Terrorism and the Spirit of Mumbai

Hey blog,

Day before yesterday at about 715pm, I get a call from my best friend (remember her - the train wali) saying "Aji, I am near Hyatt, can you check and see if any bombs have exploded in my area", I am like - "WHAT??" Shes like "Ya some 2-3 blasts have happened, half the networks are all down, so I cant find out". And I was like thinking to myself, how can someone be so cool about it? :) And thats when I remember thats the Spirit of Mumbai, life goes on...!

Anyways I put the tv on and hear about the 3 blasts that have ripped thru South and Central Mumbai. 2 hours into the whole episode and all the news channels start off about the spirit of Mumbai, and how the people there resurrect like the Ashes of the Phoenix. And then the interviews with the people and the celebrities and everyone sits and blames the Government and demands that the Home Minister, Chief Minister blah blah need to put in their papers and stuff.

Blog - I just have one question for you -

How is the CM, HM, PM, FM, DM, XYZM resigning going to change anything? People who have lost their lives, have lost it. Their families will live with this fact for the rest of their lives. I am not sitting here and justifying that these bureaucrats are right, but actually speaking what can they do? Blady hell if someone comes and puts a cockroach in your house, are you gonna sit and blame the collector of your district!?? (Actually we do, we will sit and say that there is no collection of trash in time, the garbage system is bad etc., but then we have no problems in wiping our noses with a tissue and throwing the tissue on the road, or spitting gum around the place) EOD no minister or politician or policeman can guarantee your safety, so stop demanding for their heads after each incident. Lets take the simple example of Mumbai. She has a population of 20.5 mn, and Brihanmumbai Police has 40,914 employees (as per wiki), that eventually comes to 501 persons/cop. In a family of 4, the parents at times keep saying how tiring it is take care of 2 kids, and you are expecting one cop to take care of 501 people!! I know its a senseless comparison, but somewhere it actually is commonsense. What each of us need to realise is that if there's someone who can take care of you, its just the GOD up there. Yes most police force's around the world have a similar tagline which goes like "To Serve and to Protect" - there's a limit to which anyone can protect you. Its like the saying "GOD helps those, who help themselves". We blaming the cops without doing our part is like what I do before an exam when I pray "GOD I have not really studied anything, but please please please the question paper should only contain what I have studied".

Simple question - Look at the amount of suitcases that pass thru the gates of VT station or the number of people who walk around on Ranganathan Street in T.Nagar or number of people in Chandni Chowk/Brigade Road/Park Street/Tank Bund Road - during peak hours you wouldnt even realise if someone stole your underwear and in the middle of all this someone drops a bag and goes somewhere - which blady intelligence can do anything about it? Simplest of things, how many of us know our neighbours? Maybe yes if there was "Pretty Young Thing" staying next door, we all would be there sharing our Nescafes and waiting with badminton racquets, otherwise we would like, who the F cares!! We dont know who our neighbours are, but we expect the government to keep a count of every single cockroach in the country. The Home Minister makes a statement like "Our intelligence sources couldnt pick up anything" and we sit in our homes and grumble "Same shit - when has our intelligence ever picked up anything".

I have a lot of people on my FB timeline with messages saying, we can spend millions to protect a terrorist, but we cant protect our own citizens. Killing Kasab is not going to change anything. Its another thing that, keeping him alive also wont change anything. Although yes I dont understand why the case cant be closed.

What is the point of this post, I really dont know, coz I got lost somewhere in btwn. I guess my point is simple - stop blaming the government, stop blaming people around you. The earlier we realise that noone but you, can protect yourself, the better it would be for each. Now am I sitting and saying that a society where each one walks around with gun is the solution - No way, coz we dont have the mental maturity for that. I am not a Congress supporter, nor am I an Opposition supporter either. For that matter I dont even have a voters ID. Hence this post is not supporting any politicial or religious establishment.

We Indians have this fascination for our neighbour - we are like so interested in knowing whats happens in their house - precisely the reason for success of reality shows. And our 2nd fascination is in blaming our neighbours, without even knowing what their names are - Again precisely the reason why we blame the government for everything. Simplest thing, there are no rains, and the crops fail and we blame the government. What in the world can the government do if there's no rain!!?? Its not Bollywood, where u can create a rain scene. Lets get realistic about things. The faster we accept reality, the better it is for everyone.

