Deutschland welcomes you..

The land of the Black Forest and Oktoberfest..

Munchen(Munich) welcomes all. My home to be for some
time now - is a nice place at first glance. Warm,
friendly and inviting (though the U/S-bahn system
is confusing to a new comer).

I am currently put up in a hotel provided by my employer.
I have the onerous task of looking for an apartment.
Will start sometime Monday. Currently getting to
know the city and my way around. My colleagues here
are very helpful and have offered to show me around the
most important places.. like the indian stores :-P
I think an Indian looks forward to grocery shopping
onlywhens/he does it when not in India. :-)
Well, I am ofcourse going to try out the german cuisine
but at a slightly slower pace for two reasons. Firstly,
my gastric issues since my appendicitis operation last year
are persisting and I have been advised to avoid processed
food.. which is almost impossible when you are in another
country and LAZY to cook :-) Secondly, I have to yet develop
an attitude to try-out/eat meat other than chicken and fish.
Its a big barrier to break - and i am very sure it is not due to
the culture factor alone. Well I can say this cos I took up
eating fish like umm... fish to water (pun intended).. unlike
with chicken. I ate very little of chicken but i can gorge on a
whole tuna. So anyway.

The hotel I am living in has service apartments and is pretty neat.
So cooking is not an issue and I am doing my bit to help consumerism.
;)

So long... will keep updating you on life in Munich. Auf Wiedersehen.

Dekhi zamaane ki yaari....

Bichade sabhi baari baari...

ud ja ud ja pyaase bhanvare, ras na milega kaaron mein
kaagaz ke phul jahaan khilate hain, baith na un gulazaaro mein
naadan tamanna reti men, ummid ki kashti kheti hai
ik haath se deti hai duniyaa, sau haathon se leti hai
ye khel hai kab se jaari
bichade sabhi, bichade sabhi baari baari.

New beginning

Today was my first day at my new work place.
'was OK. Not as organised as IBM ofcourse -
but I think the chaos would be the same.
Somehow despite it being the core competency
of the HR department, managing people still
seems to be difficult for HR - no matter where you go!

Was woken up to the other facts of life and work.
Dress codes, no flexi-work options, time sheets etc..
man do I think I will survive? Time will tell.

Adventure Account

:-)

I am sure you have now guessed that I had a great
adventure trip. Yes, I did.
It was fun waking up in the wee hours - though an
hour later than we wanted to - and pack up for a
loooong drive and day ahead. We started to Pune
at 6 in the morning and were greeted by the windmills
on the outskirts of Chitradurga pretty much on time.
An accident and subsequent road blocks delayed our
journey by around 45 minutes or so. From then on
it was a pretty decent road minus the Chitradurga-
Davanagere patch which was pathetic.
Trouble hit when my brother noticed something fly out
from the bottom of the car onto the highway. Tried
to find out what it was but too late to go back on a busy
highway looking for a forsaken piece of, well, ...
Our average speed took a hit after this and we were trying
to be careful with the vehicle. A few more jams on the
otherwise awesome highway saw us frustrated a little but
we were determined. The journey finally ended at 1am that
morning at my home sweet home. Overall an exciting journey.

I sooo missed my partner from the last trip in this trip.
Yes we weren't driving easy like last time. That trip was
fun. We halted overnight on the way and so had ample time
on hand to stop at places of interest or just to take a break.
Dude... thank you for that trip :-) Muah!

So I am back home now... in the not-so-sweltering summer heat
but still bad enough for me. It made me sweat a little more
when I got to know it poured in Bangalore today ! Damn!! :-(
I think someone is missing me in Bangalore ;-)

Adventure Season

Starting on another adventure tomorrow..
another long drive .. ~900 kms, 3 drivers,
and 16 hours. Hope to make it in one day.

Mixed feelings right now, about leaving this
city which has been my home for a cool 10yrs
now.. wow! First came to the city in 1998 as
a fresh graduate joining my then dream IT org.
And now here I am.. 10yrs in the industry.
Seems so long and so quick at the same time :-)
This city has seen me through my ups and downs
and always brought me back from my lows.
I have experienced amazing freedom , made such
close friends who have been such an important part
of my life, have had my moments of epiphany here
and have connected so closely to this city.
So yes I am a little sad to leave this place.

At the same time I am happy as well for multiple
reasons. Ofcourse on the personal front I am making
progress, moving on to better and exciting things,
exploring newer places which I always wanted to do.
The other reason is I was so unhappy with the way this city
has turned out in the past 10 yrs. The Bangalore in 98 and
the Bangalore in 08 is so different.. its an effort to stay
connected and then its no fun. So.

Well, I believe everything happens for a reason and
everything happens for the best.. :-)
Enjoy the ride...

a few words

Faith, they say
Keep it.
Knives in your back
Keep it?

