A Tribute To God's Master Peice!

She came to the world with utmost innocence spreading the moments of joy for everyone around. The cribs latent in most Indian families with the mercy of the almighty was away. Compassion and love were the only two things evident to her being. As she grew in her father’s love, mother’s care, sister’s concern, brother’s security moments of laughter and bliss filled her life. She grew into a little girl transformed into a beautiful lady. Success touched her with its wand. As the days passed she turned into an individual with strong individuality. High sense of Independence and freedom were evident. The being was gifted with abundant happiness and bliss; though the hidden fear was evident she shared them with none.

A day dawned when the prince charming took her to different world all together.

She left behind her self for the sense of the young man and his new world. Ensured she played her role well, a role of courteous wife, role of a respecting daughter in law, role of good co sister, role of compassionate mother, role of a humble neighbor, role of a friend. In all these roles were the hidden feelings of the true being! Her true self never expressed or exposed to the new world.

Little did people realize she is an individual, too full of dreams just the way they had, a person who had left behind herself for the roles she was to play, a person who is unconditionally loved by parents, friends, near and dear ones, just as they were!

Mediocrity was very evident in her new world. With self centered beings just there to seek the attention of the world and point the imperfectness through the nose! Even with this she never complained, never mentioned her thoughts, just smiled and moved on!

She had heart full of emotions, she was told never to showcase to the world. For the world would never appreciate it! She carried with her all through her goodness, humbleness and kindness. Little were these appreciated, but she cared for none and played her role.

World woke up one day to realize the godliness of this true being! Was it too late?

No it is never too late to pay tribute to god’s creation of this wonderful human being! As I pay my tribute to god creation of the master piece- “ The Woman” I take the privilege to quote what the veda’s has to say about this being!

“Karyeshu mantri,

Karuneshu dasi,

Roopeshu Lakshmi,

Kshameshu dharitri,

Sneheshu matha,

Shayaneshu Rambha,

Shatkarma nari,

Kuladharma pathni”

A complete being with totality! I bow to the almighty for this wonderful creation. An embodiment of love,compassion,peace and natural divine instincts!

Experience With The University!

February started with a loud bang… As the hectic week started with PLP workshop, It gave me a break from the monotony of home office home and role reversed to Home –Resort –Home, as the mid week approached I started feeling sick of the food in the resort. As I yearned for amma’s curd rice and pickles , uppma, and rasam the week had already passed and I was back in the week-end den.

Cultural difference within the country cannot be more evident in this context then other. My friend being a Chinese, raised in North India with education from South qualifies herself to be epitome of cultural understanding.
As my friend called in and asked if I could accompany her for the University for Official Transcripts, I readily agreed to ease the language complexities which people face with the government bodies.
As we approached the university campus we were greeted by a guard who guided us to “The Stone Building” what they called. It read “Student Grievance Center”, the first thought that struck me on seeing the interiors of the office only reminded me the old movies which portrayed central jail in all glory. Coming back to senses and reminding my self I was in India’s Reputed University and not any central Jail was a reliving enough. As I scanned the place to check on the formalities and procedure I was lured to more confusing thoughts. Except a print copy pasted on a wooden separator ( which acted as a separating wall from one division to other) on the cost for various applications with hardly enough information was visible. To get a better understanding we approached the person with a grim face (it appeared to me as though I was taking the grievance). Thus began the conversation in the native language.
The jist of the entire conversation was I wanted to know more details on the process for filling an application for the official transcripts. While the representative just asked me to pay 180 RS per required transcripts in the Bank at the other corner of the road without sharing no further details in spite of using the probing technique in interviews!

As both me and my friend dashed just to be in time before the bank closed for transaction little did we realize we had to walk close to 1 km to reach the bank. As the February sun soared high up as the temperatures raised, my patience level dripped every step I took

The only conversation that filled the air between us was how backward we still are in the current era which dominates the software’s and applications. We were dazed that there is not a single web application format in the university website. Our conversations revolved on how bureaucratic we still are as a society.

As we reached the bank filled the formalities of manual transactions of which we have almost lost the ground on when the banks have opted for core banking and Internet and mobile banking is now the trend and style. We doodled a bit on the challan and submitted the copies while depositing the cash in the counter.
As we tracked our way back to the Stone Building, I was just wondering what more the day could have in store.
Then the Rep gave me a familiar smile this time, only that I had a curt smile to return back for having made me walk 2 kms in the treacherous sun!
As we submitted the challan we were asked to produce the photocopies of mark sheet with one set in a paper cover which we were advise to carry from some acquaintance . It was then our representative sparked out that one had to attach even the copy of degree certificate.