Disclaimer - I know I could possibly invite hatred and adverse comments/reactions with this post. But really give it a thought - dont I make sense? Anywayz in no way do I support these terrorist activities, in fact I solemnly pray for each person who has ever been affected in any form because of these asses who believe that killing someone is how u avenge something. Like the proverb goes, an eye for an eye, makes the whole world go blind. I truly salute the spirit of Mumbai and the country in general on how people get back to their lives soon. Prolly there's no choice, in the rat race out there, if one wants to sit and ponder, they get left behind - so is it actually the spirit of Mumbai or like someone has just put as their status on my BBM list - "Is there a Mumbai spirit, or jus desperate people without choice" - FOOD FOR THOUGHT.

Aye dil hai mushkil jeena yahan  Zara hat ke zara bach ke, yeh hai Bombay meri jaan  Kahin building kahin traame, kahin motor kahin mill  Milta hai yahan sab kuchh, ik milta nahin dil  Zara hat ke zara bach ke, yeh hai Bombay meri jaan 

Don’t work. Avoid telling the truth. Be hated. Love someone.

Disclaimer - This is not written by me. Its a pure copy-paste job. I happened to read this somewhere, and felt it needed to be shared - so here it is. A lil on the longer side, but a wonderful piece of literature.

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Written by Adrian Tan, author of The Teenage Textbook (1988), was the guest-of-honour at a recent NTU convocation ceremony. This was his speech to the graduating class of 2008.
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I must say thank you to the faculty and staff of the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information for inviting me to give your convocation address. It’s a wonderful honour and a privilege for me to speak here for ten minutes without fear of contradiction, defamation or retaliation. I say this as a Singaporean and more so as a husband.

My wife is a wonderful person and perfect in every way except one. She is the editor of a magazine. She corrects people for a living. She has honed her expert skills over a quarter of a century, mostly by practising at home during conversations between her and me.

On the other hand, I am a litigator. Essentially, I spend my day telling people how wrong they are. I make my living being disagreeable.

Nevertheless, there is perfect harmony in our matrimonial home. That is because when an editor and a litigator have an argument, the one who triumphs is always the wife.

And so I want to start by giving one piece of advice to the men: when you’ve already won her heart, you don’t need to win every argument.

Marriage is considered one milestone of life. Some of you may already be married. Some of you may never be married. Some of you will be married. Some of you will enjoy the experience so much, you will be married many, many times. Good for you.

The next big milestone in your life is today: your graduation. The end of education. You’re done learning.

You’ve probably been told the big lie that “Learning is a lifelong process” and that therefore you will continue studying and taking masters’ degrees and doctorates and professorships and so on. You know the sort of people who tell you that? Teachers. Don’t you think there is some measure of conflict of interest? They are in the business of learning, after all. Where would they be without you? They need you to be repeat customers.

The good news is that they’re wrong.

The bad news is that you don’t need further education because your entire life is over. It is gone. That may come as a shock to some of you. You’re in your teens or early twenties. People may tell you that you will live to be 70, 80, 90 years old. That is your life expectancy.

I love that term: life expectancy. We all understand the term to mean the average life span of a group of people. But I’m here to talk about a bigger idea, which is what you expect from your life.

You may be very happy to know that Singapore is currently ranked as the country with the third highest life expectancy. We are behind Andorra and Japan, and tied with San Marino. It seems quite clear why people in those countries, and ours, live so long. We share one thing in common: our football teams are all hopeless. There’s very little danger of any of our citizens having their pulses raised by watching us play in the World Cup. Spectators are more likely to be lulled into a gentle and restful nap.

Singaporeans have a life expectancy of 81.8 years. Singapore men live to an average of 79.21 years, while Singapore women live more than five years longer, probably to take into account the additional time they need to spend in the bathroom.

So here you are, in your twenties, thinking that you’ll have another 40 years to go. Four decades in which to live long and prosper.

Bad news. Read the papers. There are people dropping dead when they’re 50, 40, 30 years old. Or quite possibly just after finishing their convocation. They would be very disappointed that they didn’t meet their life expectancy.

I’m here to tell you this. Forget about your life expectancy.

After all, it’s calculated based on an average. And you never, ever want to expect being average.

Revisit those expectations. You might be looking forward to working, falling in love, marrying, raising a family. You are told that, as graduates, you should expect to find a job paying so much, where your hours are so much, where your responsibilities are so much.

