Type-Os
Spellings and Wordings are very important. Its importance strikes us only when a typo / wrong-word-in-the-wrong-place changes the meaning of the entire sentence. It is even more embarrassing when such statements are addressed to the wrong addressee! Here are some real life examples to prove this point :
1. Instead of saying "That is insulting", she said "That is insluting" !!
2. In an official mail to the clients regarding hotel accomadations, "Shilton Royale" was one of them. I dont think the clients ever preferred the place as the sender missed out on the "l" in "Shilton"!!
3. She wanted to say "Arey! Ek Dum ..." instead she said "Arey! Ek Bum.. " !!
4. Never type in a hurry! Thats when you type extra letters in the wrong places - like an extra "t" in "busy" after the "s" while saying "I am busy" !!
5. In her confusion regarding the place she had to shift to, she said "I dont know whether to shit here or there" !!
6. Intended to say "'cute' has transcended its horizons when you use it" instead said "'cute' has transcended its horizons when you use me" !!
7. A lady chatting with her male friend wanted to ask him if he was a good cook. She landed herself in an embarrassing situation by typing a "c" instead of the second "o"!!
8. Entry in a diet diary - "500 gms snacks, 200 ml cock" !! :))
QED :)
Pannamaa Paasamaa ? (Money or Love)
That was the topic of the debate at Salaman Paapaya's Pattimandram on this lazy Sunday morning. I happened to "bump" into this program while idly browsing channels on the idiot box.
Its a very interesting debate topic indeed. Though I have never got into a heated discussion with any of my friends on this one, I have discussed something on similar lines with a friend of mine.
Elaborating on the topic in his thooya (pure) madurai tamizh, Paapaya said, "There are times in life when we face crushing defeats, when we feel extreme sadness or depressing moments filled with a sense of acute loss. What is it that gets you back on your feet and urges you to go on with life - Panamaa (money) ? illai Paasama (Love and affection) ?"
There were 3 people to speak for "Paname thaan (Money is ALL)" and 3 for "Paasam illada Panam proyojanam illai (Money without love or affection is no money)". The arguments spoken on either sides seemed true from their respective perspectives (as it is with any debate).
The "Money is ALL" groups argued that in this modern world money is THE thing that moves people. Everything comes with a price tag including paasam. The treatment and care at every hospital is directly proportional to your bank balance. Every girl dreams is to hook a MNC maapilai earning 3 - 12 lakhs P. A. (I beg to differ here). Any daughter-in-law is proud of her rich and high class mother-in-law and diligently serves her father-in-law if and only if he gets his pension on time. More money credited into you bank account, more paasam credited to your account too. The banks safeguard your "panam" however there are no banks for "paasam".
The opponents argued otherwise, firmly stating that its "paasam" that heals a broken man's wounds, brings him back to his feet and urges him to go on with life. Money can buy materialistic possessions. It cannot buy love or affection. As an example, lets assume you are stranded in the middle of no where with loads of money and an old lady of your mother's age. Your hunger cannot be satisfied with currency notes, neither can you eat them nor can you buy the food from the old lady. But what satisfies your hunger is the food that the old lady shares with you, like she would share with her son/daughter. An old sick man is not motivated to get up from his bed if you show him is bank balance statement but what cures him is the loving touch of his grandchild.
Money is always debited from one account and credited into another. However as wise men have said love is never debited; its always credited to both accounts. The best part of the debate was when Bharati (opponent) turned plates on Raja's (who enacted Rajni's father-in-law in Shivaji) argument by quoting his own words that "Madurai kaaranga paasakaaranga" (All Madurai people are full of love). She said "Is it justified that what holds outside the pattimandram changes to currency on this stage?".
To conclude, Paapaya gave the "final verdict" with a simple example. He said - Consider a man who is left broken in spirit, having lost all his money. As he feels the burden of defeat weighing down upon him, he fears that he has no courage to go on. In this situation, its not money that would make him pick up the pieces of life and move on. But what really encourages him are the words of his better half, lovingly consoling him that he was more important to her than the money he lost and that she would choose to have him over the money any day. Her words of wisdom and motivation are what he needs makes a fresh start in his life. Like money, love also has a bank - each one of us own a bank of love in our hearts. But, unlike money banks, there are no debits !! Only Credits :) !!
