Type2 People

This month, I had privilege to finally complete one of my life's big responsibility, My Sister's Marriage. I had dreamed, thought about it since some past 10 years probably imagining it with hyped fancy stuffs like it would happen somewhere at this place, something like this and something like that. I had built up this all imaginary stuffs a decade back. As years passed by, the reality filter started to apply on my imaginary stuffs. You might not believe, but I had dreamt planned of sister's marriage to be great & be perfect than mine. I never had imagined my own!

Last week, once marriage ceremony was completed and when I had some lonely moment to gaze around my thoughts, I remembered how silly & over hyped expectations were my decade back dreams. Nevertheless, I tried my best for it be as good as possible. By performing this wedding, I experienced few unforgettable lessons of life. Due to word limits of this blog to not become over-lengthy, I am constrained to share only one lesson over here.

Recently, I had watched a whatsapp forwarded video of a Chinese motivational speaker talking about practise makes anyone to master any art in this world. He explained with subtle examples of how doing the same thing repetitively makes it perfect. If you observe someone paints really beautiful, thats because of hard practise. One who might seem to walk carelessly and freely on a rope is because of continuous practise. Anyone cannot walk on a rope and thats certainly because of lack of practise. Whatever be the action, it has been mastered using practise. Be it writing a blog, child learning to talk/walk, an olympic gold medalist, well known singer etc. If someone keeps on doing the same thing again and again, then he gets equipped to do the same thing once again, no matter what! If a person is always lazy, he always tends to be lazy no matter what could be the situation. Similarly, if a rich guy practises to over-spend money, even when he is full debt, he try to do the same spending (even sometimes by borrowing).

For the wedding process, I was planning, how much ever I can, for it to be perfect. Whatever is in my hand and capability, I ensured that its fulfilled and good for people who attend. Every minute detail which I can think-of was covered. But of-course, its the wedding, not some small any other regular normal event to go everything as planned. Lots of diverse people meet and greet during this time. I witnessed two types of people. Type1 are people who adapted/adjusted along with the situation/place keeping the big picture of wedding in the mind while few didn't(Type2). They started complaining. As I told earlier, my side efforts were full and I tried my level best to ensure it to resolve which ever were in my hand. Certainly there were few things which were absolutely not under my control and I was helpless. I felt so bad that they have to go through few of these inconveniences and I cannot do anything.

But I have witnessed few people who doesn't stop complaining at all. Its not just in marriage but I have interacted with these kind of people earlier also. I had never understood them. When they complained, I tried to resolve it even if it wasn't in my hand. Before one complain gets any feasible outcome, already they were ready with another complain. Its like never ending. I was tired on satisfying every needs. Whatever you do, they'll will come up with excellent new complain. The complains were really unique which sometimes makes me wonder on how do they come up with such astonishing complaint. Hats off! It must be an art.

I am really thankful that not much of type2 people were during this wedding. I always use to wonder on how to deal with these kind of type2 peoples. During wedding, understanding my nervousness, a well wisher told me that "No matter what you do, they are not going to stop complaining. You do your things which are important and just ignore them. Don't care much". I felt so relieved hearing this and thankful for making me realise this.

At this moment, I realised this Chinese guy's talk which I mentioned earlier. I thought, most probably, these peoples have been practicing complaining about anything in their life from past so many years that they have mastered it well. Hence no matter, what the situation is or how good it is, they figure out reason to complain. I refer them as type2 people. These people lack empathy. According to me, they need to stand in other's position and make an effort to think before what they are complaining. They should think, If this is the right person to complain; Is he in a position to help in anyway to resolve; Is there any outcome if I complain it to this person in any manner. I really think they don't think anything like this. Their mastery of art is to complain and they just do it casually.

Similarly there are various kinds of type2 people. I met another kind during distribution of invitation cards. These people just advice (similar to complain). They have been practising giving free advice for so long that, now they can give any advice on any damn matter on this earth even if you don't ask. I use to consider them seriously and use to feel bad that I am not doing the right way while these type2 people advised the right way. But this wedding process has made me realise the truth. You need to just listen, say "yes" and plainly ignore. Do whatever is feasible, practical and you feel is right and you are capable of which is already planned rather than listening to type2 free advisers.

I have been meeting, interacting with type2 people earlier but never understood two questions. One, "why are these people like this?" Two, "what to do with them?" These two questions always haunted me and I felt bad. During this month of December, I finally found answers to these questions - "They are as they are because of long practise from past" and "just ignore them".

Lets keep in mind these answers and say Good Bye to year 2016. I don't know about others but certainly 2016 was memorable for me. This year will be remembered for a really long time in future. With that thought and hoping for another memorable year ahead, lets welcome new year 2017 on positive note.

Happy New Year 2017 in advance.

Demonetization

There were warnings and cautions from PM Modi during mid of year in his much famous talk show on radio, Mann Ki Baat. There were policies for self Income declaration with marginal penalty. He was very vocal and appealed tax evaders to come clean otherwise there will be strict action against them. It was definitely a kind of warning/caution.

When I use to hear this, I cannot stop to wonder myself as, how can or what can, a prime minister do, if my owner doesn't promptly pay his tax. PM is somewhere in New Delhi while my owner is sitting in some corner of a city. There are several others residing in tiny cities/villages who casually evade plenty of tax. PM cannot track each and everyone of them. He can't do anything about it. But still, how can he confidently warn people over radio? How will people take him seriously. This thought was constantly bothering in my head.

It was November 8th, around 8:15PM, there were spur of whatsapp messages on my phone, as though it was my birthday. I was really surprised as such, how come all of a sudden so many contacts became active. When I read the messages, they said 500 and 1000 denominations are banned from mid night today and asked to watch Modi's announcement. Initially, I was skeptical. After-all, these are so called whatsapp messages (if you know what I mean). But few contacts, which are like Manmohan Singh also started to speak up. It made me curious and opened youtube to watch PM talk Live about the demonetization announcement. Wow, such a bold move. I applauded heartily for the guts and WILL of this man to take this decision.