That is what is expected of you. And if you live up to it, it will be an awful waste.

If you expect that, you will be limiting yourself. You will be living your life according to boundaries set by average people. I have nothing against average people. But no one should aspire to be them. And you don’t need years of education by the best minds in Singapore to prepare you to be average.

What you should prepare for is mess. Life’s a mess. You are not entitled to expect anything from it. Life is not fair. Everything does not balance out in the end. Life happens, and you have no control over it. Good and bad things happen to you day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment. Your degree is a poor armour against fate.

Don’t expect anything. Erase all life expectancies. Just live. Your life is over as of today. At this point in time, you have grown as tall as you will ever be, you are physically the fittest you will ever be in your entire life and you are probably looking the best that you will ever look. This is as good as it gets. It is all downhill from here. Or up. No one knows.

What does this mean for you? It is good that your life is over.

Since your life is over, you are free. Let me tell you the many wonderful things that you can do when you are free.

The most important is this: do not work.

Work is anything that you are compelled to do. By its very nature, it is undesirable.

Work kills. The Japanese have a term “Karoshi”, which means death from overwork. That’s the most dramatic form of how work can kill. But it can also kill you in more subtle ways. If you work, then day by day, bit by bit, your soul is chipped away, disintegrating until there’s nothing left. A rock has been ground into sand and dust.

There’s a common misconception that work is necessary. You will meet people working at miserable jobs. They tell you they are “making a living”. No, they’re not. They’re dying, frittering away their fast-extinguishing lives doing things which are, at best, meaningless and, at worst, harmful.

People will tell you that work ennobles you, that work lends you a certain dignity. Work makes you free. The slogan “Arbeit macht frei” was placed at the entrances to a number of Nazi concentration camps. Utter nonsense.

Do not waste the vast majority of your life doing something you hate so that you can spend the small remainder sliver of your life in modest comfort. You may never reach that end anyway.

Resist the temptation to get a job. Instead, play. Find something you enjoy doing. Do it. Over and over again. You will become good at it for two reasons: you like it, and you do it often. Soon, that will have value in itself.

I like arguing, and I love language. So, I became a litigator. I enjoy it and I would do it for free. If I didn’t do that, I would’ve been in some other type of work that still involved writing fiction – probably a sports journalist.

So what should you do? You will find your own niche. I don’t imagine you will need to look very hard. By this time in your life, you will have a very good idea of what you will want to do. In fact, I’ll go further and say the ideal situation would be that you will not be able to stop yourself pursuing your passions. By this time you should know what your obsessions are. If you enjoy showing off your knowledge and feeling superior, you might become a teacher.

Find that pursuit that will energise you, consume you, become an obsession. Each day, you must rise with a restless enthusiasm. If you don’t, you are working.

Most of you will end up in activities which involve communication. To those of you I have a second message: be wary of the truth. I’m not asking you to speak it, or write it, for there are times when it is dangerous or impossible to do those things. The truth has a great capacity to offend and injure, and you will find that the closer you are to someone, the more care you must take to disguise or even conceal the truth. Often, there is great virtue in being evasive, or equivocating. There is also great skill. Any child can blurt out the truth, without thought to the consequences. It takes great maturity to appreciate the value of silence.

In order to be wary of the truth, you must first know it. That requires great frankness to yourself. Never fool the person in the mirror.

I have told you that your life is over, that you should not work, and that you should avoid telling the truth. I now say this to you: be hated.

It’s not as easy as it sounds. Do you know anyone who hates you? Yet every great figure who has contributed to the human race has been hated, not just by one person, but often by a great many. That hatred is so strong it has caused those great figures to be shunned, abused, murdered and in one famous instance, nailed to a cross.

One does not have to be evil to be hated. In fact, it’s often the case that one is hated precisely because one is trying to do right by one’s own convictions. It is far too easy to be liked, one merely has to be accommodating and hold no strong convictions. Then one will gravitate towards the centre and settle into the average. That cannot be your role. There are a great many bad people in the world, and if you are not offending them, you must be bad yourself. Popularity is a sure sign that you are doing something wrong.

The other side of the coin is this: fall in love.

I didn’t say “be loved”. That requires too much compromise. If one changes one’s looks, personality and values, one can be loved by anyone.

