I was introduced to the myraid and mysterious ways of spirituality about 4 years ago. The journey started off with promises of ultimate knowledge, inhuman strength (mental strength obviously), an ability to be successful at everything etc etc etc.
All this sounds like a load of bull crap for a non believer. I am a firm believer.. why am I a believer? Because I have nothing to lose by believing.
After belief, the next hurdle to cross is practice. Regular practice of religious rituals is supposedly the easiest way to spirituality. After achieving some proficiency in that as well, the next thing is to find a spiritual goal to achieve.
When people said that anything can be achieved if one is disciplined, they very conveniently forgot to answer what it is that one should try to achieve.
The question "What is the best thing I will need in my life", is an extremely tough question to answer. I can be materialistic and pray for something awesome like a sports car, but that is useless as I will be left without a goal after achieving that. Since the process of achieving a goal is more useful than the end result itself, the thing that one must seek should be a very distant goal.
What is the question, is itself the toughest the question.
And unfortunately BMS does not give me sufficient time to ponder over it. Off to do some very physical activity (writing the workshop diary).
Ciao
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
Unemployment
My daily horoscope said that I will enjoy creative writing today. Hence this post.
I was employed and earning regularly until very recently. Unfortunately, my profession is not one that can be continued throughout the year. The demand for people in my profession starts after a few more months. If I do want to continue my profession, I should probably increase my charges. Not worth working for such meagre salaries.
Being unemployed has left me with a lot of free time. Especially in the evenings, not to mention pinching my pocket. Gone are the days of hogging 3 samosas in a row and not thinking twice about buying an Ice-tea later. Other than the obvious credit crunch there are also other things that are missing.
1) The long-ish drive to the workplace in the cool evening breeze.
2) Perks which included coffee, tea, juice, and the occasional tasty dish.
3) Lessons learnt in man management and communication skills.
4) Ability to put across sentences in as simple and persuasive words as possible.
5) Occasional physical tussles.
6) Making threats and hinting at blackmail to get work done.
7) Lessons in being patient and calm, irrespective of the situation.
8) Listening to good stories.
9) bonding with clients
And that's about it. I terribly miss being employed. But in the interest of my studies and the obvious point that my services are no longer required, Ive been discharged from services(without a pink slip!).
The only thing left to do is to drown my sorrows in a mug of you-know-what.
May none of you ever have to be unemployed in your lives!!
Ciao
I was employed and earning regularly until very recently. Unfortunately, my profession is not one that can be continued throughout the year. The demand for people in my profession starts after a few more months. If I do want to continue my profession, I should probably increase my charges. Not worth working for such meagre salaries.
Being unemployed has left me with a lot of free time. Especially in the evenings, not to mention pinching my pocket. Gone are the days of hogging 3 samosas in a row and not thinking twice about buying an Ice-tea later. Other than the obvious credit crunch there are also other things that are missing.
1) The long-ish drive to the workplace in the cool evening breeze.
2) Perks which included coffee, tea, juice, and the occasional tasty dish.
3) Lessons learnt in man management and communication skills.
4) Ability to put across sentences in as simple and persuasive words as possible.
5) Occasional physical tussles.
6) Making threats and hinting at blackmail to get work done.
7) Lessons in being patient and calm, irrespective of the situation.
8) Listening to good stories.
9) bonding with clients
And that's about it. I terribly miss being employed. But in the interest of my studies and the obvious point that my services are no longer required, Ive been discharged from services(without a pink slip!).
The only thing left to do is to drown my sorrows in a mug of you-know-what.
May none of you ever have to be unemployed in your lives!!
Ciao
Monday, March 28, 2011
Prepare to read lots of gerunds
Sorry, Couldn't come up with a better title...
All this hype about cricket is getting to me. I enjoy the matches by themselves, but it is the extras that are extremely irritating. Apart from Harsha Bhogle, and possibly Tony Grieg, nobody else is worth listening to. Let's lock up Ravi Shastri and Siddhu in a room full of movie screens and keep playing the audios of their own commentary over and over again until they understand what we have to endure. But them being the egotistic megalomaniacs that they are, they'll probably enjoy it.