As I rushed to get the certificate photocopied checking with the students where the photocopy center was I was baffled to know that I had to go to some court complex for photocopies. As I walked past the vendors on the lane, selling groundnuts, mints and bananas, I was only wondering if I were in a University Campus or just another government organization. University without a Photo copy center was beyond me ability of imagination! As I conjectured the state and plight of the students around the area a sense of pity struck to those gullible.

I hurried my way past back to the Stone building just be in time before our officials took their long earned break for lunch. We worked our way together to put the copies in the covers and as my friend submitted the Challan copies and cover containing the most treasured mark sheets and Degree Certificate for the day, the good old representative shot back “ Where is the application form?” both of us were stunned for a moment with no words flowing and as our empty stomach made noise for resources to be supplied to all the back up energy were being utilized in running up and down the university lane! Rather quizzed by the question we exchanged perplexed stares at each other. Now this was the limit of my patience zone it had long crossed the negative line of control! With all temper I shot back “ Now what is this application about? Will you please let me know” Slowly but steadily the rep replied “you need to fill in an application and get it stamped and signed by your college authorities!” and beyond this not a word was said!
While I pondered over how else I could get the situation under control as the clock ticked close to 1:00 pm, I hastily took the application and helped my friend fill it, we dashed back to her college hoping that the Admin office would still be open. Thankfully for the security guards eye we still looked like young college girls, as we barged in to the Admin area we managed to get the application stamped and signed. We stopped on our way back for lunch discussions backtracked to all the events of the day.

We finally managed to submit the request for official transcripts for B.com while we have one more pending for the Master program which we target to complete early March.

There are far too many questions that hit my thoughts. We are supposed to the second largest country in terms of population and contribute to largest pool of IT and ITES operations. Infact Bangalore is called the silicon valley of India. I am perplexed at the rate at which our basic infrastructures and process are in place. In this experience of mine, the renowned university does not even have an option in there website where such basic transactions can be easily automated with little effort. We still run the grumpy grievance cells manned by people who assume the roles of gods’ moment they have a visitor, forgetting all basics of customer services approach. There is hardly any mention of various processes for such transactional operations for student in the website or any clear guidelines in the office;
We are on close standards for producing the best in class engineers with high talent output ratio, we talk a lot about core banking operations, still we stand in the long queues just to fill a challan. Do the agencies and institutions even realize that the coming generations are going to be highly tech savvy, those student which the university themselves has produced with high standard of education, to which they would cater to? When India is on high agenda for the next milestone to be crossed, add yet another feather to its culturally diverse hat. Our universities are still surviving in the era of last century of dark, dumpy grievance cells while the world itself has moved to another continuum of technology bound by the immensity of speed and time.
India no doubt is making its presence felt in this era of globalization but these ground realities do strike hard!

The Journey.........

She pushed opened the majestic doors of the auditorium, there he saw her for the first time while he stood in the corner of the hallway with the group of boys. There was an instant flash in his heart and hit him hard enough. With all the chaos pervading he could barely concentrate on the talks and conversations, which was on. She scanned the auditorium with eyes, which spoke nothing but innocence; she looked around to join her group. She found her friends and then she was lost in her world of talks.
As they all waited for the program to begin he could barely lift his gaze of her, her smile, her laughter, her voice, her tone were the only senses which reverberated all through his soul and heart.

The program ended, a friend of hers took her around and then there they met. He was pleased to meet her, while there was a new feeling which shook him and captivated him, little did he express. Surely the cupid had struck!
He came in every morning, he always took the seat beside her, always felt her presence. They spoke of things known and unknown, happenings of the world and beyond ,they met everyday spoke everyday, argued their way as he got to know her better, more deeper the feelings got nurtured .A respect set out for her. Days passed, turned to months imbibed and nurtured the feelings of love, care and respect.
They always argued, agreed on few while they disagreed on many. Many a times egos dominated.
But She always cared for him and trusted, not realizing the inner meaning, she always felt light at heart and comfortable with him being around. Little did she realize! Her friends teased her for always arguing and still being around with him, she cared not.

One fine morning he called her and said he had something to share, as they met in the most unusual and crowded place he confessed his heart to her with heavy breathing and high hope he said " I love you dear". She fluttered like a confused butterfly, she didn’t expect this from him .she said a NO and walked away! They met everyday spoke and more often then not, argued considerably, still he had hopes high, he proposed for next 10,000 time they met and she kept pushing him away. Friends tried to convince she pushed them back; he tried to convince little did she consider.