Rather, I exhort you to love another human being. It may seem odd for me to tell you this. You may expect it to happen naturally, without deliberation. That is false. Modern society is anti-love. We’ve taken a microscope to everyone to bring out their flaws and shortcomings. It far easier to find a reason not to love someone, than otherwise. Rejection requires only one reason. Love requires complete acceptance. It is hard work – the only kind of work that I find palatable.

Loving someone has great benefits. There is admiration, learning, attraction and something which, for the want of a better word, we call happiness. In loving someone, we become inspired to better ourselves in every way. We learn the truth worthlessness of material things. We celebrate being human. Loving is good for the soul.

Loving someone is therefore very important, and it is also important to choose the right person. Despite popular culture, love doesn’t happen by chance, at first sight, across a crowded dance floor. It grows slowly, sinking roots first before branching and blossoming. It is not a silly weed, but a mighty tree that weathers every storm.
You will find, that when you have someone to love, that the face is less important than the brain, and the body is less important than the heart.

You will also find that it is no great tragedy if your love is not reciprocated. You are not doing it to be loved back. Its value is to inspire you.

Finally, you will find that there is no half-measure when it comes to loving someone. You either don’t, or you do with every cell in your body, completely and utterly, without reservation or apology. It consumes you, and you are reborn, all the better for it.

Don’t work. Avoid telling the truth. Be hated. Love someone.

Chinatown Review - This Vishu, do yourself a favour and watch the movies on TV instead.

Vishu is here and you have 2 movies releasing, one each from both the superstars of Mollywood. Had a day off today, and we had both the movies releasing here in Chennai – Chinatown and Doubles. I was pretty much in a serious confusion as to which one to go for. Went ahead for Chinatown coz it was coming from the stable of Rafi Mecartin who had given the Malayalam industry some good movies like Punjabi House, Thenkasipattanam, Hello etc., But yes I guess records are pretty much like cricket statistics, you might have 20 centuries to your name, but eventually if you are out of form, nothing can save you. And it seems like that’s the story with Rafi Mecartin with their last outing Love in Singapore with Mammooty being a disappointment, and they seem to have missed the bus once again.

20 minutes into the movie, I realize that I have made a big mistake and now with theatres making you cram and park your vehicles, I had no option to even leave the movie midway, so there I was looking forward to spend 150 long mins in the theatre.

Chinatown has been set in Goa (how much ever you try and make Ramoji Film City look like Goa, it jus doesn’t work), the only place in India where gambling is legal. The story talks about two generations, and of three sons of three illustrious fathers meeting after twenty years. Enter Mathukutty (Mohanlal), Zachariah (Jayaram) and Binoy (Dileep) – three long lost friends who are forced to come back together as one of their uncles (Capt. Raju) suddenly popped up from somewhere with loads of money and a casino which he intends to hand it over to our heroes. So how they come together and get caught in a web of some 101 characters who are supposedly forced into the script (read Jagathy Sreekumar and that Hungarian Sumo Wrestler). Ohh and in between all this there is the villain (Pradeep Rawat aka Ghajini), who was the one who destroyed their childhood and separated the three friends. There is a whole Hangover type of situation that was created to bring in some laughs, but for me it ended up being another drag of 15 mins to a very dragging and boring climax. Normally you walk out of a theatre after a bad movie and you still remember 1-2 scenes that are memorable. Unfortunately for me, now such luck for me in this movie. There were some scenes that were absolutely made in bad taste and the ones that stands out for me is the one in the dhyana kendram and the whole nonsense about Dileep’s love failures. Suraj Venjaramoodu is someone I thought would be a saving grace, but here too his role is just to add to the confusion and shout out his dialogues. It’s as if shouting is the new comedy. The three heroines played by Kavya Madhavan, Poonam Bajwa and Dipasha are not even there in the movie for the glamour content, which makes me wonder why couldn’t the director and producer avoid having them and saving some money, but then if I think deep, I would wonder why couldn’t the producer director not make the movie at all and save all the money spent. Looking back at my review, I feel I have gone overboard with the negativity, maybe yes a few people in the theatre do enjoy such movies, unfortunately for me, I don’t fall into that group. Eod it just makes me wonder, do filmmakers really think majority of the audiences don’t have any taste? Come on guys, give us quality cinema like a Pranchiyettan or an Arabikatha and we will embrace you!

