Essence Of Time

It’s already half past 9 in the eve and all I got is less than 3 hours to publish this post. My laziness, a busy month, procrastination and a lot could be blamed for writing this in the nick of the moment, as usual. However, my strict monthly target of at least one blog post per month and a hand full of readers who regularly read my blog is what that motivates me to keep on writing. Can’t thank you guys enough.

I almost hit the wall deciding on the topic for this blog post. What came to rescue is the topic that I was discussing with my fiance yesterday. Yeah, you read it right. I am currently engaged and getting married pretty soon. Wait for it guys, that episode deserves a separate blog post.  There is a reason why I had to mention her here and I really feel pity for that poor soul. Just for the mistake of making me wait for a couple of minutes, she had to painstakingly listen me talk about punctuality and integrity of the Japanese people for half an hour. In the ESSENCE OF TIME, I will keep this shot.

There is a general opinion that we Indians are quite insensitive about TIME, which I feel is true to an extent. I have this best buddy of mine, out of all the times we have met, only once he was on time and that lead me to a deep shock. I am really sorry da to pull you down here, didn’t have a choice. This doesn’t mean I am punctual all the time, but at least try to be on time. Worst case, I apologize when I am late.  It’s okay to be insensitive about your own time, it’s once own choice. But, where we fail the most when we fail to appreciate the time of others.

“Arriving late was a way of saying that your own time was more valuable than the time of the person who waited for you.”
-Karen Joy Fowler, The Jane Austen Book Club

I wish I could say the above is my all time favorite quote and all that. But, just copied from Goodreads site so that it suits the context.

Have you appreciated the friend who patiently listens to all your ranting whatever the time of the day it is, the friend who spends hours and days to get you an awesome gift  for your birthday just to make you feel happy, your parents who lost all their own time taking care of you and finally, that relative who takes finding mistakes and advising you as their lives mission. We fail to appreciate their sincere efforts and take them for granted, don’t we?. They are spending something invaluable on you. It’s only fair we return them time and undivided attention, cos that’s the only thing that’s at par that’s worth their efforts.

Thanks for taking your valuable time to read this post. Now it’s your turn to thank me for spending my precious time writing this to enlighten you all. Just Kidding. Peace.

Jagriti Yatra | D -5

Have no idea about the title ? Please refer my previous blog post .

OMG !!! Just 5 more days for the yatra to start and 3 more days to depart from Chennai.
Right now, my mood just swings between excitement and panic. I am excited for obvious reasons mentioned in my previous post.

So, Why am I panic ?
As my work consumed most of the time this week, what I got is just couple of days to shop, pack for yatra and to strike off a huge checklist.

So, Why am I spending time in writing this post, instead of doing some pre Yatra preparations?

Whenever I am in trouble, I am lucky to have people around who help me out of it. So I am taking time to thank a few who helped me this time.

It’s my office friend Lakshmi and my neighbour Mr Syed who came forward to help me with my bag problem. I didn’t have a big bag that could hold clothes for 19 days as I have never been that far and that long. When I was about to buy a new one and burn a big hole in my pocket, they came to rescue. Mr Syed also lent me his travel pouch, jerkin and few valuable travel tips. So, many thanks to both of them.

Get Pack and Go

Most helpful, Travel Pouch

Winter Jerkin

One thing that I am extremely concerned about is the winter in the north. It would be ungrateful if I fail to thank this ex-Yatri who inspired me to apply for Yatra, then wrote the guide “How To Keep You Warm (In-JY)” and also lent his Jagriti Yatra Hoodie to me. Thanks AswinYogesh.

Aswin’s Guide To “How To Keep You Warm (In JY)”

Aswin’s JY Hoodie

At home, I was talking about buying a new sleeping bag. To my surprise a sleeping bag was delivered straight to my office few days later. It’s my sister with whom I fight day in and day out ordered it out of her own earning. Thanks Janani, It means a lot to me, but the fight still continues 😀 .