All the time while hearing to Modi's speech, I started to believe, PM can do "anything" to crub tax evaders whom he had warned earlier. I saluted his action. Now, not just my owner but all hiding tax evaders were scrutinized and shocked. No matter where he is hiding in any corner of India, this move has hit him hard. I could literally observe it in my owner's worries.

However, I had never expected that this move could cause such a burden/abrupt to normal lives. As days preceded post announcement, the bank/ATMs started to get crowded. Some people started to highlight about troubles of common man for their political gain (you exactly know whom i am referring to here) and oppose this demonetization move. But I hardly heard any common man opposing it although he faced troubles. He was in full support and ready to bear the pain for betterment of nation unlike these few politicians.

I totally agree that demonetization is not the final step or the Ultimate move to crub all the black money and make India free from all corruption. But it is certainly first step forward in that direction. There will be pain for few days for daily wage workers & low-middle class people but it has to be bear-ed. One cannot expect something good to happen without equal hard work and pain. People crib about corruption, black money and how it has to be eradicated but no one takes any action in eradicating it. If you take any action in achieving it, the steps will be harsh and painful for certain amount of time. After-all, this corruption practise and tax evasion persists in India from a really long long time.

The government also took quite a steps to ensure hospital, bus services, petrol bunks etc which are essential for day-to-day activity to accept old notes for few days but it was not much effective.

Finally, PM Modi's action certainly made people to take his words seriously. Although its an essential move & first step towards betterment of India but along with this, certain other essential strong policies and law enforcement must also come in place. As the so called black money is not just cash but it will be under various other forms, like real estate, gold, abroad holdings, stocks etc. I hope there will be further action taken to cover these aspects also in near future. But my humble request is to not crib again for inconvenience caused, trouble for common man etc. To achieve bright future of India there will be pain. It cannot happen overnight with all joyous and happy path. It has to happen gradually with certain pain and disturbances. As the famous saying goes, No gain without any pain. Please bear the pain for the ultimate gain.

The iPhone

Around June of last year, I decided to migrate from Android phone to iPhone. I was using Samsung flag ship series phones Galaxy S3 which was almost latest back then. After using it for around 18 months, the battery had become pathetic and phone use to run at snail pace. I was really fed up and was out of alternatives in Android hence took a leap of faith to migrate into the world of Apple fanatics with iPhone6+.

Although, the price is sufficiently costly compared to regular android phones with similar configuration and features, but this iPhone is unique in its own way. The look, feel and the speed with which it operates is really amazing compared to regular android phones. I still remember, unboxing iPhone6+ and the joy on my face. Its hard to explain until one owns it and experience the magic.

Initially, there was some learning curve and adjusting routine to get used to this new world of iOS, where one cannot liberally transfer pirated music/video or download anything insecure as in case of android and need iTunes software to update iPhone contents every time. Even getting used to not having the frequent "back" button of android on iPhone is somewhat uncomfortable in the beginning. As and when, one gets acquainted, its really smooth as butter. These restrictions what iOS has put are really helpful in terms of security compromises and betterment of the user in the long run. The so called famous "back" button is generally replaced by GUI of each iOs app which gives unique look to that app.

The other thing which I really like about iPhone is the camera quality and battery. These two are really excellent. Apart from these, the usage is very seamless without any hitches in-between. The QoS is the MSP of apple devices. The iCloud gives you apex control of multiple apple devices at very micro level granularity (in case, one own multiple apple devices).

Its been nearly 16months since I am using iPhone and never ever had I any major problems with it. So seamless and smooth just like newly purchased phone apart for some very minor and rare software bugs (ofcouse, its made by human and will have bugs) but at par very effective. As and when one keeps using any apple device, it becomes part of your life so much and feels like a part of your soul exists inside it.

Just 4 days back, finally, my iPhone suddenly stopped working! It has locked out and i am unable to unlock it (either using finger print scanner or pin code). The screen is hung and none of the touch functionalities are working if entered the correct pin code. Other than photos, almost everything was backed up in the iCloud but I needed photos very badly and hence couldn't reset the device. Tried several things based on internet search but none resulted into anything useful. Literally, i was locked out of my own phone.

The only last option left was to wipe out and restore back to factory defaults by backing up my phone contents. Due to Deepavali festival around the corner, I couldn't do. I had the privilege to temporarily use Galaxy S7 edge phone from my team till festivals are over. Here I am, post 16months of iOS, using back android.

Just to clarify, I don't hate Android has a framework, as its fostered by none other than Google but what it lacks is a justifiable hardware to run Android software. Galaxy S7 edge is flagship high end product of Samsung and I used it for 4 days. The observations are, Camera is at par with iPhone. If compared the pictures in dark/night time, I would say S7 beats iPhone. Finger print scanner to unlock is equally good. The design/make is classy having sliding edge but even though with all these good things again what it lacks is the basics. The battery drains at faster rate and sometimes while performing normal operations, phone gets slow. The other annoying part was the touch screen. If i want to touch "t", it would decode as "5" (top key of t is 5).

I had been involved certain amount of time in iOS that coming back to Android felt bit different. Getting used to "back" button, migrating between multiple apps, Calling options etc are quite different and I really missed my iPhone (as I said, part of my soul exists in that). To reiterate, I am not against android, but according to me, a justifiable optimised hardware to run android is missing in current market even in high end Samsung flagship phones. May be Google's proprietary "Pixel" phone might uphold Android framework but only time will tell.

The advantage of iOS is that it is fined tuned and optimised by hardware as well as software which makes it a winner. So finally I was back from festival and was trying to take backup and restore my iPhone. I had only heard about high security of apple devices which are very complicated to break but also witnessed it during this time. Even though having my iPhone in front of me, its passcode, my iclould login, a mac book, I was unable to breach security on my own iPhone. Damn it. Sometime, too much of security is also a problem ? *wink wink* :P

There was a software update about to happen which I was not able to install through iPhone as it was locked out, so I just did the same by connecting it to Macbook through iTunes and Kaboom my iPhone is back to normal just like how i left it before festival. All contents intact! I felt, part of my life came back :)

Few people are very submissive and claim that their <20K phone can do at par with >50K iPhone and tease. I have faced it a lot but its very hard to justify and I don't want to convince those people by boiling down to their level. I may be harsh here, but I don't know what makes them so furious about iPhone. Is it the fact that they can't afford? Or is it there overwhelming care that someone they know spent a huge fortune on some stupid iPhone which does the same thing as their economy budgeted phone? Anyways, I have stopped caring and to all those I just want to say, unless you own it and experience, you'll never know. Since I switched to iPhone, almost 5 people around me migrated as well (may not be because of me but they did) and i have not heard any complaint from them yet but only praises.