Hope,
a bright tomorrow
Blinded by today
can one see it?

Laughter,
the best medicine
Why at the expense
of someone else?

Love,
over hyped, over rated
Difficult to find even one
where it lasted.

Change,
is the constant
It helps me stay sane
rooted in my own idiosyncrasies.

Banyan and a piece of sky

In the darkness
the banyan talks to the sky
two strangers on a familiar night

Running days,
nights all along
the Sky envies one
whom the roots belong
I follow a Mirage it said
a Horizon is all I get in the end

Stuck to the Earth
from birth till death
the Banyan sighs, sights beyond
rotations and revolutions
I have been around
I have been there while
stuck to the ground

Woes shared, sighs understood
Both argue n both withdrew
Dawn brings in a new day
with hope and thrill
to meet a new stranger
in the hallway

Ye jo hai zindagi...

Jaate hain junoon me
naya jahaan kamaane
chod aaye jo jahaan yaad na aaye deewane?

purani raahein rahengi
sada jawaan mere man me
besabab poochta hai koi to hum kya sunaaye?

laut ke na aaya
panchchi ek bhi bahar uda
tujhe bhi aazma legi zindagi fikr na kar matwaale

afsos nahi ke choota
bachpan ka aangan hamaara
gum is baat ka.. bachpan ki yaari ne bhi na pehchaana

Its official...

That I am quitting my current organisation in search of greener
pastures and a brighter future!

I will be moving to my home town of Pune around mid of this month.
And from there will move to the meadow as soon as I get a clearance.

Feat of two

Well.... apparently I am a black magic woman for
a couple of my closest friends. Its a compliment ofcourse
and I am loving it :-)

Yeah, I think I do cast a spell on people, especially men,
and apparently one that lasts pretty long :-P or so they say!
And I am very naughty... wise and otherwise ;-) So I do
play pranks and tricks and catch people by surprise... But
I almost always make up for them if the other person has not
liked it :-) I am an angel!

Yes, it does feel good to know that you can have such an
effect on someone. Enjoy it till it lasts :-) Muaaah!!!

Arz kiya hai...

Itani masumiyat se poochate hai kya hua
dil jal gaya hamara unhe nazar na aaya dhua

Although one is often not enough...

Two is often too many!

Do you agree? Well I think I do.
Take the case of my frequent visits to my home-town.
I was there in the beginning of this month, I am going there
this weekend and I also might go again in the end of month.
And it is still not going to be enough for my parents to see me
so often that they will insist I stay back or visit more.

Now com'on there are limits to any body's endurance levels!
I know I am young and can travel more than they can.. and that
I dont have as many strings attached as them and am more flexible
unlike them... I agree to most of it. BUT... how much of family can
a person like me take!? I love my parents and siblings and pets...
believe me... but too much of anything is bad... right?

So I would like to keep my visits infrequent and short and sweet.
That ensures a lot of things, like, novelty of visit, affection, saves
money, saves time otherwise wasted travelling, that you dont fall sick
from a change of place and climate.
Yes it sometimes makes you more homesick but then it also makes
you tough I would say.Its sad that your parents wont see you as often
as they would like, but I guess thats life, never on your own terms.

Thats an interesting though actually... living life and the terms on which
it is lived... but some other day. My biological disturbances will else
hijack the whole of this post and veer it into nowhere. :-)

Thought of the day.

Read this somewhere in one my aimless surfs. Liked it. :-)

Missing you isn't what hurts... it's knowing that I once had you
that kills me!

A sucker for justice

A friend of mine recently explicitly stated in words
the thought that has been in my mind for a couple of months
now... that I am a sucker for justice.

Well this post wouldn't be if he had put it in such a complimentary
way :-) Those are my words. What he said was that I am vengeful..
which if you look at it minutely is not a bad thing. Some of the salient
points that come to mind when you think about it are :-
Firstly, you seek revenge only when you feel SO DAMN passionately
about something or someone. If only you care...

Secondly, no one gets back over trivial things.. those who do should
consult Dr. Juhi Chawla in Krazzy4, in which she is a psychiatrist.
It's only when you see a pattern that you realise you are being taken
for granted, taken for a ride... that is when most people's ego gets
injured and revolts in the same josh as that of a beaten up hero who
has to rise and fight to save the heroine. When the string of events repeats
and without an iota of concern or sensitivity about it towards the other person,
people get the feeling of being treated like a doormat. So getting back is a way of
ensuring that you get your due and are treated at par.. which is my next point.

This is a very subtle but very important point. When someone gets back
at you what do you feel? Do you feel the power the other person weilds?
In more ways than one? Do you at that moment get awed by the confidence
the other person has just displayed and blinded you with it?
:-) I am sure you do. It also goes on to show that the other person wants to be
treated equally, with as much respect that you expect to be treated with. It says that
I am no less and I can beat you at your own game! But more than about beating someone
at their own game, it is about getting respect that is due in any relation, irrespective of
the status of the ppl involved.. rich-poor, married-single,professional-housewife..
Yes it hurts the male ego more if the person you are dealing with is a woman..
but its the age of the woman! Get used to it !!

