Proof of Existence

There comes a time in all our lives when the situations are not in our hands and not in our control then arises the question of the existence of the one whom we know as GOD.

Has anyone seen him physically in front of their own eyes? No. We have only heard about his existence and felt him. We have seen him in photos and in serials as royally dressed and larger than life figures having enormous powers to do almost anything. But how he really is, no one knows; from generations he is imagined like us the humans but is that the truth?

He has created this world and the basic elements necessary for survival; we worship him in temple, mosque and church; we celebrate the festivals remembering him and worshipping him but all these are like unquestionable known facts and we are supposed to believe on these. Is that all? Is our relation with him this much only? We all worship God but does this relation exist as many to one only, I guess not. Don’t we have a one to one relation with him?

Each of us shares the same love and care with God as we share with the person whom we love the most in this world.

I am not God but he exists in me and every other human being; he is the conscience, he is the soul, he is my inner voice, he knows me, he owns me, he exists in my happiness, he exists in my love, he exists in my anger, he is there in my prayers, he is there in my tears, I argue with him, I force him, I beg from him, I fight with him; he is always there with me.

We can never be angry on him because we can never be angry on ourselves because he is the one who has created everything and we know that we are nothing; when we are helpless; we just leave the whole thing on him and surrender ourselves completely and just say, “it is you who has given us these problems, you only will find the solutions.” When we are lost, we beg from him with bowed head and folded hands because we know that it is only he who can bring back the boat of life to the shore and we do believe in the chanting of mantras and prayers because we know that miracles can happen if he wants because we know that he is the supreme power and he can do anything even if it is impossible.

It is this belief of all of us that proves his existence; it is our faith that has kept him in our heart and mind forever. And he listens to us otherwise the rituals and customs would not have existed even after so much involvement of science in day to day life.

   Whatever happens, we always say either “Thank God” or “Oh God”.

---Above excerpt is from my upcoming novel "Morsels of Life".

Feeling like grrrrrrrrrrrrr.......

Back to blogging after a long time; was busy with festivals, celebrations and sudden family emergencies. Days and months passed and now the year is going to end in just few more days. New Year will start with new hopes, aspirations, plans, commitments, friends, foes and so many other new things. But with these new- the uncertain ones, we will have some old things as well which will carry forward from the previous year. Carry forward things will include the best, the good, the not so good and the ugly.

Good and best things could be the presence of a happy family, close friends, well paid job, possession of assets and property or anything else. Have we ever thought what this not so good and ugly actually is? Each of us has our own set of tribulations in life and the presence of these unwanted tribulations is the thing that makes our life not so pretty.  And most of the time these problems are nothing but human beings who create problems in our life.

These problematic people could be someone at your workplace you really can’t work with; or some family member you can’t adjust with; or someone who works for you but does not understand your perspective; or someone who broke the promise and hurt you; basically it is someone whose presence irritates you the most; it is someone you don’t like or hate from the bottom of your heart; it is someone whom as soon as you see, you feel like grrrrrrrrrrr……..

Presence of such people is disturbing but it is not in our hands. We can’t just simply shift + delete them from our lives. But what creates more trouble, the presence of such people in our lives or our inability to tackle such people? I feel, it is the latter that is the root cause than the former. After all, we can change what is in our control but not that what is not; it depends on us how much we can get affected or I should say it depends on us how much we can allow them to affect us; it depends on us how we mould ourselves, whether to be as is expected by them or to be as the one of our own choice.

Putting the blame on others and escaping or surrendering to the situation is always the easy way but definitely not the right way.  Just surrendering and giving up without trying will not make them realize that they are wrong. Taking the charge and speaking up for what is right is the correct way and should be the only way. Until and unless we ourselves take the charge and fight for our rights, nothing can change in our life. Transitioning of the criticism to constructive or destructive is entirely our preference. 

But the presence of such people paves the way for letting you know your inner strength, it shows you the real you, the real power and courage you possess. It brings out the positive in you and inspires you. So, at the end what it requires is the attitude and the spirit to fight back and move on.

For worst scenario which is totally out of control, saridon and disprin is anyways there :-)

Bongs and Durga Puja

When we talk about bongs, we can seldom miss talking about maacher-jhol or rosogolla or taant-sarees or Durga Puja.

Eventhough you don’t meet your friends and relatives for the rest of the year; Durga Puja being the main festival of bengalis, makes sure that all bongs are together during this time. The preparation of the grand event begins months before the festival but from the day of Mahalaya – the celebration begins. Mahalaya is the day of invocation or invitation to the mother goddess to descend on earth. It is also the day of remembrance where people offer “tarpan” in memory of their ancestors.

