I am my parent!

Whenever I feel I am missing my parents, I tell myself, I don't have to. When I see the mirror, I see them in me. I realize that I am but a part of the larger tree. When I think, when I decide, my brain automatically brings up perspectives of my dad and mom as well. Every bit that I am, I am not me alone, but something that has roots back to my dad and mom. Then how can I ever feel their absence? When you understand what life really is, you transcend above missing of the physical presence.

Proactive or Reactive?

Well, I am quite amused by many of the corporate buzzwords used in calls today such as 'proactive', 'connect', 'take it offline', etc. While the words 'connect' and 'take it offline' seem to prove that we lead a mechanical life, I have always been amused by the statement 'we always need to be proactive'. In life, there are things that you need to be reactive even when you know something will definitely happen. You know well, that as per the metabolic and digestive process, you have to attend a nature call everyday. But do you proactively go and seat yourself in the restroom just waiting for the call to come through? You have to be reactive where you have to be so, and proactive where you have to be so. we seem to instead apply this buzzword to everything not thinking through if it is even possible. I read somewhere 'When someone says - expect the unexpected - then suddenly slap them and ask if they expected it'. How amusing yet true it is.  Life itself is unpredictable, so how proactive can one be? The best joke would be you telling God your future plans and your proactive thoughts.

Random Streaks IX

If you have an year to live, you still have 365 days. If you have a day to live, you still have 24 hours. If you have an hour to live, you still have 60 minutes. If you have a minute to live, you still have 60 seconds. Nothing is over in life till the pointer hits zero. Never give up.

If you are grateful to your company for giving you equal job opportunities, it shows your loyalty. But if you are grateful to your company for keeping you in the job then it shows your inability. Know the difference.

Don't look for a perfect life partner. Look for the person with those imperfections that make the person attractive to you. Smoother the wall, harder the climb.

Reality is the real dream. Dream is the unrealized reality. One flowing into another, always.

Compatible or happy couples are not people who have similar likes, tastes and thoughts. Rather they are couples who can also have different likes and thoughts, who may have disagreements and arguments, and yet find the harmony within each other's heart to continue the love and affection, regardless of what conflicts they go through.

You can be awakened only if you first asleep. Without darkness you will not know light. Without failure you will not know success. Without the devil you will not know God. You may not respect the devil, but you should recognize and value his existence for showing you God.

One bus cannot take you to all your destinations in life. Don't focus on the bus, but on the destination. Board and get off a bus when you have to.

State of 'Nothing'

The word 'nothing' indicates a state of emptiness or a vacuum such as the universe itself. The phrase 'have nothing' is the command that advises mankind to let go and be free. Have no fear, no hate, no desire, no sins. The letter 'I' is the single most powerful indicator of self. It is you and your ego. The sentence 'I have nothing' is a powerful self command that either indicates that you shall be in a meditative state of emptiness with no inhibitions or you have the world in front of you to conquer. It is up to you to make your life what you want it to be.

Random Streaks X

Any spiritual guru has to be like the Sun. The Sun radiates its light and heat to all people of the world without bias. The Sun has the same attitude towards all. It is the people who taken in the energy differently. Some people bathe in its light; some people cower in its heat.

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God created man. That is a project (each one's life is temporary and unique and has a definite start and finish). Man lives his life. That is an operation (it is a repetitive, ongoing activity). Man wants to become God; that is a risk which results in a scope creep and goes to God for Change Control Management! ;-) Project Management of life!
----- The happiest way to live life is to live as a child who just grew old with time, not as an adult who never grew up at all.

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Some day I will go on a cross country tour. Some day I will write a book. Some day I will spend a vacation with my family and friends. Some day i will walk with my old parents in the park. Some day I will paint a picture. Some day I will go to a concert. Some day I will grow trees. Some day I will begin a strict exercise regimen. Some day I will forget about all the work pressures, dirty politics, pressure imposed by the society, so on and so forth, so that I can be happy on the inside. The hardest lesson I have learned in life - that 'some day' will never come if that some day is not today.

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Some people have dreams in life but never wake up to realize them. Some people stay awake so that they don't miss out on the action and hence fail to dream.

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Give away something to others, not to look good in front of others, but to feel good within yourself.
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The eye does not capture

A drawing cannot capture what a photo can show, a photo cannot capture what the eyes can see, the eyes cannot capture all that the mind can imagine, the mind cannot imagine all that God can create. See His beauty in the world around you.