Atlast, these debates, iPhone vs Android, Facebook vs Twitter, BJP vs AAP, Vim vs Source Insight etc are all one and the same. There are fans or so called "bhakts" for both. Its a never ending debate. Both are good at their own front and according to people's mentality or personality, they choose one among them and stick to it. And for me, its always vim over source insight, BJP over AAP and Twitter over facebook and as usual, iPhone over Android :)

My Super Powers

After watching countless super hero movies since childhood, I have seen several kinds of super powers these so called super heroes posses. From spider man, hulk, flash, X-mens to Shaktimaan, Krish, Flying Jatt etc. Although these are fictional stories but the possibility of having such a super power and the challenges these super heroes face to save the world from negative power hooks most of us. 

However, no one can have such super powers in real life as these characters have, but there are some small silly powers which we normal human beings also do posses. Its only the matter of realization. Let me tell you about my super power which I believe somehow exists with me. I cannot explain how or why, but I firmly somehow believe that it really do exist. 

I am a kind of guy who generally doesn’t wish anything bad to anyone around me. I always have motto of life that, be happy and let others be happy. Don’t hate, have loath, be over jealous on people for no reason or absurd reasons. It holds you back. I am that guy who adjusts to whatever is thrown at him and be happy with it. Sometimes, I wonder being so nice is not going to help in anyway or will often hurt me over and over. But still I continue to be nice with others, take the hit and get hurt without expressing it. 

This doesn’t mean that, I am kind of some saint. No, I am not. I do get jealous, hate someone to core and wish bad to people who aren’t kind to me. If someone cheats, takes advantage of my soft nature, i get very furious. But the thing is I don’t show it openly. I keep it with myself and use my super power on them. Yes, my super power. 

So what is my super power, you ask ? If someone unnecessarily hurts me, takes advantage of me, then I won’t react but be calm and curse them in my mind strongly that they will face the consequences of doing this bad thing to me. Its like my “Shaapa”. And trust me, if I put shaapa on someone, they really suffer :) 

I know its funny but somehow I strongly believe in this super power of mine. I don’t use my super power to curse someone falsely or just for my advantage but very judiciously and cautiously. I use it very rarely and occasionally for absolute genuine reasons. Hardly two or three strong curses I do per annum. And ofcourse, there will be tiny curses here and there when people use me for their personal selfishness while I always wished good for them. 

Sometimes, I tried to falsely curse someone although there was no mistake from them but just for my personal ego satisfaction but guess what, it backfired on me! I have faced it in-numerous times and learnt my lesson. Hence, unless its reached the peak and I am right but still the other person keep taking advantage of me, I use my super power. I don’t expect the curse put on other fellow to have effect unless its absolutely genuine. And you know what, I don’t seek answers if its effective or not but somehow I come to know that he suffered from my curse through one or other sources. 

I know this super power, curse, shaapa etc are all illogical and funny and probably doesn’t even make any sense, right? I agree with you. This is all some made-up crap by me. To understand why, close your eyes and think of a moment/scenario where you were right and did everything good you can but things didn’t go as expected and something bad happened due to someones personal gains. Someone used you and hurt your feelings or cheated in a bad way but you can’t absolutely do anything about it. You are helpless but has to accept the fact that, life is unfair and deal with it. Everyone has their own way of dealing with it through their own personal belief system. And my personal belief system of dealing with statement that “life is unfair” is through so called and as explained above “my super powers” :)

PS: Generally, (honestly from my heart) I never expect bad to anyone around me, no matter what and try to be as nice as possible by minding my own business. But people keep taking me lightly and use me for their advantage. For them, Beware of my super power ;)

Reunion Train

Although there might be other trains from Bangalore to North Karnataka, but Rani Chennamma train is the most apt & famous, especially for Hubli, Dharwad, Belgaum people commuting to state capital. Due to its daily availability, prompt & suitable timing of leaving at 9:15PM (which is not too late nor too early) & reaching early morning plus beginning from majestic(not yeshwanthpur) with affordable price makes it very attractive. Most of the people prefer this train but it's not easy to get a reservation unless it's booked 2 months ahead. During festival time, 4 months ahead(as soon as booking opens) tickets get sold out.

Post engineering, after moving to Bangalore, its really hard to keep in touch with old friends and meet them. Only few closed ones will be in touch, but still majority of them won't be meeting regularly. So every time, when I travel by Rani Chennamma train, I am bound to meet one of my old friend. Be it engineering friend, PU friend, School friend or even a colleague or ex-colleague residing from north Karnataka. So I call this train a "Reunion Train", as its very rare that I haven't met someone when I travel.

Since from engineering, I have this habit of forgetting people. I might have met them once or twice and would have forgot, but somehow they still recognise me and talk. I will be having absolutely no idea who the person is but still somehow try to converse. This use to happen a lot during engineering, but post engineering it reduced as I hardly meet most of them. Since I started to travel regularly by Rani Chennamma train, aka Reunion train, I always feared that this situation might happen again. Its so embarrassing. Generally, a friend of mine(whom I know) will be with me, when some person whom I don't recognise meets and talk. In between talks, somehow I manage to checkout with my friend about who is this unknown person talking to me. Once I remember, then the conversation goes smooth. This I call it as Type-I problem of mine.

The Type-II problem is that, I assume the person X with someone else as Y and start to converse. As the conversation proceeds, more confusion to both of us leading to a weird conversation. Once I realise that, I have mis-assumed this person to be someone else, then I try to quickly wrap up the conversation. The next immediate thing I do is, quickly run to a friend and ask him, who was I talking to till now ! LoL will be the usual response of my friend.