There seem to be a sudden burst of fests from every college in Bangalore. I have to keep finding ways of escaping campaigning students from different colleges to avoid listening to them explain how great their fest is. Believe me, however great the fest, it would take a lot more than the lure of prize money to make me go upto a college like CMRIT or REVA to take part in their fest.
Did surprisingly well in the first internals and I am thus going through the expected hangover of complete over-confidence and a slight disdain towards all classes which I'm sure I'll come to regret later.
College apart, there is nothing new going on which is making life extremely boring. All these days I did have something to look forward to every 3 evenings in a week, but now even that has stopped. Money spent eating junk is increasing exponentially while physical exertion of any sort is decreasing exponentially.
Seriously considering learning some musical instrument. I will wait for two more weeks to see whether this is one of those urges that subsides after a few days.
That's all for now. The effort of actually writing again and spending these few minutes fruitfully has left me drained. Will go and recharge my lethargy by doing nothing for an hour or so.
Becoming lethargic is like getting addicted to drugs. You know its not good for you, but you still cannot stop doing it.
Ciao
All this hype about cricket is getting to me. I enjoy the matches by themselves, but it is the extras that are extremely irritating. Apart from Harsha Bhogle, and possibly Tony Grieg, nobody else is worth listening to. Let's lock up Ravi Shastri and Siddhu in a room full of movie screens and keep playing the audios of their own commentary over and over again until they understand what we have to endure. But them being the egotistic megalomaniacs that they are, they'll probably enjoy it.
There seem to be a sudden burst of fests from every college in Bangalore. I have to keep finding ways of escaping campaigning students from different colleges to avoid listening to them explain how great their fest is. Believe me, however great the fest, it would take a lot more than the lure of prize money to make me go upto a college like CMRIT or REVA to take part in their fest.
Did surprisingly well in the first internals and I am thus going through the expected hangover of complete over-confidence and a slight disdain towards all classes which I'm sure I'll come to regret later.
College apart, there is nothing new going on which is making life extremely boring. All these days I did have something to look forward to every 3 evenings in a week, but now even that has stopped. Money spent eating junk is increasing exponentially while physical exertion of any sort is decreasing exponentially.
Seriously considering learning some musical instrument. I will wait for two more weeks to see whether this is one of those urges that subsides after a few days.
That's all for now. The effort of actually writing again and spending these few minutes fruitfully has left me drained. Will go and recharge my lethargy by doing nothing for an hour or so.
Becoming lethargic is like getting addicted to drugs. You know its not good for you, but you still cannot stop doing it.
Ciao
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Dear Cricket,
It has not been the easiest of 3 years for us. We have broken up and gotten together more times than even SRK has in his film career. There is no denying the tremendous part that you have played in shaping me as a person. I still remember the day I went to Olympic Sports almost 10 years ago to buy my first bat. Consequent bats might have followed but it is something similar to a wizard first choosing his wand. The touch felt magical.
I remember those first few days of our association when I woke up every morning to wear those oversized shirts and struggle to run a complete lap in the ground. The first match and the first tournament now seem a blur, but i clearly remember the pride when i won the "Best Batsman" award. It is to this day, my most coveted award. My first half century came in a small pitch and I still remember the sheer exhilaration I felt after winning the match and scoring those 50 odd runs.
The first of many victories, and the first of many more defeats.
I came into school, bragging childishly about my supposed exploits in You. I did manage to get noticed and play for my school as well. It was both a pride and a responsibility to play for school. Thanks to You, I became recognized as "that cricket kid" in school and subsequently came to represent the whole cricket team. If not for you, I would probably have turned out to be just another student in school.
The friends I made during our 10 year courtship and the invaluable lessons learnt both on and off the field are too many to be mentioned here. I came to understand myself better because of you.
