A'Round Places - Bangalore

Visit to Bangalore - 25th to 28th June'09

Itinerary --> Vishwesharaya Museum -- Vidhan Soudha -- Hardrock Cafe, MG Road --ISKON Temple -- Lunch @ Nandini -- Paani Puri & Pizza @ Malleswaram 8th Cross (you get pizza for Rs.15 there) -- Corner House (Death By Chocolate) -- Shopping @ Commercial Street & Brigade Road.

A Collection of Romance

One conversation lead to another and the question lingered in all our minds

"What according to you is the most romantic gesture? "

A: Okie.. tell me what is the most romantic thing according to you?
B : Hmmm.. “Cuddling up”

A: That’s it?
B: (eyes all wide and a 90 mm smile pasted on her face)
You see, Its something like cuddling up together for a whole day or something like that. I would say Romance is something that should be part of your everyday life and not a one time gesture. So I prefer to ‘touch’ base – something like casually holding hands, touching shoulders while moving around in the house, cuddling up together for a movie. It kind of gears you up for the rest of the day.
A: Cuddling up for a whole day? That would be difficult
B: (laughs) Okie I can compromise; every half an hour would do the magic

B: Hey guys, I have a question
(All eyebrows raise)
B: What is the most romantic gesture according to you?
BA: Opening up your arms to invite your love; A huge Hug to give that secured feeling
B: hmmm..


C: You mean in private or public (haha)
Hmmm.. (that’s pretty long time he’s taking :P)
Looking into each other’s eyes!

D: A Smile
B: ??
D: A Sweet Smile, looking at you, at the end of day
B: cool.. that can be really sweeett

E: hmmmm.. Kissing each other?
(Okie now don’t look me for answers, I thought I asked the Q)
EA: Holding her at the shoulder when her hair is all wet
(now that’s ROMANCE)

F: Hug tightly and caress them at the ear
(oooh... no further comments on that one)
FA: Look in to the eyes with love

G: A big huge Hug.
Okie 1 more - A Candle lit dinner with Champagne and Soft Music
Howabout thaatt??

H: hmmm difficult
A Smile with love filled Eyes… that will be the most romantic gesture for me

(Back to the start)

A: A nice evening at the beach; walking behind her, placing my feet on top of her footmarks

I’d like to hear more ideas, specially your’s if you’d share them.

Bore-in(g) Blog

After a pretty long gap I got to talk to an age old friend recently and one thing he asked me to do was to write a Boring Blog. He had seen all the updates I made in FB about the 1 year completion and had called up to speak to me on an impulse, I guess. Anyways, he called up and just how it happen nowadays, for friends daring to speak to me , he ended up listening to all my worries as I poured out. We ended up having a very long conversation though I would rather say a long monologue since after the initial 15 minutes my speech was limited to a ‘Yes’, ‘Yeah’, “Okie”, ‘I’ll do’ and all that

It was a pleasant conversation (somehow he does manage that with his 'gyan') and he spoke about the sessions he’s taken on how to remain motivated, appreciate the self, having GT’s Good Time) and by the end of the call he was getting ready to be my PIP not considering his old age (…am sure he wouldn't sneak in to read this and so only boldly mentioning about his age else would I ever dare do it? :P… by the way its 'Partner In Pranks')

He talked for long about how to make every single day beautiful in simple ways. Later on when I thought about them, I felt they were things that wouldn’t take any special effort from us but yet the outcome could be very positive and encouraging.

*Don’t forget to pat yourself and tell “Hey that was a nice job that you did”

Ofcourse there are few times when we do appreciate ourselves but we don’t do it that frequently and specially not every day. At least I don’t do it and so when he told me about this I found it quite strange.

But then, on an afterthought the question that came up was 'Why shouldn't I do it often?' I can always tell myself after the regular walk that “Hey Sandya that was a cool thing to do today, Great my dear!” and feel nice about myself for a second. I can take that moment to feel good inside once done with my tasks at work. We can always take time to appreciate ourselves instead of waiting for someone else to do it for us. And another advantage of practicing to appreciate oneself would be that we wouldn’t forget to appreciate the efforts of others, the ones around us. And ofcourse this is one thing that every organization is looking for in a good team and this is exactly the best way to improve today’s deteriorating family bondage. What do you say?