Its a Quechua

Sleeping Bag, rolled out

Troubles, tough times, problems, hurdles, whatever you call them, let it be there, yet the journey continues and the blog posts too 😀 .

What’s On My Desktop?

Dear Blog,
I am basically fundamentally sorry (RJ Balaji Style) for not minding you for a while. Was quite busy with my work and exams. Leave you, Just think about the readers who visited the blog and got disappointed as there isn’t any new post. How many of them would have eagerly looked at their feeds for a new blog post from me, So convey my sincere apologies to them too. This time I thought not to load them with my usual emotional posts or poem, How about something light, something kiddish?

I don’t own a PC or a Laptop now, what I use is the laptop provided by my office. If you are keen about the topic and anxious to know what’s on my desktop,can’t help. Actually there is nothing on it, not even recycle bin icon. Its a plain desktop with a plain background, no icons on it as they were disabled as part of office security policy. Look yourself.

Desktop

You might ask me, why a post and all for an empty desktop. Actually this one is not about the desktop, its about desk top. I have observed many desks in my office. Some have family pictures, Some have god’s statue, some have awards and some are just empty just like my desktop. So what’s on mine? Like few, mine has got a few toys on it. Sounds Kiddish? Toys are no more kids affair nowadays , they ask for smartphones and tablets to play games.

Few weeks back, I had to stay late at work to complete few pending tasks. Almost everyone left the office, whole office was dark except couple of cubicles (including mine) which are lit up. With a bored mind and tired eyes, I lied on my desk and looked around. What I saw first was me smiling at myself and I am ain’t  looking a mirror. It’s a picture of mine gifted by Rams, In which I was happily smiling and wearing my favourite “goCool” t-shirt which was hand painted by best friend SriJani. Even the toys were smiling at me, All of them had a nice smiling face. Then my cubicle panel had  a couple of magnetic Smilies, couple of smiling “I love Chennai” Zha cafe postcards and a smiling mickey mouse card. I found everything around me smiling except me. I have no idea what went through my mind at that moment but felt boosted with positive energy. It automatically forced some smile and I started working again. Since then they would always smile at me, and I smile back inspite of any demanding situations.

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There are some more trivias about these toys

1. All the toys except the panda are McDonald’s kids meal toys.
2. All the toys are looted from my colleagues (with their knowledge) except the Night Fury one which I bought myself.
3. That Mickey mouse card is an entry card to Disney Word, which was looted from a colleague who made a trip to US.
4. Panda is no longer with me and someone took it away 😦 .

Moral of the story:
Have things which make positive impacts and optimistic people around you. They would motivate you silently and help you cross hurdles.

Let It Be and Let It Go

I am writing this post after a terrible week, yes last week was disastrous for me at my work. Think It’s not ethical to discuss those occupational issues here, right?. But its impacts were deep in me. For the first time I felt my work as a burden and my hands ached to code. I kept on thinking what had happened rather than thinking what has to be done. My all time smile lit bloomy face became gloomy, and It’s exactly “Grumpy Monkey Face” as described by my buddy. The byte (bit is too small) of emotional attachment to my work made me feel like being dropped in a deep pit (not a typo, but preferred not to use “shit”).

I tried climbing out of the pit by distracting myself, but that didn’t work well with so much of anger raging in me. Then came the saviors to lift me out. They would patiently listen to all my whining and grumblings. They would whatsapp me around 12am to say not to worry much and this too will pass on, I look terrible like a “Grumpy Monkey” without a smile on my face, and wanted to see me be happy as usual. They would suggest some nice tracks that would comfort me. Yes, they are my loving FRIENDS. They pulled me back while I hold their hands tight. Felt even better after a lonely visit to the beach. Now I stopped worrying about the problem and started working on the solution.

One of my colleague quoted “your happiness is your choice”, so If there are problems, LET IT BE and it’s best if you just LET IT GO than holding it tight.

Note : “Let It Be” is one of my favorite tracks from The Beatles  and “Let It Go” is another favorite from the movie Frozen. Enjoy listening to both.