Tagged by Ganesh
Rule: Please thoughtfully consider the following, and choose one item for each of the categories below. (Be sure to describe your reasons for choosing)
1) One religious work from a non-familiar tradition you’ll read…
African tribal tradition...No...not because Pramod Kamath's language and behavior is very African jungle like 
2) One song that you like–from your ‘least likely to listen to’ genre…
"Twinkle twinkle little star" :) ....yes, Nursery rhymes...they are songs too.
3) A book from a genre you almost never read, that you have read, or you will read (promise!):
Bhagavat Gita ....I know I have to read it to live a life better, but I know I'll end up reading it when 3/4ths of my life is over 
4) Somewhere you’d never thought to go on holiday/vacation, and why it might be fun to go there?
To a five star resort....I hate going to such places for a vacation coz I wont get to do much. I may enjoy it later...later when I am 70 yrs old! Now, my idea of a vacation is camping
5) A specific food you’ve never tried, but will because of this meme, honest!
Flavored yogurt! Will try it someday, but I'm sure I wont like it.
6) A sport or game you really hate, or haven’t tried yet, but are willing to give one more go:
Golf! Feels like it's the most boring game ever.....so slow and so sleepy.... but, I'm sure that when I start playing it, I'll like it. Its nice to be in such a green environment.
7) A style of dance you probably won’t try (we won’t make you promise on this one)
Dappan Kuthu
8 ) A career job you don’t feel you’re suited for, and why:
Road sweeper ...u see, I'm allergic to dust :(
9) What is it that you will dare to wear which you have never worn before?
Snake around my neck ... would love to do that someday!
10) If there’s one thing in life you wanted to do, and will do because of this meme, what will it be?
I will never write such a boring n serious post again!....I always wanted to write interesting and funny posts, but it turns out to be so serious all time :( Gans...help maadi
Hi Every1,
This post is based on Ganesh's blog-post
3 People who Make Me Laugh (Just by seeing or by the jokes they crack??
3 Things I Hate
3 Things I Don’t Understand
3 Things I’m Doing Right Now
3 Things I Can Do Right Now
3 Ways to Describe My Personality
3 More Ways to Describe My Personality
3 Things I Cant do
3 Things I Think You Should Listen To
3 Things I Think You Should Never Listen To
3+3 Absolute Favorite Foods
Hungry now :(
3 Things I’d Like to Learn
3 Beverages I Drink Regularly
3 Shows I Watched as a Kid
I watched a piece of leaf
That’s torn apart in the winter;
Pushed by time to distant places
To places barren, with no shelter.
It’s made to face bad weather,
It’s not in the place it’s supposed to be,
Or is it where it was destined?
On the roof top, beside the chimney.
I watched it see the world from there,
Top view, as it is called;
Now, it had a better view than on the tree
From where the winds had it hauled.
Though the chimney protected -
From the winds of east, the piece,
It was not long before the snow storm
Put it on the ground with ease.
Next sunny morning, I see, with glee
Right on the spot where the leaf-piece fell,
A sapling, green, small and shiny
Sprouted through the melting snow, so tiny,
And I wonder if the leaf torn apart
Gave this life a new start!
It seemed like a usual day in office, things were progressing at their own speed, and then suddenly my mother woke me up. "Wake up dear, or else you will miss the bus" she said. That is when I realized that a usual day to office and in office can only be a dream. My days are sometimes unusual, at times strange, other times abnormal and always atypical. I was just about to start thinking a little deeper, something that I do rarely, into this topic that crept into my head, when Amma's voice punched my ear. The voice from the kitchen at 6:45 am on a weekday yelling at me to get out of bed is something that is common, but the words used are always diverse. These words run across the animal kingdom - from a tiny insect like cockroach to a lazy buffalo, and are used alternatively in Tamil and Kannada. I ran to the kitchen to tell her that I am alive, awake and running around, which made her get back to her chores.
My dad drops me to the bus stop everyday and he has an adventure almost daily. Like a typical dad, he used to ride slowly, carefully and patiently before I started to motivate, kindle and pester him to ride super fast while chasing the Wipro bus. After negotiating with mom on the adequate quantity of breakfast for me, which differs for different types of breakfast, I ran downstairs to hop on to the bike where Appa was waiting for a long time. Appa had to do dirt bike racing and I finally caught the bus due to the proficient driving skills that he had acquired from the practice I had given him from the past one year. Even without looking at my dad's face (Cannot see his eyes and ears turned red with anger) I said "Thanks Pa" and ran into the bus.