Random Streaks VIII

Decision and destiny - two entities that we don't control; but one drives the other to maneuver our life's course.

Some jobs we do for a reason, some we do for a cause. What we do for a cause becomes our passion in life, and what we do for a reason becomes our principle in life.

Man who thinks all decisions are in his hands is still messed up with his 'jeevathma'. Man who has realized that he controls nothing in this world has linked up with the 'paramathma'.

A leader says words he believes in. A boss says words that convinces his team. If you grow as a boss, the lesser you will be convinced of your own conviction.

A genius is he who is sane enough to know that he is not insane; and insane enough to push his sanity to the limits to test what heights and truth his knowledge can reach.

There is a source to all sorrow and happiness of this world. If you are absolutely confident that this source is permanent or can swear that this source caught you off-guard, then you can freely cry and laugh to your heart's content for as long as you want. Else, stay your mind in balance; neither cry nor laugh too much, the source that leads you to it does not outlive you.

You charge your mobiles and iPad everyday to ensure it is working fine and available when you need it. You are an organic device too. Charge your body with good food and exercise and you soul with a prayer.

God and Satan both open doors for you in life; just that Satan opens a trap-door. It is up to you to decide which door you want to go through.

Every thing in your life is predetermined; that is destiny. But you are not told what things you shouldn't do; that is fate. So, you do what you have to do; that is decision. Everything is interlinked in a strange way that you will not comprehend in this lifetime.

Atheists do not exist

Logically, atheists do not exist because they too believe in the existence of God. Physical law states that darkness is the absence of light. If one believes in darkness, then he/she believes in the absence of light. There are no two ways about it. It implies that he/she recognizes the existence of light to acknowledge that it is absent. Thus he believes that light exists, just that he considers it to be absent. So is the case with God. Thus, the reality is not that God is absent, but your not seeing his presence.

Random Streaks VII

Laughing in abundance is good for the heart. Crying in repentance is good for the soul.

For some, madness is a disease. Sadly, or happily, for some, madness is a release.

There are no goodbyes in the lonely road.

Not being responsible for anyone else in this world is both a boon, and a curse.

Fear makes the possible, impossible. Dealing with it does the reverse. Live by the fear, not with it.

Respect your enemies! A bad friend will weaken your strengths. But a good enemy will strengthen your resolve by breaking your limitations.

To some, I am their past; to some, I am their present; to some, I am their future. I always have a purpose. It's up to me to make a difference, leave a mark.

A good manager should manage activities and lead people. But many do it the other way around, becoming a boss instead, as to them people become only project resources to manage.

Any thing that is non-living and just a 'thing' is referred to as 'it' in English. Is that why it is called the IT industry? Because people are treated as resources and not living persons.

In life, opportunities are like trains passing by your station. When the right time comes, you should get into a train. But there will also come a time when you will have to change trains. Never end up sitting in the same train for a long time.

Random Streaks VI

Before I understood life, I was born, 

before I started living, I was gone, 

why did I live, why did I die, 

I will never know, how or why.

Thrill is not in doing what you want to do, but in doing what you won't do.

Bad memories are like a live landmine...step on them and they pulverize you all over again.

I spent everyday of my life, believing someone would come tomorrow, 

   to make my life worth living, delivering me from my sorrow. 

But no one ever came; eyes welled and made me cry. 

   wiping away my tears, I stood up, with hope in heart, to give another try. 

Live with hope, and live in comfort.

   live with memories, and living becomes an effort.

Be kind and compassionate to the poor and the handicapped, because they are God's own children. God created them to tell us what He could have taken away from us so easily, yet He has not. He created them to make us realize how lucky we are! They are blessed for their purpose in life is noble.

When you tell a lie, you are building a house of cards. Just pull out one card loose and the entire house comes down. Speak the truth, for it is like building a stone castle. Even if you manage to pull one brick loose, the castle still stands.

Face any situation, with a prayer and preparation. One without the other is useless. Both together is priceless.

Imagination is the most dangerous thing, for it holds the key to a person's success as well as failure. It is a boon as well as a curse. One can imagine beautiful, positive things and realize wondeful dreams. At the same time, one can imagine the worst nightmares and live a life of fear in the shadows. There need not be a separate place called hell and heaven, for your imagination creates it for you, based on how you channelize and control it. So use it carefully, use it well.

Don't try to be perfect; for the God who created you is not perfect Himself because he created humans, with a mind that desires and a body that fails. But He created the balance in life between good and evil with this imperfection. When something is so perfect, then strangely it becomes the most imperfect thing as well, because it is out of balance with how nature operates.