Her only fear " We always argue, our wavelengths are a mismatch" was one thing she held high. Days rolled now to years and she kept saying no, every time she did, she wept to her heart, which yearned for him, for his care, for the love he showed. She realized it were these arguments and disagreements that had brought them closer to each other, respect follies in each other to accept things the way they are, appreciate difference in thoughts.
He backtracked and left her alone.

They now met once in a while, hardly spoke to one another eventually she now realized how it feels to miss him, his arguments, his love and care, respect, more importantly the way he treasured her.

A day dawned a group of friends set out on a picnic both of them were invited and agreed to join the group.
The journey was not conducive, egos ruled them. Little did they talk, hardly looked at each other still they were seated next to each other felt the presence.
Cool breeze set in, with a ting of warm day light they sat in a group by the side of the river and he confessed yet again in a whisper and she held his hand tight. While he reciprocated with a tighter grip!

Friends applauded and they set out to embark on a new journey in life.

Arguments continued, disagreements continued, still in their hearts they cared for the other, respected other, and yearned for more love! They realized relationships are not built on the moulds of ego but on that of love, care, campanionship and joy of being together and staying together.

This is an attempt to bring series of emotions . An attempt to write a simple short story.

Search for the lost glory!

Life, it seems is a journey filled with colors bold. I am told without these colors the journey is incomplete.

The journey started with a cry to mark the presence in the world, moments then filled with smiles looking at the stars, wanting to play with the moon, mumbles of unknown words with unidentified meaning while the heart yearned for nothing, with confidence abundant, as the familiarity set of known and unknown the days passed while the moments spread joy around for people, it expected nothing in return.

There were bright sunny days, some cloudy days while a few dull days nothing but the routine set it, heart which once spread happiness, bliss and love; now longer spread these through the presences- it felt!

Deep down in the heart still the moments of bliss is fresh and  confined to the space, while it loves, adores, respects through all these shades of life , it makes every attempt to share the shades with the known, unknown of human race.

It secretly cries while it makes a colossal attempt not to share with the world known the reason for those warm tears, those it is told are not meant to be showcased to the world.

It questions the nature “ Why Me always?” While it seeks a response, it gets none.

Deep down all it yearns is unconditional love and happiness, it cries out aloud to the nature “when I came to your world, I spread happiness, love and bliss, I brought instant smiles on all those charming faces which looked at me, Where has all this gone?”  Can you please return them to me?

With a hope to get lost glory it beats at a normal pace thud-thud-dud-dud...

Random Thoughts

I thought hard today, the harder I thought pleasant things filled the flow of thoughts.

Life-

The Past was beautiful

Present an experience of reality

Future a wonderful dream I would love to experience over and over ………

I am told that angels are not fantasy and they exist in real, they come as a passing cloud spread their charm and elegance and off they disappear. I experienced the charm, you appeared spread the divine message showed me the path of bliss…

I do not know how I met you in this journey of life, nor do I know the why’s! All I know is you appeared like a flash in the starry sky, made this life a beautiful journey to pass, an experience to cherish, taught me the art of hope, filled these eyes with wonderful dreams to accomplish and to see through the world!

You have always been there for me

You respect me, my ideas, my thoughts!

You adore me as an individual

You trust in me and my abilities

You pamper me like a child,

You protect me like a mother

You care for me as a friend

You are my pillar of support, my ray of hope, my confidant.

Life is a complete journey!

The deep-rooted secret “ Angel- Really?” is still unanswered. Yet the experience teaches me not to question the nature! For it is said "all that happens, is for good! ". I now know all that is coming is for good to build a beautiful tomorrow from all those wonderful dreams these eyes have just seen.

An Experience ... It Was!

Day dawned with surprises which I least expected even in the rarest of my nightmares.

As I stepped in for work the waters that were smooth for a while had become turbulent, as I set my pace pacifying the waters of change, the day had long passed noon and the evening sun was happily setting in the west with a ting of mockery on me!

