Ru(ai)n down the memory lane!!!

As the drops fell on the window pane..
I went down to memory lane.
When I was a cavalier guy..
though quite bold but little shy.
How I used to enjoy this rainy season..
as it was joy for thousand reasons.
Those moments of walking in the water logged street..
sometime wearing slippers or sometimes empty feet.
Those errands with friends up to college..
though it was closed was within our knowledge.
Those moments of fun while getting wet..
and munching those snacks and tea without regret.
I know those moments have passed and will never come back..
but I am happy that this shower has made me live them again!!!


Dubai had a first taste of proper monsoon for the year, this weekend. It was drizzling over the weekend but post midnight it started raining like how it rains back home. It was a nice site to see people on the streets carrying their umbrellas and wearing their jackets in a country when most of the part of the year you can see only sun soaking the streets. However, the rainfall took toll on the traffic in the city. I enjoyed every bit driving in the morning to office taking these pictures and reliving those memories of past, thinking how, back home, people used to make way to their offices in the heavy rains. I really wish that Dubai also should have its share of monsoon. Though not as heavy as we get in India but a small fraction of it is definitely welcome!!!

Is winter approaching??

Though its already December so it would be a foolish question to ask but here in Dubai, weather has not cooled down as much as it used to during past years. Today morning was some indication that though late the winter is approaching. They say here that whenever there is a dust storm ..its an indication that weather is changing. I hope that this turns out to be a weather changing storm!!! Thanks to the technology, I could click these photographs on my way to office today morning...And mind well these have been taken at 10 in the morning though it looks as if they have been taken quite early at dawn.

Destiny

Destiny...Guess everyone believes in this word to a certain extent. I am the one who believes in this to a very great extent. Since the day I started reading, I have read one thing quite repeatedly which says, either in exact phrases or indirectly, that a person's destiny is written the day he/she is born. Though I am a big believer, I, sometimes,really think 'can this be true?' Does this mean that our life path already exists when we are born and we are bound to follow that path living our lives and are destined to meet all those people with whose path our paths are intersecting!!!
This sounds amazing isn't it? ..That also means that what ever we have been doing right now is all part of a bigger plan of our life...All those people we are meeting during our life are those who while following their life paths are unknowingly intersecting our life path!!! If this is true then I really wonder how many more people would be intersecting my life path while I am walking mine?? Its strange as well as wonderful. As they say that 'we are just puppets whose strings are in hands of the God what ever we do and behave is according to the way our strings are being pulled by him' Does this mean that all those great inventors invented things not cos they decided to do it but cos they were destined?? Does this also mean that all those great rags to riches story are mere the work of destiny?

In that case what about the other thing which I have heard often...'our destiny is in our own hands. We are the creators of our own destiny' Isn't it quite puzzling??

Honestly, I started thinking about this 'funda' quite deeply when I heard about an ex colleague of mine reaching a new height in his professional life. At the same time when I was quite happy for him, I was also thinking that how we both started our career together almost at the same time and how my career got diverted and due to turn of event I had to relocate myself at a distance from my family. Not that I regret the step I had to take but I try to analyse what is there in store for me in future. If they say that I am merely acting my part in life as scripted by the God then I fail to wonder why has it been scripted this way? and why am I supposed to play this part being away from my two small ones who may be needing me at this very moment? Though I know the thing I am doing now or my present situation can not be seen in isolation and its just a small part of greater good of my life, I am in a constant search for that greater good of my life that main purpose of my life which I am fulfilling by playing my present part.....

(to be continued)

Rejuvinated me....

I haven't posted for a long time. Truely speaking didnot get any ideas worth writing about. On a more honest note it was also partially due to some sort of complex. It was a complex of not considering my writing skills as good as of those few authors whose blogs I came across recently. It was a complex of considering myself an amaturish writer as compared to others. But today as I am standing on the street (!!! understandable as I am blogging using my new toy) and as the cool breeze of December is blowing across my face some blocks in my mind are vanishing. Some doors are unlocking.....

I am thinking why should I stop writing? The reason why I had started posting was not for anyone else. It was supposed to be a pure exercise for myself.. For my mind... The day when I started posting, I had decided that this was supposed to be a tool for me to talk to myself....to my inner voice. Then why this comparision should arise in first place. This is not supposed to be any sort of competition. If it is competition then it's only a matter of competing with myself. It's a competetion with my self-beliefs about myself. It's a matter of judging whether I really know myself as good as I thought so. I have always heard people saying that the way five fingures in your hand are not alike... In the same way no two persons can be similar. A strength of one can be a weakness of other... Similarly it would be fair to say as of now I am a smaller fingure as far as writing is concerned and I should move on with out bothering much about the same.... And Its certain that this writing skill will also improve after my regular blogging ...

So here I am with a rejuvinated enthusiasam to blog... To know muself and as they used ti say in a well known TV series ' To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before!!'. So my one and a half followers watch out Here I go again !!!!!!!

(Forgive the spell errors as spell chk nt activated)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

What an ID(K)EA!!!!

Yesterday, happened to visit IKEA store in Dubai. For those who are not aware IKEA is a furniture retailing company based in Sweden and having shops all around the globe. It's kind of a self servicing furniture shop where you can select from the vast range of various household furnishing (both soft and hard) items. The company believes in selling affordable and good quality of furniture. To make the items more affordable, you would see that there are no formal sales people in the store. All the items have been displayed in the store by sections i.e. living room, kitchen, bedroom and so on and so forth. All one has to do is roam around the store and look at the furniture and buy it. Except for big items all the other items are to be picked up and assembled by the buyer himself/herself. Thus by company saving employee costs and passing on the benefit to the end users.