Random Streaks V

If you want people to follow your footsteps, then you will have to create it first. For that you have to keep walking forward.

A good matrimony has to be SMART - Secure, Mature, Affectionate, Respectful Togetherness!

If you want to know if you will succeed in a fight, then just observe your opponent. If he hesitates to enter the fight then it means you have already won.

Fear is the sickness that grips people who have choices in life. When you are left with nothing but one choice, then you are cured, for you have to go for that choice, no matter what comes in the way.

The reason why many people are unhappy in this world is because, they draw a circle around themselves and want their reality to exist within this circle...instead, draw the circle around your existent reality and you will be able to accept your life much better.

Reality without dreams is actualization without conceptualization. You know you are getting something, but don't know if you want it.

When you catch a cold, your nose is blocked and you have to breathe through your mouth, be happy. You have to realize that God has given you a way to breathe...what if you could not breathe through your mouth?People would then die of common cold with a blocked nose. When God gives you two ways to breathe, then he will give you many ways to live. So be happy, He is with you in everything you are and do.

Always aim to be the first in whatever you do, for even if you are in the second place, you are still the first loser.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, they say. But it ends only when you reach there. So keep walking without anticipating what the destination will be like, for if it is a mountain, you have to climb it, if it is an ocean you have to swim it and if it is a bridge you have to cross it. So don't keep anticipating what is going to happen ten years from now in life, rather live the moment. That is all you know and you have with you for sure.

Some questions will not be answered and some answers should not be questioned. Accept this way of life and you will find peace.

The Greatest Love Stories

The greatest love stories are not the ones you hear or read about. These are the untold stories of true love that blossomed in two random hearts, with emotions blazing inside, craving for love more than the breath, eating away the life from inside-out, missing each other with every passing thought. The greatest love stories are also the most sad ones. When it begins, it ends you, and you are reborn into a new warm life.

A part of life

A part of life spent not knowing what to speak.
A part spent not knowing when to speak.
A part of life spent not bothering to speak. 
A part spent not being able to speak.
And a good part spent without the chance to speak.

It seems like I've lived in silence, though there was a lot of noise in my life! What a life! 

A person inexperienced in life thinks that he/she can control their fate; a person experienced and enlightened by life knows that destiny takes you through your life. You can only maneuver your life; you are not the driving force. 

Life is not about what you expect out of it; but more importantly, what you accept in it.

Random Streaks IV

My greatest worry is not about dying, but about dying without having ever lived!

Fiction and Diction are the two key success elements in any proposal.

The greatest battles are not waged between countries of the world, but within you when your logic and sentiments collide. No matter which one wins, you still lose.

Life's experience do not give you a perfect living; but prepares you for imperfect living conditions!

Trying to be proactive in solving problems is like trying to get down from a train even before you have boarded it. Trying to solve problems while it happens is like getting down from a running train. When faced with problem in life, take a step back, relax and then focus on the one thing that would either solve the problem or help you live with it. That will make living a lot more happier.

God does not work in mysterious ways; it is straightforward. It is just that we can never fully comprehend it. An ant cannot understand why the sun comes up every morning and lights up the whole world. Our understanding of God is equivalent to that.

Every man, no matter how he looks, how he talks, how he walks, how rich he is, must still be a hero to someone in this world, and preferably die as one. That is his greatest dream. Without that his life will never be complete...a good life is completed by a purposeful death. Strong words, yet the simple truth.

The virtue of Black

Black is the most beautiful color. It is so powerful and tolerant because it absorbs all heat into itself. And yet it is so gentle because it hides all imperfections and does not reveal them. It is so generous because it amplifies and shows even the smallest pinprick of light that shines in it, and sacrifices itself to let that light illuminate and show the way for others. When one color can have so many good virtues, can't we?

Genius is Madness!

Genius is Intelligence + Madness + Spark

If you have intelligence only, that won't guarantee you success.
If you have madness only, you will end up in an asylum.
If you have a spark alone, you will be fused out by someone else.
If you have intelligence and spark only, you will end up working for a genius instead.
If you have intelligence and madness only, you will still end up in an asylum but will be treated with more respect, classifying you as 'the Criminally Insane'.
If you have madness and spark only, you will probably end up bombing a city!

Random Streaks III

Everyone's life comes to an end some day; their lights go out. But I don't want mine blown out like a candle. I want it to be put out like a forest fire!