“ Jashne – E- Bahaara ….” A ring tone for a while took me unguarded by surprise, as I thought the call must be from amma to pick up a some grocery on my way was dulled with Minal’s( My sister) photo on the flash screen. With random thoughts for the reason of the call I quipped “ hello! Tell me if its urgent, I am too busy @ work”.
I was taken aback by the panic stricken voice on the other end “Jini” it went...While my heart pounded hard to get to the core of the matter with shaky voice she added “Can you tell me the our vehicle number” As I went blank for second wondering why I was posed with such a weird question of all while I answered her and gave her the details I expected a reasonable justification for the question. As my sister explained the situation I was rather stunned at the turn of the events. My sister had parked my 2 yr old Scooty Pep in parking area by the time she returned from her appointment of 15 mins, the bike was gone…..
With weird random thoughts gushing in I asked her to relax and check if the vehicle has been taken by the cops for any parking violation. She immediately quipped “ No, I have checked that”
Well this was something to worry about. Just as the worry was setting in all hurry. It struck to me the number I gave her was of my old scooty! Hmm

“Ranj, I think you should learn the new number of your vehicle. You never know when you need it. I am surprised you can’t remember this when you can remember all silly things in life” Echoed from the memories of what my friend had said when I first showed the new bike a month after its purchase in Jan 07. Well the echo now seemed to be instant mockery on my memory power for which I have always been complemented for.

Bah "how can I forget the registration number? "

As I dialed home to get the details ,amma’s ability to digest the fact took longer then I expected while I convinced her daughters were safe and sound. She broke yet another surprise. “Do you know what? There are no original documents in the folder! She exclaimed. Just the Riders Manual and the original copy of the Purchase Bill” Geeks as I screeched Realization from within on how fool hardy I am, hammered the moment.

We managed to fish the number from the Purchase bill, with all of my uncles reassuring me not to worry and keep my cool,I hurriedly rushed from the office building not to miss the shuttle back in all the commotion that had filled the day. As I took my seat I said to myself “Now be done with this, enough is enough! I put the music with a deliberate attempt to rejuvenate the long lost peace of the day!

Generating good revenues to the Airtel’s and Vodofone’s of the world. With marginal contribution to BSNL’s also, the course of action was being discussed over the mobile networks. As one uncle said “First File the FIR no matter what immediately! ” My active thought process was “Immediately??? How can I?? I am still on bus more importantly I am not driving it, for heaven sake its peak hour traffic how can I do it immediately?”
While I checked again to ascertain if I heard right “Yes” came the prompt response. “I will try “I said knowing it cannot happen immediately!

I dashed home picked up the leftovers of documents, dashed out rushing to the police station where my sister had been waiting for over an hour with all the gyan coming from the cops on the do’ and don’ts (Gyan when given free of cost can be very frustrating) As she tried to smile warily at me, I tried to return back a assuring smile “Don’t worry” while it meant, "If Its gone, Its Is gone! No point thinking about it”

Thanks to the media, my assumptions on the cops were rather strong and wrong. I thought they would be people all together from an alien planet with no concern for kindness. I thought hard how to tackle the situation and the aliens, yet another surprise lay in store. Thankfully, good one for its kind in the day.
The cops who were at the station were courteous and kind enough to patiently listen to the incident. While they assured they would trace the vehicle they were amicable and friendly. This created a sense of warmth and security in me while also assuring me that they would seriously launch a search for this lost vehicle.
As they completed the formalities in just an hour, a sense of respect for them had taken its root in me.
As promised they traced my lost vehicle and safely handed that to me.

A good civilian also couriered the orginal documents found in some construction Site ( I thank Mr Yogesh M who took all pains to courier the documents amidst his busy schedule)
While I am bustling with other formalities to set the gadi back to normal shape. Here I share some key insights and learnings from this experience of mine

Key learning this particular day had in store for me are far too many,

*Never keep your original documents in the vehicle no matter what it takes!
*Never lose your cool, ( This is real test for stress, This can be used for Best Manager event if any)
*Tune the mind to senses and presence of mind is very important .
*Always remember to remember the Vehicle number (Thanks to those mocking moments from the memories, I now know why I was asked to remember the Registration number)
*Never take your friends lightly! (They know you better than yourself)
*All the more never Assume (cops are also of the same human race as ours, respect them and they will respect you)
*Beware there are thieves around!

* Trust in god, If its meant to be yours it will be yours anyways!

Life a Perfect Bliss @ MPBIM

Some moments though have long passed in the sail of time still remain immortal in the depth of heart and soul. Yea, these memories bring instant smile on the radiant face.
Those were the days when Fun was a part and parcel of Academic Life.

As I recall the first semester , It dates back to the day I entered the college with the students waiting for the Art of Living session, I was looking for at least one familiar face in the crowd and how happy I was to find Deepika there amidst a group of girls when she first introduced me to the rest. As I stood trying to understand what the girls were discussing, Ranjani, Called out yet another familiar voice, and apparently he turned out to be my friend from last school, college and now even the masters I wondered??!! Well a little dazed little surprised we spoke a few nice words. Little did I know many students had already noticed me in the Pink /Purple Salwar and had already come to know me by name! And instantly clicked as friends .From then there has been no looking back.