My bus pal was waiting for me to start a fresh topic of debate in the BTM, Hosur and EC traffic jams. A funny fight about something new is an ideal kick start for a day in an otherwise boring bus where most people sleep or gravely brood over world economic growth. Today we spoke about death metal and how disgustingly melodious it is. I descended from the bus without falling down or hurting my limbs, which by itself is a rare event, and hurried to the customary breakfast with friends. Breakfast time is the break/spill and laugh time. I discover an indigenous and innovative way to encounter a food accident, day after day. The more careful I get, more carelessly food or juice spills and invariably on the person next to me.
After breakfast, I walked into my office to find my teammates all equipped to battle a new error or a hardware catastrophe. I started the project application and Lo!
. There was a game where we needed to close our eyes and form a human (not chain but) square. That was when Purvesha and I were yelling at Sankshep not knowing he wasn’t allowed to talk. There was this humorous business letter session in which our team was to write a letter to the PM requesting him to grant 3 days leave to Shrikanth as he had to attend his engagement. It was rejected once (and obviously the engagement could not go on without him!). We spent most of the time laughing at the topic and teasing Shrikanth. When there was 5 mins left we just gave the pen and huge drawing sheet to Vinay. Vinay drew this beautiful letter (I used the word “drew” because the letter looked like a piece of art more than just a letter. His handwriting is excellent) which was voted the best amongst the 5 letters written by other teams.
). That’s what we call Ganesh from then on.Don’t you worry; I won’t be explaining the other days of my training as exhaustively as I have done here. It is because I don’t remember being awake in those classes.
I was standing in the queue for getting an employee pass. Somewhere, from the front of the queue, I heard two people talking in Kannada. Shoba, as soon as she heard the sweet sounding Kannada language, turned towards me and said, “We’ve go company!” I entered into PDC with the employee pass pinned up. When I went to pick up the umbrellas kept near the entrance, I heard the Kannada guys conversing about their train journey. Shoba and I shared an umbrella while these two boys shared another. The Wipro umbrellas are huge and multi-coloured, strong enough to withstand a storm, big enough to shelter 4 people, but never enough in number. I started to walk straight to the tower that looked nice. I had no clue where to go and Shoba came up with this brilliant idea of asking these two Kannada boys. We made friends with the two Kannadigas and the four of us went searching for the conference hall where our induction was to be held. These two guys were my first PDC friends. One of them was Ganesh.
Friendship with Ganesh has been very memorable. I was there with him when he joined Wipro and was there with him when he quit. The 10 months of his friendship seems like 10 years. Our friendship started with the walk in the drizzle on the grass of PDC and I am sure I will be walking along with this dear friend till the end of time. He is now doing his MBA in Mumbai. Mumbai is where he was born and the place he did his schooling. So, besides being a Kannadiga, he was a Mumbaikar.
It makes me wonder, whenever I see Ganesh, how a person can be so jovial and naughty though he has some deep wounds in his heart!!! Ganesh and I traveled back from Hyderabad to Bangalore on 16th Apr. There was a re-union of my Pune training group in Hyderabad after 7 months of our profound friendship. People traveling back to B’lore (7 of us) could not get seats in the same bus. So, Ganesh and I took the earlier of the two busses while the other 5 started 2 hours after us. This 12 hour bus ride was one of the most unforgettable journeys of my life. Ganesh had no time to wipe his own tears as he was busy consoling me. I wept on his shoulders for more than 4 hours because I dint want to leave my friends and come back to Bangalore. He knew exactly how I was feeling and never yelled at me for over-reacting (I know I should have controlled my tears, but I dint want to….I just wanted to cry it all out). Instead, he made me realize that friends will always be there next to me, just that I should feel their presence, not see.
As Shoba, Ganesh, Amog and I searched, in PDC, for the conference room called “PLATINUM”; we talked about our travel to Pune, where we stay in B’lore, where we were goin to stay in Pune and other topics that new friends talk about.
I was woken up by the alarm and to my surprise I saw Shoba already awake. She was chanting something kneeling in front of the Idols of God that we had kept in the corner the hall. As I unpacked a few things the previous night, I took out the idols that I had carried from home and placed it beside the ones Shoba had kept. I woke up in a hurry, got ready and knelt down to pray. As I prayed to God, I realized that he was the one I needed the most. My trust in him grew deeper.
Both Shoba’s dad and Appa came to our room to see if we were ready to leave. It was drizzling outside and it was a perfect weather to start off my professional life. Poornima, Shoba and I walked to the bus stop and both the Dads followed behind. Bus came and everyone was climbing in. As I climbed in, I waved to my Dad. I looked at him with a heavy heart but with a smile on my face and my Dad had a smile too, the same kind of smile that I was smiling. We knew that this would be the last time we would see each other for the next one and a half months. I said “Thanks” loudly as I peeped out of the window and he smiled back. He knew I would be fine and I knew he needed me back home but he would be fine too.
