The past in the present

The past in the present

"If you accept a limiting belief, then it will become a truth for you."

-- Louise Hay

Pick one aspect of your life, e.g. your health, your competence, your prosperity or relationships, and think back to when you were a child. What messages about this subject did you hear from adults at that time that are still playing on your subconscious tape recorder? Messages like: "Men can't be trusted." "Money doesn't grow on trees." "You're not smart enough to succeed in business."

How is your world reflecting your beliefs back to you, today?

"There are no limitations to the self except those you believe in."

-- Seth

Grief over death

We grieve because we miss the company of the one we loved.
We miss touching them and sharing the journey together.
Letting go is painful. It is difficult to see that 'death' is in fact a new beginning.

First visit to Old age home

Deepak (a good friend & part of the senior citizens club project) and I decided to go to an old age home to provide our services as volunteers. When we entered the office, there were 3 elderly people who looked at us questioningly. I just blurted out "We have come to volunteer in the old age home". One of them responded to us and the others looked totally dazed and lost. He told us to pull 2 stools in front of his desk. We introduced ourselves. He asked what we do and I told him where I am working. It was tough for Deepak as he had to tell I was working but currently looking for another job. Deepak made a brave decision of leaving his job so that he can search the job of his choice. When we had settled down then he asked us what we had in mind and how we can offer our services. We asked if he had any need for volunteers. He wasn’t sure if he can really list out what we could do but felt we can certainly start meeting the members. He felt maybe the old age home occupants could give ideas what they would need to make things better for them. I asked his name, he told he was Prabhu and the in charge of the place. We would need to get permission for volunteering from the chairman who was not available right now and he wasn’t sure when he would be available. He suggested we could write a letter which he could get approved from the Chairman.

So Mr. Prabhu led us from his office to old age home which was a 2 min walk. We chatted with him about his family, what he has been doing and about the old age home. Mr. Prabhu had retired from his job and settled down in Bangalore for his children’s education. He mentioned that the occupants had to pay for the rent and services at the old age home. Mr. Prabhu seemed a very nice relaxed person. He showed us the facilities they had, a kitchen and entertainment area. The place was neat and well kept. Then there were series of rooms with 11 occupants in all in the Old Age home. He took us directly to a couple's room. There was a maid attending to them. Both of them were lying on beds but were wide awake. The room was brightly lit as it had a big window. Prabhu told hello to the man lying down. The man replied that he wasn’t keeping well and wouldn’t get up. When we took chairs and settled down. He suddenly got up to chat with us. His speech was slurred and initially it was really difficult to catch what he would say. I asked his name and he told he was R Radhagopalan. I asked him another question as how long he was here. He told it’s been 3 years. Then he asked me if I have come here to ask questions and I laughed & told him if he wants he can ask us questions. He asked me “Why are you here? What will you do?” I told I really don’t know how I can help but want to begin my awareness and then can get some ideas of helping or bringing in help. He asked if I can answer a simple question. I told yes. He asked me if I knew "how many months are there in the year?” I answered "12". He then asked how many months have 30 days. I loudly ran my favorite poem "30 days hath September, April, June and November...” I answered 5...he told “are you sure?”...I realized I counted wrong and I answered 4. He told again "Are you sure?” I told yes. Then he asked how many days have Jan. I told him 31 days...so he told don’t that have 30 days. I said yes indeed it has. I got the trick and I told “oh all months have 30”...”that’s cool” He then corrected “except Feb”. I said yeah. I laughed and requested him not to ask any puzzles any more for sometime :-)

He then told us that he was around 63 and just waiting to die. He has Parkinson disease and has been paralyzed in the back, legs and fingers because of being knocked down by a Bus. He was in the Indian Air Force and few months of his retirement this accident occurred and it has changed his life. Some months later his wife got hit by an auto as she was in coma for 2 days as she didn’t get immediate medical attention. She has lost her memory and cannot move at all. He felt bad that he can’t do his duties towards his wife because of his state. Even though he was suffering physically, he was fine mentally unlike his wife who had lost sense of memory. He then narrated more details about his family. He has 3 daughters and had lost a son in a truck accident who died after 3 days after the accident. He felt that it was good his son didn’t survive else he would have to suffer all life. His daughter also had met with a road accident but she survived and is perfectly fine. When he narrated this Deepak almost let out a laugh. It didn’t feel real, it felt he was senile and kept telling that everyone in his family met with an accident though later we realized it was all true. He then added with black humor, we got hit by all kind of vehicles, if there was any vehicle left to hit someone else in his family, its the matador.