As I complete this review, I get a sms from a friend who went for Doubles and he writes “You must be lucky that you went for Chinatown as Doubles was pathetic” oh GOD, little does he know how lucky I was to have seen Chinatown.

Legacy of the Mallu Lungi

Hi all,

As usual I know its been a while.. Loads and loads of stuff happening, but then nothing much to pen about. Coz of the various things happening in life..my interest in blogging also seems to look like the recession…and hence the limited posts…but then if there is one thing that I like doing…then its this..so will have to try and bring up those interests again…and till then, I will end up putting stuff that I read here and there…and this is one such wonderful read that a colleague in office has sent, and hence it has to go up here. Enjoy the read.

AJ


'Lungi'. Pronounced as 'Lu' as in loo and 'ngi ' as in 'mongey', a lungi can be identified by its floral or window-curtain pattern. 'Mundu' is the white variation of lungi and is worn on special occasions like hartal or bandh days, weddings and Onam.

Lungi is simple and 'down to earth' like the mallu wearing it. Lungi is the beginning and the end of evolution in its category. Wearing something on the top half of your body is optional when you are wearing a lungi. Lungi is a strategic dress. It's like a one-size-fits- all bottoms for Keralites.

The technique of wearing a lungi/mundu is passed on from generation to generation through word of mouth like the British Constitution. If you think it is an easy task wearing it, just try it once! It requires techniques like breath control and yoga that is a notch higher than sudarshan kriya of AOL. A lungi/mundu when perfectly worn won't come off even in a quake of 8 on the Richter scale. A lungi is not attached to the waist using duct tape, staple, rope or Velcro. It's a bit of mallu magic whose formula is a closely guarded secret like the Coca Cola chemicals.

A lungi can be worn 'Full Mast' or 'Half Mast' like a national flag. A 'Full Mast' lungi is when you are showing respect to an elderly or the dead. Wearing it at full mast has lots of disadvantages. A major disadvantage is when a dog runs after you. When you are wearing a lungi/mundu at full mast, the advantage is mainly for the female onlookers who are spared the ordeal of swooning at the sight of hairy legs.

Wearing a lungi 'Half Mast' is when you wear it exposing yourself like those C grade movie starlets. A mallu can play cricket, football or simbly run when the lungi is worn at half mast. A mallu can even climb a coconut tree wearing lungi in half mast. "It's not good manners, especially for ladies from decent families, to look up at a mallu climbing a coconut tree"- Confucius (or is it Abdul Kalam?)

Most mallus do the traditional dance kudiyattam. Kudi means drinking alcohol and yattam, spelled as aattam, means random movement of the male body. Note that 'y' is silent. When you are drinking, you drink, there is no 'y'. Any alcohol related "festival" can be enjoyed to the maximum when you are topless with lungi and a towel tied around the head. "Half mast lungi makes it easy to dance and shake legs" says Candelaria Amaranto, a Salsa teacher from Spain after watching 'kudiyaattam' .

The 'Lungi Wearing Mallu Union' [LUWMU, pronounced LOVE MU], an NGO which works towards the 'upliftment' of the lungi, strongly disapprove of the GenNext tendency of wearing Burmuda under the lungi. Burmuda under the lungi is a conspiracy by the CIA. It's a disgrace to see a person wearing burmuda with corporate logos under his lungi. What they don't know is how much these corporates are limiting their freedom of movement and expression.

A mallu wears lungi round the year, all weather, all season. A mallu celebrates winter by wearing a colourful lungi with a floral pattern. Lungi provides good ventilation and brings down the heat between legs. A mallu is scared of global warming more than anyone else in the world.

A lungi/mundu can be worn any time of the day/night. It doubles as blanket at night. It also doubles up as a swing, swimwear, sleeping bag, parachute, facemask while entering/exiting toddy shops, shopping basket and water filter while fishing in ponds and rivers. It also has recreational uses like in 'Lungi/mundu pulling', a pastime in households having more than one male member. Lungi pulling competitions are held outside toddyshops all over Kerala during Onam and Vishu. When these lungis are decommissioned from service, they become table cloths. Thus the humble lungi is a cradle to grave appendage. 

Smile = Rs 46??