This is my weakness. Forgetting people. I don't forget every people like Ghazini but only those people whom I might have met once/twice or people whom I knew rarely and are not in contact for long time. Somehow they remember me, but I don't. It will be funny for the friend who listens to conversation of ours or when I tell about this situation later.

So last week, when I was travelling by Rani Chennamma alone, I was sitting minding my own business and suddenly a guy comes and sits in front of me saying "Hello", I recognise his face but I am not able to re-collect who is he, or what is his name. I got this feeling that, Type-I situation is about to happen. I said, "hey" and my brain became hyper active thinking, what could be the generic thing to ask/converse before I can remember who is he.

"Which coach are you in?", I asked casually. He told, the same coach with some berth number. I said, "ok" and was out of words and my brain fully trying to recollect who is he. My brain was running, face-matching algorithm in full clock speed without any luck :P

He asked, going to Dharwad? I was like, Ok, so he knows, I am from Dharwad. May be he is from Dharwad? Should I ask him or assume it. The look on my face might have quizzed him probably. He asked, "coming back on Monday?" I am still thinking hard and said, "yes, back by same train". Without knowing what to ask next, I came up with another generic question, "So you are also visiting native?", I was thinking, should I ask Dharwad or Hubli but fixed to make it generic and asked as "native". He said, "yes visiting to Belgaum!"

I was clean bold now. Not Hubli and not Dharwad but Belgaum. Thank God, I asked generically "native" and not assumed anything. I ruled out few eliminations making my face matching algorithm to match lesser known faces. But still not able to recollect who is he. So I took a chance and asked, where are you staying. He said Karthiknagar with some surprise. I could sense his surprise and immediately said, "near-by to office then?" I have no idea, where he works. What if he is from my old company or from my own office or old team, I was running full probability and sets. He said, "yes".

There was awkward silence. I wanted to ask, how he commutes to office. Now the tricky part was, how should I ask? Do you come by bike or Do you go by bike? Depends on where he works! I asked, "so you use bike to office". He was surprised, saying "yes". I was like, what time generally do you leave from home to office. I was running out of questions to ask. I think, he sensed my weird questions. I was fully in thinking mode. He asked couple of questions, I replied "yes" "no" answers thinking hard, who is this guy.

If any of my friend was with me, then he could have helped me recognise him, but I was alone. I conversed about 10mins not knowing who he is and somehow managed well. Lot of generic question/answers went on. Later, I don't know what he felt, or he realised that I don't recognise him or it was enough time, he said, "ok, I'll go back to my berth". I was still thinking hard, who he is and conversation ended abruptly and he left.

I felt ashamed and funny at same time. I started to rethink, what all we talked about. Whom can I ask about this person. I don't even click his pic. How to check, who is he. It had been really long time since this had happened with me.

Note: By any chance, If you are reading this, then I am sorry that I couldn't recognise you. Please let me know by messaging/emailing.

Caged In My Dream

When I was in school, around 5-6th standard, I generally use to sleep next to my grand mother and occasionally sometimes next to my mother. I still vaguely remember that one night, when I was sleeping next to my mother and I had a horrible dream.

I generally use to have dreams which are quite far from reality, but on that day, the dream was very subtle and real. The dream of me sleeping in the same exact place where I am sleeping. Now, how do I differentiate whether its real or dream! I tried to move (in real) but I couldn't. I was surprised. Then I tried to open my eyes to figure out why am I not able to move and shockingly, I was not able to open my eyes! I was totally scared. I tried to speak, but I couldn't. I could sense my mouth was moving but no sound. I started to freak out. I started screaming, well I tried so that my mother could wake me up from this dream but no sound at all. I was horrified. I tried to move my hands, legs so that it reaches and wakes my mother for help, but I was paralysed. I had no idea now, what to do? I was like caged in my own dream through which I was not able to get out.

I started to cry, scream, but no one to help. I could see my mother sleeping right next to me and others who are in sound sleep in the room but I can't do anything. That sense of helplessness I would never forget. I lost hope and gave up. After sometime, not sure how, a sort of sense passed through my head/brain and immediately I opened my eyes breathing heavily.

I was simply lying on bed with wide opened eyes staring at the black colour fan. I tried to move and I was able to move. Looked aside my mom and others in the room. I was assured that somehow I came out of my dream. I was so much horrified that I was scared to close my eyes again to go to sleep. I lied there for next 45mins until my restless eyes automatically went to sleep and when I woke up, it was already 8:55AM and it was late for me to tell about this dream to my mom before she leaves to office by 9:15.

Later when I went to school and got used to day-to-day activities, somehow this dream started to feel less important to discuss or tell anyone so I skipped telling anyone including my mother.

Days passed by (in fact night), without any of such horrible dream. I had few scary dreams but not like being caged in my own dream and stuck there. Probably, it was during 9th or 10th, somewhere during my high school, exactly same dream happened again. This time, it wasn't for much longer duration so I presumably skipped mentioning again.

Then this kind of caging in my own dream started to happen much often. I was literally trapped in my own sleeping body as a dream. Being familiar with the situation, I started to analyse, whats going on. What operations can I do and what not when I am caged in my dream. From being caged in my own body, I was sometimes use to get-up and walk around in the room (not real me but in dream and see others sleeping including myself). It was very scary as well interesting but I never wanted to have one of such kind of dreams. When these kinds of dreams started to appear much often, I casually mentioned to my mother and she gave me some advice, which I am not able to recollect now!!!

Since my college, I stopped having caged in my own body kind of dreams and I totally forgot about it. I even forgot about their existence. Life moved on...

2 days back, I read an article about "How to train your brain to fall asleep in 60seconds" Lately I had troubles falling asleep (which is routine for every 25-40years old due to stress and tensions of life) after lying on bed. So I stumbled upon this article and thought of trying it out.

The method is very easy and simple. You breath through your nose for four second, hold it for seven seconds, and exhale through your mouth for eight seconds. It slows down your heart rate, and it also releases chemicals in our brain that soothe you which makes you fall asleep in a minute. Initially, it felt bit uncomfortable but then I was just liking this so called 4,7,8 method and it was indeed working.