Sunset
A jewel in the sky,
That catches your eye,A red ball of fire,Seeing it, you never tire...You get thinking As you see it sinking, You could say, Its the end of today..A pleasant relaxing sight,With the vanishing light,Having worked from dawn to dusk,
Smell the air full of musk...
Yet another day is gone,And you are alone,Realization being stark,That you remain in dark...
Marriage
I just returned from my close friend's wedding and I am writing this before I lose "it" :). Today was the reception, tomorrow being the actual wedding. It was a typical south-indian style reception with the bride and groom being star "performers" on the stage, a long queue to the side of the stage waiting to greet and gift the couple and those who have finished greeting and eating (hogging ? :) ) sitting in the audience.
As we were waiting for our turn, it was fun to study so many
homo sapiens sapiens species under one roof. After an intense observation for about 10 mins, I came up with a profound theory: People attend weddings for 2 reasons, apart from blessing the newly weds (that being the 3rd) : "Food" and "Gossip" :). I could probably have another post justifying my conclusion. However this one is dedicated to the fact that marriage is an occasion where every one seems to be busy (pretend to be that even if they actually are not).
It is real fun to watch kids under the age of 2 brawling their heads off to get someone to pay attention to them. A naughty 5 yr old boy snatching the duppatta of a quite 3rd old girl (who starts to whine), throwing it on a grandpa sitting 10 yards away and running away before his act can be reprimanded. A 6 year old wandering on the stage, to show off a new balloon that his uncle just bought him, getting in the way of all the wedding snaps, only to be shooed away by the camera man. A 8 year old girl, busily running around in her shining new designer dress, trying to feel important in making sure her aunt's instructions are carried out in order.
A 10 year old girl sulking in a corner because she was not allowed to wear her mom's gold ear rings. A 11 yr old boy furious at having been scolded in front of all for playfully spilling some water on his grand pa's dress. A shy 12 yr old trying hard to hide her crush on the bridegroom. A 13 yr old feeling shy/self-conscious with so many people around and clumsily pretending to be an adult. A bored 15 yr old chewing bubble gum, with a look that says "Mom, I think this is the biggest mistake of my life. There cant be anything more boring. If only there were some good looking guys around ! sigh ! oh no !! not that stupid cousin of mine again. I will kill him if he tries to pull some stunt with me". A gang of just-attained-adulthood guys and gals conversing in "code" language that elders around cant understand.
A bunch of giggling 21 year olds, checking out guys and deciding who they would like to marry and how they could propose without making it obvious. Stray 25 yr olds enviously eyeing their happily married 22 year old cousins, feeling like old maidens. The newly married 26 year olds discussing their mother-in-laws tactics in extracting work. The 30 yr olds discussing kids, the 40 yrs old discussing savings, the 50 yr olds discussing retirement, the 60 yr olds discussing post-retirement-syndromes, 70 yr olds giving advice to any one who would listen, the 80 yr olds looking after their grand children, the 90 yr olds in bed.. Phew !! Well I am not sure what a 100 yr old would do. :)
Well, thats that. Marriage does keep every one on their toes :).
PS: Maiden aunts (whatever the age) have one and only one occupation - match fixing :). Rest in my next...
Day 0 - Day 4
Day 0 - 29th June 2007
Last day at Fiberlink as an intern. Successfully completed the "Grand finale" demo of my third project and won 2 games of TTT as an encore :D. I'll miss office for sure, over the next month :( .
Day 1 - 30th June
Official start of my vacation. Time to move on - from hostel to home I mean. Started packing yesterday night at 10.30, finished 60% of it by 4 in the morning, completed (22 luggages) at lunch time (with 4 hrs catnap in between) and I was back to my pavilion at 4 in the evening. Feels weird. Somehow I don't feel "at home" at home.
Day 2 - 1st July
Almost broke a second guitar (stopped with a single string) and managed to tune it to "perfection" :) after umpteen attempts.