He told me to talk to his wife who understands Hindi and Kannada other than Tamil her mother tongue. I went next to her and sat on the bed and started talking to her. She spoke a mix of some languages and I got totally confused. I called Deepak for help. She asked Deepak if he understood Kannada to which replied in the positive. She spoke in Hindi and Tamil and again asked what language he spoke. He confirmed 3-4 times that he spoke Kannada and then she spoke to him. She narrated how the accident happened. Then Mr Radhagopalan called us and told me to get a match box from the Pooja place. I got it and he told me to get 6 match sticks. He asked me to arrange the sticks in such a way that it forms 4 triangles. I tried and gave up in a few tries. He then solved the puzzle and showed us.

He played another game where one can test their concentration. It goes like he would say "hello" then I should reply "hello". He says "Where are you from?" then I should say the name of a place, e.g. "Bangalore". Then the next question "Did you take bath?" and we should say "yes". Did you have food? And the reply should be "yes". The last question "what did you eat?" and the reply should be some food item e.g. "Idli Sambar". The rule was that the name and food item changes every time this set was repeated. All other answers were the same. If we could do 5 sets successfully without hesitating (no aah, hmm etc) it was a PASS else a FAIL. I failed miserably. I suggested him to shoot this to Deepak too. Deepak was not getting any puzzles till now I was handling all of them ;-). Deepak too failed miserably :-)

Prabhu then ordered some coffee for us from the kitchen. The maid got coffee for Prabhu, Deepak and I. She got hot milk for Mr Radhagopalan. His wife told she would have it later. The coffee was good we really enjoyed it. Mr Prabhu asked Mr. Radhagopalan to let us know what areas he would need help from us. He told the main area is medication, he is not getting the kind of treatment he should get and also that the medicines are very expensive. He felt the main problem was money. He told that he is spending Rupees 13,500 per month out of which 3500 goes to the maid, 4000 for medicines and the rest for occupying the old age home. After that we asked permission to leave. Mr Radhagopalan had lots to say though and he started narrating a story of his life and Mr Prabhu realized that this conversation will go long, so he interrupted him and we told our good byes and came out from the room. Outside we met 2 more occupants. They looked healthy unlike the couple we met. We told them we would come again and talk to them in detail.
We asked Mr Prabhu as we walked back to his office if the doctor who comes is a specialist. He told that he is a GP and cannot help much. We then told our byes to Mr Prabhu and thanked him for his support and efforts.

We came out of the Ashram and were discussing what all we need to do to help out. After this we had planned to go to another Old age place in Banashankari. I checked with Deepak if he wanted to go there. He told he cannot deal with too much in a day. I too agreed, the whole experience left us very heavy to deal with anything more. Also that gave us a good reality check on what we are heading to. It has made our determination stronger, there is lot of learning to be done in order to deal with situations and help the senior citizens.

This experience doesn’t end here. We will be going back to the Ashram every 2-3 days to volunteer and coordinate activities. We are planning to conduct some cultural activities, create bonding among occupants (which Mr Prabhu felt was one key issue) and arrange medical camps.

Love for Life

What can be the greatest inspiration to live? Loving and living life to the fullest and the powerful being I am inspite of fears, downfalls, hatred....

Give me life and I will sip it slowly, enjoy it moment by moment.....

Give me love and I will spread it all around me to create joy & happiness

What a treasure life is? What a wonderful gift? I am in such great awe of being a part of this wonderful world!!!!!!!!!

Meditating 3 times a day

I was lucky to find good friends at MG Road office so as to form a meditation group. We meet everyday at 1:30pm to medidate for 20 mins. Its a ladies group and the comfort level is there also the dedication is high.

A colleague of mine introduced me to a program by MORPHO thinkers group. I attended out of curiosity. It was a good 1 day workshop where we were taught meditation & breathing techniques. The take away from the session was 30 day meditation schedule which I can follow. So now I do meditation based on these techniques.

That makes my meditation 3 times a day. The feeling is great.