Today, all of a sudden, after so many years, my horrific moment, my caged into body dream re-appeared. This time, my brain was telling me that, I was sleeping in my native. I was literally jailed in my own body. It had been several years since I had such dream and I was fully horrified again to re-experience it. I was unable to move, speak, open my eyes. This time there was no one sleeping surrounding me to ask for help. I was all alone with more sense of helplessness. After sometime, I felt that "sensation" in my brain again and I opened my eyes breathing heavily. First thing, I witnessed that I was not sleeping in my native. Then I recollected about such dream happening to me during childhood days. I was bit freaked out and quickly opened MacBook in midnight and started typing this blog before I forget.

So the reason for writing this blog is to know if any of you face such dream or heard someone mentioning about it? I hope, I am not the only one (else its a serious problem?). I couldn't consult any doctor also, even if consulted, which type of doctor am I suppose to consult? What to explain him? I tried googling but don't know what to search for. I could just figure out from my self research is that probably this is something to do with 'brain' and 'breathing' and 'chemicals' as it got triggered after so many decades of years when I tried 4,7,8 method.

Anyways, its time to go back to sleep again. Honestly, I am scared to try 4,7,8 method now as I could possibly end up again in caged dream. Good Night to me :)

Past to Future

June month of 2016 comes to an end just like every other year but this time, I strongly feel, it's different for me. Its been 5 years since the worst year of my life. Sometimes I couldn't believe its already 5 years gone since my life turned upside down. After witnessing 5 years, finally I have realised now that, its time to move on.

Generally, I am that kind of a person, who holds on to the past very often in every other moment/event/situation/place/thing/person and try to link up and regret how it could have been different & better if it was like that as in the past. By doing so, it always felt a sense of being in the past and its minute happiness but unknowingly it also use to give a lot of pain & depresses. Dwelling in past for a moment is fine but getting lost into it is very dangerous.

June also being my month of birthday, my age automatically incremented by 1. So from this month to next June (in an year), there are lot of events going to happen. Lot of things are going to change. Lots of responsibility, new experiences, new risks are about to be witnessed. I have to be prepared for that. By holding to past, I will hinder the future. I have realised, it is now time to wake up from this past dream and get ready for the future real.

I am looking forward for my next birthday month June-2017. I am casually wondering, what would I be writing in the June 2017 blog at that point of time. I am expecting, there would be several changes in life as compared to today. I hope, that 2017 Prasanna has overcome all his hurdles, risk and emerged as a better person than what he is now with clear goals, vision and perception towards life. Lets wish him ALL THE BEST :)

Last Moment Things

Every time whenever I have to visit my native, I have to catch bus/train from the centre of Bangalore, i.e., Majestic. It is almost nearly 25Km far from my place. Generally, I always visit my native over the weekend, so Friday evening is the vital time for me to take this quarter century Kms journey from my place to the heart of city.

As true as water is blue is so true about crazy Bangalore traffic. Especially over the start of weekend (on Friday) towards Majestic. And by any chance, if that weekend is a long weekend due to some festival, then you better take off from work on that day and leave home in the afternoon to reach Majestic. The traffic is literally Jammed. To add cherry on the top of cake, if by any chance, during long weekend of festival on Friday, it had rained heavily in Bangalore then listen to me and go back to your home in Bangalore and celebrate the festival over Skype with your family in native than dreaming to reach Majestic.

Even though being fully aware of this above situation of Bangalore traffic on Friday evenings, I never bother to make an habit of leaving early in the evening. I am not sure, why it always so happens that, I leave late from home and have this constant fear and tension of whether will I reach Majestic on time or not. Will I be able to catch Rani Chennamma train or not. Will I be able to reach on time to Anand Rao Circle or not. Will my bus wait for extra 15mins for me.

The journey of this 25Kms is so stressful that if you succeed reaching somehow on time to catch the bus/train then the rest of 450Kms feels nothing in front of it. The real challenge is not getting tired of 450Kms journey to native but this tiny 25Kms journey in Bangalore.

I have been constantly scolded by others on making last moment to train/bus and sometimes I wonder myself as why can't I just leave early and avoid this all worry of possibility of missing train/bus. I keep getting different explanation in my vicious head every time I puzzle myself with this question.

The thing is, after crossing all of this painful stress and tension of last moment things, finally when you make-up to the destination to catch the bus/train, the feeling which is felt at that moment is priceless. The winning moment. When you are so desperate to somehow reach majestic on time, the only thing that matters to you in that moment is to reach their on time. All your other small & silly worries won't take any weight. The only goal is to reach the destination somehow. By hook or crook. You look at time and traffic outside on road and take precious decisions on how to optimize and reach the destination on time. That thrill of race against the time is wonderful.

For times, I have optimized my path from home to majestic are in-numerous. Taking cab from here till next 5Kms, from their catch bus till another 10Kms, then catch auto to near-by oneway road, walk from that point till next point from where I can catch another auto again etc. All this circus is to avoid traffic and save the precious time against which I would be racing. My end goal is to reach the destination in that stipulated amount of time. You need to be precise and very quick on taking decision on the toe. If you skip few mins in taking decision, traffic might pile up and you have to come up with another short-cut route. The tentative moment to decide on something and stick to it challenges me and their is some kind of fun in that. Probably, thats why, I inherently and unintentionally+intentionally push the things to last moment.

But last week was tip of the toe moment. The race against time was so delicate that, even every seconds were mattering. The peak of tension and stress was unbelievable. The Rani Chennamma train from Majestic was at sharp 9:15PM. I thought of travelling my metro train. Even though, I left two & half hours early (around 6:45PM), I was stuck in KR Puram traffic and reached Metro station at 8:25PM. By the time I took ticket in Metro station and ran towards catching Metro, I was delayed by 3 seconds and those bloody automatic metro doors closed right in front of me and I couldn't do anything. I quickly consulted guard standing there about the next metro and it was at 8:45PM and he said it would take approx 25-30mins to reach Majestic. So essentially 9:15 train GONE!!!

Sitting idle in metro station for 15mins, I started to think the importance of 3 seconds. The possibility of catching Rani Chennama train was impossible and was thinking of some alternate Bus. I deeply thought and promised to myself that from next time onwards, lets never allow for these last moment things to happen. Lets always manage to leave early. In the past six and half years of my stay in Bangalore, I had never missed booked ticket go waste by not travelling. I always somehow had managed to win the race against time, but this time I was feeling it was impossible.

