life... live... alive...

There is something about being alone if there is loveliness around you. The weather, the music, the trees, the wind, the food - everything add to the joy and romance of being alone. They add to every mood and every memory. Life is a beautifully mysterious thing. One never knows where one finds a friend, where one finds a smile, where one finds a memory that leaves not till one passes on. Life brings to us just what we need - at the time that we need it and at the time that we are ready for it. There never need any worry about where life is heading to. We just need to live and everything else will be taken care of for us.

Live every moment, live every chance… live every song, live every breath… live every smile and every tear drop… because it is yours. It is all yours… and it will never come back to you once it goes. Live because it is just one life you've got. Live because your life is the only thing that will ever really truly be yours - all yours. No one can take your life - not until you give it to them. Every step taken, every thought that lights up the mind, every word that leaves the lips, every smile that brightens up the moment, every laugh that rides the wind… every turn ever taken every decision ever made is all yours. Just yours. What you make of your life… how you live it is up to you*. No one can have made a choice for you - not truly - coz you chose to listen to them in the first place.

Live - because the world is a better place that you live. The world around you is just waiting to give you the best life possible. Every tree, every flower petal, every drop of water, every little wind-let and every ray of the sun is just waiting to make the best for you to live. Open up your arms and let that world in. Go for long walks and fall in love with yourself... Give up all worries. What you have, you have. What you don't, you don't. You want something - go get it. You've lost something??? Fine! You just didn't try hard enough - you still want it try again... harder. Or maybe it just wasn't ment for you, get up and move on with your life. There are equal amounts of joy and despair in this world. Keep your head screwed on right for both... Keep your heart light enough to come out from both stronger and better... its just one life... live it to the fullest!!! And heres to the best lives that can ever be lived... :)

* a debate with a friend (karan syal) made me realise that... most of what is in the blog is also from reflections after a talk with karan on a train journey. sharing thoughts... even a one sided pouring out shoots out new thought tendrils...

Dear Lady Luck,

I wonder what luck has go to do with anything in the world. Sometimes... when I envy someone I think they are lucky (ok I do give credit to them but sometimesss... only!!!). Then there are times when some people never get anything no matter how hard they try, and I wonder why they have to be so unlucky (are they doing things the wrong way? They can't be - not all the time!!!). Then again is my luck... never been lucky. I think so at least (does everyone do so about their own selves?) So what is this luck all about? Whom does it favor??? Any rule book???

Well... as things go... it is just better to think we get what we deserve, and keep working our asses of for something more that we do want (though why do others around us get it easier??? or may be they work behind their screens...I feel happier knowing they are plain lucky!!! than work harder ;)) There really is nothing free in the world is there??? Everything has to be bought - by time, sweat, brains, work, passion, and sacrifice... Every bit of fame and success has to be paid for in form or the other. Well this isn't wholly from experience...partly from observation.

Then again... how does it matter??? whatever the outcome is... did you enjoy the ride??? If you did it shouldn't bother you. This is one thing I learnt of late. You may have a million plans and dreams and the million and one-th one will come true (obviously nothing else will!!! rule of nature). The best thing is... to forget about the million plans then. And just look back only to think of the fun you had in planing them. The million and one-th one was the best thing for the moment!!! Nothing could have been better (okay I still have trouble thinking this though). capture the moment in your memory book to laugh at later (or just smile to yourself) and move on. Lady luck may not be on your side... Who cares!!! Have fun!!! Just keep up the smile :)

(inspired by the life of a dear friend whose address lady luck has forgotten...)

random thoughts...

sometimes... we never know the true meaning or value of a thing unless we strip it to its last reserve. it is said that only when people are far away do we realize their value... mabbe... its only when we don't have time to watch movies so we miss them... its only when i had to work on a 20seconds ad did i realize how long or even short a second can be. only now do i realize that it is not right to talk about any thing till we get into its soul...

another thing is that... flying off the handle at times of extreme tension and pressure is the easiest way to escape. but at the same time it is the stupidest. 'coz most often it lets out more energy than the situation warranted. i believe that life never makes things difficult. all that credit is just ours.

the best way to discover the world and understand how it evolved or works is to travel. in the off beat, far off, remote places lies the heart of civilization. without knowing the history we can never understand the present reality. what goes behind a race determines where it is heading now. A person who has never faced injustice can never learn to be cautious. looking at things in a detatched, third person point of view does help us understand things better. also to appreciate things better. a person attached to something can never really be its perfect judge. a little ironical of me to say it when i think only close friends have a right to judge me. perhaps the equation is different for people ;)

sometimes it is amazing to realize how life has actually evolved. life crops up in the most amazing of places. i happened to find three small shacks serving eatables et all to vehicles that are stopping at a railway crossing in the middle of a barren land. there was no sign of civilization for miles around. there is so much life n beauty in dry, barren, golden lands that roll by the train window sometimes; same as the lush green fields. life never never ceases to amaze me. the more i discover it the gladder i am that i am ALIVE!!!