And to add I go to the gym on alternate days...:-)

To know more about morpho thinkers, refer to the following links:

Subtle Gender Bias at the workplace

The Gender Bias in the workplace was more prominent some years back and most of us are mistaken that its very less now. Yes things are not happening as you can see it clearly but its there. There is a subtle gender bias. Some of the things male colleagues practise maybe unconciously.

If a woman plans to get married or start a family, its assumed that she is not willing to continue as she was doing before. That she would not be able to perform better. Also the male bosses base decisions and opinions based on past experiences where they have seen women slowing down in their career as their responsiblities at home increase. They however fail to understand that all women may not be in the same frame of mind. Some have support systems in place and they can actually work as good as a male can. Also if a man has family issues to attend to he is allowed to relax a bit but if a woman has issues her career is downhill.

Its also observed that men who are married to a houswife dont have any understanding and are very biased towards the women in the workplace. They dont believe the women are in par with them and can perform as well.

There is this guy in our group who was all excited to comment, he is by the way mentored by the Babu(refer my earlier post on Babu) so I know where the thought process is coming from. He says "Oh you women get kids and now cannot contribute anything to work so come to this kind of role." He was referring to another lady in the group who was doing a role which men feel isnt worthwhile and told things which were quite demeaning.

Another colleague of mine tells me, how long can you work: once your kid starts going to school you need to leave. He says your work career cant be too long. Well you will not be surprised that his wife is a homemaker and why his thinking pattern is so. He is also supposedly a good friend and this all we get as encouragement to go on.

To end this post let me mention another incident in my workplace. There was this male colleague who used to rush home around 4:30pm. One day another male colleague mentions: "You know he is doing his responsibilities as a father and has to go home early to take care of his child". What immediately crossed my mind was if it was a woman, she would be told that now she cant take so many responsiblties in the workplace and cannot continue with the same vigor if she needs to contribute at home too.....these are the ways of the male world :-)

Success & Happiness

I look around from my corner and see people working, talking, laughing and the daily sights at the work place. None can be more blessed than me to see this kind of experiences on a daily basis. They are good sources for my blog content.

Occasionally I brood about what am I trying to achieve at the workplace. What are these people accomplishing?

Today I accidentally hit upon this quote on the internet, it goes:

If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for a passionate sense of what might be, for the eye, which ever young and ardent sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating as possibility!
Soren Kierkegaard

I finally come down to one thing. How does one define success? Is success the same as happiness?

Shiva Bhajans

Bhole Ki Jai Jai
Shivji Ki Jai Jai

Parvati Pati Shivji Ki Jai Jai

Dum Dum Dum Dum Dumroo Bajee
Bhole Nath Shiva Shambho Bajee
Kashi Nath Shiva Shambho Bajee

Ghan Ghan Ghan Ghan Ghanta Bajee
Bhole Nath Shiva Shambho Bajee
Kashi Nath Shiva Shambho Bajee

Shiv Shambho Bajee
Shiv Shambho Bajee
-----------------------------------------
namaH paarvatii pataye hara hara
hara hara sha.nkara mahaadeva
hara hara hara hara mahaadeva
shiva shiva shiva shiva sadaa shiva
mahaadeva sadaashiva
sadaashiva mahaadeva
-----------------------------------------
mR^ityu.njayaaya namaH OM
tryaMbakaaya namaH OM
li.ngeshvaraaya namaH OM
saaIshvaraaya namaH OM
OM namaH shivaaya namaH OM (4)
---------------------------------------
cha.ndra kalaadhara saaMba sadaa shiva
shambho mahaadeva
shiva shambho mahaadeva (2)
OM namaH shivaaya, shivaaya namaH OM
-----------------------------------------
shambho sha.nkara taaNDava priya kara
hara hara sha.nkara jaya deva (3)
OM shivaaya OM shivaaya OM shivaaya
Dama Dama Dama Dama Damaruu bhole
ghana ghana ghana ghana gha.nTaa bhaje
janaka janaka taka payale paaye
kailaasa vaasa umaa pate
hara trishuula umaa pate
hara trinetra gaurii pate
OM shivaaya OM shivaaya OM shivaaya

New Year - 2006

Nice New Year Wishes I received on mail:

Did you know that every moment, the cells inside you are splitting to form new ones, replacing the old and the dead? Your skin is growing at a rate, such that technically speaking it's a 'new' person that you see in the mirror every morning. The cells which made up your face are dead and gone, replaced by a new set. Just that the replacement is so perfect, you can't make out any difference.
The New Year doesn't start on the first day of January. It starts daily; in fact it starts at every moment with a new 'YOU'. So wishing you a very bright and Happy New ‘You’!