And then begins Navratri -  the worship of goddess Durga for ten days. From sixth day of Navratri, starts the actual carnival and it continues till Dussera – the day when Maa Durga killed the demon Mahishasur that is the victory of good over the evil.

The stage is set with idols of Durga, Laxmi, Saraswati, Karthik and Ganesh and Lord Shiva; pandits perform puja all day long; huge pandals are set with crowd of hundreds of people who come for performing puja and then have the famous khichudi bhog; the evenings turn musical where singers sing the rabindra sangeet and other folk songs; various food stalls are set to satisfy the hunger pangs of people who get tired of talking and meeting the people; everyone is dressed in new clothes especially  women clad in traditional sarees of dhakai jamdani, baluchari, kathastitch, toshor, bomkai…; in short one and all is seen enjoying the festival with never ending zeal.

There is delight of arrival of goddess on earth and gloom when she leaves the earth after immersion. This signifies that each of us goes through a cycle that starts with birth and ends with death; each of us has a different part to play when we are on earth; one who comes has to go and that is the law of nature and that has to be followed by everyone. And then with new hopes and new wishes, we wait for another year for the arrival of goddess and then another festive season begins.

May Goddess Durga shower her blessings on all of you!!! May all your wishes come true!!! Wish you all SHUBHO MAHALAYA          

Apt Judgement

After the death sentence announcement of the four accused of the Delhi rape case, 13 September 2013 has definitely become a big day for celebration. After a wait of almost nine months, the genuine verdict has come. But till those people are actually hanged, the punishment won’t be complete.

I, like many other people hope that if the accused move to high court then even the High court should respect and continue with the decision of death sentence and not drag the case further for years. Supreme Court and President should also reject the mercy plea.  

I just wonder why and how anyone could fight from the accused side. I heard that the lawyer of the accused was telling that if any more rape happens in Delhi, then he will fight for his candidates in High Court. I could not understand his logic. Is this rape a joke for him that he expects everyone not to react and stay casual that rape cases are absolutely normal so none of the accused should be punished? This type of incident is being considered as “rarest of rare” cases; seems like he is out of his mind. Infact that juvenile, who was basically the main culprit, should also be hanged. If not now, then probably after two years when he will be of 18.

If the court remains rigid for their decision and the accused are hanged, then probably it will create a stir and develop fear among those who feel that they can do anything they want and escape without receiving punishment. People should realize that rape is not a mistake to be forgotten but a sin that deserves a severe punishment. If court continues to announce death sentence then it would be a major initiative and a step forward for the development of society as a whole. The fear of death probably would stop people from committing such crimes. After all, a rapist is a rapist and not hindu or muslim or juvenile or adult or young or old and he should be hanged till death.

RIP Nirbhaya.

Maa Ka Pyaar

My friend’s mom had come for Madhushravani puja. I, with my other friends went to her house for the last day puja. That day you are supposed to eat as much sweet dishes as you can.

We all did the puja and then it was time for some prashad. We all sat and aunty started serving and then the serving went on and on…..Kheer, ladoos, fruits, rasgullas, dry fruits, barfis and so on. Too much of sweets, we were all tired of eating. And then while leaving, aunty said, “Have some puri sabji?”

We were not in a position to drink even water but moms are moms. They are the experts of emotional blackmail when it comes to feeding the kids. Even after denying for so many times at last we did not have any option left than to agree. Deal was set to have one puri. We were having but then suddenly we don’t know from where she came and kept two more puris in each of our plates. We finished eating finally. We were so full that we were unable to walk. Although it was evening but we were so full that we all skipped our dinner.

This situation happens many a times when our moms serve us food. They always feel that we are not having food properly. It is always the favourite dialogue of all the moms when they see their kid after long time, “You have become so thin.” And when the kid is married then guy’s mother will feel that daughter in law is not taking proper care of their son and girl’s mother will feel that in-laws and husband are not taking care of her daughter.

This is mom’s love. For each of us, our mom is the world’s best cook. They have the perfect recipe of everything, blending the love together with other ingredients and serving the best food. The love with which they serve you the food, no one else can do. Whenever the food comes to you via your mother, it becomes special. The love they shower is incomparable and precious. 