education today

"Today, almost 5% of the country’s children, totalling one crore, are out of school and 27% of school-going kids are dropouts after class five. “There is a world outside your companies. You have built world-scale capacities. It is now your turn to build a society — a true school,"

this is an excerpt from Mr.Chidambaram's speech at the ET awards on 29th october. first of all felt very proud to have such a minister taking care of my country. the way he spoke and what he spoke... completely filled me with pride. I'm sorry I didn't know much about him before.

coming to what he said
5% = 1 crore - no education
27%= 5.4 crore - education till class 5
89%= 17.8 crore- some school education (class 10 max)

only 11% of our kids go to college. the global average is 45%. statistics are scary things but they are all that wake us up. we have so many colleges. i always thought so. AP especially has more colleges than it needs... so we all thought 'coz clearing EAMCET would guarentee a seat in an engineering college. we are missing the point some where. what is the use? there are coaching centres, concept schools, junior colleges at every turn and corner. it is just putting up a false image in front of us. can u just imagine? imagine how it is going to be when so many people arent educated? the IT sector will go on taking more people but whom will it take? the boom in the IT sector (or for that matter any other sector) doesn't reach the uneducated. if the world is only bothered about the unemployed educated what will happen to the uneducated?

going to Arkapalli and working there... i could get a glimpse of this fact. i was only thinking about that little village and the students there. Chidambaram's words were like a blow. its like u think the room is all mopped up and some one spills a gallon milk. ( thats a weird example but the only one i can think of now!). there is so much to do... but the villages and the dark interiors are barely visible in this cyber age. (you must have realized i dislike the IT sector and am a hard core civil engineer, by now)

SPRUHA's next mission is to put up a junior college in or near arkapalli. we hope to over come all the troubles and shortcomings of the already established and near to closing colleges. our vision is to start a small scale industry sorts which can employ all these people. our college and industry will go hand in hand. they work half day and study for free. those who really wanna go ahead in life get the education the ones not so ambitious learn a trade and get a job. wish it works out. it is still a dream and one we wanna make come true as soon as possible. the college work should start moving soon. we would love help...

packed journeys...

came home in a SETWIN bus today. SETWIN stands for Society for Employment Promotion & Training in Twin Cities, so is exclusive for Hyderabad n sec'bad only. once long ago a friend told me that getting into a SETWIN bus takes you directly up! but that was back when they had rickety scary looking buses. now they have all new buses so i decided to take a chance and got into the already packed bus. now this isn't the normal APSRTC big bus, its a small one and people were packed! jammmmmm packed. every time some one has to disembark few more have to get down to make place and then get on again. people pushed against each other, with hardly any place to firmly anchor the feet, nor anything to hold on to to keep standing as the bus buzzes off...

what really made todays journey interesting was the bus conductor. he was full of lively chatter keepin a smile on everyone's lips and making the journey less uncomfy. at every stop he would shout out for more people to get on, inviting more people when you would wonder where they would fit in. then of course were the passengers. today i found an exceptionally large number of people who were ready to exchange smiles. was that because of the happy atmosphere in spite of the heat and the strain??

in just a moment

isnt it strange how the world changes in just a moment? no I'm not talking about the big drastic changes that disasters bring about... about the small things that make subtle changes and we ourselves know not that it has happened till we come across the same situation and we realize that things aren't the same anymore.

an accident.... and forever you get that small moment of fear when u slam down the brake and look up to make sure no one is right behind you. a breach of trust and you know you don't want to travel that lane again, and all sense of security is lost. a sudden glowing of the bulb in your head and that little imp that resides there sees a new world altogether. the moment of comprehension of something changes it forever, and you begin to wonder how you could have been so dumb in the first place....the latter moments i do enjoy but the first ones... hmmm can't seem to help them now can we?

chak de INDIA...

jana gana mana adhinayaka....
sukhadaam varadhaam mataram... vande mataram!!!
hamara tiranga aasman mein leherata...

just fills me with a passion that fills the entire being and gives me immense inspiration to get up and do something, and do it best!!! my INDIA... hamara INDIA

INDIA... is like no other country in the world. not only because of it's past, nor of it's present. not because of it's culture, nor of it's diversity. not because of it's problems nor of its triumphs. INDIA is INDIA because every Indian has stood up with pride and passion for the nation sometime in their life and felt him self to be a indian deep inside in every part of the being - be it for the flag hoisting, a cricket match, a war, a natural calamity, or a patriotic moment in a movie.

born Indian... inherited its history, culture, values, superstitions, triumphs and pitfalls... we know that what we have now has been hard earned. its not ours just for the heck of it. it has been given to us... a great privilage. INDIA is INDIA because even today we believe in making INDIA glorious. even today we youth are ready to stand up for the cause of a better tomorrow. even today bharat mata is our mother. even today we belive in ourt being united.no matter what others try to tell us - from the north to the south we all believe in secularism. even today we sign up to fight for the country...

60 years of independence...perhaps we are not the dream of our freedom fighter fathers, but we are still together. we still learn and we still want to give up everything for hamara bharat mahan! INDIA oh INDIA!!! proud of everything that we stand for. proud of everything we have accomplished... and ready to touch the sky in the years to come... we will make you prouder!!! chak de INDIA...

this is a beautiful song... from the movie swades... captures the feel perfectly and rahman composed n sang it event more wonderfully!!!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=aoRm4-QuYKw

just wanna go out there and answer that call!!!