Autos in Bangalore

Hey this is a topic most of the auto commuters would love to discuss. These auto guys are a big pain. They say NO to every place you ask. They say NO more to females and less to males. They say NO more to females in western and less in Indian....

They are the necessary demons. Nowadays I just agree to 1.5 rate in the nights as I am chugging one laptop on my shoulder and a bag...sometime I have an additional bag after some some shopping done at Food world..then I am really desperate for one...

Check out this blog ...I hit upon:

http://yamini.nomadlife.org/2005/09/autorickshaw-drivers-in-bangalore.aspx

Sometimes these guys are so used to saying NO that they turn back and realize its ok to go in that direction and without any argument I jump in. Look at the brighter side we become such patient human beings, we improve our selling skills (sell our desitination we are heading to..), egoless personalities (like eggless ;-)).....want to add some...do let me know ;-)

My favorite Mantras and Shlokas - Part 1

I have learnt Mantras, Shlokas and Meditation at a small age of 5 years in School as well as home. Let me share with you people some knowledge I have (it’s just a drop in the ocean but sure will help you guys on some learning trip).

To start of with you can check this site: http://www.hindunet.org/shlokas/ that introduces you to Mantras and Shlokas. Also you can check http://www.indif.com/nri/mantras/default.asp

The first Mantra we were taught was Gayatri Mantra, which we had to utter as soon as we got up in the morning. A bell would ring around 5am and the teacher would announce that we can start reciting the Mantra.

The Gayatri Mantra
Bhoor Bhuwah Swah Tat Savitur Varenyam
Bhargo Devasaya Dheemahi Deeyo yo naha prachodayat
The Guru Mantra
Gurur Brahmaa Gurur VishnuGurur Devo MaheshwarahGuru Saakshaata ParabrahmaTasmai Shri Guruve Namah

Shree Vishnu Mantra
Twameva Mata Cha Pita Twameva
Twameva Bandhu Cha Sakha Twameva
Twameva Vidya Cha Dravidam Twameva
Twameva Saravam Mama Deva Deva

The Devi Mantra
Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Maa rupena samsthita
Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Shakti rupena samsthita
Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Buddhi rupena samsthita
Ya Devi Sarva Bhutesu Laxmi rupena samsthita
Namestasyai Namestasyai Namestasyai Namo Namah

Invocation to Lord Ganesha
vakratu.nDa mahaakaaya koTisuuryasamaprabha .
nirvighnaM kuru me deva sarvakaaryeshhu sarvadaa

Thats enough for now, more in the next post.....!!!

Tom & Jerry - Game

My friend Paul sent this nice link on tom & jerry game, you may want to check it out:

www.cartoonnetwork.com/games/action/tj/whatsthecatch/game.swf

Gratitude

Gratitude (symoblization), a totally new concept. I practised it and gives me a totally new and free feeling.
Tim mailed me this and I thank him for this, check it out:
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I found this interesting stuff on the net. Something told me to go for it. I have signed up for the 42 day email session.
If you find it interesting, you may want to check this out and sign up.
Given below is the link which will give you a demo and then the next page is the sign up page, its absoluely free.

http://www.GiveMeTheMasterKey.com
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Why meditate?

"Meditation brings wisdom; lack of meditation leaves ignorance. Know well what leads you forward and what holds you back, and choose the path that leads to wisdom."
-- Buddha

Meditation is considered an essential practice for those who seek self-knowledge and self-mastery. Why? Basically, meditation brings awareness of how our minds work. Over time, we become watchers, able to detach from the thoughts and emotions that play out in our minds.
With this detachment, we gain the freedom to choose whether or not to act on our thoughts and emotions. We learn to distinguish between objective reality and our mental and emotional dramas.

