Friend - One word for " I'll be there for you "

Each of us has a hidden place
Somewhere deep within ourselves, to get away,
Somewhere deep within ourselves;
a place where we go to think things through,
to be alone, to be ourselves.

This unique place, where we confront our deepest feelings,
Becomes a storehouse of all our hopes,
all our needs, all our dreams, And even our unspoken fears.
It encompasses the essence of who we are
and what we want to be.

But now and then, whether by chance or design,
Someone discovers a way into that place we thought was ours alone.
And we allow that person to see,
to feel and to share all the reason,
all the uncertainty and all the emotion we've stored up there.

That person adds new perspective to our hidden realm,
Then quietly settles down in his own corner of
our special place, Where a bit of himself will stay forever.
And we call that person a friend


One of my very good friends sent this to me yesterday morning. Going through this made me realize a lot of things. What if all your friends turned you away? Or perhaps if they act like they just don’t care about your life or problems anymore?
Friends are one of the strangest things that you can ever have. Without friends you limit your life and experiences to only that which takes place in your immediate family - boring for most. But with friends you can find more enjoyment but sometimes complications and frustration in life.

As I sit here at my desk writing this today, I feel compelled to define what a friend really is. Everyday we meet new people. Sometimes they leave a good impression, and other times a bad one. However, a friend is supposed to be someone you stick around because they enlighten you. That is what makes them a friend and not just an acquaintance. You like being around that person. Otherwise you are just spending time around the individual to receive something. Perhaps money or social status; the list goes on and on. A friend doesn’t need anything but your presence.

Find yourself in a bad mood? A good friend usually has a type of connection with you, even a rapport to catch on and notice this. Other people may notice your emotion, but not care to help better your discomfort. A friend will help you the best they know how.
Ever really screwed up? I am not talking about a simple mistake. Perhaps you did something really outrageous and mean to your friend. If you are intelligent enough to learn from your mistakes, your friend should too. This enforces the unconditional bond you and your friends should have. A friend is unconditional.

So you might find your life at what seems like a fork in the road. Your life seems to be going down hill. Part of the decision you have to make is evaluating the people around you. Take a good look at your friends. How do they make you feel? Do they bring out the best in you?

Don’t immediately push a friend away purely based on evaluation. Give them a second chance. If they are a good friend, they’d do the same.

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Plain Lucky!!!

There are times when man seems to be guided by the stars. Nevertheless, there are other times that seem to lead him through pain and misfortune. Is this a punishment? Is this destiny? Or is this what we commonly call luck? Spiritual science says that man has an inner force of an active inner will in himself and for himself. In other words, man has a creative interaction, which he forms and gets affected by. An example is “self esteem”. He appreciates himself and that appreciation affects what he thinks about himself. The force of his thought allows, in a certain way that he can condition the events so that his own life can be conducted in the expression of cause and effect. Therefore, there is neither such destiny, nor such luck. This clearly indicates that there is a proposal of life that becomes our own feelings and thoughts. As we think and as we feel, we recreate the next moment to live.


But this does not mean that man has the absolute power since man is not the only one in the universe. Each one of his actions has an answer in the universe. This is the interaction of both, which has the result of what we call:” Destiny” or” Luck “. But man is the one who forges his path .To think that the events come from nowhere is to forget the force of the thought, the inner reason of the spirit of man.

It is better to understand that a communion of reasons and functions exist, which have to do with our own convictions, with what we have solved or have not been able to solve. Then, there is no such luck, nor such destiny, since it is the product of our own, to do or not to do. Actions will always bring consequences and these consequences depend on the heart of man and his relationship with the universe, since they have a reason and purpose. To think about luck would be not to know the purpose of the Love of God towards all men. There is no chance but there is always a consequence found in the principle of a cause, and thus until arriving to the spiritual awakening, when man is capable of surrendering his will to the Creator and when this happens, the harmony and balance will always be perfect.

In many ways, your most treasured dream is, even now, close enough to touch. If it seems distant, that's only because you imagine it to be.
To reach your dream completely will of course take time and effort. Yet you can begin to reach for it at this very moment, if you so choose.
The value of a dream does not reside in the moment of attainment, but rather in the process of attainment. And that process can begin right now.
Whatever your dream may be, the most valuable part of it is the opportunity for you to live with a purpose. That value can be yours as soon as you are ready to live it.
Think of the most magnificent, ambitious, meaningful dream you can imagine for yourself and your world. Just thinking about it begins the process of making it real, and gets the value flowing from that dream into your life.
Your most treasured dream is, today, close enough to touch. Reach out, touch it, and hold on tightly as you make it more and more real with each passing moment.



Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.
Everything in life is luck
Luck never gives; it only lends.
Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent.
It's hard to detect good luck - it looks so much like something you've earned
Luck never made a man wise

I say… Luck is a Phrase used for motivation... and not in existence at all…

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Simply Bangalored !!!

I came to Bangalore for my job in MindTree. I was piqued to blog about the city, so I scribbled it on a notepad. The time here has almost come to an end, and as usual I'm bad in post operative care meaning I forgot to host the post. Now after long, I got reminded of hosting this post. So here it goes...

The day, I came to Bangalore, I was full of dreams and faith. And those dreams came true, and it happened in the dream city of every IT guy - The Silicon City - Bangalore. Bangalore welcomed me with open arms (pun intended). But I really want to thank Bangalore for beautiful changes in my life.

Bangalore - the garden city has become a complete IT city today with lots many IT companies in every nook and corner. Evergreen weather of Bangalore attracts so many people towards it. The land of Kannadigaas keeps a strong hold on culture and stands first in modernization. The lovely Monday traffic kicks off the week with the dreams of coming weekend. This city’s movie mania also astonishes you, when people come on roads to fight with God on natural death of a superstar or when you find that people are so crazy on a film like "Sivaji". And the good thing is you never have too many problems because of language. In fact, if you know few words like "Maadi", "Bega", "Illa", "Gottilla" then you can survive in Bangalore easily. As being a miser person [in opinion of my roomies…it’s a common opinion I share with each one of them….for us every roomie of ours is a miser J], I feel that Bangalore is very expensive. In Bangalore, you may find good south Indian food (if that suits your taste). Normal hotels cheat you on the name of north Indian food by giving Maida Naan/Roti instead of Wheat Chapatti.

How much ever prejudiced one may be with Bombay, as is the case with me, you can't keep away from appreciating the city that Bangalore is. Keeping aside one aspect TRAFFIC congestion (which I'd not write about here), the city is awesome. Greenery all around... huge trunks lining up almost every road. Having forgotten what it means to feel the shade of a tree, living in Bombay, amidst increasing concrete blocks built as if with an intention to take revenge on trees in the city; the unending canopies of Bangalore brought a sense of inexplicable happiness.


The city is filled with parks; one at every bend and the pavements on either side of every other road are lined up with tall trees. Parks not in the sense of show case parks of Bandra, these are used for their true purpose. Starting from less than a year old toddler to octogenarian couples you see people of all ages enjoying the ambience taking rounds on the walk-way, playing shuttle while some helping their kids walk or just simply sitting in groups and chatting. I wonder what percentage of parks in Bombay ever lived up to such purpose. Also I observed that Bangalore is a city for the people, unlike Bombay where people are for the city. I observed extensive sign boards, explaining the streets and cross roads all around the city making it possible for a newcomer to come and stop by right at the door step of the destination he is looking for(unless he gets confused with the crosses, mains and blocks). Here in Bombay, I doubt if even a single colony has such route map guidance.


I have learnt from this city that we should feel proud for the land we belong to(Kuch bhi ho Aamchi Mumbai rox). There is no harm in speaking language, which you are comfortable with. There should be always a passion for our own culture and land.
To sum it up, this city is very beautiful, makes your dream true if you have patience. I wish people keep it green as it is today, and we should always be able to say that "Namma green city, Namma Bengaluru".





The times I had in Bangalore would not have been possible without the best set of roomies I had.....Arun(janavar), Gautam(laloo), Parag(pragi), Sreenivas(chini) and Vaibhav(doggie)....Thanks guys

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WHAT NEXT ????

Being a Capricorn, I’ve never had much fun with decisions. Astrologically-inclined friends and family have never been amiss to point this out to me. But as I’ve matured, I’ve found big, life-crunching decisions usually unravel themselves before me more easily than simple, stupid ones, such as choosing cheese or butter on that Pav Bhaji.


Now, I’m faced with multiple decisions based upon the self-assembling blueprint of my life, which has always seemed tumultuous but now seems torn anew between different places and different energy forces.