At sharp 8:45PM, Metro left towards Majestic. I kept sadly looking at time on my iPhone. The clock was ticking towards 9PM. Somehow, I was cheerful to see that, metro was nearing Majestic and it was almost nearing 9:05PM. Thanks to prompt timely deliver of metro operation that at 9:10 sharp (25mins travel) I was in Majestic metro railway station. My hopes came back and started to run towards platform no. 8. Those 5mins, I ran like anything. If I had run this fast in my school race competition, I would have gathered first prize.

Exactly at 9:15, I managed to reach the platform where Rani Chennamma was standing. I couldn't control my happiness. With heavy breathing, I proudly stepped inside the coach and train immediately started to move! UFFFFF... as though it was just waiting for me to get in ;)

The amount of kick or joy which I get after winning against time is marvellous but on the other hand the tension, stress and fear till I reach my destination is also equally horrible. Its similar to your savings money. If you want fixed small returns for your savings, then deposit in FD but if you want greater returns for you savings then invest in stock market. FD is risk free where you get small constant interest rate while stock market is volatile and risk prone but returns are damn heavy and match with your amount of risk.

Lets see how early I would be leaving on my next visit to my native (on June 10th Friday). I won't be surprised if again the "last moment things" would repeat afterall promises are made to be broken ;)

PS: My record of "never missing to travel in pre-booked ticket" still holds good :)

My "Make In India" Policy

Since Modi begun the "Make In India" initiative, I have been fascinated by that concept. I am not writing anything about Modi's Make In India initiative or about its success or drawbacks, but this is about my concept of Make In India.

When you are opting for a place to dwell, be it for rent or purchase, what properties and components do you seek ? Generally, one wants nearby grocery stores, medical stores, hospital, school, transportation convenient, park, tailoring shop, multiplex, vegetable market etc. We need a place where most of the stuffs are available within a moment.

If these availabilities are not near-by, then you may have to go to a far place, more of a junction place, where several others like you will be visiting there to get the stuffs. So when more and more people from similar place need the same stuff visit this far place, then one business minded person will plan to open a similar store/shop nearby to that place. Example, assume that there is no tailoring shop nearby to your place and you have to visit 4-5Kms for it. Now, if someone observes that more demand is there from your place then he opens up a tailer shop within a 1KM reach.

Generalising the same example of tailoring to other services, the tailer shop situated at 4-5Kms was open over there because earlier people had to go to next town around 10-15Kms for tailoring and hence it was made available 4-5Kms as demand grew. Similarly all other services which we see around ourselves(hospital, clinic, general store, medical store, dress shop, dominos, multiplex, mall, vegetable shop, McDonalds, pani puri shop, coconut shop, bakery etc) is because people dwelling in the surrounding places are in need of such services.

Often without realising the above fact, what I generally use to do is, I never use to buy stuffs from near-by shops thinking, this is a small bakery, let me go far to that big bakery and get bread. I use to go intentionally that far and get the stuff or else whenever I was out on a vehicle, I use to get something from that bakery while returning back. I use to think, this neary-by bakery is anyway here only (nearby), anytime I want, I can get something in urgent. But if I have time, lets get on vehicle and go to that big bakery. Note :- bakery was just an example :)

Recently, when I had been to my native, I saw a new small tailor shop had opened just across the road from my home. I had to make some old jeans pants into 3/4th to wear in home (yes, I do that :P). I was wondering to take them to market but unlike as in Bangalore, I do not have bike ready to go anywhere as my wish. So I was forced to take them over there for alteration. The tailor requested to wait for 10-15mins as it will be done and I get to take them right away.

While sitting idle, observing his craft of tailoring, I initiated a small conversation, "How long since you opened this shop?" He said, it has been 2 weeks and we chatted for a while. Based on that short conversation, I got to know, how much he struggled to put a shop with investment in this area based on knowledge that, there isn't any nearby tailor shop in this area. He stays far and travels here everyday to run this shop. Since it was new and more people were unaware and rest other wouldn't want to give a try and still want to visit shop in market, he was mentioning his struggle to get customers so as just to manage bare minimum profit to pay the shop rent.

This is not the story of only this small tailor but several other small vendors nearby your home trying to provide you service but due to people's attitude(like me) they couldn't survive the business. Similarly there was new vegetable shop nearby to my home. It was so near to my home that, the old vegetable lady use to get 1 bucket of water for setting up her vegetable daily and in return she use to give few vegetables for free. I never bought anything from her as I was used to getting vegetables from 1KM away. During my last time visit to native, I witnessed that she couldn't survive the business and she closed down. Now I realise, if this shop was present, it would have been so helpful.

Similarly there are several other examples but I hope you got the hang. So from now on, I always prefer to buy stuffs from near-by shops even though when I am out and could have bought the same stuff from far shop but I avoid that. Due to this policy, recently, I witnessed and explored so many new shop vendors nearby to my home (both in Bangalore and in native). There is no need to go far for buying. This policy will also help them to expand in providing more and better service nearby.

One might argue with me that, why should we buy from a shop with poor quality and not good service just because it is nearby? I totally agree with you on this. You have the power to let him know that his product or service is not good by avoiding to visit that shop and try to go to the next nearby shop with adequate good quality or better than this one. If quality is not good, then do not visit and others will also do the same. In current world, where competition is neck-to-neck, quality and service really do matter. If he is not par with current standards, then he is bound to go down. This will give others to come up nearby trying to give better service but do not avoid giving a chance for new small vendors nearby to your place. They need your support and encouragement to continue giving the best nearby to you.