"Only in quiet waters things mirror themselves undistorted. Only in a quiet mind is adequate perception of the world."
-- Hans Margolius

Book Reading – 2005

From past 10-11 years I have been reading mostly non-fiction (stopped fiction after college when I graduated to non-fiction). Year 2005 I decided to read fiction and I did read lots of them.
Feb 2005:
Well I started the year with “The Monk who sold his Ferrari” and this certainly was not a fiction per say. I want to mention this book here because this quite inspired me to start my weight-loss program and I did successfully lose 15 kgs to get back to shape. Thanks to Robin Sharma and well Mom too (she was the one who kept coaxing me to it)

May 2005:
Sridhar went to Paris for 3 weeks and I started reading as I had lot of spare time. It was Paulo Coelho time :-). I read 3 Paulo Coelho books in a stretch Valkyries, Veronica Decides to Die & Eleven Minutes. I had read his Alchemist in 2003 and that had left an impression on me. What I liked about Paulo Coelho was he was able to share so freely, he could touch the rawness of humans with no difficulty. I got inspired on Astral Travel in his book Veronica Decides to Die; I tried practicing it, not successful though!! :-)

I read Fatal Cure, written by Robin Cook. It was about a doctor couple who go to a new place and how they witness series of deaths in their hospital. I followed Robin Cook till the mystery gets solved :-)

Jun 2005:
Sridhar was still in Paris and I read Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I shared with him different aspects of Da Vinci Code as he was in Paris. It was a book that opened a whole new chapter in history and religion in particular. It was certainly a brave attempt by Dan Brown. Sridhar got so bugged of my references to the book that he decided to read it when he got back to India.

For some reason I picked up Sobha De’s “Spouse”. Read a couple of chapters, reinforced the marriage institution. This was the first Sobha De book I read and here I felt she did try to get her point that one needs to work on the marriage for it to succeed.

Then I read the Wrong House, don’t remember the author now. It was also kind of a mystery novel, well written. It had shades of romance of a 35+ divorced lady with a painter and about her parents an aging couple. Well written book, it was part of the Readers Digest collection I picked up at MG Road.

Jul 2005
Sridhar was back from Paris and I didn’t have so much time at hand but I managed to read Angels & Demons by Dan Brown. I didn’t know anything about antimatter and this was a good learning of that. Most of the book was like a dreamy novel but the introduction to some aspects of science was good. Also I particularly like the connection between Religion and Science brought about.

I read the book The Child in the Family by Maria Montessori. Guess this should be a must read for parents, helps give perspective on how we need to treat children. Not as weak dependant beings whom we unknowingly dominate but as respectable spiritual beings.

I started reading the “The World of Fatwas” by Arun Shourie. I couldn’t read the entire book, read only 25% of it. It’s a good insight into the world of Shariyats and the Fatwas they render.

Aug 2005
I read the book Five Point Something by Chetan Bhagat. Frankly speaking I relate a lot to Chetan Bhagat because his writing style is like mine. What I mean is he is not like the great writers but reaches out to the crowds’ faster, guess that’s what matters. Liked the book, took me the world of IITians. Sridhar is one and was curious about the IIT life. Hostel life, trying to achieve grades and some romance paved an interesting and quick read.

Work got me busy…

Sep 2005
I read Deception Point, now Dan Brown was getting predictable in his style. I still want to read his books as I feel the story is just to give an interest in the topics he wants to introduce to the readers. In Deception Point one learns about meteors, space program expenses NASA, the government and the political parties.

I get back to reading after a hiatus of 2 months. Work kept me real busy and then other personal obligations occupied me.

Nov 2005
Embarked on Arundhati Roy’s book “The God of Small Things” and the first few pages and I new I would be hooked on till I finish the book. Its a poignant story with black humor and one can relate to some of the childhood observations. For her first book she has done a nice job of creating an impression in the mind. I still can visualize pictures of the place in Kerala the story revolves around, the smell of pickles and the greenery around. The characters are so distinct and are etched in my mind.

I read the 2nd half of the book during my taxi drive in Coorg and finished during the return journey back to Bangalore.

Dec 2005
I am currently reading Chetan Bhagat’s novel One Night @ the Call Center; it gives us an understanding of the lives of people working at the Call centers in India. I haven’t completed it, more about this in my next post

Also in parallel I had started reading Sogyal Rinpoche’s The Tibetan book of Living and Dying. I will continue on this once I finish Chetan Bhagat’s book. More about this too in my next post :-)

Hope you enjoyed my book reviews …!!!

