Haven’t written a lot these days as i have been quite busy with my new work… I came across this quote that perfectly describes my life :

Life changes every minute of every day. You lose friends. You gain friends. You realize your friend wasn’t ever really your friend, and that person you used to hate can make a really good friend. You look for love. You find love. You lose love. You realize all long that you’ve been loved. You laugh. You cry. You laugh so hard that you cry. You do this, you do that. You really wish you hadn’t done that. You then learn from that and are glad that you did. You have your ups. You have your downs. You see good movies. You see bad movies. You wonder if your life is just one big movie. You look at others and wish you were them. You then realize who they are and are glad that you’re you. You love life. You hate life. In the end you just find yourself happy to be living life, no matter what’s thrown at you.

Many changes are taking place in my life these days… After leaving job in Pune, things changed for the better… Working for an International Organization as a Technical Consultant is quite exciting and really challenging… I”m enjoying it a lot… It keeps me busy when I’m not preparing for CAT… Also helps widen my social network, aswell as improve communication skills…

Would write more when i get some break from my job… Till then Cheers..

Title: The Winner Stands Alone

Author: Paulo Coelho

My Rating : 9/10

I have always liked to read Coelho’s books and this one fell on the right track as well… Infact its one of my favourites books of all time now…

This is a book making the reader realize that being famous or rich is not an end in itself and that our society, although said to  be progressive, is leading people to riches, fame, success and yet taking everything away… It is stripping people of love, security, friendship in return for crisp notes of money, pretence of happiness and satisfaction, good business contacts and massive amounts of monetary profit… Afterall, money can’t buy a true love or a best friend… It can not buy peace of mind, happiness and content… Rather, it gets one stuck in a rut of always wanting more,doing better, climbing just one  more hill while the things and people that make our hearts jump are walking away right in front of our eyes…

It makes one really give life a thought and introspect to find the true contentment and happiness, showing that money, success and fame can’t give anyone everything they need… One interesting thing I find about all his books is that the importance of paying the price of your dreams…

It’s a great book that everyone should read because it is time we realize this on our own with the help of a good author and a good story…

Was reading The Winner Stands Alone by Paulo Coelho when I came across this quote…

Someone once said… “Everything is meaningless. Completely meaningless!”

What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.

History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.

So what is it that drives us to do while we live here??? For most it is self-recognition, pleasure of seeking thrills that chase the boundless limits of excitement… But do we ever truly go after it??? Yaa sometimes that temporary high from a particular pleasurable moment feels great.. but that also fades away like the morning dew… Like the latest must have hi-tech gadget that’s sure to please, or the 4th marriage that just has to be the greenest grass yet, or the drug induced (pick your chemical) high or a child’s toy tossed over in time… What’s the difference between all these???

The answer is extremely simple… “looking for external stimuli to facilitate inward happiness…” Yet is it possible that any worldly stimuli would ever satitate your soul with limitless joy??? Has this world ever given anything that would last forever??? So is it that we just live to move from one high to another existential high, often with no real meaning another that self gratification??? And then we die… Why does any of this matter then???

What if instead of looking for external joy we looked inward fo that everlasting joy which has meaning and purpose??? That’s where our true soul exists… A soul that has been given the freedom of choice… How you use this choice will determine your destiny… The wisest of all men after seeking all the vainglorious wiles the world offers, profoundly stated “Vanity of Vanities, All is Vanity”… So one should learn from this and should seek no more emptiness that this world has to offer rather look into ones self for joy n happiness… Vanity can destroy a person but can also push him to become a better human being…

I still remember when I was I loved to play with building blocks… When I school I would spend nearly all day with those wooden blocks trying to build buildings… In being too eager to build buildings long enough or high enough (or to get to the blocks before anyone else), I would fail to build a good strong foundation or I would miss an important connecting block… Then, to my dismay, the structures would come crashing down… At other times, their structures may survive, but they may lean precariously or look entirely different from what I had intended… Then the skyscraper I was building looked a parking lot or the airport would look like the runway…

Looking back at those times now I realize that there was always someone there offering me suggestions when they saw that my structure was destined to fall… But I always refused there suggestions… and after sometime my structure would come crashing down… What strikes me now is that I act in the same way when it comes to life in a general… I know its not just me but majority of us do this in our lives… We act like kids when it comes to the way we “build our lives.”