The more I fall down in life, the more I can get up, only more wiser and stronger each time.

Why bother thinking about what is coming around the corner in life; when life itself comes a full circle and there are no corners!

Be dead to the past, be reborn in the present, live this moment. And don't change the order.

God and mothers have interchangeable roles. When mother is around, she is our God. When she is no more, then God is our mom. So, no one is ever an orphan in this planet.

Lead me. If you can't, then follow me. If you can't, then get out of my way. Because I am going to keep walking forward.

If you want to be successful in life then - prepare from failures, don't prepare for failures.

Life is all about chances

Life is all about the chances you get and the choices you make.

Having said that, life also does a 360 degree turn!
It is about the chances you get and the choices you make...
and also about the choices you make and hence the chances you get.

Life is a bell curve

The probability of what you can achieve in life takes the form of a bell curve. When you are very young this probability is on the rise. It reaches a peak where you are functioning at your full potential, and comes down as you grow older. Make full use of the peak you attain.

Birthdays

Each one of us don't celebrate our birthday alone; we share it with our mother who was also re-born on that day. Beginning of a wonderful bonding in life. Let us respect our mother, uphold women' respect in the society and celebrate life itself. Thank your mom everyday, for the rest of your life.

Woes of an IT guy

In this country, the poor don't pay taxes. And the rich know how to avoid taxes. It is the middle class, at all levels, that end up paying taxes for everyone else.

Service Tax
Service Charge
VAT
Income Tax
Road Tax
Water Tax
Property Tax
Wealth Tax
and much more

And new to this line up from this budget is tax on 60% of PF amount withdrawn post April 1st.

I won't be surprised if soon there is a tax for breathing, considering the pollution situation in Delhi.

I wonder, I pay road tax expecting the roads to be in good condition. But it is not. And I end up with damages in my vehicle due to travel in these damaged road daily. So who pays for the wear and tear of my vehicle that is caused by bad roads? And who pays for my backbone damage travelling in these roads?

Above 10 lakhs salary, and it leads to cancellation of LPG subsidy. But benefits in abundance for Vijay Malliya to pull him out of crisis. Where does that money come from? This is just one story.

And why is there no guarantee that my future generations, belonging to my caste and community (the so-called Upper class), will not be affected by reservations and will be treated fairly, based only on merit?

As a citizen of the country and the state, I really would like to know where my tax money really goes.

I don't have enough money to pay so much tax, and I am asked to invest more to avoid tax. If I had more money to invest, why the hell would I work for a company on a monthly salary and be tagged ''middle class"?

It is a sad yet funny state that a working person is forced to give house loan declaration for tax benefit, and the same person also gives rent receipt for tax benefit, all for just a few dollars more.

And what are we tagged as? IT professionals. People think we automatically get cartloads of money every month, and especially if you work for a MNC corporate that becomes the expectation. We can therefore afford anything. So anybody can fleece us. Few outsiders know what kind of a sh**hole these companies are and what they do in the name of cost cutting (sorry if I offended anyone. I am not referring to any particular company, but have worked in many in the last 16 years).

I go to a hotel, and I am automatically compelled to pay a tip to the waiter (it is a matter of false dignity, right?). I go to a barber. Same story. I go to a shop. And they automatically round of the total cost to the nearest higher integer and I end up losing money, even if it is only 50 paise. Or sometimes they give me chocolates. So that is what I get for sweating out and wasting my personal life balance. Chocolates that I can munch on the way home. Who gives me 5 rupees for free? Nobody.

Buy a house today. And your son will take possession of the house after it is built. It takes so many years. but you start paying EMI immediately. Also, your fear factor in the job increases 1000% after the loan. You cannot afford to lose the job. But never let your manager know about the loan. Else you are screwed. You cannot throw away the job by getting angry right? Finally you end up with only your toothpaste having salt. Now I know why that toothpaste is so healthy. I end up becoming so shameless that my BP automatically goes low. So the toothpaste helps keep my BP in balance.

Go to a hospital. They don't ask you about your illness first. They first ask you where you work. Then when your consultation is over, they simply pick up a printed sheet, and they circle option D out of Options A, B, C and D. I have to automatically understand that I am the sacrificial lamb for working in the IT industry.

Get caught in the traffic, and the police asks you where you work. Once you say the name of the company, the amount you have to pay increases. Over and above that you have to listen to his shitty advice on following traffic rules as well.