Live now

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives."
-- Annie Dillard

We lose the power of the moment because we're so rarely in it. We're reliving the past or speculating about the future. We continue to believe that tomorrow's the day when I'll be more capable, more wealthy, more fit and more loving. Meanwhile, I'm just putting in time, dreaming of better things but not making any concrete move to realize them.

When you find yourself thinking of the future or the past, bring your awareness into the present moment. Really experience how you feel and what’s happening around you, without judgment. If we can treasure each moment, our lives will be rich, no matter what we have accomplished.
"Lost, yesterday, somewhere between sunrise and sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered for they are gone forever."
-- Horace Mann

"If, before going to bed every night, you will tear a page from the calendar, and remark, 'there goes another day of my life, never to return,' you will become time conscious."
-- A. B. Zu Tavern

Diet Plan

I have mailed this to so many colleagues and friends, that I thought it best to put it on the blog so that more people can benefit. I have successfully followed this diet plan and reduced 15 kgs (along with exercise).
This diet plan mainly works on the 5 meal plan (short meals) and lot of liquid in the diet. Always keep an apple handy when very hungry, dont binge eat. Also remember the 3 main meals should include rice or wheat or both.

So here you go, tune it as per your lifestyle and schedule:

Morning:

5:00 am - Warm Water+1/2 lime+1/2 tsp honey
5:30 am - Yoga
6:00 am - Walk (if possible)
7:00 am - Coffee (1/2 tsp sugar)
Ist Meal
7:30 am - Breakfast: Fruit Juice+ 2 idlis (no coconut chutney) OR Pongal OR vermicelli pulav (less oil) (Avoid Rava idli/upma - they have lot of calories)

2nd Meal
10:30 am - Juice & Fruits (Avoid pineapple, banana, mango, chikoo..)...you can have orange , apple , sweet lime etc

Afternoon

3rd Meal
1:30pm - Juice + Rotis(2) + less oil sabzi OR Rice(1 bowl) + Sambar

4th Meal
4:30pm - Juice + Bhelpuri

Night
5th Meal
8:30 pm - Thin ButterMilk + Rotis(2) + less oil sabzi OR Rice(1 bowl) + Sambar

Some tips:
Keep 1-2 apples in your bag everyday, whenever you feel very hungry have that...you wont increase weight and it will satisfy your hungr.
Buy lot of fruits & vegetables

Babu in an IT company

Working in a big IT company for 7.5 years and a total work experience of 10 years made me believe that the way people see bosses & subordinates have changed a lot compared to what we have seen years back. Well that’s what I thought; one man here proves it quite wrong.

He is totally inspired by the Babu style. He would be on the phone or mail and if someone approached him at the desk, he can shamelessly spend 10-15 minutes ignoring the person all together. He doesn’t do this to the boss but certainly for all non-boss people. At the least he can acknowledge the person if it takes too long but that never happens. Phone is understandable to an extent as it may be difficult sometimes to abruptly end a conversation but what about mailing? Yes there is a thought process one may not want to break but there is a guy who has come personally to meet you, show some respect dude.

There is this colleague who has come back from a short trip from the US. This is not his first trip and has traveled many times earlier. Anyway in this trip he had great insight which he shared with me (something one should know anyway). He approached an employee at the client site and the person immediately stopped all work to attend to him. So my friend was surprised and asked him to continue what he was doing (he was used to our Babu here :-)). That man explained my friend that the reason he has left all current work to put 100% attention for him is because he believes one should appreciate the fact that someone has come to his seat to meet him.

Once I approached this Babu and he indicated he was busy as he was on the phone and his indication was more like shooing me off. I then remembered a joke I read somewhere (there were no mobile phones then :-)). It goes like this: A patient visits a doctor at his clinic. The doc gets a call before the patient could explain his problem. Once the doc is done with the call and tells the patient to tell him what his complain is, the doc gets another call on his phone. Once done with the call the patient tries the 3rd time but the Doc has another call to attend to. The patient gets up and walks out of the clinic. The doc shouts out “Where are you going?” and the patient replies “To call you on the phone to explain my problem, which would be a faster & easier way to reach you”

This joke inspired me and thought that would be a good way to deal with the Babu. So if I had anything I sent mails which was fine, once I had something I wanted to discuss but seeing the way our Babu reacts to face to face interaction I decided to call him. When I began talking to him, he laughed at the fact that we are so nearby and we are on phone. I told him “This is an easier way to get you!” I don’t know if the Babu understood this but we got off our phones and discussed the issue in hand.