Brands Confused Brains

Watch television for 10 minutes but effectively you will be watching advertisements for around 7 minutes. And among all these ads what interests me more, is the tagline for cosmetic products, like: face creams ---Lakme - youth infinity; Ponds – white beauty or age miracle; Olay - total effects or regenerist; Neutrogena – fine fairness or deep clean; And the ingredients for preparing them like different soaps --- contain shea butter, tea tree oil, jojoba oil, aloevera, eucalyptus oil, honey, lemon; face washes available with all varieties of fruit flavours and etc etc.

Each product of each brand is unique but confusing. From toothpastes having salt to shampoo for silky, shiny, damage repair, dandruff free, for oily, dry, straight, curly; from hair colours to face creams; from mosturiser to lip guards having strawberry/cherry/guava/apple; from dish cleaning agent having power of 100 lemons to hand wash that cleans your hand in 10 second and not 60 seconds. Everything has something different to offer.

Isn’t all this confusing? Even if I am very clear about my skin and hair type, if I go to the market to shop for some cosmetic, I am definitely going to be confused while buying after seeing so many products; I won’t be able to decide that which one will actually suit me. My mom or grand mom never faced this type of dilemma because neither they had this knowledge nor they had the choice but their skin or better if I say health, was much better than us.

People now are so much conscious about their looks and this huge availability of products is slowly transforming this consciousness to craziness. Of course, it is better to be concerned for your health but definitely not worth to be paranoid. You will stuff yourself with oily food and then you get a pimple on your face and then you will expect that clean and clear facewash will remove your pimple at one wash. Is it really possible? Just sensibly think on it. Any golden glow facial scrub will not make you fair and make you glow like gold. Don’t be confused with all these pearl white, golden glow and age miracles. It is always better to consume fruits than running behind these fruity extract products.

If you are in your 30’s then none of the creams will make you younger. Please remember that youth is for certain time and not infinite. There is nothing wrong in getting old. Every age has it’s own charm and grace. You are what you are, so don’t pretend to be one you are not. Everything is the result of the balance, if maintained you can feel good and therefore look good. If balance does not exist then nothing can be good.

I like one ad where Arjun Rampal says that, “These shade cards are for walls of the house and not for your skin”.

Bangalore: where “Bakeries” serve the purpose of landmarks

We the people spend a lot of time travelling to and fro between office or college and home. While travelling, we cross many areas, the so called “stops”. No doubt each stop has a different name but what else I have noticed in most of these, is that each stop has a Bakery right at the main bus stop. For example:

Kundanahalli : Silsila Bakery                          

Whitefield : Mayura and Brother’s Bakery               

Vinayaka Layout : Archana Bakery

Brookebond : Devika Bakery

Arekeri : Iyengar Bakery

AECS Layout: Ragam’s Bakery

BTM Layout : Mr. and Cosmo Bakery

Channasandra : Thirumala Bakery

Bellthur : Sri Sai Bakery

Varthur Kodi : Mangala Bakery

Hennur : Honest Bakery

Bellandur (Opposite to Central) : Bellandur Bakery and Sweets

Marathahalli : Raju Bakery, Pooja Bakery , Royal Bakery

And …..

These bakeries are indispensable for us. As the city has grown, bakeries too have grown. From serving just bakery items like: “dilpasand”, “fruit cakes” , “veg-puffs” , “cream rolls” etc  these bakeries now sell tea , sweets , biscuits , chips , sandwiches , birthday-cakes , ice-creams , other dry snacks and lot more. Crowd is always there. Rushing for somewhere, just stop for a while, pick some snack and move on. If these bakeries would not have existed, many would have starved.

But these bakeries are not just meager eating joints but they actually serve the purpose of landmarks. We identify the stops by identifying the bakeries. You ask anyone about any specific location, be it a bank or school or office or bus stop; you might be told that “Go in <exact directions>, you will find “Location X”, it is near “Y Bakery”. Sometimes people might ask you “Where is this bakery?” in order to enquire about some place, because people are very sure that exact location of these bakeries would surely guide them to the place they need to visit.

Cheers to the Bakeries and the Bakers JJJ

Life is lived in moments

Our lives are surrounded by EMIs, credit card bills, project deadlines, calls, buses, duties and etc. For a better tomorrow, we forget the today. Sometimes in order to prove ourselves and to be good, we forget to be happy. We complicate our life which can be lead simply. We desire for so many things: some necessity, some leisure; but it takes time and patience for everything.

I went to mall, roamed around and then sat in the open area, enjoying the coffee and listening to the live band performing there. I just felt, isn’t this moment priceless? Lovely weather, live music, a cup of hot coffee, gleaming lights all around; isn’t this experience wonderful? Problems will be there, tensions will be there; who doesn’t have problems and tensions in their life. But can’t I enjoy this very moment forgetting everything.