Smile = Rs 46…! Now what the hell could that mean…is that a code name for a CIA operative, or is that password for my netbanking accounts :). Actually its nothing of that sort, for that matter its exactly what it reads…a smile is worth just Rs 46. Now if a smile was that cheap, shouldn't we all be having a smiling face rather than sitting and sulking the whole time. Shit…actually imagine if MSN, Gtalk and other IM clients started charging Rs 46 for a smile, how much money would they actually make, considering we netizens, just keep putting smileys on chats without any rhyme or reason. When someone makes us laugh, we have a smile, when we have nothing to say we put a smiley…and the list is endless.

As a kid, when we used to go grocery shopping with my family, I used to pick up something which would always have something tagged along with it, buy 1 get 1 free types…not just when I was small…I still actually do :) …and my Dad used to keep telling me that there are no free lunches in the world..and it kinda was proved to me couple of days back that there are no free lunches, and for that matter there are no free smiles also.

Couple of days ago, I happened to pass via Bengaluru and couple of friends were like, lets head to Koshy's (Parade Café) for breakfast. I have been to this place earlier, and it definitely is one of the oldest landmarks in the city and no two doubts about the fact that they serve some amazing continental breakfast. Yes it does have an uncanny resemblance to Indian Coffee House, but I guess that's due to a legacy they wish to continue. While we just kept waiting there for the rest of the group to join, who btw took so blady long to come, I ended up going thru the menu some hazaar times, and my eyes fell on this particular dish, aptly titled SMILE…worth Rs 46.

I kept wondering why such a thing appears on the menu. In the middle of all this thinking I had my mutton keema toast, sausages, bacon etc etc., Still kept wondering why SMILE…Like they say a man cannot really think when he's hungry…so finally when I was down with all my sausages and bacon, was I able to solve the mystery of the smile. After some deep thoughts I was able to conclude that you actually need to pay Rs 46 to get the bearers to smile…these guys just don't smile. Their natures are absolutely humble, they are friendly, they thank you when you leave…but you just don't see them smiling.

WOW..talk about selling ones product. Perfect law of economics – You only get what you pay for!! You are right Dad there are no free lunches in this world…or for that matter even smiles :) sheesh…if we had to pay for smileys then MS would have already debited my account with Rs 138 :( for my few lines of bak bak above!!

Am I with the right partner?

I have been promising to come here every now and then I know…but its jus been so busy with some 100 other things…and I promise it will be alive once again soon. But for now, I am just putting up a read that I received from someone…and it made so much sense that I felt it needs to be put up here.

During a seminar, a woman asked," How do I know if I am with the right person?" The author then noticed that there was a large man sitting next to her so he said, "It depends. Is that your partner?" In all seriousness, she answered "How do you know?"
Let me answer this question because the chances are good that it's weighing on your mind replied the author. Here's the answer.

 

Every relationship has a cycle...In the beginning; you fall in love with your partner. You anticipate their calls, want their touch, and like their peculiarity. Falling in love wasn't hard. In fact, it was a completely natural and spontaneous experience. You didn't have to DO anything. That's why it's called "falling" in love.

People in love sometimes say, "I was swept of my feet." Picture the expression. It implies that you were just standing there; doing nothing, and then something happened TO YOU. Falling in love is a passive and spontaneous experience. But after a few months or years of being together, the euphoria of love fades. It's a natural cycle of EVERY relationship.

Slowly but surely, phone calls become a bother (if they come at all), touch is not always welcome (when it happens), and your spouse's idiosyncrasies, instead of being cute, drive you nuts. The symptoms of this stage vary with every relationship; you will notice a dramatic difference between the initial stage when you were in love and a much duller or even angry subsequent stage. At this point, you and/or your partner might start asking, "Am I with the right person?"

 

And as you reflect on the euphoria of the love you once had, you may begin to desire that experience with someone else. This is when relationships breakdown.

The key to succeeding in a relationship is not finding the right person; it's learning to love the person you found. People blame their partners for their unhappiness and look outside for fulfillment. Extramarital fulfillment comes in all shapes and sizes. Infidelity is the most common. But sometimes people turn to work, a hobby, a friendship, excessive TV, or abusive substances. But the answer to this dilemma does NOT lie outside your relationship. It lies within it. I'm not saying that you couldn't fall in love with someone else. You could. And TEMPORARILY you'd feel better. But you'd be in the same situation a few years later. Because (listen carefully to this): The key to succeeding in a relationship is not finding the right person; it's learning to love the person you found.