It’s a regular sight at the Babu’s cubicle where you would see a person waiting for him to get off his phone or mailing. I am always amused when I watch the place. I wonder if this Babu is inspired by something he saw in his childhood, like a big man having many people wait on.

Yesterday Babu did something really amazing that I decided to write this post today. There was a guy waiting at his seat, as Babu was away from his desktop. After sometime he arrives, picks up his lunch, starts eating it and discussing whatever they were supposed to discuss. The guy who came to meet Babu kept looking at his hand movements as he picked up food and put it in his mouth. There was one interesting thing I observed that the guy was talking something (maybe important who knows ;-) ) and Babu was busy digging food in his lunch box totally oblivious to the world.

I don’t know when Babu will change his ways but what is frightening is that this Babu is holding key position in the organization and later more senior roles. He can probably create more Babus, who knows….like mentor them :-)

Trip to Delhi & Chandigarh (Oct 26 - Nov 06 2005)

Paul Coelho's quote on travel in his book Pilgrimage was really inspiring to plan on some travels. Well to start of I thought of Delhi so as to visit my in-laws and also plan for Chandigarh in the vicinity. That would mean just a 2 day trip to Chandigarh and some sight seeing in Delhi

So I made a plan for a 12 day off from work, informed my supervisor much before hand and we were off to Delhi on Oct 26 2005 to match my Mother-in-law's birthday. Things went as per plan and we celebrated the birthday with sweets and gifts were given but 2 days later my little daughter Nidhi fell sick with Viral Fever. I got all worked up that it would be Dengue or Bird Flu or some thing scarier. We visited a local doctor and my daughter was fed with loads of medicines which she detested and that was the days we spend in Delhi. She was fine by the time we went to Chandigarh.

In Chandigarh we visited the Sukhna Lake. We were staying in the center of the city so this was quite close by. It’s a relaxing place where we went for boating and watched a lot of ducks. It was a beautiful place and we enjoyed the sunset and the general crowd around.






Next day we went to Pinjore gardens, it’s a Moghul gardens (I think so :)). It’s around 25 km from the city so we took an hour to reach there. It’s a 5 layered park. It’s a good exercise for the body & soul walking down the different layers of the park. The weather was good at this time of the year and Nidhi enjoyed playing in the garden. We ended the garden walk with a fruit salad in the end (fruits picked from the grove)

Evening we visited the rock garden. Natural is beautiful but human creation can be so breathtaking was unbelievable. There are narrow passages winding between high walls as if one was in a mountainous place and then surprised by a waterfall. There were so many sculptures done by waste material like bangles, old china ware, waste building material etc. Series of sculptures of animals, birds, humans etc. were lined up. It was fun trying to figure out what it could be made of…Very inspiring place and one develops great admiration for the person behind it.

The highway ride was good to & fro. It’s good sight passing through Haryana and catching a glimpse of a totally different lifestyle as we sped in the taxi. Smooth long roads, unobstructed drives were the high points of our stay in Delhi and Chandigarh. Did we want to comeback to Bangalore to the madding crowds and clogged roads...no way if wishes could come true... :-)?

Satsang

"Satsang" means Good company. I had been introduced to Satsang in childhood as I was in Sai Baba's school. Satasang was always fun time, I enjoyed it thorughly. It went on for some years but got lost in college and career race.

Got re-introduced to Satsang when I attended the AOL (Art of Living) course of the Sri Ravi Shankaji's fame. Sridhar also attended this course and he too enjoyed going for the weekend Satsangs. This was before Nidhi was born. Nidhi took an immediate liking to Satsang and we take her atleast once in 15 days. Mom takes her atleast once a week to Satsangs which happen in her flat.

Last week we went to Satsang on both the days in the weekend. The saturday one that happens in Jayanagar and the Sunday which happens in the Vishalakshi mantap at Guruji's Ashram. Well more than us Nidhi had fun as she was running around the place dancing and clapping. Our job was to keep her in check... :-)