View of rising sun is as beautiful from the terrace of your house as it is from Darjeeling mountains. Moon among the clouds looks as charming from the road as it looks from Taj Mahal. A heavy rain after sunny weather is also very pleasant and so is the bright sunny weather after days of rain. A cup of hot tea and a plate full of pakoras gives immense pleasure when you come home after getting completely drenched in rains. A long drive listening to your favourite music and enjoying meal at your favourite restaurant is also special. There are so many moments that are equally enjoyable but we just simply ignore them whatever be the reason or excuse. When the yesterday’s dreams become today’s reality, instead of enjoying the reality, we again dream for the future. Why don’t we live our life in these special moments? Be happy, for these instances are too the reasons to be happy; if there are no reasons also, be happy. If you look for big reasons to be happy, your whole life will be spent on searching for reasons to be happy.

Let the life remain a surprise for you, let it unfold its pages one by one and depict the morsels of mystery.

Day to Day Roadside Experts

Lost in my thoughts I was walking on my way to office in morning. I reached the bus stop and stood there waiting for my next bus. Traffic jams were at it’s peak, people were rushing for office, one by one roadside shops were opening – in between all this, suddenly my eyes stopped at a sight. I guess it is the everyday sight for all of us, nothing extraordinary. A lady was preparing “gajras” – flower garlands to be tied on hair. I stood near to that lady and started observing her. There is always a special technique for doing everything. I am not aware of the technique in which she was tying those gajras but she was doing it with great speed, accuracy and dedication and all these qualities really impressed me.

Many times I have noticed the “Hot chips” shop where I have observed the person who will be grating the vegetables, put them into hot boiling oil and then fry them. He too does it with great speed and perfection. I have seen the cooks of small restaurants as the masters of cooking and packing foods.

We all go to hypermarts for grocery shopping. During the time period from 29^th of one month to 3^rd of next month, all these marts will be over crowded with so many people standing in queue waiting for their turns. We just pay for our things and leave; but imagine about the person who actually does the billing. They have to read the code and price for each and every item, create the bill, take the money which is most of the time given by cards, swipe them, get the receipt signed or give the proper change, and then repeat the same process for all other customers. We shout at them, if they take more time. But for a second, just think about them, they have to maintain proper records of everything sold, they have to be really alert for if they miss anything, their pay will get reduced.

We see the delivery boys of restaurants and eating joints, driving not those high-end bikes but simple bikes to reach the different areas and deliver the food on time. We can take driving classes from them. The newspaper person who distributes the newspaper early morning to every house, he throws the paper at a perfect single shot at the doorstep; the mineral water guy who carries around 6-10 mineral water cans in his luna and goes from house to house and distributes them.

All these people cannot be considered anything less than experts. We acknowledge many people who excel in their respective fields but there exists people who may not be famous but are nothing less than experts, they are the day to day roadside experts. They also do their jobs with full focus and honesty.

No job can be considered less important. Forget about growth and development; just for the survival, so many things should exist. Every single task by every single person is equally important for the existence of society.

I just remember the quote from Robin Sharma’s book “The Leader who had no title”. I don’t remember the exact words but I remember the message. It was something like this: "Whatever you do, do it in such a way as if you are the one who can do that particular job in the best possible way in the whole world. If you think this way and put all your effort then you are definitely going to succeed."                     

GOOGLE Devta

I want to prepare cake in pressure cooker, what I will do is open my laptop > connect internet > open www.google.com and type “how to prepare cake in a pressure cooker”.

What happens next?

Page is flooded with millions of links; all of them showing me how to prepare cake including recipes of related dishes, different other variations, videos in different languages and etc etc…

My dad or mom don’t have this practice but we people, I guess aged between 15 to 50 or “may be less than 15 to greater than 50” definitely perform a lot of search in Google. It is an integral part of all our lives.

• Ø  I am looking for a java code snippet, type in Google being very specific of your requirement and your queries are answered;
• Ø  I am assigned some new kind of testing, first I will do my homework by checking it in Google;
• Ø  How to drape a sari in some particular style to latest designs, Google shows you all videos;
• Ø  I need to go some faraway place and I don’t know the route, search through Google maps and you will get complete detailed directions.

From people who search for recipes to people who are interested for art and craft; from music to dance; from images to videos; from the weirdest of queries to the best of queries - Google has answers to all. You should never underestimate the search you are doing because Google answers to the precision. The more specific you are, the more accurate your results will be.