 

SUSTAINING love is not a passive or spontaneous experience. You have to work on it day in and day out. It takes time, effort, and energy.

And most importantly, it demands WISDOM. You have to know WHAT TO DO to make it work. Make no mistake about it. Love is NOT a mystery.

There are specific things you can do (with or without your partner). Just as there are physical laws of the universe (such as gravity), there are also laws for relationships. If you know and apply these laws, the results are predictable. Love is therefore a "decision". Not just a feeling.

 

Remember this always: God determines who walks into your life. It is up to you to decide who you let walk away, who you let stay, and who you refuse to let GO!!

 

Ya ya…I keep promising to come here often I know…

Hi blog,

I know its been a while since I have been here and I know you have actually missed me..and yes I also do know that every other time, I keep promising that I would come often and write stuff. So finally I thought its time I sit and update stuff; today am actually here coz need to spend some time that I have on my hands. Sitting in an up shop coffee store on MG Road in Bangalore and waiting for a friend, who's toda sa late, so I don't want to look like a zombie doing nothing, so generally thought wud take out the laptop and type something…first thought wud sit on GTalk mobile, but then realized that I can't afford to let my battery dry out, as I have my travel back to Chennai tonite and wouldn't be able to charge till tomorrow morning..so the only next best option was the laptop…people actually here mistake me for some corporate weirdo sitting and working on a Sunday…how I wish it was that way…atleast the former if not the latter…although I know some people who sit in a mall and work so much on a Sunday…(ya ya who else but u, wud I be referring to).

Anywayz so that's what I am upto now...well how come in Bangalore?? Hmmm…Came down for the wedding of two of my classmates…its so nice when you actually see 2 people who been in love for sometime, getting married..its just a wonderful feeling that you have for them, and somewhere down the lane, keep wishing why such luck prolly didn't have anything to do with u, but then that's how life is. You don't get all that you want…haha…now don't we all know that this is just a reason to make yourself feel nice. So ya like I was saying came down here for that marriage..actually been away from Chennai for a week now…and it feels so nice. Went home to Cochin for a week…was just so lovely to be home. The weather was fab…I don't think there was ever a day when it didn't like rain for like some 10-12 hrs continuously. Sometime I just wish, I could find a job in Cochin, be at home…most importantly save up some money. But then as most NonResident Mallus wud say…Kerala is good for a holiday FULLSTOP…working there probably would be a very wrong choice…so its back to Chennai tomorrow, and back to work L

I have no clue what I intend to convey thru this post, now you will be like which post of mine has anything to convey…haha…so true aint it…as the blog title goes, random thoughts from the heart, soul…wherever..!! I just love this city…Bangalore. Spent like 3 years of my life here…As some of you are prolly aware…after school, I spent like some 5 yrs in Chennai and then Bangalore happened, and when Blore happened, I had said to myself that I wouldn't go back to Chennai…but then fate had other plans in store…and for my luck - fate decided to have these other plans for me exactly during a point…wen I so badly wud have wanted to be in this city for reasons some of you might knw…anywayz lets not get there. There's something about this city that is so nice…prolly the weather…prolly the whole atmosphere…not to forget that place has good chic's too J. But yes this place has way too many phonies as well…I don't have to go too far to explain this point…there's this couple sitting next to me…I am so sure they aren't in love…claim to be like good friends…but the guy is giving so many straight fwd hints…hinting at something physical…the chic doesn't even seem to understand also…or maybe its just my corrupted mind…but hey who cares…as it is with all Aquarians my mind keeps wandering all over the place, and hence its interesting to hear others conversations…although I so badly don't want to…but then..hey I have never been able to control my mind.

Jus remembered…my friend had messaged some 10 mins back, saying shes here in like 10…which wud mean sometime now…so that's adios to blog for now…not promising anything this time, but I guess ya I will be back soon, and u really gotta be thankful to my friend, that she decided to come in a lil late…atleast that got me to write this much…as I conclude, I so wish to add another line from this couple next to me that I just heard now…
no Ajit…u cant get bitchy…no no…sign out…!!

Disclaimer…Ya I know this city is no longer called Bangalore, but Bengaluru…but its so blady diff typing that…so anyone who takes offence to it…am extremely sorry…

Oh shes here…pretty I say…!! J Well hey..I did say that I like this city…didn't i.. !!