* Take time to unwind during weekends

“Not in a boring city like this” - the first thought that crossed my mind then and was quite embarrassed to know that he was not mentioning about roaming in Malls and wailing away time doing window shopping. Things he suggested were quite simple like staying lazy at home trying out a different hairstyle, watching some cartoons or a funny movie that can make you laugh out loud, Calling up the close people and talking to them, laughing out at the GOT’s (Good Old Times) Since my weekends usually ends up with a fat book and some snacks in hand, I found his suggestions exciting.

The ideas that he gave me doesn’t need that mountain of effort but somewhere with the passage of time most of us a few of us have got into that “Boring Days” mode. There’s many a time when we wonder how we can kill time instead of enjoying the time that we have. We get into hobbies so that there is something that we can do quite monotonously and in a few weeks we actually forget to enjoy that process too. I feel it is just an extension to this, when we start looking for that ‘something’ to do add spice into our present – the present where job’s become boring, days are monotonous, conversations are depressing and emotions tumbling.

Boredom is a sure thing to cross paths with those single women over 25 and married ones staying alone. As for the guys they pretty much find their own getaways with the boozing sessions and long rides, I hope. And among the married people, staying together as family, they might never stop to take that time and look around in order to realize if there’s any boredom. The only possibility for them could be that they feel life’s become a little too monotonous [from where I sit Grass is surely Greener on the Other Side ;-) ]

So are you bored in life?
How about doing the same things that we do everyday, but for a change, take that second to appreciate ourselves for doing it and tell within that we did have a Good Time doing it?
Why don’t we try something crazy and have another GT?

Lets bore that boredom out of life :-) Wat say?

Anniversary It Is!!

My Friends celebrated the 1st Anniversary of my Blog :D

A year of them having fun, teasing me with all the write ups :D

Do we realise it that often?

"- That Life indeed is a great event that's happening to us"

It’s going to be a year since I started amusing myself with all these blogging stuffs and there’s been times when the entire day was occupied sorting out the layouts, reading thoughts of other people, prying into the comment section to know how does all the others out there react to it etc etc etc….

And one thing that I noticed in this time span is that mostly all those people who are good writers, who have nice blogs, are those who bring up valuable thoughts from the little things that happen around them. The topic they bring out is something sensible and touching most of the times. And that is something to be thought about when life is so busy and people just don't find enough time to stick around or still down a second to see what exactly is happening at their own backyards. I sometimes really wonder, how it is so easy for them (the good writers) to bring out an age old memory of their childhood or beautiful thoughts and viewpoints to certain situations. Has to have that writer’s intuit I guess, to be able to contemplate and write pages on small things around like a beautiful butterfly, flowers and little incidents that most people forget and ignore in their daily life.

It is this positive excitement which most of the blogs impart, that I like about this whole stuff. Reading those inspiring thoughts, many a times have made a good start for my day and have persuaded me to believe in heart that Life as it is, is really beautiful and precious; but if only we can give in the time to stay still for a while and really look at all that is happening around us. Thoughts like this are easier said than done and surely I would rank the highest when it comes to lack of awareness and memory. But still, during this time span that I have stayed in here, I did put in some real good effort to improvise those skills of mine. Going forward, its only going to get better, I sincerely hope :-) So that there would soon be that day when I'll be able to write beautiful logic on a simple incident and may be get approx. a 50 sweet comments from other bloggers. Is it that big a desire that cannot be fulfilled? I hope and wish that its not.. :-) :P

Its beautiful when the skies turn dark

A walk in the evening is always refreshing and nowadays am just too eager to get out of my room and on to the road. Passing by those unknown faces staring at you, sometimes do send a chill through my spine. Mostly all of them would be people leaving eagerly to get back to their loved ones at home. As for me, staring hard at the setting sun and feeling that cold wind blow away the drops of sweat makes those walks a nice getaway. All the more, it gives me that time to be on my own, in my own world and thoughts.

And then there's many a time when I topple over a stone, slither on the smooth ground caused by the rain and walk along blindly ahead, just to know where I reach in the end.

And that makes me wonder - Isn't the journey of our life also laid out in a similar manner? We can have a destination or a goal in mind and walk along trying out the different paths available, to reach there. We also have certain situations where we know surely the road to be taken but is unknown of the destination that it would take us to. And then we take that path and keep moving forward until we know what exactly is there, at the end of it.