Google starts working as soon as you start typing each letter and continues its prediction. Google is not just a search engine; the term has actually transitioned itself into a verb. Have a query, Google it!

It is better to say that “Google is infinity, Google is God”. God might not answer your questions but Google will definitely have lots of replies for you. It will never leave you unanswered. That’s the significance of Google.

Happy Googling…. J

An appeal to my fellow citizens....

Bangalore is a place where buses are the backbone of public transportation. And it is really one of the best ones among the transportation services available in different states. But many a times I have felt that the attitude of some of the conductors/drivers is very disgusting for non-south Indians. Yes “non-south Indian”, any non-south Indian is tagged as “north Indian”.

Let me describe you in detail about the incident:

My friend with her hubby boarded a volvo bus from the bus-stop next to her house. They both got into the bus from the second door which is basically meant for the guys to enter. There were not many people getting from their stop so they got inside together from second door. There was no place to sit, so they stood in the area which has three chairs. They could not move to the standing area which is in between the two sides of seats because already people were standing there (people who travel by these buses will understand). Conductor comes and asks my friend’s hubby to move back; he says that he can’t because there is no place. In reply for this, the conductor pushes him behind. Then my friend’s hubby asks the conductor not to touch, which I think is fair enough. Now what the conductor does?

He starts abusing; yes, he starts abusing with all hindi-words which are ridiculous and offensive for example: “MCBC” again and again. (I hope people can decrypt this for I don’t want my blog to be offensive) My friend got very angry and she told the conductor to control his tongue. Conductor totally ignores what she tells and continues abusing, says something like…“khane ke liye aa jaate hai”and asks them to get down from the bus.

Finally, they get down, take another bus and reach their respective offices. And there in office, my friend informs me about the whole incident.

“khaane k liye aa jaate hai”…means that we the non-south Indians come to Bangalore to eat. Mr. Conductor, you are briefly right. But please remember that we come here to eat not because we don’t have enough in our natives that we can’t survive; we come here for job because unfortunately we are software engineers and Bangalore is the IT hub. If there were IT companies in our respective states or if we were not software professionals - then probably we would not have come here leaving our family and relatives in our respective natives.

I am asked to get down from the bus. Am I travelling for free? We are working and earning and spending our money. You are not doing anything for us for free. Then who the hell are you to ask me to get down from the bus? These buses are meant for public transport and are government property and not your personal property.

If any passenger asks anything in hindi, they will stare you and prefer not to reply. Why? You watch hindi movies, you know hindi abusive words but you can’t reply to a genuine question asked in hindi. I am settled here from years, I work here, I know that it will be helpful if I know the local language but I can’t speak it so is it a criminal offence for which I should be publicly harassed and insulted in front of so many people who were nothing else but the silent spectators.

End of the day, everyone should stop discriminating and dividing the people based on their caste and region and remember that we are all Indians and being an Indian citizen, our constitution gives us the right to stay anywhere in India and for that we don’t need anyone’s permission.

It is not just my friend or me who have come across such situations; the situation may not be this severe but it happens with many of us. Why is it so? Why this step attitude towards us? I am not generalizing all the conductors but there are few who have this attitude towards us. It is my humble request to you all that please don’t behave like this with us, we get hurt. We are not taking anything from you and we don’t expect anything too but atleast we don’t deserve such attitude.

This is not a story, this is a true incident that has happened..After this incident took place, my friend's husband has already filed a complaint to the bmtc department taking the details from their website. 
This blog is not a personal attack to anyone. Even I have south-indian friends, colleagues and neighbours. I am not against south indians, i am against this biased attitude, wherever it exists. This may happen to any north-indian who stays in south or to any south-indian who stays in north; basically it can happen to anyone who is a migrant in that particular region. My intention is neither to create any controversies nor to hurt anyone's sentiments. 

People have started attacking me personally. It is my humble request to everyone not to be judgemental without reading the complete blog, please read it completely and don't just pick a few words and start blaming me.

I am staying in bangalore since last 3.5 years and ofcourse I love this place. I respect it's culture and language. I have a job, a family, a life that I lead here by my own wish and I don't regret for that. I love my life here. Please don't interpret me in a wrong way. Don't project me as a racist.   But like all of you, I am also a human being. I also get hurt by someone's harsh words. My question is just that don't I have a right to speak up if something intolerable has happened. It has not happened to me but it has happened to someone very near to me. 

Many of us are from IT and we travel day in and day out in buses to commute to work. What I want to appeal is not to entertain such incidents wherever it may be and anywhere in India. Let us voice out our concerns and make Bangalore a beautiful and most desired place to be.