Dreams

Labels: Indian Republic Day

In my prayers, I often ask God for ... nothing. I believe that God knows everything and will grant me without my asking for it, when and what is right for me. However, in a book that I am reading, the author brings in a very interesting perspective about the specificity and deliberation of prayers. To make her point, she shares this lore.

A poor man goes to Church every day and prays before the statue of a great saint, begging, "Dear Saint - please, please, please ... give me the grace to win the lottery. " This lament goes on for months. Finally the exasperated statue comes to life, looks down at the begging man and says in weary disgust, "My son - please, please, please ... buy a ticket."

Now, if You were to let me win the lottery, God, will you also not create circumstances that will make me buy the tickets as well? I trust you - completely, blindly!

Labels: Prayer, trust

Just finished watching " MONGOLIAN PING PONG" - a charming movie that alluringly takes you to the far away world of Mongolia.

This is a story of 3 Mongolian kids who find a ping-pong ball and take it on themselves to find out what mystery the ball holds. Later, they learn [watching / hearing a tv show, this itself is a very interesting scene] that the ping-pong is a "National Ball of China". And so, now they start their journey to China to return the ball to the "Nation" because, they think "The nation must be very worried about its ball".

The innocence and originality of the characters and the un-adulterated way of showing the incidents makes the movie a charm to watch. This movie reminded me of "The weeping camel" for its similarity in the visuals and backdrop. Also, it brought to my mind another movie "The God must be crazy" where an aborigine runs around, trying to find out the mystery behind a "cocacola" bottle.

I would watch any of these three movies multiple time ... and I am sure, I will enjoy every single time.

Labels: "Gods must be crazy", "Mongolian ping pong", "The weeping Camel", Movie, Review

... for when they shine, you may not have the faculty...

Yes, one such movie, that kept the entire audience seated in the theater until the last line of the credits scrolled from bottom to top and even after for some time.

One such movie, that made most of us thoughtful and speechless for quite some time...a movie that pinched through the skins of the most insensitive.

A simple story telling, a masterpiece of the art of film-making. "Taare Zameen Pe" is indeed, one of the best movies, I have seen in years. True to the core !

Once again, my favorite Actor and now the Director, Aamir Khan, has made me very happy!

Labels: aamir khan

Shekhar recently shared this true story with me:

In LA, this person, gathered all street children - hooligans and complete misfit for the society and started teaching them Ball Dance. Obviously, there was a lot of contradiction, but when he declared his logic behind the action, all distracting noises hushed. According to him, teaching Ball Dancing to a girl, will bring in grace to the person and a talent that is appreciated in many places. This appreciation and talent will add confidence and she will do better, else where in life as well. Simply put, confidence has a very wider stretch! And his explanation to teach ball dancing to boys was inherent in the moves of Ball Dancing. As ball dancing requires the male partner to be respectful of the female partner and practicing this dance over and over again, will inculcate a feeling of respect towards the fairer sex, in these boys, who otherwise had no such sense. He was immensely successful.

I very much liked this story because of the learning that you can do simple, unconventional things to achieve goals of ulterior nature.

I am reading this book, "Eat, Pray and Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. I have fewer words than I could use to express how inspiring I found this book. Thankfully, a practical, non-preaching "work-for-yourself" book. But, some other post for eulogies about the book. For now, I want to write about a thought that has made me reflect in a profound way.

From the book:
There is a philosophical dialog in the book between Gilbert and her friend, where her friend suggests that every city—and every person—has a word. Rome’s is “sex,” the Vatican’s “power”; Gilbert suggests New York’s to be “achieve,” and "LA's to be "Success". The point that is being made here is that it is the alignment of your "word" and the "word" of city (or another person, work place etc) that decides whether you belong there or not. For example, however much Gilbert liked Rome, she never felt belonged there. And later, realized that "Sex" was not at all her "word" during the time.

In my life:
Lately, I had started feeling very dis-oriented in some friend circles and I was trying to find an answer as to what could be wrong. This and many more personal experiences can very well be explained by personal "Word". How well will we do where we live, or with friends we meet. Realizing this personal "word" will take some time but, if I were to identify one now, a strong contender would be "Career". That explains that I will feel the most comfortable in surroundings that talk or enthuse me about my career. These are the places where I can very well relate to or people who I find most comfortable with - all the time commonly linked through the representative "Word". Can there be a word that is true for a lifetime?

So, what is your word. Think about it !

Labels: Philosophy

"A little more!"

Let's love fellow human beings,
Be friends, give, laugh, enjoy, work, party, think and feel ..
Thank and cherish our lives,
A little mo'
and remember the reasons, why we are 'here'.
Let's try making the 'small worlds' around us a better place ..
A little more ... !

"Happy New Year 2008"

[This was one of the new year wishes, I had received and felt made so much sense ... ]

Labels: compassion, new year 2008

Yo!

Indeed, being a rapper was one of the most outrageous "wake up with an idea" moments, I had in the year that was.

Apart from that, many such ideas made appearances ... some as cameo, left as soon as I could identify them. Some stayed on for longer...like the item numbers in Indian Movies, specially for their amusement value, I hooked on to them for some time. My idea of exploring the career of a chef was one such ... after finding out that there are about few hundred thousand active chefs working only in the bay area, the idea only did as much to amuse me and I took it no further. The culmination of this idea was my blog, where I perform all my rituals, being the chef of my kitchen.

Some ideas, however, stayed and haunted for much longer. They appeared and re-appeared in almost everything that I did. Ideas of a new venture in Marketing Consulting, has been one such and I spent a lot of computer time (which, in fact is all of my time) in thinking about the hows and whats!

In all, when I look back at 2007 and years earlier ... I believe that these ideas are what keeps me going. How horrifying would be a day, when I have no idea to think upon, or more time in hands than I need to fulfill all that I had planned to do! I mean what is the fun in life, when I am not required to juggle and shuffle ...

When, someone asks me about my resolution - I really do not have anything to say. But, I just hope that I have this positive outlook through out and keep churning as many new ideas as I can. At least, one of them will be a hit in the box office !!!

Rapper or a simple Product Manager,
Wife, daughter, sister, friend ...
I do and will keep wearing many different hats -
for all who I care for,
will do everything I can,
in 2008 and years to come!
Yo!!!

Labels: 2008, new year