The first thing you would notice here is the simplicity and easiness in assembling the items bought from here. This is so simple that a person with no experience in carpentry can also easily do it. The phrase that the beauty lies in simplicity is quite visible here.

The second and the most noticeable thing is the attention to details given by the company while manufacturing the items. These are regular day to day usable items but are so very finely designed and made that each and every problems faced commonly, using a particular item, has been paid attention to while designing the same. All the items which are to be self assembled are supplied with correct numbers and correct sizes of nuts and bolts. On the top of that the items are supplied with detailed diagrams with gives pictorial instructions on assembling. Any question on assembling, even before it arises in your mind, will be answered in the instruction manual. I have heard many times that 'the God lies in detail' and this is the place where you would really see it.

The store here in Dubai is a huge one with two levels and I guess the accumulated size is of almost more than 4 football stadiums. The store is also as uniquely designed as the items sold in the store. The store has a nice workable canteen where they serve quite yummy and nice food. I guess this is really needed considering the amount of walking involved while roaming around the store. I am sure anybody who is interested in home/office interiors would spend not less than 3-4 hours roaming around the store. Every time I land there, I literally have to drag myself out of the store. This is kind of a paradise for all those people who love their houses. Really I must say 'What an id(K)ea sirji!!!!

Uncertainty

There are certain incidents in life which really make you feel that everything in life is so temporary. Heard about some one loosing his job. Till yesterday he was a king of that place and today he has been shown the door!!! This really makes me wonder is their anything in life which is certain?? Then why do people live their lives thinking that their is no end to it? I guess the person whom I am referring would have understood the temporary nature of the things in life.

I guess we should ask what is uncertainty to a person who just met up with a fatal accident, to a soldier who just was shot down by a bullet, to a guy who lost his fortune in a gamble, to a person who just has been shown the door on a job....And then we should think that if the life is so uncertain then why do we keep clinging to our egos and our differences? why cant we forgive and forget? why can't we settle our differences? Guess if we can realize and answer these questions then the world would be a real peaceful place...

Snooze......

This word is known to most of us. And if we think for a second we would realise how important thing this is. Imagine the sweet sleep we normally have between two snoozes. It is such a nice thing that we can actually postpone the current event for few minutes without much disturbance. It is like holding the precious time in our hand with out letting it slip by..

If we stretch our imagination further and just think what if we can apply this principle to all the other things in life!!! Just think how nice it would be to remain child for just a little while longer. How beautiful it would be to extend the first date for a little bit longer. How joyful it would have been to play with our kids once again before they grow up and get lost in this busy world. The joy that we would have got would be much sweeter than the morning sleep between two snoozes. Isn't it??

But life does not have a snooze button. Now thats why I feel what the stalwarts say holds such a truth of life. We need to cherish each and every moment of our lives with out much worrying about future and with out regretting our past as today is a gift that is why it is called 'present'...

May be....

Maybe. . we were supposed to meet the
wrong people before meeting the right
one so that, when we finally meet the
right person, we will know how to be
grateful for that gift.

Maybe . . . it is true that we don't
know what we have until we lose it,
but it is also true that we don't know
what we have been missing until it
arrives.

Maybe . . . the brightest future will
always be based on a forgotten past;
after all, you can't go on
successfully in life until you let go
of your past mistakes, failures and
heartaches.

Maybe . . you should hope for enough
happiness to make you sweet, enough
trials to make you strong, enough
sorrow to keep you human, and enough
hope to make you happy.

Maybe . . . the happiest of people
don't necessarily have the best of
everything; they just make the most of
everything that comes along their way.

Maybe .. . . the best kind of friend is
the kind you can sit on a porch and
swing with, never say a word, and then
walk away feeling like it was the best
conversation you've ever had.

Maybe . . . happiness waits for all
those who cry, all those who hurt, all
those who have searched, and all those
who have tried, for only they can
appreciate the importance of all the
people who have touched their lives.

May be . . you should do something nice
for someone every single day, even if
it is simply to leave them alone.

Maybe . . . there are moments in life
when you miss someone -- a parent, a
spouse, a friend, a child -- so much
that you just want to pick them from
your dreams and hug them for real, so
that once they are around you
appreciate them more.

Maybe giving someone all your love
is never an assurance that they will
love you back. Don't expect love in
return; just wait for it to grow in
their heart; but, if it doesn't, be
content that it grew in yours.

Maybe .. . . you should dream what you
want to dream; go where you want to
go, be what you want to be, because
you have only one life and one chance
to do all the things you dream of, and
want to do.

P.S. : This is taken from a mail I received recently.

First day at the school

Finally!!! started blogging...While I was creating my profile I really felt the same kind of excitement and thrill as a student would notice on his first day at school. Among the entire process of creating your blog, the best part was naming my blog. As rest of the things are like pick and choose. I really had to scratch my brains a little to come up with the name of the blog. Finally thought of this name. The first part of name came from one of my attribute i.e. inquisitiveness and second from the movie (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) I guess as I am also a big movie buff. Once I got the name the rest was pretty simple as it was choosing from the platter. .