You may think that I am being unnecessarily squeamish about this whole affair, but it is high time we reached a conclusion.
There is no easy way to say this, we have to break up. We have both forseen this day arriving. Somehow, I do not experience the same thrill when I pick up a bat now. I do not feel the same berserker-like emotion to succeed. Somehow, the losses have not been hurting that badly and the wins do not seem that sweet.
Tomorrow is perhaps my last chance for us to get back together. And I am not going to take it. For the present, I no longer have any interest left to play. I know it is impossible to let go of you completely, but I have taken the decision I think is best for myself.
This is it.
Goodbye
It has not been the easiest of 3 years for us. We have broken up and gotten together more times than even SRK has in his film career. There is no denying the tremendous part that you have played in shaping me as a person. I still remember the day I went to Olympic Sports almost 10 years ago to buy my first bat. Consequent bats might have followed but it is something similar to a wizard first choosing his wand. The touch felt magical.
I remember those first few days of our association when I woke up every morning to wear those oversized shirts and struggle to run a complete lap in the ground. The first match and the first tournament now seem a blur, but i clearly remember the pride when i won the "Best Batsman" award. It is to this day, my most coveted award. My first half century came in a small pitch and I still remember the sheer exhilaration I felt after winning the match and scoring those 50 odd runs.
The first of many victories, and the first of many more defeats.
I came into school, bragging childishly about my supposed exploits in You. I did manage to get noticed and play for my school as well. It was both a pride and a responsibility to play for school. Thanks to You, I became recognized as "that cricket kid" in school and subsequently came to represent the whole cricket team. If not for you, I would probably have turned out to be just another student in school.
The friends I made during our 10 year courtship and the invaluable lessons learnt both on and off the field are too many to be mentioned here. I came to understand myself better because of you.
You may think that I am being unnecessarily squeamish about this whole affair, but it is high time we reached a conclusion.
There is no easy way to say this, we have to break up. We have both forseen this day arriving. Somehow, I do not experience the same thrill when I pick up a bat now. I do not feel the same berserker-like emotion to succeed. Somehow, the losses have not been hurting that badly and the wins do not seem that sweet.
Tomorrow is perhaps my last chance for us to get back together. And I am not going to take it. For the present, I no longer have any interest left to play. I know it is impossible to let go of you completely, but I have taken the decision I think is best for myself.
This is it.
Goodbye
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Of Passion
The word "PASSION" is something that is used very loosely. I'm sure we have all been enduring sentences like "be passionate about what you do", "if you are passionate about something, you will excel in it" and many other such sentences. And after all is said and done, at the end of the day we are as passionate as we were the previous day.
So what is passion? I do not know. They say passion is like a fire that is burning inside you. A fire that lends you a lot of energy in the subject or activity that you are passionate about. I have never experienced anything like it.
In my 18 years of existence, I have not been able to recall any incident where I was driven by pure emotion. It has always been about rationality and a certain amount of ignoring emotion. There is a school of thought which says that emotions must not play a part in whatever we do. There is another school of thought which is of the opinion that working with certain emotions actually increases the quality of the work.
What is passion if not an emotion?
Does a person suddenly realize what he is passionate about? Does a person instinctively know how he wants to spend his life? And what about people like me who are still knocking two stones together to start that inner fire?
Is passion an acquired taste? Or is it supposed to appear magically in a person's life? IF it is magical then I probably have to wait longer. If it is an acquired taste then I probably haven't tasted enough to realize which taste I can get used to.
But "Passion" has become a very confusing term for me which is kinda ironic looking at the name of my blog. Guess I have to reconsider the name of my blog now!
May the force/passion be with you...
Ciao
So what is passion? I do not know. They say passion is like a fire that is burning inside you. A fire that lends you a lot of energy in the subject or activity that you are passionate about. I have never experienced anything like it.
