king of fruits!

This surely deserves a mention!

Just had the first fruit of this year's Mango season. This is the one thing that hasn't parted way since childhood, which I distinctly remember. All the memories of numerous watching late night movies and negotiating the mangoes from the stock, fruit by fruit, bit by bit. All memories rushing back.

Bliss.

as this part of the world welcomes summer

As monsoon is about to arrive in our parts of India, sun is shining at its peak here. Over this long weekend while I caught up with IPL, which I didn’t bother to follow for its second season so far. I’ve found it very interesting. Not the sport, but the way its commercialized. The closing ceremony was glittering. I wasn’t sure whether it was a tournament of a country or Olympics. Just re-iterating that cricket isn’t – just another sport – in India. President Zuma praising everyone and advertising the money the South African government made while hosting the tournament. We can tirelessly have arguments for and against such glamorized version of the game, but nothing sells like success.

As dumb audience, we are supposed to watch, what we are made to watch. We shouldn’t be thinking about the merchandizing and betting revenues generated by the people and companies who’ve invested in the game. Its supposed to be a movie, something that you don’t think too much about. IPL is all we talked about for a couple of days. Of-course the Manmohan Singh cabinet selection and North Korean nuclear test took some time as well. Visit to Nottingham Ikea is worth mentioning as well. Biggest furniture store I’ve seen so far, selling possibly all parts of the household. They’ve got the dream kitchens & bedrooms up with best possible permutations of what you can think of. Coach ride back to London from Leicester was relaxing without the traffic that was encountered going. As the long summer days come to photogenic sun-set end, all you do is..

Click

What a verdict of a billion voters!

Politics in general and Indian politics in particular intrigues me. Youth of any country I’m sure wants decisive people in the lead, who can lead a country into the developmental sunshine. That’s what I think has been delivered by the Electoral masses of India.

Loss is orphan, and success has many fathers. Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone. Smiles and grudges covered by the untiring media. People caught off-guard by blunt questions. Any major event, win or loss brings new stars to the platform and rides others into the sun-set. Many greats have won and lost.

Wishing the new government all the luck it needs to take a billion people towards sunshine. Congratulations to the winners. Sympathy for the loosers. Hoping for a much younger and dynamic leadership for the next term. India definitely deserves better, politicians.

Whats amazing is listening to all who haven't fared well. A few accept defeat with humility and some are just plain sore losers. But anyways, like the old adage says:- ring out the old - ring in the new. Lets do an Obama and say

Change is here

Money has no memory. Experience has

I received a beautiful email and felt compelled to share it.

x

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Money has no memory. Experience has. You will never know what the total cost of your education was, but for a lifetime you will recall and relive the memories of schools and colleges. Few years from now, you will forget the amount you paid to settle the hospitalization bill, but will ever cherish having saved your mother's life or the life you get to live with the just born. You won't remember the cost of your honeymoon, but to the last breath remember the experiences of the bliss of togetherness. Money has no memory. Experience has.

Good times and bad times, times of prosperity and times of poverty, times when the future looked so secure and times when you didn't know from where the tomorrow will come... life has been in one way or the other a roller-coaster ride for everyone. Beyond all that abundance and beyond all that deprivation, what remains is the memory of experiences. Sometimes the wallet was full... sometimes even the pocket was empty. There was enough and you still had reasons to frown. There wasn't enough and you still had reasons to smile. Today, you can look back with tears of gratitude for all the times you had laughed together, and also look back with a smile at all the times you cried alone. All in all, life filled you with experiences to create a history of your own self, and you alone can remember them all.

The first time you balanced yourself on your cycle without support... The first time she said 'yes' and it was two years since you proposed... The first cry... the first steps... the first word... the first kiss... all of your child... The first gift you bought for your parents and the first gift your daughter gave you... The first award... the first public appreciation... the first stage performance... And the list is endless... Experiences, with timeless memory... No denying that anything that's material cost money, but the fact remains the cost of the experience will be forgotten, but the experience never.
So, what if it's economic recession? Let it be, but let there not be a recession to the quality of your life. You can still take your parents, if not on a pilgrimage, at least to the local temple. You can still play with your children, if not on an international holiday, at least in the local park. It doesn't cost money to lie down or to take a loved one onto your lap. Nice time to train the employees, create leadership availability and be ready for the wonderful times when they arrive. Hey! Aspects like your health, knowledge development and spiritual growth are not economy dependent.

Time will pass... economy will revive... currency will soon be in current... and in all this; I don't want you to look back and realize you did nothing but stayed in gloom. Recession can make you lose out on money. Let it not make you lose out on experiences... If you are not happy with what you have, no matter how much more you have, you will still not be happy.

Make a statement with the way you live your life

ZZZ

winds of change

Let me start outright by apologizing for the inactivity on the blog, as pointed by a few people now. A bit of laziness, a bit of busy schedule and largely responsible is the reading activity resumed over the long weekend. I’m not much of a reader, but get stuck onto a few things which I find interesting, sometimes.

Read Buddha – A story of enlightenment – by Deepak Chopra over the long weekend. I found it good, would definitely suggest if any one likes tailored fiction out of real story, sprinkled with intriguing quirks from the author throughout - the reason it took long as reading is intermingled with pondering. It takes you through the hero’s journey from being the inquisitive charming young prince who is confined within the walls of his palatial gardens, to Gautam the wandering monk living out in the woods, to Buddha – the enlightened one. The journey is gripping. It made me think how ordinary legends are, before they actually become legend in folklore. Also, clearly answers the simple thoughts behind Buddhism – which is a widely accepted set of beliefs.

Sunday was a visit to a temple in years. Good to see beliefs and rituals evolving, with available flexibility and resources. Any such place is usually where senior citizens visit frequently and spend time, but its good to find youngsters there. The week was busy at work and continues to be. Lunch discussions continue to be lively and entertaining as ever. Khus - Khus – the food so nice they named it twice – was today’s take-away. One of my office mates has recently been on back2back holidays to Japan & Madrid in quick succession. Jari, being overwhelmingly in the holiday hang-over, continues to rant about the organizational abilities & cleanliness of Japan and food of Madrid. Quite rightly noticed by him, Japan being the first developed Asian culture has a totally different image in the western societies because of its culture. Activity to pursue during a holiday is so subjective, from person to person.

As a little boy, I’ve always wanted to roam around without any purpose or plan in a holiday. But our current holidays are quite different to that old wishful thinking.
This reminds me of another so called obsession of I had, of black-boards at school and of Teaching. This has withered away with time as well. When I look back today of all those ideals back then, I can clearly see how children idealize people around them. I’m sure all of us have idealized our teachers at some point. When we grow up it moves on the Professors at Uni/College, then to successful legends in respective industries. The uninterrupted winds of change blowing continuously... I think our changes are again based on demographics – which to me are summarized as background (past) + surrounding environment (people we meet daily) affects our changes in so many different ways. Our thinking changes, or to put it elegantly, evolves. Some people acknowledge that we change with every breath, and some simply don’t. So does our choices of sports stars, academicians, artists, music stars, movie stars, politicians, global leaders. There might be pattern, but things move ever so slightly if not drastically. I ponder whether we are too busy to notice the changes in ourselves?

While coming back from work today amidst my usual rounds of news catch-up and music, saw a very fashionably crafted beard on a fierce looking guy. It was pointed to the extent that he could easily cut cake with his beard. Imagine someone trying that with beard or spikes!

Funny