Whenever I am out to some far place to visit someone or due to some work, I prefer not to buy stuffs from there which are easily available nearby to my place. This was not the case with me earlier. I call this as My Make In India Policy. Try to enhance and increase the income/economy of the business nearby to your place rather than buying/using some service from some far random place just because you were there at that time. Whenever I get this urge to buy something which could also be bought nearby to my place, I control my urge and let it pass. Whenever I do this, I remind myself of Make In India concept. According to this, I am using totally nearby restaurant, nearby hair saloon, nearby medical store, near by panipuri shop, near by vegetable shop, near by petrol bunk, near by bakery etc. I am promoting my Make In India Policy by spending my money in the nearby services from now on. When will you ? :) 

Novel - Part 2

Continued from last blog :-

Swati entered into the office and saw the time on mobile along with notification telling 34 unread messages. The time was 9:25AM. She was relaxed that somehow she made it on time for the first day at office. She was asked to sit in a waiting room where few other new joinees were already waiting. She saw 5 guys and 2 girls waiting. Two guys were 30+ while remaining 3 were in 25s. The 2 girls, who were in same age bracket of Swati, were wearing similar dress like her. She walked into the room and sat next to those two girls. 

The environment in the room was bit tensed. Swati also got bit tensed. No one spoke any word or even smiled at each other.

While sitting idle, Swati thought of calling her father and took out her mobile but the room was totally silent so she thought of calling him later. She started to think, what would have happened if Satwik haven’t had met me today. I would have reached probably by 10 or 10:15AM. She thought of sending a text message as “Thank You for the drop” and opened WhatsApp. To her surprise, there was already a message from Satwik which read “All the Best for your first day of professional carrier”. Swati sighed rolling her eyes, “how desperate! He must be driving to his office now but still messaged me by stopping his vehicle wishing ‘all the best.’” 

Anyways, he was certainly helpful today so she replied back “Thank you and thank you for the drop” and immediately HR came in and said, “Good Morning guys”

The HR was full of energy and was sharp on time. He was tall, pale dark, neatly dressed with short hair in mid 30s. He introduced himself as, “I am Manoj and I have been working in this company from past 2 and half years. I am head HR with team of 3 people. I just got a call from Nandini that she is running late by 15mins. So please wait while she arrives and starts the joining process. Welcome to ASM family” he said enthusiastically giving a large smile to everyone and left.

Swati was gazing into the talk of Manoj and was feeling proud of hearing that small speech. She exclaimed in her mind – “15minutes late should have been ok”.

Starting to strike a conversation with the girl sitting next to her, Swati asked her name.

“Hey, what is your name?”

“Pooja and what is your name?”

“My name is Swati”

Again, the room was dead silent. After 2mins, Swati whispered to Pooja, “Do you know, where the restroom here is?”

“I don’t know, maybe you can ask the people in reception” – Pooja whispered back.

“Ok. Thanks” – Swati replied. She kept her bag on seat and picked up mobile and left out of room towards reception.

The receptionist gestured the direction where restrooms were situated. Swati dialed her father’s number and walked towards that direction.

“Hi pa” – she said

“Hello putta, did you reach office?” – Her father asked

“Yes, just few minutes back. Now I’m waiting for HR to come”

“Ok, I heard from ‘Her Majesty’ that you were running late” –father kiddingly asked

Smilingly Swati said - “Yeah, yeah. You know Bangalore traffic, right? It’s terrible here. I thought, I can manage but it became late”

“hmmm…” her father replied.

“I will tell you the secret. Do you remember Satwik, senior from my college? He accidently met me and dropped me on time” – She casually told her father, just like talking to a friend.

“Oh is it, your mother thought auto“– mischievously her father replied.

“He he he, Yeah, Satwik was my two wheeler auto driver”

Her father laughed and immediately Swati heard her mother questioning her father, “Why are you laughing? What happened with auto?”

“Do not tell her pa” – quickly Swati whispered in phone.

“Nothing, she is telling meters of auto run very fast in Bangalore”

Swati’s father was excellent secret keeper for her daughter. He knew how to manage his daughter and wife.

“Ok putta, I’m getting late. I have to drop off your mother at Bank and then I have lecture at 10:30AM”

“Ok, sure pa. Bye”

“All the Best for today” – Her father wished

Swati happily said, “Thanks a lot” and ended the call. She just washed her face and saw herself in mirror making sure her ironed Salwar Kameez is perfectly fine and marched towards the room.

There was one more lady in the room who was of medium height, wearing a black jeans and light colored top. She was fair and beautiful. Swati entered room wondering, Is she the HR? 

Meanwhile, Pooja gestured to come and sit next to her. The new lady in the room indeed was Nandini, the HR who was late. Nandini looked sophisticated with her great English accent doing all those hand gestures while talking. She welcomed all the new comers and asked everyone to introduce themselves to one another.

Swati was bit phobic talking in front of several unknowns. She started to rehearse in mind, “Hi, I am Swati; I am from BVB college of engineering Hubli. My native is Hubli and …” she was running out on what to say. Meanwhile, Pooja confidently introduced herself when Nandini said – “Let’s begin with ladies first and do we have any volunteer here?” pointing towards three girls.

Pooja was from Bangalore, studied in BMS Engineering College and a confident girl. She had long face, dark eyes, wheetish in color with hair tied as pony tail. She introduced herself and about her hobbies.

Swati quickly thought of, what hobbies she can mention while introducing herself. “May be music, novels, cooking, watching movies, oh my God, there are so many. Which one should I pick? I am too much nervous”

Swati was trying to just pick some random hobbies to mention so that her introduction will get over quickly. She didn’t want to genuinely mention, what her really hobbies were under such tension.

The next girl was Ashwini, she started to introduce with confidence but started to tremble not knowing when to finish. She was short, a bit fat, fair looking girl with round face. She abruptly stopped her introduction.

Nandini moved her eye from Ashwini to Swati. It was Swati’s turn now.

With bit of hesitation, Swati begun – “Good Morning everyone, my name is Swati and I am from Hubli. I completed my engineering in BVB college from computer science branch…” after that she was blank not knowing what to say.

Nandini, being a friendly HR, encouraged her to talk more by asking – “Are you from North Karnataka?”

“Yes” – Swati replied confidently.

“There is a group of North Karnataka people over here. May be, you can meet them later” – Nandini replied with a bright smile on her face. “So, what are your hobbies, Swati?”

“Well, I love to sing. I have some passion in music and gardening” – Swati replied revealing her real hobbies.

Nandini nodded her head saying, “Singing, hmmm.. that’s quite intriguing. You might have to show your talent in our culture functions then.”