In my 18 years of existence, I have not been able to recall any incident where I was driven by pure emotion. It has always been about rationality and a certain amount of ignoring emotion. There is a school of thought which says that emotions must not play a part in whatever we do. There is another school of thought which is of the opinion that working with certain emotions actually increases the quality of the work.
What is passion if not an emotion?
Does a person suddenly realize what he is passionate about? Does a person instinctively know how he wants to spend his life? And what about people like me who are still knocking two stones together to start that inner fire?
Is passion an acquired taste? Or is it supposed to appear magically in a person's life? IF it is magical then I probably have to wait longer. If it is an acquired taste then I probably haven't tasted enough to realize which taste I can get used to.
But "Passion" has become a very confusing term for me which is kinda ironic looking at the name of my blog. Guess I have to reconsider the name of my blog now!
May the force/passion be with you...
Ciao
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
The Two-face dog
I know I shouldn't be doing this. I can also predict the fairly dire consequences that await for wasting an hour's time blogging, but when the whole world conspires to keep you from studying, there is little that you can do to resistht the waves of distraction.
At no other time can you have such profoundly meaningful insights into so many things that will in no way help you in the exam tomorrow. At no other time can you appreciate the hypnotic quality of the arrangement of seeds in a pomegranate. At no other time can you truly reflect upon the illegibility of your handwriting. At no other time can you come across fascinating discoveries like the mole which was hidden all these years amidst the hair on your head. At no other time can you imagine "lol" looking like a drowning man. Well, you get the drift...
As everybody will have experienced, "study holidays" make for some of the most interesting time in a person's life. Be it watching movie after movie, flipping past pages with zero concentration, the sudden berserker-like urge punish yourself for wasting time and the occasional piece of information which is promptly forgotten, study holidays are extremely useless. (for me atleast).
If you are thinking about how the topic of this post is related to everything that I have said above, dont bother thinking. there is no connection.
I had intended to blog about a badly injured dog which had half its face siphoned off and was looking like "Two Face"'s pet dog. and my attempt at getting some medical help for the poor creature.
An hour is wasted! the urge to blog has subsided, and now its the time of panic to set in and give me some much wanted seriousness.
May the force be with you.
P.S. The credit for coming up with "lol" looking like a drowning man goes to Abhijit.
At no other time can you have such profoundly meaningful insights into so many things that will in no way help you in the exam tomorrow. At no other time can you appreciate the hypnotic quality of the arrangement of seeds in a pomegranate. At no other time can you truly reflect upon the illegibility of your handwriting. At no other time can you come across fascinating discoveries like the mole which was hidden all these years amidst the hair on your head. At no other time can you imagine "lol" looking like a drowning man. Well, you get the drift...
As everybody will have experienced, "study holidays" make for some of the most interesting time in a person's life. Be it watching movie after movie, flipping past pages with zero concentration, the sudden berserker-like urge punish yourself for wasting time and the occasional piece of information which is promptly forgotten, study holidays are extremely useless. (for me atleast).
If you are thinking about how the topic of this post is related to everything that I have said above, dont bother thinking. there is no connection.
I had intended to blog about a badly injured dog which had half its face siphoned off and was looking like "Two Face"'s pet dog. and my attempt at getting some medical help for the poor creature.
An hour is wasted! the urge to blog has subsided, and now its the time of panic to set in and give me some much wanted seriousness.
May the force be with you.
P.S. The credit for coming up with "lol" looking like a drowning man goes to Abhijit.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Bunkitis
Blogging for the first time from a laptop. Not even a sentence down and this thing is already testing my patience. It's hard to shift from a proper desktop keyboard to this small, feather sensitive keyboard.
There was this SMS joke which was doing the rounds a few weeks back. "Why was Vishveshwaraiah such a good engineer?" "Coz he didn't study under VTU". Lame as it may sound, after completing almost one semester under an almost VTU-like syllabus, I'm bound to agree with whoever created that joke.