Go to a government office on some work. Never end up saying where you work. The bribe you will be asked will depend on your place of work. It is automatically assumed that you have stacks of cash inside your shoulder bag.

I really need to keep a very old pair of clothes and chappals to visit such places so that I can look ''poor'' so that I am not fleeced. Is this what I am reduced to in the country today?

Over and above all this crap, one has to sit and listen to all the crap from one's manager in the appraisal discussion where you get more advice. "Your goals keep changing", "you could have done better", "you are good but that WoW factor is missing", "your goals are not aligning with the organization's goals". Even my salary is not aligning with the organization's profit. Am I complaining? And all problems and promotions are dealt with the magic of normalization that no one understands, created by someone that no one knows. When one's rating goes through normalization, it rather feels like a dog has just been neutered. No possibility of any further fertility.

So a common middle class IT professional today pays out so much to various sections of the society, but end up with bills, taxes and EMIs. All for what? The big Indian dream of having a house on loan, a car on loan, child on own, higher studies in US, grand wedding, even grandeur funeral, finally dying without ever trying to reach out to any of the dreams that died long before the person did.

Random Streaks II

2 o'clock in the morning or 2 o'clock in the night. It's all in how you see it.

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At some point of time in life, when we don't break the monotony of it and live our life, we realize we have been sailing in a bathtub.

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Hard Work and Good Luck are like the two legs in our body. When one goes backward, one will always be forward to propel you forward in life.

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There are no miracles when you cannot see one.

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Good times are not times when you face no problems at all. Good times are times when you find solutions to every problem.

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To appreciate someone you need facts; but to find faults with someone you just need to be creative.

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Life is a great teacher. And it is one classroom where you can never be absent.

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Life begins as a plain blackboard. We have the chalk, but God holds the duster. We can only perform the act of writing on the board, but need to request God through prayers to undo what we have written using the duster He holds.

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Random Streaks

Ego is like cholesterol. You have good and bad cholesterol. Likewise, good ego lifts you up in life by giving you ambitions. Bad ego pushes you down by giving you desires and arrogance.

Every morning when I get up, look back and don't find my still body on the mat, I know it is going to be a great day in my life!

Heavenly dreams sprinkled in a hellish life, 
finding love and hope, despite the bitter strife.

The necessity of love is what brings living beings to each other, regardless of species.

One who has everything wonders what to do with it. One who has nothing wonders what to do in life. One who has what he needs and uses it well makes wonders in life.

The idle mind just wonders about things; the active mind makes wonders of things.

Lady Luck is a temperamental dame. Sometimes she prevents you from falling into a pit. Sometimes she gives you a hand to pull you out after you've fallen. But sometimes it is she who has dug the pit!

Seeking character in organs

When we fuss about things in life, when we demand, when we feel we don't have enough, let us learn lessons from our own body. The heart takes all your beatings, and yet continues to beat, without a break till the very end of your life. It does not demand, only reacts to what you give it. You abuse it, you will kill it. It does not hold any grudges. You kick it to start it, sometimes it wakes up as well and continues work faithfully. When each and every organ of your body has so much character in them, I am sure we can be much better than that.

The 4th C

Everyone's life in today's world follows a 3C principle - Choice, Convenience or Compromise. The 4th C, Cause, is seldom found. But it is the 4th C that makes life meaningful to us and to others.

That thing called Happiness

If you lose something, then you search for it in the place you lost it. But happiness is one thing that you can lose in one place, but still find it in some other place, and it is all the same. So what's stopping you in life?

New Direction

Every turn of the road brings a new direction. So do changes in life.

Simple Pleasures

Sadness in life comes in waves, whereas happiness comes in a drizzle. But you enjoy the drizzle more than being engulfed in a wave. It is the small things in life that make you happy, making you forget a larger sadness most often.

Laughter of a small child.

Fragrance when the rain water falls on the mud

Seeing a flower bloom in the plant that you water every day

Giving an old person something to eat

Hearing rain water fall on the roof of your car when you drive through

Having a beautiful dream

Hearing someone say they cannot live without you

Singing a song to your own judgment of perfection

Reading a good joke and then burst out laughing when you are alone

See a beautiful stranger and realize suddenly that the stranger is looking at you as well

Tell the truth knowing well that you will then face the music

Refrain from junk food an entire day

Have the first genuine sweat from a workout

Give up the seat in the bus for a lady or an old person

Smell of coffee early in the morning

See a beautiful place and imagine what heaven would be like.

See the bright sun every morning and believe that all is well in life.

This is life.