Swati just smiled implying “sure”

Nandini turned towards the guys now.

Swati was relieved that it got over and thought – “Well, it didn’t go that bad” and smilingly looked at Pooja who was smiling back at her.

“My name is Arun and I have around 4 years of experience. I started my carrier with Infosys and now joining here. My hobbies include, travelling, listening to music and drawing” a moderately fat, well combed hair with tucked-in formal dress wearing fellow spoke introducing himself.

Swati didn’t care much of what this guy was talking and was looking at the guy sitting at the end of the table. He was wearing a round neck T-shirt, having a ring in one of the ear. He had a big throat, moderately white skin, wearing a branded watch. After few moments of staring at him, he casually looked at Swati and she turned her eyes immediately looking towards Nandini.

By this time, two fellows were done introducing themselves and the fourth guy started to talk. Swati didn’t even listen what were their names. She was so much lost watching at this guy sitting across the end of table.

Novel - Part 1

Off lately, I was too much carried away in trying to write my own novel. Few months back, I wrote this incomplete first chapter and never got time to update or finish it out. Initially, I was very skeptical about publishing it to everyone but now I felt, to improve myself, certainly I need a general overview feedback from others. Due to lengthy content, i'm breaking it into two halves and first part is here :-

“Did you keep all necessary documents?” a distant voice of Swati’s aunt panted across hall. Swati was in hurry and shouted back “Yeah, I have” and left home. It was Swati’s joining day at her new company named ASM Technologies Ltd located in Richmond Road, Bangalore. It was her first company after graduating from a reputed engineering college from Hubli. The reporting time was 09:30AM and it was already 8:45AM.

The bus stop was at a distance of five minutes walk from home. Swati reached bus stop and looked at several others who were already waiting for bus. Even if the bus arrives, she was not ready to board into crowded bus. She had struggled to get her Salwar Kameez ironed all by herself yesterday. At her native, Hubli, she use to get her clothes ironed from shop and in case of urgencies, her father use to get it ironed for her. But in Bangalore, being new to the place, she didn’t know where the iron shop was and she didn’t have her father to help. She had ironed all by herself and realized the hard work needed to iron a dress.

“Auto” screamed Swati by waving her hand but due to busy hours in Bangalore on Monday morning, none of them were free or ready to stop. She was getting a bit tensed.

“Keep calm Swati, nothing begins at sharp 09:30AM. A delay of 10-15mins is acceptable” she consoled herself.

She looked into her mobile and clicked on Uber app. The surcharges were high. “Oh man” she exclaimed and opened Ola app. Even there, it was nothing different.

She was running out of options. Furiously, she turned over her hand to take a quick look at time. It was already 9AM.

Suddenly her phone started to ring; “Mom” was getting displayed. She always feared of her mother since childhood. Swati’s mother was an associate manager in reputed Bank and was very strict, while her father was working as a lecturer in nearby PU College. Swati was more close to her father than mother. Due to ongoing tension of how to reach office in-time, she ignored the call thinking, “Let me call her back.”

A guy on a bike, stopped in front of her and said “Hi Swati”. 

She looked up at this random person and couldn’t recognize but responded back in hesitation and said “Hello…”

The guy knew, she didn’t recognize him and opened his Helmet and smilingly said, “Hi again”. 

Swati, with a bit of surprise, exclaimed “Hey, Satwik, Is that you!!! I thought, some random guy trying to ask address”. Both chuckled for a short moment and he asked, “Can I drop you somewhere?”

Swati needed the drop very badly but didn’t wanted to sound desperate. Satwik was her senior from college and an old friend from Hubli who was not in contact off lately. He was fare, tall guy. From his Facebook profile, she knew that he is working in some company in Bangalore.

“No, its ok. I was about to book a cab now” – Swati said not looking into his eyes.

“Where are you working? Are you sure, you don’t want a drop?” – Satwik casually queried before leaving.

Swati realized that he might leave and she wanted the drop badly so immediately to keep the conversation going, she told - “I got selected in ASM technologies on the Richmond road. Today is my joining date”.

“Congrats, great to hear”

A moment of silence followed.

“What time are you supposed to be there?” – Satwik asked her again before leaving.

“Actually I am already getting late. I have to reach in half an hour” – she said it honestly with bit of disappointment.

Satwik realized that she is hesitant to ask for ride by herself, so he only invited yet again.

“It is difficult to reach Richmond road on time all by yourself in this terrific traffic. So hop on, I know shortcuts and will take you on time” – Satwik said with confidence.

Swati listened to it carefully and smiled a bit and hoped on to the bike. She was running late already and she can't take any risk of going late on first day.

“Where shall I drop you in Richmond Road?” – Satwik asked as he started to drive.

She told him the nearby location. Swati’s phone again started to ring. She was sure, its mom again and saw the phone. It was displaying “My Hero”.

She happily picked up the call and cheerfully said, “Hello pa, Good morning” but the other side was her mom’s voice.

“Why didn’t you pick up my phone earlier” – her mom furiously asked

Swati was taken aback and immediately said, “I was late getting to office and in hurry I missed it. Sorry ma”

“Why didn’t you leave early? You know it’s not Hubli. You must get up early and leave soon” 

“But ma, I was--” Swati was about to say something but her mom kept on talking, giving her no chance to talk and said - “From tomorrow onwards, make sure you wake up early and get ready soon. Be on time. College days are over.” Swati simply acknowledged “hmmmm…”

“How are you going?” her mom suspiciously asked as she was hearing lot of disturbances over the phone due to travelling on bike.

Swati lied, “In an auto” and quickly changed the subject asking about her father – “Where is father? What is he doing?”

“He is getting ready to college. I am ready waiting for him from past 10mins. You and your father, both are lazy persons” – She exclaimed.

Swati was happy that she got compared to her father and smilingly replied back, “Ok, no problem. Tell him, I’ll call once I reach office. Bye ma”

“Bye putta” – her parents use to call Swati with nick name as “putta”

“Was that your mother?” – Satwik questioned as he heard the lie told by Swati that she was travelling in an auto.

“Yes” she calmly replied.