Empty day!

Everytime I drive past a public park in the neighborhood or cubbon park in B'lore, I notice people sitting on benches and talking to others or just staring into space. I wonder what they actually started out to do and what made them decide to relax and take shade of the nearby tree in the park @ 1130Am on a weekday?!!!

There are so many more interesting things one can do to while away time if thats the main objective. Even govt., officials have lesser time in their hands considering they have a whole life time to complete the given task. Even joblessness involves more work for the candidate in despair. This empty day thought or imagination is by far the most saddest state I've come across.  

Why?

When one is really happy and content with himself/herself, is it necessary to party every day or regularly?

If one's work is the best thing that has happened to the person, does that person really need a break ever so often?

If one has come to terms with the things that have happened in his past, is it necessary for that person to keep brooding over old stuff?

If one is genuinely happy with his family members especially his parents, is it necessary to live separately just because the present age cosmopolitan culture finds it too sad! ?

Does one really have to be frugal when he/she can afford comfort but aren't greedy?

Is traveling abroad the only best way to have fun? is Traveling the only way to relieve stress?

Is the 'best friend' always defined by the timeliness of the birthday greeting?

There are many more questions (rhetoric) I generally have in mind. I have the answers to all these, and I am well aware they are right (according to me). Just wondering why so many ppl ( I have known) have a different view on this. While it does make it interesting to handle this difference in opinion in discussions, I am getting to believe the rebuttal to my questions/opinions/statements is about the coolness factor involved.

Striking beauty

I always wanted to blog about this day.

Way back in July/2011, few days ahead of my b'day, I had been to the movies to catch up with my friend as well as watch the most controversial flick running in then. 

It was my friend's idea of watching this film and very briefly just mentioned that another friend of his would be joining us. Our conversation in the car about our gym and fitness came about and we reached the venue on time.

As usual, I was carrying very less cash on me, so my friend had to pitch in. While we both waited for the doors to open (for us to enter the movie hall), there came the third friend. This was when I stopped talking. 

Every person on earth and every guy on this planet has his own experience when he sees the most beautiful girl standing right in front of him. So here is mine :-)

I wouldn't like to mention her name so I will keep it off this post. And as the title of this post says - 'Striking Beauty', she was just that. Now I have never been a fan of mere looks as I sincerely believe its not good enough for a life time or for anything substantial. I mean what difference would it make if my friend is super good looking or normal or not good looking? so no argument on that. Smart personality is what I did believe in and will always believe in and have never let some one's looks impact my judgement or decision on any count. This person is no exception, but she is by far the most beautiful girl I have ever come across. I do find some actresses in the film industry (home and international) very good looking like all people do, but this lady was something extra-ordinary.

She defined beauty and her facial features were so perfect. She does not belong to the sexy or 'hot' category, but would belong to category specially made for her. 

I totally enjoyed the movie. I am sure you would be thinking 'ya sure!!', but on that account as well. :-). My friend wanted to pick up something for someone's birthday so we three went to the nearby shopping mall to help him choose the right gift. I did get to know more about her and 2 great things that I did get to know were that 1. She shared my birthday-13/July. So I am sure she will never forget me :-).. and the second, 2. She is from the same city and shared the same ethnic background with me too, so we spoke in the local language at times. 

What happened next! Well! that's a different story.. :-)

It was a great day altogether!

  

For the first time, and for the very very first time, Alex & me actually agreed on something. I have know this guy for about 9 yrs or so I guess and we just don't see eye to eye on any issue, subject or topic that we talk about over the table. Our discussions have always been on trying to prove a point in someway or the other, until finally we realized we had the same opinion actually a super strong opinion on something we were discussing on our trip to Delhi.

Every 3rd person who is working and earning a decent compensation pack, within 18months of his/her work life will end up buying a brand new D-SLR camera after having realized the beauty of the art. Well photography no doubt is a fantastic art, but one that needs only a fair level of theoretical knowledge and a decent budget to start getting trigger happy.