It’s a strange relationship that a daughter and a father share, especially with the eldest daughter. My Dad loves my younger sister. Dad loves me too, but not as much as he loves my sister. More than love, Dad takes pride in me; he shares his problems and takes suggestions from me. He treats me like a friend than a daughter. That’s how I treat him too. We tease each other, we fight, we play cards, we watch cartoons, we share thoughts, we say sorry and thank you and we trust. He does all this with my sister too, but with a feeling of love and with a feeling of a young kid with him. That’s not the case with me. So, as I bid good bye I knew I would miss a friend more than a family member.
We reached PDC in half an hour. My Hostel was about 13 kms away from office. I saw a lake, an army camp and some really big autos on my way to office. The bus stopped right in front of the gate.
I reached Pune just one night before I was to join Wipro. I was confident that my new friends would have done all the necessary arrangements. Not once did I think I was overconfident and I was not wrong. I was not proved wrong even for a single moment during my stay at Pune. My new friends were there to help me from the time I got down from the auto in front of the “Nagras Estate” till the time I reached Bangalore. No, “Nagras Esate” was not an estate and not even close to it. It was the name of 5 block apartment. One of the blocks is rented by ICFAI (Management School) as its student hostel and that was where we stayed. Shoba and I were roomies and we shared an apartment with 5 ICFAI girls.
The night I reached Pune, I as usual, started to crack really poor jokes, for which my new friends laughed forcefully. Laughter is the first step of bonding. It makes the people around comfortable and is the best way to start off a friendship. That was the whole idea of my PJs and I know it helped. Looking at me at that point of time any one would have laughed - The chocolate chipped biscuit packet in my hand, my mouth constantly munching on the biscuits with absolutely no tension on my face, while Shoba’s dad and my dad were on a deep discussion of issues like the rent and deposit. So, may be it wasn’t my PJ that helped.
After some laughter and some serious discussion, which I was forced to be a part of, I was finally taken to the apartment in which I was to spend my 40 days. My hostel house (I prefer calling it a house) was on the 4th floor and thankfully there was an elevator. With a new SIM card in my left hand, suitcase in my right and a hand bag on my shoulder, I entered the house. The hall was huge and of course, it had to be spacious because 7 of us were to share an apartment. The best part of the hall, apart from being big was it was airy; there was a large window with beautiful brown curtains. Added to the well ventilated hall, there was a nice balcony from where the sidewalk of the apartment and a few roads were visible. I am talking so much about the hallway because this was the place Shoba and I had to inhabit. There were 2 large rooms which the other 5 girls had occupied. There was a dining hall just beside the hallway which was converted into a place for drying clothes in the rainy season and place where utensils are kept. There were 2 bathrooms which I thought was less for the 7 of us. All residents of the hostel were given a cupboard, a study table and a bed each.
After a formal introduction with my roommates, Shoba, Poornima and I went out to make phone calls to friends and relatives. Poornima was a little older to Pune than Shoba and me. She was from a training batch that started a week before ours. So, it was Poornima who had to answer all the queries I had about the training at PDC (Pune Development Center) like canteen, pantry, classrooms and transportation (in the same order). Poor Poori; I don’t know if I irritated her but she answered all of them with a lot of patience.
I am still talking about the day I missed getting down at the Pune station. Yes, it was a long day. My dad had a long and a tough day too. He went with Shoba’s dad to have a look at the area my hostel was located, bought me an umbrella and an iron box, and made the required payment to the owner and broker.
I slept late that night with thoughts of home and Bangalore still lingering in my mind.
Day -1:
Yeah, I am starting from the days I had not yet reached Pune. A day before I departed from Bangalore my house was in a huge mess. Sweets, clothes, bags, tissue papers and people were at every corner of my house. People came to visit me like I am going for a 40 day battle. I was imagining my Pune days to be a battle too. This was the first time I would be away from home for that long. I was excited, and that was vividly seen in my behavior. What was not evident to other people was the worry and panic in me. A new place, new environment, new people, new kind of food and a new life, these were tensing me up. I knew I had to face this someday and after college, such situations would be a common phenomenon. Adaptation was the new rule that had to be followed, but would I be good at it?
Day 0:
It’s important to talk about this day because it will give a comparison of how I was when I left for Pune and how I was when I left Pune. My train was at 8pm and I reached there with 3 huge bags of luggage about half an hour before the departure. My dad was coming to Pune with me. It was my mother’s strict orders for my dad to make sure I am staying in a safe area and I have everything that I needed for 40 days. Dad was confident that I will do just fine, but my Mom, like all the Moms in the world, was worried. I reached the platform to find my friends already there waiting for me. My friends Kitty, Lampi and Desai made fun of me because I was looking happy leaving home. My mom joined them too and soon my sister and Dad. My cousin came running to the station about 5 mins before the train left. Geetha gave me chocolates for the journey and all in all I had about 2 kgs of eatables, 2 books, 3 cassettes and a walkman for my 20 hour train journey.