I am sure you will now argue with your valid point of perception. What if what has
been perceived as injustice or taking for a ride is a mere perception problem?
What if the intent was nothing that came out as you thought it was? Fair enough.
But I firmly believe that a repeated mistake is a sin. You gotta mend it dude.
Either the way you deal with people or the way you manage perceptions.
Other people see you as you really are more than you see yourself in the mirror.
So there's gotta be some fire for the smoke to rise.

All said and done, you cannot handle any relationship - friendship or otherwise -
as a business deal. There are no accounts in there... it doesn't work that way
for me atleast. BUT..... and thats a big but... there has to be mutual respect for bliss
to last... and if that means you have to show the stick to someone once in a
while it ain't bad.

A happening weekend.. :-)

Yea, I have been away.. but all for good reason.
Currently cooling my heals at my home town of Pune. Social
obligations are a necessary evil. This time it brought into focus
the networking skills of the previous generation. Functions like
weddings, naming ceremonies, engagements, even death - used to
be their only source of connection with new people. And I will not
hesitate to say that the previous generation was not shy to
make new contacts. The best part of it I think was that though
they wanted to grow their network primarily to get an advantage -
either social image upgradation or financial discounts or plain
physical help - they maintained it with more affection and care
than the current generation does. Anyhow.

So yeah, I had a happening weekend. For heaven's sake - I
woke up at 4am in the morning to travel 3 hours to a wedding
which wasn't even mine :-P The wedding was at Mumbai and in
March end - so you can imagine the heat and humidity. Thankfully
the wedding hall was air conditioned, so that was a HUGE relief.
Then met a dear ol' friend of mine. I surprised myself when i met
him. I never expected myself to choke up on emotions after meeting
someone after such a long gap. It was amazing and just goes to
tell me how much deeper still waters run.

Then happened the happening part. Met another friend of mine
and we went out partying. Enigma at JW Mariott in Juhu was hell
crowded for a saturday night! :-( Gosh - Mumbai has too many HNI's.
Get more discs/pubs Mumbai - or get a bigger place :-)
Well that wasn't happening. What was that we saw Raghuram, the now
executive producer of MTV Roadies fame along with Bani (last year's
runner up and now VJ) and Anmol (this year's contestant who was voted
out in the knock out episodes). So we went and said "hi hello" and told
Raghu how much we like Roadies. Towards the end of the evening
Raghu and I shook a leg and this event came close to being the highlight
of my trip. Was a good feeling partying till 3/4 am in the morning which
mere mortals in Bangalore can never get to do - thanks to the administration
which believes going back home early will prevent crime (as if the daylight
dacoities and murders aren't enough proof against it).
Sunday till afternoon was normal with me getting the real feel of Mumbai
after I took a local train till Dadar. Till the time I stepped my foot on the
platform I wasn't sure I was gonna be able to alight on time.
Well the rest of Sunday was alright - had to deck up and sit pretty for
most part of the evening. Unfortunately the cool dude at the wedding reception
made an early exit, so was a bummer. But nevertheless :-)

So how was your weekend? :-)

Self-annihilating Love Destroys And Liberates

Love essentially means somebody else has become far more important than yourself. That may be distressing for your existence is threatened. You will lose all your freedom and everything that you have. The moment you say “I love you” you can no more do what you want in your life.
There are innumerable problems, but at the same time it’s pleasant. It’s sweet. It drags you in. It is self-annihilating. If you do not annihilate yourself, you will never know love. Some part of you must die. If you don’t let this happen, there is no love, only calculation.
What you call as love generally is a mutual benefit scheme. It’s an arrangement. There is still some sweetness in this; mutually, both people are benefited, but it is conditional. If you get very unreasonable the other person will slowly back off. Even in your love affair you have to be reasonable. But devotion is unreasonable love. It is one-sided madness. That is the beauty of loving God because you don’t have to have a relationship — you can just love. And if you have a relationship, it’s all on your terms...
Love is self-annihilating because your personality, likes, dislikes — you are willing to surrender when you really love somebody. When there is no love, people are rigid. When suddenly they fall in love with someone, they are willing to twist themselves any way they need to, which is a fantastic spiritual process because you are becoming flexible.
So love is definitely self-annihilating; that’s the most beautiful part of it, as long as you don’t handle it as a deal. We have formed a variety of relationships in our lives. There is indeed expression of love in these relationships. It should be there in everything that you do. But when we are talking about love as a spiritual process, as a process of self-annihilation, when we use the word “annihilation”, it looks like a negative word.
Whether you call it annihilation or liberation, destruction or nirvana, when we say, Shiva is a destroyer, we are saying he is a compulsive lover. Love is not necessarily self-annihilation, it could be just annihilation. It all depends who you love. So he destroys you; because if it doesn’t destroy you, it is not a genuine love affair.
When i say “destroy you”, it doesn’t mean destroying your home, your business, this or that. When what you call as “myself ”, your rigid personality, is destroyed in the process of loving, that is self-annihilation.
If you love a man, woman or a child, in the process of loving not just you are getting entangled, the other person also gets entangled. Once the entanglement is mutual, you cannot release yourself when you grow out of it.
The idea of looking up and loving Krishna, loving Jesus, loving something up there or loving a guru is because you need not have any fear of entanglement from the other side. You love as much as you want; when you grow out of it, there is no resistance from the other side. That is the beauty of devotion. Without some sense of love in you, without some sense of self-annihilation, you cannot meditate. If you pull down the whole of what you call as “myself ”, you will become absolutely still and transcendent.