I am in no way undermining the skill required and used by the photographer to take the lovely snaps that he/she showcases and shares on his/her blog/Fb and website, its just that I wonder whether the art has been taken for granted. You cant paint a decent portrait picture or sketch a decent profile without 3-4 years of rigorous practice and everyone knows this. Taking a decent snap which would get few likes from your friends and overall appreciation from colleagues requires a good camera, a 10 day photography workshop, 200-300 days of practice. Some more practice, few more workshops, will increase the skill level which would reflect on the snaps in a span of few additional days. So well, why not photography, its an easier start than theatre, dancing, singing, playing the guitar. For god sakes, it takes 8 months to dish out a tune close to recognition on the guitar not forgetting the bleeding finger tips. If you don't have the musical ear, your hobby and interest in music stagnates after 2-3 years (ask me I know). 3 years to get your act right in theater, nothing less in animation and other types of art (performing and non-performing)

When too many people start walking around with SLRs and D-SLRs hanging around their neck or shoulder, the art looses its specialty and exclusivity in a way and instead makes it feel easy and cheap. This is not a trend, its a fad. When the blend between photography and poetry known as Visual poetry brings out the best in the artist, I think its the breaking point when the artist gains maturity in this skill, so does his work.

Dedicated to all the fitness enthusiasts

About 2 years ago, I took up fitness very seriously. I decided that I would reach a level of fitness that would make me feel great inside. It was a very tough endevour in the beginning considering my health was average at the age of 26. 

My fitness level then (somewhere around Nov/2009) can be described in the following way:

a. Body Weight: 78 Kg

b. Food intake: Heavy Veg., Non-Veg (Chicken only), Loads of Deserts and sweets almost every day.

c. Stamina: 1.5km of jogging took me 10mins. Very sluggish. 

d. Water intake: 1 liter per day.

e. Sleep: More than 10 hrs. Included late night sleep-in

f.  Alcohol intake: Twice a week.

I quit my fancy gym to join a small and simple yet serious gym owned by a martial artist and his student. Being trained by them for Kickboxing (KB) in their Dojo (Martial arts training school/place under the guidance of a Shidoshi or a sensei) was pretty exciting but very very rigorous.

It was their passion and knowledge in Health, fitness and martial arts that encouraged me to pursue KB seriously. It was a great experience since the Dojo was equipped with few boxing bags, pads but the best equipment was the Sensei's experience and sound knowledge in the art itself. 

I used to attend the KB sessions every alternate days and the Gym (at the same center) the remaining days. I used to try my best to attend 6 days a week. And I was serious in ensuring consistency. Come rain or shine, I used to be at the gym. It was in the evenings and I used to finish my work by 630pm to be there on time and give my self about an hour-and-a-half daily to bring my health back to shape. It really paid off. 

There were few consequences. I lost out on social life, time with my family but I gained great health, excellent rapport with my sensei, some good friends and the best thing is the knowledge on fitness and how the body reacts as well. :-) So I am not complaining.

Our bodies are a reflection of our inner health, peace and personality. A well maintained body indicates the will power of a person, the attitude and fitness level. Can be presumed that the health is good as inner health is a function of many other factors as well. 

The saying which inspired me deeply was this 'We forge our bodies in the fire of our will' 

Today, in Nov/2011 @ the age of 28+ when I take a look at my self in the mirror, it gives me a great deal of satisfaction for the hard work, commitment and perseverance that I invested to achieve a healthy looking physique.

Some of the things I learnt, changed in myself to achieve this level of fitness is as follows. I shall detail my diet and workout in the next section.

