’s true that we are here to help others, what are the others doing here?
15. Do married people live longer than single ones or does it only seem longer?
16. Do you cry under water?
17. How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?
18. Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?

Did you ever stop and wonder...

1. Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken there... I'm gonna eat the next thing that comes outta it's bum."
2. Why do toasters always have a setting so high that could burn the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?
3. Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?
4. Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but don't point to their bum when they ask where the bathroom is?
5. Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs!
6. Can blind people see their dreams? Do they dream??
7. If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests? (This one kills me!!!!)
8. If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?
9. If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
10. Why do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune? (Now stop singing and read on . . . . . . . . .)
11. Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?
12. Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car drive; he sticks his head out of the window?
13. Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?

And the ultimate googly!!!!

Did you ever wonder why you are reading this in the first place?

:) :) :)

50 OF THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE!!!!

Hi folks!!!

Its been quite a while since I blogged.. Well, this new year has kept me busy but I will try and make time for my new found passion... BLOGGING!!!

I recently got this email.. 45 of the best things in life.. I liked them and decided to add 5 things of my own.. Hmmmm... Anyone who knows me well will easily guess where I've inserted Blen's likes.. ;)

1) Taking a drive on a scenic road.

2) Laughing so hard your face hurts.

3) A hot shower.

4) No long queues at a Shopping Mall marked SALE!!

5) A special glance.

6) Getting mail.

7) Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.

8) Hot towels out of the dryer.

9) Finding the outfit you want is on sale for half price.

10) Ice creams.

11) A long distance phone call.

12) A bubble bath.

13) Giggling.

14) A good conversation.

15) The beach.

16) Finding a Rs. 500/- note in your jacket when you’re totally broke.

17) Laughing at yourself.

18) Midnight phone calls that last for hours.

19) Running through sprinklers.

20) Laughing for absolutely no reason.

21) Getting out of bed and thanking God for another beautiful day.

22) Having someone tell you that you’re beautiful.

23) Laughing at an inside joke.

24) Friends.

25) Falling in love for the first time.

26) Getting an sms saying your salary has been credited.

27) Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.

28) Loosing weight.

29) Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.

30) Your first kiss.

31) Getting gifts.

32) Making new friends or spending time with old ones.

33) Playing with a puppy.

34) Late night talks with your roommate.

35) Traveling.

36) Sweet dreams.

37) Hot chocolate.

38) Shopping.

39) Road trips with friends.

40) Swinging on swings.

41) Watching movies.

42) A mug of hot coffee on a cold winter morning.

43) Song lyrics printed inside your new CD so you can sing along without feeling stupid.

44) Going to a really good concert.

45) Seeing mist come out of your mouth on a really cold winter morning whilst talking.

46) Making eye contact with a cute stranger.

47) Making chocolate chip cookies.

48) Hugging the person you love.

49) Watching the expression on someone’s face as they open a much-desired present from you.

50) Watching the sunrise.