You need a plan to build a house… To build a life, it is even more important to have a plan or goal… ~ Hilary Hinton

How many times are we so determined with what we’re set out to do that we just rush past other opportunities??? How many times are we so sure that we know what we’re doing that we tackle it without seeking anyone’s guidance??? With our limited vision, we may fail to see something else that we should do instead… How many times, after we’ve done things our way, do we look at our lives and not like the way it looks??? Perhaps we’ve become something we don’t really want to be… How many times have we refused to listen to others who try to help, or failed to follow basic instructions, because we wanted to do it our way??? Then, we later watched as everything tumbled down around us…

It’s not until everything is crumbled at our feet that we will stop trying to do it our way and look for help… In doing this we forget the basics of why we are after something… We try to strive so hard that we forget its not a particular thing we are after but what we are really after is a comfortable life which we enjoy living… For example to gain success in anyway a strong relationship with people around us is always necessary… Also required is a solid foundation of ethics and morals… Such a life is compared to a house built on a rock which can weather the rains, floods, and winds. By contrast, a life not built on this foundation is compared to a house built on the sand which will fall when the storms come…

I still remember that occasionally, I used to listen to my teacher and make changes to my wooden block structure accordingly… Or time when friends used to help out or work together to create something bigger and better than what any of us had imagined… This is the way life is supposed to be!!!

The world is a big place… There are many options, many ways to build a life, but only one is right for each one of us, our own… I’ve come to a place in my existence where I try to make sure my path crosses the paths of people who enrich my life, and leave me wanting to make the world a better place… I pull from these friends and acquaintances whatever knowledge I can, sifting through it to determine what to keep and what to let slip gently back into the world… What pleases me may not please you, and that’s ok… I try to maintain that perspective when giving advice, that which brings me peace may do nothing for you, or it may change your life, either way, it is not my choice, it’s yours…

Despite the wisdom of others, the ultimate and final jury of our own beliefs is ourselves… After all the advice, beyond all the suggestions and demands put upon us by the world around us, we are responsibile individually for living a life worth remembering, or fading quietly into the background… I aim each day to do the former rather than the latter… I fail often… I recognize that, and it’s ok, I get to try again tomorrow, and the next day and the next until that day when I grow cold and die… When that day comes, if I have lived correctly, I will pass on with a grin saying “So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish“!!!

Sparing thoughts of reincarnation, we have but one life to live; one opportunity to grow into the person we are each destined to be… The journey is different for everyone, and the journey is more than a way to reach our final destination, it is the story of our lives, each and every one of us… I guess my ultimate point in all of this is to point out that whatever it may be that we are aiming for we all need to strong foundation to build our lives on… To live a life befitting of the greatness that is within each and every one of us, that is the goal, that is the hope, that is the north star I follow…

At one point in life we come to some realizations… We develop a higher understanding about ourselves or have an epiphany of some type… This one incident can change the entire outlook of our lives, it may also change our beliefs and practices… Yes i agree to the fact that there would be many notable events in our life, but there will be only few incidents in which we would come to a profound comprehension of our lives or life in general… These few incidents are the ones that create adversity in us… The mental unease which comes along with these incidents is not usually long lasting, but embeds a dramatic concept to which one would often refer… During my stay in Pune, I underwent one of these experiences in which I realized that life entailed no inherent meaning, but only that of which I could myself assign to my actions and despite this I must somehow find happiness in my life… Read more »

How many of you love to work under pressure??? I’m sure majority of you don’t like it…

I noticed a unique quality in me couple of days back… I work and understand much better under stress… And that means deadlines are the best example of that… Mostly i finish my work couple of hours before its deadline… Sometimes i may miss it or something.. But eventually you would see that i land up with a code optimized to suit the problem in every way keeping all conditions into consideration…

So the moral of this is that if you want to get anywork done from me… Don’t give me more than a couple of days for it… Because I will be chilling out most of the days and would start working only a day before the deadline… Believe it or not!!!

It’s not about laziness or neglect, It is all about the awesomeness of “Can I do that or not!!!” not a challenge with anybody but its like “Don’t complicate things”.