A small group of 60 odd students in the orientation bubbling with energy, bustling all along the day was something which I seem to miss a lot. There were days when we made presentations on the weird topics of the earth, when we danced to the tunes of sounds n silence, while we gelled together as one family, dropping all our inhibitions while embracing the warmth of togetherness, little did I realize the actual course had started.

How fast the Semester passed introducing me to totally new field of management. As I tried hard to cope up with the syllabus flipping the pages of OB text, understanding what Eco’s and Nomo’s meant, mugging the Accounting Principles Uff !!that drained me out completely. How I had silently cried when my first presentation on Accounting Principles -13 was a major flop while I still tried to sit straight and managed to put a brave face while reminding myself that there was also a second chance. As the internals approached how the efforts had doubled just to stay on in the race which I knew nothing of! When the D day came as we all worked through the day and night for the exams, how I had cried on the day of economics paper for my mind had blacked out, how supportive my friends were to help me revive the lost memory and how grateful I am to them. To this day I cannot forget the day I gave the Economics paper!

The little gossips we used to have during lunch breaks, the round table lunch time discussions on failure of CANCUN summit, The TRAI Regulations, the daily stock market watch, news updated from sharekhan.com, the snippets and reviews from ET (Economic Times) and preparations for Business quizzes and Presentations would fill the day with little surprises here and there. As we worked on different case studies from the world of corporate while stretching our thinking ability to think “Out of the Box” finally ending our day with a small dose of Who Moved My Cheese, of Fish

Visits to Kanija Bhavan Canteen for lunch, how a friend of mine freaked out “Do you really come here for lunch?” ( Expression on the face was worth a million $, I wish i had a insatant Cam) on seeing the famous Garage Canteen of Kanjia Bhavan as we stepped in for a dose of strong coffee is something I cherish to this day.

The excitement of results from I sem , How Swami Rao sir had verbally announced the results as Pass… Pass… Fail… Pass …kept my heart pounding with anticipation to hear Pass called against my name sounding heavily like thump thump.. thud thud! The process which was so new to me once which I gradually got used with passing months!

My dream to participate in at least one Management Fest while I shared this with none for all the reticence I carried in the depth of heart and the day it was realized with Esperanto – a Bangalore University fest with combined effort of Manu (Manasa) and me just to make to the second level while we grappled in the first level and the beaming faces of both as we made to the Final Level. With the Case Study Presentation in the Finals and how both of us had stretched out limits just to put up 7 slides of the 40 page case on the night before the Presentation and how dispirited we were to know that ours was the only presentation of 7 slides while we competed with our own seniors and top colleges who had more to share, with all dismayed hopes of winning the event we sat for the final verdict. As Hareesh Bijjoor addressed and started the Award ceremony both of us were lost in our thoughts on how two days had passed and just as we were realizing the abundance of good surprises in store our results were announced. How foolishly each of us forgot and ignored our own names till our team finally patted us hard and pushed us on the dais to collect our Award! Those were the shining and glowing moments for both Manu and me to cherish all through.

As we kept moving ahead from one fest to another while adding many such colorful feathers to our hat.
We prepared hard for the Second year with Major courses setting in while the momentum on course front diluted, accustomed to life of stress with clear evidence in presentation preparation time which had reduced from 1 Week to 1 hr before presentation was strong indication of us mastering the tricks in MBA!

Days rolled… one sem after another with last minute exam preparations and exchange of sms’s on most expected questions. With late night calls to friends “Hey, I am done with this chapter, are you through too?” While each exam came in and went the moments remained the same

While we managed the interns, apprehension on question posed by the external in Viva Voce ruled us for a while.
Our preparations to host Paradigm, while we formed committees and teams with ongoing meetings and updates for planning event, remind us how happy we were as a family. The feeling of oneness and success of the event was vibrant in the air.

As we moved to fourth sem, with placement pressures setting in while I tried to cope up with research projects and manage majors while I still had my share of fun with usual lunches in Kanija or the college canteen. Terrace garden chit chats and exchange of forwards, little fights and compromises, crackling laughter and dazzling days filled my life.

A day dawned and I realized that Golden days I enjoyed had already become a golden era.
The two years of my life had suddenly come to an abrupt end, without any fore warning.
The days have sailed past over four years, but the memories still live fresh
Each passing day I think of the golden era, while each passing day I shed a tear here and there just to remind myself on what a wonderful life enjoyed.
With hope setting for passing more such days with the all the lovely people who made my life so vibrant and clourful ……….

I wish life had a rewind button that I would want to replay Aug 2003- Aug 2005……….