The classes are dominated with the "izzzzit"s of my maths professor and the "wadijit"S of my chemistry prof. And not to be left out is our dearest Constitution of India teacher (Bolamma.. pronounce it as you will!) who has this amazing knack of continuing to teach even when its blatantly obvious that nobody is listening. The best teacher presently is our EVS prof. I say he's the best because he never comes to class and always lives up to our expectations and bunks whenever we want him to.
The general feeling in all classes is the urge to physically throw the teacher out of the class or scream in frustration. This is infact the first symptom of "bunkitis". A condition often found in frustrated college-going students. Other symptoms include constant boredom, hands which refuse to part with the mobile phone, sudden interest in the colour of the flowers in a distant tree, and in extreme cases, a sudden urge to get up and sing in class.
Bunkitis is a plague. One person can transfer it easily to lots of other people. The rate of transfer of the plague is directly proportional to the closeness of friendship and the abundant availability of pocket money. In rare cases, when the whole class temporarily has the plague, a phenomenon known as "mass bunk" is found to occur. Mass bunks are rare and are more often than not foiled attempts.
After a lot of research, a cure was found for "bunkitis", much to the dismay of the student community. It was found that "guilt" is the best medicine there is to prevent bunkitis. This research proved effective in the early 1990s but was soon proved redundant by the most recent batch of patients whose brains find it very hard to generate the required level of guilt to effectively tackle this disease.
A brilliant breakthrough was produced by college authorities to tackle this menace. "Attendance shortage", the latest drug available in all colleges is a sureshot way to cure people of this disease temporarily. But even this cannot guarantee complete cure as "bunkitis" resumes it work on the human brain as soon as "minimum attendance cut-off" is reached.
The student mind is probably destined to forever be in the clutches of this disease.
More on bunkitis when I get affected by it, which will be in a week or two!
Ciao... May the force be with you.
There was this SMS joke which was doing the rounds a few weeks back. "Why was Vishveshwaraiah such a good engineer?" "Coz he didn't study under VTU". Lame as it may sound, after completing almost one semester under an almost VTU-like syllabus, I'm bound to agree with whoever created that joke.
The classes are dominated with the "izzzzit"s of my maths professor and the "wadijit"S of my chemistry prof. And not to be left out is our dearest Constitution of India teacher (Bolamma.. pronounce it as you will!) who has this amazing knack of continuing to teach even when its blatantly obvious that nobody is listening. The best teacher presently is our EVS prof. I say he's the best because he never comes to class and always lives up to our expectations and bunks whenever we want him to.
The general feeling in all classes is the urge to physically throw the teacher out of the class or scream in frustration. This is infact the first symptom of "bunkitis". A condition often found in frustrated college-going students. Other symptoms include constant boredom, hands which refuse to part with the mobile phone, sudden interest in the colour of the flowers in a distant tree, and in extreme cases, a sudden urge to get up and sing in class.
Bunkitis is a plague. One person can transfer it easily to lots of other people. The rate of transfer of the plague is directly proportional to the closeness of friendship and the abundant availability of pocket money. In rare cases, when the whole class temporarily has the plague, a phenomenon known as "mass bunk" is found to occur. Mass bunks are rare and are more often than not foiled attempts.
After a lot of research, a cure was found for "bunkitis", much to the dismay of the student community. It was found that "guilt" is the best medicine there is to prevent bunkitis. This research proved effective in the early 1990s but was soon proved redundant by the most recent batch of patients whose brains find it very hard to generate the required level of guilt to effectively tackle this disease.
A brilliant breakthrough was produced by college authorities to tackle this menace. "Attendance shortage", the latest drug available in all colleges is a sureshot way to cure people of this disease temporarily. But even this cannot guarantee complete cure as "bunkitis" resumes it work on the human brain as soon as "minimum attendance cut-off" is reached.
The student mind is probably destined to forever be in the clutches of this disease.
More on bunkitis when I get affected by it, which will be in a week or two!
Ciao... May the force be with you.
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