1. Diet means = TO EAT (but to eat the right things and avoid the wrong things). Its the attitude of the body. You mess up with the diet, your body will not respond. Even if one goes for a walk in the morning for about 2-3km daily, but follows a poor diet, the effects are average.
2. Consistency is everything. The best gym/training center is of no use if a person is not consistent in his fitness and health program. Morning walk or even brisk walking will not have an effect if one is not consistent.
3. Health and fitness programmes DON'T work on short term basis. Its not an investment program like shares or mutual funds which have a short term and long term perspective. Health and fitness don't work that way. After working for 9-10 months, you can assess something but after about 18-24 months, results start showing.  Note: The first three months are the toughest in any fitness program. Don't lose faith.
4. No Pain, No gain. Pain is like weakness leaving the body. I heard this somewhere and its really true. If you don't experience pain while working out, it means you are not pushing yourself to achieve greater and effective levels of fitness.
5. Simple Program: follow a simple workout program and follow it consistently. Results will show.
6. Water and sleep. Lots of water, Good sleep (not excess) is essential.
7. For your diet and fitness program, consult your doctor and or your fitness trainer to see if your cholesterol, Triglycerides, BP and your back (lower-back especially) is OK. The endocrine system (hormone producing system) should be in order. 

As mentioned, I will be sharing my exercise workout and my diet. Here they are:

Exercise Workout:

Days: Mon, Wed & Fridays (alternate days) - Weight training 

Style: Advanced (Pyramids and Drop structure essential for boxing-Lean body)

• Monday: Chest and Triceps
• Wednesdays: Back (upper and lower) and biceps
• Fridays: Legs and Shoulders

For details of excises (nos. of repetitions and sets), it would require another post. I shall do so.

Days: Tue, Thur & Saturdays (alternate days) - Kick Boxing

Style: Stage II, Intermediate 

The following is spread over 3 days.

• Stretches
• Bag work-1: Forward (front) Kick, Round-house, Side-kick (front and side), Turn back kick. 
• Shadow Boxing: Forward (front) Kick, Round-house, Side-kick (front and side), Turn back kick, Punches, Jabs, Hooks, Upper-cut, Elbows. Recovery-Push-ups, Side-sit-ups (basic and advanced), Jumps, Bar-pees.
• Punching and kicking pad: forward (front) Kick, Round-house, Side-kick (front and side), Turn back kick.
• Bag Work-2: Combination Punches, Combination kicks, Kick and punch combos.
• Bag Work-3: Shin Kicks- lower and upper. Bag weight: 120kgs hard.
• Abs: Core, Obliques
• Closing formalities with Sensei.

Home Fitness: Regular or Days when gymming and KB is not possible

• Skipping: 2000 repetitions
• Jogging: 2 km
• Meditation: 20-30 mins with breathing exercises.

My DIET (and suggestions)

Its all about eating. And eating the right thing and drinking loads of water.

I have the benefit of eating home-food. So it is easier for me and I understand that everyone may not have this comfort. 

Breakfast: Vegetarian, Regular South Indian style + 2 Glasses of water.

   Avoid- Excess chutney, deep fried Wada, oily masala dosa, Kesari bath  strong filter Coffee

12 PM: Odd hour hunger pangs: Eat salads, fruits or Veg. or fruit juices +1 bottle of water.

Lunch: Vegetarian. 1 cup of curry, 1 cup dal ( or sambar/rasam)

                              2 pulkas, 1 cup plain curds.

4:30-5pm: Odd hour hunger pangs: Eat salads, fruits or Veg. 

                250ml of Whey protein (under the guidence of my trainer) and 1-1/2 bottles of water.

 

   Avoid- Excess chutney, deep fried Wada, oily masala dosa, Kesari bath  strong filter Coffee, NO-BAKERY FOOD AT ALL

630pm: Small cup or corn flakes, wheat flakes or any cereal with cold milk.

Dinner:  @ 9pm after my workout

                            1 cup of curry, 1 cup dal ( or sambar/rasam)

                              2 pulkas, 1 cup plain curds.

                      2 Bottles of Water.

Diet Cheat Day: Saturday evening to Sundays... Eat all tasty stuff and down some beer if you'd like.

NOTE: Please avoid Bakery food. Puffs and other masala buns, deep friend snacks and pastries on weekdays and keep them for the cheat day-Sundays if you'd like.