I used to hear one of my friends saying “I am going to home now to complete my work and hand it over” and when I ask him about the deadline he says “Ahhh, Next week!!” you can notice stress and depression on his face!!! Damn it!!! You are going to solve that “work” for the next week??? Okay, go solve it but why stress and depression??? Chill up dude…

Its nice to manage your time but you shouldn’t put yourself under all these things at once… I am not a wise man but I still think that I can feel what is good and what is bad… Always remember, you cannot eat Cherry in winter, everything has its own time…

This is no fill in the blanks game… Its a pretty awesome site… Actually to get the zest of the site you just need to fill in the blanks… It’s a famous twitter hash tag and a unique social web 2 place to write about what annoying you or makes you sad… I think all of us and everyday, we go through a lot of bad things and embarrassing situations with family, friends or even people in the street! But what to do??? For me writing them instead of getting nervous is the best way to reduce my anger/animosity…

To be honest i liked this idea… when you read tens of FMLs messages you will say:”Thanks god for everything, I’m fine” you will really laugh at those people or perhaps get shocked of what others wrote about themselves and their life…

for example:

Today, I went to this meditation center which my mom suggested to get mental peace as I have been hating my job and life for some time now. I drove for an hour and then walked around in scorching Indian sun for 2 hours trying to locate the damn place. I got lost and returned home angrier than ever. FML

Truly awesome…

There is also one more site called GMH (GivesMeHope) it’s the opposite of FML…

Sometimes when we are happy we think that everybody in this world is happy, willing the day to finish at the same awesomeness level we enjoyed in the morning… On the other hand, there are many people who are thinking of how to sleep and where at that day…

We are so used to seeing the world through our eyes, we didn’t try to see it in a new way… Its usually good but mostly hard… The point of happiness is not easy as we knew it… I have to admit, its seriously hard especially these days, many people are waiting your success and the rest of them are waiting you to fail… Not because they have some animosity for you but because you and them are fighting to get the same chance… So never give them your chance easily and at the same time don’t be selfish…

I am living life taking the best out of it “as much as possible” and seeking happiness everywhere, maybe happiness is hard now but I could work and manage to get it somehow or the other eventually, It must be mine, because I truly deserves it… Sometimes its hard to guess what is the idea of happiness, is it about money, health, education or future??? I do believe that its NOT all about money… Money can give you what makes you happy and thats the truth but SATISFACTION is something money can never give.. Nothing can change it because its clear as summer’s sun…

Actually, I have to stop taking life easily as I used to do… I understand what life means but I think that my happiness was just a black scarf, beautiful but keeps me going as a blind man!!! For goodness sake, why do I have eyes??? They are connected to my mind and heart because what I see shapes my mind and heart, feelings and ideas everywhere…

“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch“

Everyone is after seeking happiness and it doesn’t matter what type of it because it doesn’t really matter!!! I want to keep in mind that I am going to fight and climb mountains to reach my goal… I believed and I still do that life has no mercy, nothing comes for free or easily… You gotta be strong to continue with life’s rhythm…

“The way to overcome negative thoughts and destructive emotions is to develop opposing, positive emotions that are stronger and more powerful.” ~ Dalai Lama

Negative thinking, in all its many-splendored forms, has a way of creeping into conversations and our thinking without our noticing them… The key to success, in my opinion, is learning to spot these negative thoughts and squash them like little bugs… Then replace them with positive ones…

I come across many Negative Thinking on a daily basis.. Lets talk about some of them… Read more »

ROUTINE!!! No words can describe my animosity towards it… For me no enemy is greater than routine… Fallen in routine is one thing I strongly hate… Its like falling into a habit, and once you do that its pretty tough to break from it…

Its basically killed all my thinking and creativity… Really need to break free from it.. live the way I want.. work the way I wish… Its like all the things that i loved to do once have been taken away from me…

I know some people love a routine life… Get up… have breakfast.. of to work…. check mails n work… lunch with fellow workers at office… back to work.. tea in the evening… sign out for the day.. go home.. watch TV.. sleep… Again repeat this the next day…. I know it a comforting life… But I don’t want that.. Routine work is something which has never interested me, n I know it never will…

But these days things are different… Last couple of months have been more or less a comfortable routine to follow… And now when i want to break this routine, I’m not able to… It’s like whatever i try to break this routine, I fall back into the abyss of it… Lets see if i can break free from it in the near future… well I HAVE to break free if I want to achieve something in life soon…

Every day is exactly the same
There is no love here and there is no pain

Came across a song by Nine Inch Nails called Every Day Is Exactly the Same which perfectly describes my life these days…

bit n pieces of its lyrics…

I think I used to have a voice
Now I never make a sound
I just do what I’ve been told..

I am still inside here
A little bit comes bleeding through
I wish this could have been any other way
But I just don’t know, I don’t know,
What else I can do…