Of Some General Long Time No See Topics...

Long time no see..

I think for the last two three posts, I have written about films. It has been a long time since I wrote about what all is happening. A lot happened that I have almost forgotten or want to forget what all happened :) I had a number of small small topics to write about, let's see how much I remember.

So I had a one month long winter break. I was here all the while except for a week when I went to California. I was all alone. None of the people I speak to were here. There were days it was so cold that I did not step out of the house for two days, there was a terrible blizzard too. It was lonely but I like to be alone I guess. If Internet would not have been there, I would be dead. I used to do my GA work and apply for internships. I sometimes went for swimming, sometimes for a long walk, sometimes for buying food, so it was alright. I tried some new dishes. Rajma Chawal turned out well but Halwa was pukeworthy..wasted so much ghee :{ I can make food for myself - pulses, rice, roti, rayta, poha, paratha, aloo-gobhi, mixed vegetables, sandwich, pulao - apne liye to bana hi leta hun. I did not want the break to end.

Rajma :)

You know na how when you are on Twitter you just visit profile of random strangers when they post an interesting tweet. So I just checked the followers of my college friend who is an entrepreneur. His friends list contained people like him - entrepreneurs. It turned out that most of them have started their own business or some new venture. When I saw the Twitter timeline of these people, I noticed some common things. All these people , I don't know the exact word, but almost all of them seemed so happy or satisfied with their lives. Never once I saw them crib about the amount of work that people (like me) do. They are passionate about what they do. And one thing about all of them was that they all are so well informed and opinionated about almost everything. They know about everything - politics, business, technology, news, movies, cricket..it felt as if they know everything. And they are not afraid to share their opinion and not afraid of being judged! That may be true because they have already risen above the peer pressure - they have had the courage to take some risks. These people make their own lives. And having an MBA degree is just a matter of chance. Some of them have no MBA and yet they know more than an MBA would. They all are from decent colleges. It felt great to see such optimistic people. And on the other hand, if we see the timeline of people working in great firms, you see everyone waiting desperately for the weekend. Too much pressure. I don't know you cannot judge anyone, each have their own choices but I felt happy that maybe if you have your own business you could be happy. If only doing business in India was simpler, maybe we can see more such driven people. And if people like me knew what they really want to do in life :)

Last week, I saw this TEDx video by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. She has written this book called One Amazing Thing. The book as described on her website:

Late afternoon in an Indian visa office in an unnamed American city. Most customers have come and gone, but nine people remain. A punky teenager with an unexpected gift. An upper class Caucasian couple whose relationship is disintegrating. A young Muslim-American man struggling with the fallout of 9/11. A graduate student haunted by a question about love. An African-American ex-soldier searching for redemption. A Chinese grandmother with a secret past. And two visa office workers on the verge of an adulterous affair.

When an earthquake rips through the afternoon lull, trapping these nine wildly individual characters together, their focus first jolts to a collective struggle to survive. There’s little food. The office begins to flood. Then, at a moment when the psychological and emotional stress seems nearly too much for them to bear, the young graduate student suggests that each tell a personal tale, “one amazing thing” from their lives, which they have never told anyone before. As their surprising stories of romance, marriage, family, political upheaval, and self-discovery unfold against the urgency of their life-or-death circumstances, the novel proves the transcendent power of stories and the meaningfulness of human expression itself.

In the talk, she talked about how each of us have so many stories to tell and we are bursting to tell. Essentially we all are the same people. We need people to listen to our stories and then we will find out how many common things we have with others. She tells people to tell one amazing story from their life to everyone. 

  

I really liked the concept. But I am struggling to find one amazing thing from my life. I guess after some thinking I might have something later. I have a few stories in my mind but don't know which one should I share. Will think about it. What is your One Amazing Thing? 

So, new year also went. I did not write the mandatory blog post on the events of 2012 and the new year resolutions. My list of resolutions won't change. It is same from the last five years and I still haven't been able to fulfill them. This time I added one more - to stop worrying about things that are not under my control  - and I have already broken it :) What to do? Aadat se majboor.. And I don't know I should share this or not. For the last few months, I have been having some issues with the people I live with. The thing is we are totally different people. My room mate is a very outgoing person. He wants people to share things and all. And I am his total opposite. I don't speak much. The thing is I am judged by him every single day. And he is quite elder in age to me. He is married. He thinks I am a kid. So he told me some things about me as a person which I did not like at all and it made me feel terrible and irritated. Why do people judge others? Why can't they let others be the way they are? I don't say anything. And when I told my dad, he was telling me to not say anything back, but I never say back things in the first place. He said, agar ek bevkoof hai to dusra bhi bevkoof ban jaye. Maybe the fault is with me like always. Maybe I am not a good person. Maybe I am not a good friend. It's alright. Everyone can't be perfect. I always go back to that line from the song Jugni which is my motto in life: Rakhi saabat sidh amaal (Just keep you actions and intentions pure). I always try to follow this - never hurt anybody intentionally, avoid judging people as much as you can. I have never wanted anything bad to happen to anyone. Sometimes feelings, like jealousy and anger, do affect me, after all I am not perfect, but in these cases, I end up hurting myself. Theek hai.. maybe I have to account for some past life actions :) 

Or as Meredith says,

‎"Maybe we like the pain. Maybe we're wired that way. Because without it, I don't know; maybe we just wouldn't feel real. What's that saying? Why do I keep hitting myself with a hammer? Because it feels so good when I stop."

So it is a funny thing that happened. I called a few of my friends during the break. Whoever I spoke to said how is my sister Y doing? They all think she is my real sister. She is my cousin but my soul sister. We discuss everything from love problems to people in the family we can't stand :D My real sister is J :) She is very different from me :) And on timeline this week, an old pic came up from a cousin's wedding when someone in the family liked it. Talking about weddings, five of my close friends are getting married the next month and I am going to miss all of them :(

 My Sister and My Mom :)

I, Y and J - Every pic that I have is in the same sweater :D

And you know this week, Diptakirti Chadhuri, author of Kitnay Aadmi Thay: Completely Useless Bollywood Trivia, posted on his Twitter about the Hindi Movie Quotes page. I messaged him about and he posted it on his timeline. I know it is no big deal but it made me feel happy :) I want to reach where he is now someday :)

I have some small small topics to write on.. will continue writing on it in the next post.

And my friend P on Twitter posted this super awesome picture on the concept of ambition. Loved it.

Dialogue of the Day:

"नमाज़ जगह और लोगों से नहीं, नीयत से पढ़ी जाती है"

 - Rizwaan Khan, My Name is Khan