No no... I haven't become a sadhvi or "devdas"i yet. :-)
I found this interesting piece in the "Speaking Tree" section of my daily newspaper.
So thought would share. It makes sense, doesn't it?

Kashti, Kinara

Itani berukhi se wo muh mod ke chal diye
aankhon me jo tha moti, samandar chala gaya
jhoomati naiyya ko kinara jaise mil gaya tha
toofan thama to jazeera bhi na saamne aaya
Aisi berukhi se bhala hua hai bhala kiska
na kashti na kinara paa saka muqaddar khudka

Only Q... No A

Is being cynical same as being an "informed rational" ?
Does optimism come from strength or does is it come from being foolhardy?
Does your preference for "enjoying the ride" label you as commitment phobic?
Have you noticed.. if you keep adjusting/adapting to everything you tend to be taken for granted?
Do you think "acceptance" can help you make peace with the outside?
Do you agree that the more educated/sophisticated of people are the ones who tend to stick more to traditions/rituals?
Do you think it is difficult to connect to people who have been part of/dug into your baggage?
Have you met any seriously boring people? But still ended up having a good conversation? :-P
Why is relativity so distantly related between people?
Is your strength perceived as your weakness? How do you handle it?
Are you worried about getting wrongly labeled?
Do you think that if you don't reach out things will not happen?
Are humans inherently "once bitten, twice shy" or are they hopelessly optimistic cos "ummeed pe duniya kayam hai" ?
Are stable systems stagnant?
Why do rules change with every player when humans, true to their genes, inevitably play the same game?
Does an ill-fitting shoe hurt less only because it's branded?
Do you agree that at times its insanity which brings calm in a crazy world?

The Unbearable Lightness Of Being.... do you feel it?

New acquaintance

My mom is around to support me during my health concern
related to my backbone. So its a re-acquaintance with my
mother-tongue (pun intended) :-P
There is an overdose of Marathi and marathi channels in
my life these days. Here is a list of what has become an
integral part of everyone's daily lives (including rural india
at times) with the actual words in the language.

Vaiyaktik aayushya - Personal life
Saraav - Practise
Paathicha kana - Backbone
Vivaran - Explanation, elaboration
Praastavik - Introduction
Zaahiraat - Advertisement
Niga - Look after, take care of
Aacharan - Behaviour
Savistar Vrutta - Detailed report
Paatalyantri - Plotter, derogatory
Karasthani - See Paatalyantri
Kagadopatri - On paper
Shikkamortab - Stamped and sealed
Havaaman Khate - Weather Bureau
Dhrushtikshep - range of vision, glance
Paahunchar - Hospitality
Krutrim - Artificial
Dwaad - Brat, mischievous brat
Khijganati - not exactly sure what this means,
but apparently it is something trivial
Khatri - Sureness
Kaayada aani suvyavasthata - Law and order
Halgarjipana - Carelessness


Akkalkhati gahaan - Written off due to stupidity,
used when you have acted dumb and lost
Pain in the a** - Awaghad jaagicha dukhana

Though some of these are hilarious to read and hear
it is a refreshing break from the nonsensical chatter
around. Will add more later :-)
For the more interested -> Marathi Language

Paradise

Stepped out for some fresh air
heard a marriage break
Too many players in the game
Everyone with their take

He raised his voice
She pointed her finger
Ego has its day
but its heart ache that will linger

Vessels made some noise
sobs and cries stifled
Both out on the front
With two pointed rifles

She went too far
He couldn't catch up
She didn't look back
and He wouldn't match up

You are a woman
stay put in your shoes
I am man
I can do whatever I do

Love lost its meaning
in that petty moment
Both lived larger than life
and THEY stayed in perpetual torment

Times loved and lost
never found again
Paradise once squandered
only Milton could regain

Will She leave him or
will He hold on
no one knows for now
the game is far too complex
for mere mortals who know