We lead a sendentry life and our diets have to be modified to adjust to that. We need to eat. but eat proportionately to suit our physical activity. Feeling young is different from actually being young and having a young body. Dont underestimate the way the body reacts. It will surprise you if you ignore it.

It may seem very difficult to follow a exercise pattern daily and be diet conscoius, but if you start, you will realize how easy it is to stay fit. 

You cant beat the feeling of having great health. Its better than the high of drinking the best quality of scotch whisky. Trust me, I have tried both. :-)

Policy for things that don't go well

Firstly, don't crib (for any reason under the sun)... do something about it or else shut up.. cant tolerate cribbing anymore...

If you can do something about our country's (India in my case) sad state of public affairs/corruption, do it.. its a great thing...
Else, shut up.. No arm chair critics please... no cribbing please.

They said it

Recently I came across a person who is probably about 23yrs old, an MBA student pursuing his higher studies in a local university of the city. Probably the most interesting thing in talking to him was the fact that he had such a myopic view on success, satisfaction, peace and love. I was really disappointed in knowing that a person who belonged to my generation had no hopes and aspirations to explore new opportunities w.r.t his career atleast among other interests (which included betting on horses and the new format cricket game-T20) and instead wants to just sit around and make money because he already thinks he knows it all. He strongly believes that he is extremely smart and intelligent compared to all his friends around him and that there is nothing else left for him to know, 'its just the time' which according to him, will make him the 'big man'.

There is another person I have known for about 6-7 years now. This guy is far older than the first person i just spoke about. Talk to him for about 15 mins and you will end up feeling miserable somewhere deep inside for not knowing anything. He will probably talk to Sachin Tendulkar about cricket and make him feel that his batting techniques are 'not really great' or make music composers such as Illayaraja or Hans Zimmer feel 'like crap' for not knowing the nuances of music composition and other fundamental definitions that a professional in that line ought to know. He will make the chief engineer at a infrastructure project dig his own grave for not knowing how a pillar has to be perfectly erected. According to him all professional fields after the 1990 such as the IT and ITes are not really career lines worthy to pursue and those who do are full of S#$t. According to him HR is a department purely created by the American management consultants to make their pockets run deeper. No company really needs or wants the H.R department, its just their misfortune that they have to keep up to the latest management trends to be on top.
He knows it all. Science (may it be any field or discipline), English (literature, poetry, prose), he fluently speaks 4 indian languages and claims he can understand many others. He knows english and claims he can understand many other foreign languages. He knows commerce, art, politics and any other thing that a man ought to know. I used to call him (my friend) the walking encyclopedia until he started overdoing the bit of 'I know it all'.
I still enjoy his company but now my tolerance levels are falling and its quite insulting to always be treated as the 'kid who needs to learn a lot' being patted on the back with a smile thinking he would be the one i should be learning from.

Learning is something i am open to 24/7 from anyone. And under no circumstances i feel that the day would come wherin i have learnt it all. If that were the case, that day would be my last day here on this planet as I would be literally dead. I really wonder how people (including my friend i mentioned) would go through life with such heavy intellectual ego. I dread the day i am stuck on an inland with such a person.

Its not what about what 'you know', what 'you said'. its what you have heard and what you have learnt.

'We forge our bodies in the fire of our will' - Anonymous

This quote I think is so motivating and its meaning so profound that it has made a very big difference to my life and the way I look at health and fitness from the time I read it for the first time.

I guess this was the motivation i was badly seeking for a long while.

Its not about the food... its about the person!

I like food... i like home food... I like Pizzas, steaks, sizzlers, sandwiches, salads, soup.. lots of dessert. Its never complete without dessert.. and there has to be chocolate. Any form of chocolate is great. But I cant enjoy all this alone. I need someone to suggest new dishes while i finish the 2nd helping.
No I am not talking about hogging though it might have sounded that way. I am not talking about messy and noisy gulping as though one has never had food for a long long while. I am talking about company. Good company that can make me feel like I am enjoying my meal!
Company matters... far more than the food itself. I will comfortably sit back and enjoy sipping my beer (if with guys), whiskey (if with senior people) and white wine (if i am accompanied by a woman or women :) ). Good conversations, great ideas and thoughts can satiate your hunger...it does for me at least. My stomach is very versatile I know.