I came to Bangalore to reclaim myself, not to find myself, as many have done. I was found before and simply got off track, and I needed a place away from loved ones, in a place where the sun sets instead of rising over the ocean, to prevent myself from further derailment. And I have made excellent headway in doing so. For the first time in a very long period of self-absence I finally feel like myself again. I’m truly happy here among friends new and old, mountains and hills, rain and sunshine. Why, then, do I even consider leaving such happiness?


For most of those who come here to find themselves, Bangalore is a transitory place, fleeting at best, a place where memories are deposited and retrieved as quickly as raw materials en route to Chinese assembly lines. I do not feel this way. Every other place I have known was transitory: Delhi, which changes with every political ebb and flow; Pune, which eager souls can endure for only a year or two before burnout. Instead, I came here because I felt it was like home, and everything I have experienced thus far has seemed to justify that. Despite opportunities arising in other locales I sometimes never considered this move to be temporary, just sort of a mental repositioning. Now, with my departure imminent to face those other opportunities, I worry that I am leaving exactly the sort of thing I came to find to return to exactly the sort of thing I meant to get away from. I never doubt that I can find opportunities wherever I may be, and while I’m not one to burn bridges, it seems fitting that this is one of the two places where I may belong right now.


There are many decisions to make in the next few days, but one thing bears mentioning: everyone here who is not from here has a story, a story for how they ended up here. When leaving felt so certain, I thought my eventual return would not be a story worthy of bearing repetition. Now I feel like I finally have my story.


On another point, someone shared a terrific insight with me today - lots of insights, actually - but one specifically relates to an earlier post of mine: why are the very young and very old the easiest and most interesting sort of people to talk to? The answers lay within their respective souls and alignment with the cycle of life; the very young are closest to birth, the very old closest to death. Thus, they have both the most insightful and innocent of all of life’s observations.

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FREEDOM...Does it Exist?????

I saw this particular article on a website of a leading daily which talks about people giving their own views about freedom. I know anyways my article is never going to be featured there. So let me put it right here on my own blog.


To start with, “What is freedom?”. Isn’t that a strange question??? You may be wondering what is wrong with me and why I have become so patriotic. Even I don’t know why, but every year this time round I end up writing something like this.

To tell you the truth I really don’t know what freedom is. To realize what freedom is, you must first be in a position to not have it. But thankfully we have been blessed with freedom. We were born in a free country. Our parents gave us total freedom to do whatever we wished.


I took up a profession of my choice. Unlike some of my compatriots who took a particular profession because they had no other choice or their parents forced them, I have been actually blessed.

Now since I have very little idea to what freedom really is I don’t really feel all that confident about blabbing about it, although this blog is meant for that purpose only :). But I feel that independence is about doing what you wish to without hurting or pushing others in the course of your life. Probably in the pre 1947 era our ancestors struggled because there was a barrier for Indians to do everything.

Indians were not allowed in certain coaches or clubs or schools. There was this British club which used to write, "Indians and Dogs not Allowed". Guess where racism has its roots.
To say that we were not racist is technically not correct. We had the so called caste based system in place of the race based system. That’s the same wine in a different bottle.

After 60 years of political abolishment of all these practices, it’s sad to see that people are more inclined towards being called of a certain caste than not. Caste culture has been fueled further by our government. Probably the same government which at one point in history wanted all Indians to move together is classifying people. The Gurjar violence is an offshoot of this seed of caste based reservation.

The closest I have come to not having freedom has been but for Reservation. Well, when I was in Engineering College and I paid close to 50k as fees because I could not get a rank good enough for free seat in an A grade college. But then I saw that I had a classmate who paid less than 10k. I used to reach college by bus while that fellow used to ride his car to college. He was definitely no more brilliant than me nor did he have a rank better than mine. So what did he have…..you would know that.
So am I really blessed with freedom or is it an illusion strong enough to make me believe that I am independent.

WHEN DO WE GET INDEPENDENCE???

Maybe when we ban the caste system or maybe when the government stops using it as election material.
Till then, Freedom is for sure not full. Incompetent people holding important posts based on caste and creed will only lead to complex web of corruption.
There may come a day when all this gets eliminated, till then lets do our bit to remove it which has been ingrained in our system.


Jai Hind.

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