I started the journey chatting with my dad about my two new friends who would stay with me in the hostel. Poornima and Shoba had reached there before me and I was happy that there were at least two people I know who I can spent time with. Poornima and Shoba were from my college but I did not know both of them. It was when both of them called me up about 10 days before I left and told me about the hostel and food, that I got to know them. I had met them just once before I saw them in Pune.
Appa and I had an awful tasting train dinner and I went to the uppermost berth to sleep. That’s when I started to think about how much I am going to miss home, miss my Mom, miss fighting with my sister, miss home food, miss all the pampering, miss my friends , miss my cousins, miss my dog and miss my Scooty ( without which I would almost be crippled). The only thing I was happy about was that I was leaving Bangalore. I have stayed in Bangalore ever since I was born and 23 years in the same place will get anybody bored. So, I wept and I cried and I sneezed and I wiped my tears and then I cried again. This went on all night. I spoke to my mother about 10 times that night. She cried too. So, most of the journey was spent crying. Dad did not know how to react!
That wasn’t it; the journey was a hilarious one, though not at that point of time. The train stoped in Pune for about half hour and moved ahead towards Mumbai. Yes, u r thinking right! We did not get down at Pune. Both Dad and me were fast asleep (I had cried all night and I needed some sleep). Thank god we woke up before the train reached Lonavala, else we would have gone to Mumbai. People all around us were laughing, while Dad and I dint know what to do. Then we got down at Lonavala station, caught the local train to Pune with the help of some of our train friends and reached Pune 4 hours late. Poornima, Shoba and Shoba’s Dad were very worried. When we reached the hostel and narrated the story, they all had a good laugh and so did Dad and me.
When the stars shine bright
And moon is glowing too
We can find our way through
But when it's a cloudy night
With no moon light
You'll need me and I'll need you
We can live life all on our own
Don't have to give or to share
Do whatever we think is fair
But when life seems torn
And your heart feels thrown
You'll feel the need for love and care
Many may praise you high
You always want people who extol
But they'll stab you when you loll
You need some to be frank and not lie
To pull you back to earth from sky
Only they will pick you up from a fall
You can never sail in life alone
Everyone needs a pillar of love
To respect your heart and not shove
Laugh with you and in grief to mourn
Someone you can call your own
And a hand to hold when up above
A look into those enchanting eyes; Lost in it, I found no return
Heart beats seem to have stopped as those eyes glowed in rays of Sun
I search for you during lonely nights
Only to find, in my mind, your eyes; two twinkling lights
You crept into my life and life transformed
Felt a support when it snowed and stormed
I imagined sailing with u all through
Hoped this dream would turn true
But you termed this as a passing moment
Leaving my heart to grieve and torment
You saw friendship, but love was my perception
I called you life while you named it co-incidence and a situation
My soul needs to accept this, but it kills
Writing this as my pain flows down through my heart and spills
To feel the cold wind caress
I moved the curtains, opened the pane
Although strong, they gently stroked my face
To let me know the onset of rain.
I, could smell the moist mud,
See dark clouds filling the sky;
Amid the clouds the crimson sun;
Trees swaying and birds fly.
A puppy strolling on the street
Ran to take refuge under the tree,
I noticed tiny water droplets descend
Yes, it’s heaven’s happiness spree!
Though it was just a drizzle
I saw the grass gleam,
On my nose, I felt a tickle
Against the window, as I lean
I ran to the door and flung it open,
Ran to street, looked above to see
With great joy, I looked around too
To find no one around, it was just me
Suddenly, the rain started to pour
And the sky began to roar
I ran back home, to the window again
Now, I stand here to watch the rain
And some thoughts with none to share
“Is it the rain or life that’s unfair?”
I have to go a long way from where I stand
Beyond the seven seas into an unknown land
Everything there is flowery with shine
Everything around is faultless and fine
But unexpressed feelings, would anyone understand?
I have to fly far away, into a distant place
Won't meet anyone with a familiar face
Modern people, fresh ideas, a sweet melody
A new life to start with new everybody
But will this change give me peace and solace?
A truck load of anxiousness, fear and worry
I will conceal them all, will let go, will just bury
Life moves on, I need to reform
I can go places and face any storm
Need my love with me and just enough baggage to carry
No spark in the eye
No smile on the face
Gazing at the cloudy sky
In an unfamiliar place
Don’t know how far and long
From home I must be apart
In search of the fragments
Of my shattered heart
The pieces are numerous
They are fragile and small
Each one is so distant
Don’t know if I’ll find them all
Hope is all that’s left in me
Hope is the guiding light
Hope I can fix my injured heart
And make my dark world bright