Guess sometimes when you are really looking for some good company to fill your 'stomach', its hard to find it.

Motivation!

Why does a person's motivation vary as things and circumstances change around him? I think motivation is that secret ingredient to keep it going when things get harder!

When I was younger i know my motivation levels towards so many things were so much higher. All that's changed. After more life experience, I am still a self motivated guy but the levels have changed so much.

Why doesn't motivation increase in a linear pattern with every year that passes by?

16/Aug/2011

I am not against the anti-corruption move initiated by the new Gandhian. Its a bold move and we definitely need a leader to make the change and someone who would take the sleeping government head on. Its just that
a. The bill that he wishes to get passed, is very impractical
b. His methods have no relevance to today. Times have changed
c. Corruption that is making the actual difference in India is deep rooted in the excise, customs, service and the sales tax departments. In a way i feel he is banging his head against a hollow wall. You don't have to chase the bees, you need to dish out the queen bee if you want to get rid of the bee hive.

Well! I have my own crazy opinions! But the anti-corruption move is a start. Its a good initiative against the diseased system. I just hope his research on the methods and their consequences are concrete!

Mind your own business!

'life is like a game of chess'.. correction.. Life is never like a game of chess. We can never equate life like that so easily.
But! Business sure is like a game of chess. This is what they don't teach you in B-schools. Learning to play the game is only 40% of the learning. Applying what the game teaches you, is where the secret lies in.

Other things I always wanted to shout out loud ... .... ... Business and politics go hand in hand. Politics is a science for the uninitiated, you cannot separate politics when there are more than 2 heads working together and you cannot separate politics from business.

When negotiating, never give an ultimatum. This applies to even when one is negotiating with the vegetable vendor. I wish the new Gandhian learn't this somewhere.

'Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith!! '
-Steve Jobs

Came across this saying long back and always think about this and other things that were said during this speech. Even to date, when I am in a predicament, I refer to the text of this motivating speech. But the question is whether is it really easy to follow some of the ideals preached.

Is it possible for us to follow our heart and do what we love. Is it that easy to do it while each one of us deeply feel that we want to. If all of us were to keep looking for that one thing that we really love doing and until we do find that thing, be stubborn and not settle. Can we actually find the courage to go against the current?

Even after reading many articles and books on the issue that we have limited time in our hands, that we can make a huge difference if we just listen to our inner voice, we still find it difficult to actually believe that and change the way we look at things around us. That our time is limited and our life would be so enriched if we just live it our way instead of living someone else's. That we don't get trapped by the dogma which is living with the results of other people's thinking and not letting our own inner voice be drowned out by others' opinions. Having the courage to follow our own heart and intuition. All this feels so good inside but how easy or difficult is it to follow it?

Do we all feel that such concepts of life and living are just an intellectual concept sounding good when discussed not when actually followed? Still trying to let life teach me...

Dream Selling!

Its strange that we don't actually know what we really want to watch on TV. Its a classic case of confusion. On one hand we deeply detest the slimy and slippery feel of soap operas that never end. Actually I am exaggerating a bit in comparison to these serials (Indian or international). Take away the drama and sound effects constantly running in the background, these soaps are trying to bring about the nasty inner feelings people have towards each other even to their own family members, relatives or friends. This is seasoned by the tensions caused by deep love and passion for getting dirtily rich. Everyone knows the crap.. they intend to show. Maybe these soap-op producers feel that by showing the so called reality in day to day life (and getting rich with the ad money) they are doing society a service. So lets say this is the reality. Lets include hard core reality movies on corruption, politics, business, slum-life and so on an so forth in to this category.