Day 3 - 2nd JulyConvocation saree hunt.Day 4 - 3rd JulyDesignated as the team leader for a group of 5 at the Art of Living course.As told by my teacher(My comments in blue) -Quote: We pledge to follow some "voluntary" (read self-made) rules that would help you during the course. (alright). First - keep mobiles switched off in class (alright). Second - No smoking in or out of class (alright). Third - No alcohol in or out of class (hmm.. alright). Fourth - No Non-veg (hmm... wokay). Fifth - No TV, no movies, no SOAPs but news allowed (sigh.. alright). Finally, No coffee (what?!!!) and No tea (what the .... ?!! I dont think I can do it). We can break rules made by others. But these are rules that you have made yourself. So you have no reason to break it.. (oh really!!.. rules are meant to be broken irrespective their origin.. sigh.. If only I had known earlier!! too late now.. ) :Unquote
Give me a break !!
Too much of any thing is too much. So, after 6 years of "solid study", as I would call it, its now time for a change. Not that my designation is going to change from "MTech student" to "Member of Technical Staff", but that I need to re-energize and recuperate in order to take on the next part of my life. Time for a break! Have a kitkat ?!! :)
Words are all I have..
There are times in life when you feel you shouldnt have said what you just said. This is not one of them :). Anyways, jokes apart.. when we learn lessons the hard way we never forget them and this is precisely one of them.
Just a small story (which many of us would have read in Do-it-YOURSELF-SELF-development books) before I make my point, which was told to me in my personality development course. Here it is.
There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.
Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the! young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there."
A Thirukural (couplet 129) by Thiruvalluvar summarises the above story:
TheeyilNaal sutta Puun Ulaarum Aarathaey Navinaal sutta Vadu.which means that "The wound caused by fire will heal within, but not the scar left by the tongue".
The story or the saying did'nt hold much significance to me until the day I really messed up things for myself with the wrong use of words. Just a slip of the tongue, a moment when you see red and speak your mind or a wrong word at the wrong place at the wrong time to the wrong person is sufficient to make the rest of your life miserable.
Anger makes you a handicap. When you angry, you are blind, deaf, stupid and an unfeeling monster but you are unfortunately not dumb or mute. The overwhelming urge to lash out at your opponent (thats how you see anybody standing in front of you) is often uncontrollable and if you don't hold yourself back in time, the consequences can be really drastic. It could be anything from finding yourself a new member of the on-the-street-with-no-food-or-no-money-or-no-nothing club to finding yourself without a relation (friend , brother, sister, husband, wife or any relationship for that matter).
Well, the worst part is yet to come. Nothing is as difficult as convincing your "opponent" that you didnt mean what you just said. Its very easy to say sorry. Its after all another word. But you just cant take back what you said. Its out there and it remains there and you are forever thinking "If only I hadnt said that.. things would have been different". And, in the silence after the storm, you are left alone thinking if that one moment of glee or satisfaction that you got by using hurtful words is worth a lifetime of regret.
As an after thought, things would have definitely been different and better if you had just kept quite. Things would have been resolved in a different way, relationships could have been saved and life would feel much much better. But it all depends on our actions at that one moment.
Ultimately, the result of any situation is our hands. It depends on how we perceive things and how we reciprocate. After all, we always have a choice. Its just that we got to choose right !! :)
Some Quotes
The more you do, the more you can do.. The less you do, the lesser is usually done.. Its no good proving that you are good at something you are already good at... However its not bad idea to to prove that you are good at something you are supposedly bad at..If the past could be changed, then there would be no future..Some ppl set good examples of "how to be".. While there are some who set really good examples of "how not to be"..I wonder who I would be now, if I had once been what I am now..
Relationships-of all kinds-are like sand held in your hand. Held loosely, with an open hand, the sand remains where it is. The minute you close your hand and squeeze tightly to hold on, the sand trickles through your fingers. You may hold onto some of it, but most will be spilled. A relationship is like that. Held loosely, with respect and freedom for the other person, it is likely to remain intact. But hold too tightly, too possessively, and the relationship slips away and is lost... (Anon)Don't let someone become a priority in your life when you are just an option in their life!!!! - Vikas C(to be continued..)