The important thing I guess, is that on a retrospect, which ever option we take, all of it has to be a gratifying journey - Either we would have reached our desired destination or We would have known where exactly the Path is leading to. And all the more significant is, to enjoy the journey itself, isn't it? The cool breeze, the heat, sweat, feel of those obliging muscles....

A long time before, I was associated with an organisation that talked a lot about Walking Meditation. And being there I have both heard and witnessed a lot of miracles that a simple walk can do to your mind and also the things around. A sincere touch can bring back life to the dried grass beneath. A deep breath can make you feel inside, the same energy that is there around you, outside. Its been a long time now and I regret that I have lost the connecting loop to all those simple experiences. And that makes me wonder how much does it take to be simple - within and all around.

Quite a lot I guess... Simplicity isn't something that comes as simple as that. What do you say?

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* Check out this post to see those beautiful expressions of the Sky above.

Feel as if the only Hope to Light is denied
As though the Sand beneath is being washed away
Feel as though the Time has arrived
To take leave from the glowing daylight, the burning Sun
And painful yet is when the Chance is denied
To stand beside the Moon,
Glowing bright and warm, at that hour of darkness

And oh why all this ?
Just that her heart is now Blind to Love.

Quote A Day

"When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it"

Obstacles to Dreams mean you are Close to Achieving

I found this article while browsing through and I guess it helps a lot for the present. :-) And hence thought it shud come in here.. under my archives

"Are there times when it almost seems like you are finally going to reach your goal, but then something shows up in the way and puts it out of reach once again or makes you feel that you are never going to get it?

The truth is you are never closer to your dreams than when you are facing a big obstacle that threatens to push you further away than ever before. The reason why that obstacle shows up is because you are just about to grasp what you really want at last.

Just when you thought that the way is finally open for you, just when you thought you are finally getting your breakthrough. Then what you experience next causes you to be disappointed once again. Because the results that got is far less than what you expected. Or things might even appear worse in some ways than before. It can put you into such distress and frustration because you don’t know what else to do to make it work.

The reason why darkness appear, is to allow you to experience the light even more. You can’t feel like light when you are surrounded by light. The time you never felt more like light is when you are in the midst of darkness. Opposites make each other. Light and darkness define each other. Success and failure define each other. You can never fully know something without knowing its opposite.

Whenever you create a dream, the universe will bring in opposing circumstances, not to deter you from achieving the dream, but to allow you to experience the fullness of that dream."

There's many a times when I fear

"Are you afraid of Death" that's what she asked and as always the immediate answer that crossed my mind was "No..am not" But she continued her talk and as I listened to her I lost the conviction in my answer. She continued...

"There are people who agrees with you when you ask them if they are scared of Death and there are many who seems to have no fear when their hair loses it color. But more than the death of physical body, we are trying to concentrate here on the psychological death which can happen every moment for a person. The fear of losing a friend can be compared to fear of death - of a relationship. The fear of falling behind in your work is very similar to the fear of death - of an impression. And likewise it goes on and most people experience this fear of death in every moment of their life. Now do you accept that you are not afraid of death? It is something that most of the people feel about a ten times in every day of their life. All fear eventually boils down to the fear of dissolution, the fear of death and its cause is the existence of Self. It is the fear of losing something that I Own. Enlightenment is the only process where the Self dies and Fear loses its foot ground

The first step towards realisation is to know where you are, what your fears are about. Bhagavan says "You can only start from where you are and not from where you want to be" So get inside yourselves and understand what you are like, your fears and your feelings"

And that's exactly when I related to what she was talking about. I am afraid... I do have the fear of death - of relationships, of future, of hope.. of love. How do we come out of it am not sure. Though the same subject will be discussed in further episodes of the programme I wouldn't be able to watch them, but I do hope that a little contemplation on the topic would help me understand it and pick it up from there.

And to support my efforts these words would always ring in my ears

"Change is Eternal in life. And its only because of Change that Love is possible in our lives. Situations, people and feelings Change and that is the only reason why we should be able to Love every situation and Live in the present. Once this is past it would be gone forever and you wouldn't get a chance to enjoy them again!"