On the other hand we have movies that are full of super far fetched intangible feel ideas. Take all the movies form the DCHs all the way to the recent ZNMD where 3 guys just go out to have fun and have a fantastic and a life changing experience. Some of these movies have been really well made (i am referring to the art of film making). The idea feels so good to all of us, but deep inside there are a million people thinking its too dreamy an idea. An inspiration that lasts for about a month and a feel good factor that lasts for 48 hrs. The biggest far fetched and unreal aspect as an example is in the recent movie (ZNMD) I had seen. It is about the part where the lady in love actually takes the bold initiative (Takes the first step) to say 'screw what others think' and rides up all the way to express her true love to a person she met 1-2 days ago... Maybe I haven't met that kind of a person, but I don't personally buy that such a bold step is taken by a woman (more so woman from India). Of course, I am not too sure of the nature of women in other countries considering the film was shot there and the characters are to have been living out there. This is a different topic of argument though, but I am quite sure. ;-) damn sure.

So what is that we like to see to get entertained? historical, situational, dreamy or gruesome reality? Guess situational or a dreamy movie would fit the bill for most (paisa vasool as it is put). When you make the audience feel that there are so many things that one can do to make life great, fun and beautiful, instead of indirectly making them feel that they have been blessed due to the difficult times people have gone through in the past and the number of people who have sacrificed something in their life to gift their future generation (as shown in period movies) a better life or remind the audience that they have a great moral responsibility on their head to make the place they live in, a better place for themselves and their generations to come or keep harping on the fact that the poor are getting poorer, the middle class are being subject to the ills and scum of the economy and society or the fact that your near and dear are not so lovely as you thought them to be but are a bunch of conniving bastards or bitches!!; then the show gets the needed response.

Well! I have my interest in historical or period movies! Love thrillers.. and of course the feel good movies (except over exaggerated parts ;) ) but at the end.. I guess you are in business when you are a dream seller.

What I hear

I was just telling my friends the other day that it feels so strange when people ask me about my favourite song or songs. I end up giving names of music tracks and songs which have no lyrics or those that come under the instrumental rock genre.

I am currently tripping on the OSTs of an old movie. More importantly these songs are composed by Hans Zimmer!! Yeah! :-)
Catch this: http://youtu.be/GFLMLHPVhaw

Wonder how I am going to sing such song/s if someone insists I stand up and sing for everyone:-)

An ode to my favorite movie


'Can't see my face: what are you thinking?
Fill in the space, please - oh let me hear you'

-Wasis Diop

'I'm Busy'

For a very long time I wanted to write something about this. To start with I think the 'I am busy' line used is just an excuse and I don't believe it much if anyone uses it and I for one never use it.

Consider this saying by an anonymous artist ''People are seldom too busy to stop and tell you how busy they are" quoted to me by one of the busiest people/personality in the Indian business scenario and he also later added ''so when you want to talk to someone and you get this reply, you clearly know what they are doing"

I can happily end this post by saying that 'you are only as busy as you want to be'

On the platter

I like doing things myself. It feels great when I read something, find a clue or a hint to something else very interesting, read up on that, at times I might hit a dead end, probably take some time off, and retread on those lines to see where I've jumped a link and then discover a new path altogether. I realized that the learning that one goes through in this way is far profound than otherwise. I am sure that most people do find this as exciting as I do, at least I thought so.

When you hit upon a knowledge portal (this can be a person, group of people or a place or even a thing like a book), I have always noticed that the most relevant and or the most critical piece of information is never put across directly in front of you or it is right in your face but you don't notice it because there are no 'Bold' and 'Italics' options used on it. Take examples like the benefits of consistency in anything you do, the habit of waking up early in the morning, understanding failure .. there are many more, but I think the examples are quite clear.

Is it that we people need to be spoon fed and need to be given things on a platter where it is packaged with a price tag for us to actually realize its importance?

Let me pull up the same examples. Consistency. I think it means apart from testing your patience, focus and concentration, you might suffer from monotony and boredom, but it is known as consistency for a reason. So you got to cross the threshold limit. Waking up early in the morning, truly gives you amazing power especially when you have so much time in your hands. Something worth experimenting!! Failure!! The best teacher in life as you learn much more than when you experience success (only if you sit down patiently, throw that ego jacket away and understand 'why' you had failed rather than 'why you' had failed). Failure takes you to a level higher than the bench marked success point, makes you humble to the core. So if a kid actually looses a running race at school, he has not lost much since he would realize that his speed is good but can be better. Imagine the shock his class mates would suffer when he runs twice as fast as he did before (in the next race).

I don't think anything so important will be given away to you or shared with you that easily. But I strongly feel its all there in front of you and me. More importantly you need to know that language to read it.

It feels great to know there is so much more to discover ahead.

New Drama of Indian Politics

Seems like gandhism is a major inspiration to all the drama taking place in the political scenario today. Actually you can call it Gandhian pastiche or the medley of all ingredients to imitate the true Gandhian principles.

Since its my free space (blog) to express anything on this canvas, I am going ahead with my views (some strong ones at that)... I needn't now repeat this again. And more importantly, I do know that its easier to say things than to do them but there is also this popular saying that the pen is mightier than the sword, so I am sure my views here do possess the power of the 'Pen'. Lastly, I will be referring to Mahatma Gandhi as Gandhi in short with all due respect to the person and his name (A legacy) since I genuinely respect the man.

Apart from the health aspect of fasting, i.e., cleansing your digestive system once in a while, I don't believe fasting is powerful. But it seems like people believe that there is another use for fasting which goes something like this 'Nobody can loose through suffering and sacrifice'. So Suffering and Sacrifice are the two major operative words in the narrative of fasting. Gandhi achieved this because he himself was true in his believes. If fasting is faith fortified, then Gandhi, I believe had the faith. According to me he did it with the highest faith in himself and the power of self denial and his methods & politics (if any) was never devoid of spiritual content. Most importantly he was fighting against the distress called colonialism which had nothing to do with democracy. There was no parliament in India during the freedom struggle. The Parliament itself is the highest institution of Civil society.

If the yogi (whose fast couldn't last a week), and the 'New' Gandhian 'represent' the civil society, then their approach towards anti-corruption shows complete disrespect to the Parliament (civil society itself). Although I must admit here that the current UPA governments' totalitarian temptations in the face of public dissent, in comparison to the two heroes seem more farcical.

back... after a 4 year vacation....

Don't quite know why i didn't blog and cant actually think of an easy answer, but i just couldn't. All I know is that in these 4 years, so many things have happened that i don't think i can relate to some of my previous posts. So my new ones might contradict some of my earlier views.

Now there are things that have changed in me and some that just haven't. I am sure its bound to happen. Anyway, so before I go ahead and post anything new, i am going to dedicate one or two posts only to write out what according to me have changed and what haven't.

Things that have changed (for the good or bad..)
Lets see, well i am no longer living in hyderabad or mumbai, I am back in bangalore. I'm not that lazy as i used to be (i am gymming hard), more patient, very particular about the movies and songs that i see or listen to, grew a liking to photography, tried my hand at classical guitar, tried my hand at GMAT (and failed miserably), I don't think aloud anymore, i follow politics (come on i am a business man), i am extremely polite and diplomatic when need be (actually on-field sales & marketing have made me this way... and a bit insensitive at times i must admit), i don't dish out advice when its not solicited, have no regrets what so ever on events and happenings of my life in the past, actually i just don't think about the past, good memories are just there to cherish (and i do that at times), have dated many interesting women :-), I don't give women the chase that they (at times might) want, I have a habit of getting involved with my work that i forget everything else, my conversations depend largely on my mood, I can happily laugh at my self when i make a complete fool of myself, I am open to learning anything new and like change a lot and i learn a lot from people and their experiences, Ya i do listen very carefully when others talk, I don't compare my self to anyone and it just works for me, I am not a forgive-and-forget person...... I like to dream and enjoy a good laugh... :-)