HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

 

Like birds, let us, leave behind what we don’t need to carry…
GRUDGES SADNESS PAIN FEAR and REGRETS.
Life is beautiful, Enjoy it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

QUOTE# 2

"ARISE, AWAKE AND STOP NOT TILL THE GOAL IS REACHED"

QUOTE

"If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten."

GO FOR IT !!!

 

BROKEN

I'm stuck,  immobilized, bogged down.

Stuck between the old protocols and the stereotypes.

Strangled between the dogmas and the principles.

Muffled between the self and the forerunners.

I stepped up to make it better,

I finised to make it happy,

I tried to do whatever made sense.

Yet, they thought I'm not right...

Yet, they didn't understand....

Effort for exuberance and glee,

Effort for jubilation and sanctity,

Effort for peace and euphoria,

All have gone in vain, everything squandered.

Once again devastation, another havoc.

Mind is scared to think.

Soul is not sure of the future.

Even a noble thought is not getting an assurance from the heart.

The heart is filled with remorse and indecisiveness.

Broken, shattered, and clueless......

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Hey All, I created this BOT to let you know that I'm missing you all :)

WHAT COULD BE THE FUTURE

Hello People, I found this really interesting video on the YouTube, thought I'll show you all what could be the future.

Nanotechnology :)



Do share what you think about it?

WHAT DO YOU SEE?

Hello dear friends, howdy?
I was just wondering how busy life we all live these days. Whole day passes away in hurry worry curry ;)

Me going for a dip :)

I read somewhere that its a very good practice to take a couple minutes of break in-between the daily busy schedule and close your eyes to see something, which you feel is really refreshing. It is believed that by doing so the person feels rejuvenated and motivated in a fraction of seconds. It is also believed that by following such a practice on regular basis leads to a very cheerful and satisfied experience in daily life.

Well, I tried the same and guess what I felt really refreshed. Now, let me tell you what I saw with my eyes shut. I saw the sea!! I think, I really like the sea and I feel really happy when I'm at any beach. Even my idea of a perfect vacation is a beach vacation. A perfect date for me is a candle light dinner at a beach, away from the city's noise, and amidst the sound of sea waves :). I feel there is certainly a strong connection between me and the sea.

I had a date here :)

Ok, now its your turn, tell me what do you see when you close your eyes to get refreshed or what would you like to see? 

HAPPY DIWALI :)

This is how we decorated for performing the Diwali Puja(prayers)

Today i.e. 5th Nov 2010 is the festival of Diwali in India. Deepavali or Divali or Diwali, popularly known as the festival of lights, is an important festival in Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism and few other religions. For Hindus, Diwali is the most important festival of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in their homes.

The lamps that we decorated for Diwali prayers

The decorations at the local mall

WISH YOU AND YOUR FAMILY A VERY HAPPY DIWALI 2010.

XOXO....

YOUNG ARTISTS FOR HAITI

Just surfing through the internet I found this video. I found this video really touching and appealing. We might have forgotten the Haiti tragedy, but the aftermaths are still very much existing and we still need to do our bit to help the needy people. Please check out this video-

THINKING HEART

Sitting alone, talking to thyself.

I went into the journey of thoughts,

Few personal, few benevolent, and few completely adhoc...

Sometimes, the mind becomes a volcano of thoughts.

A nuclear reaction of sorts.

Several uncontrollable fission and fusion bombs explode.

There are so many things floating in the mind.

Yet, nothing is said.

Yet, nothing is shared.

Though, what come out post mind boggling sessions,

Are the most sort after thoughts.

Still, the heart feels the need to be shared a lot.

Is this the dilemma of every thinking heart??

LIKE A LEAF FLOATING IN WATER

Its not tiredness

Its not laziness

Its not even dizziness

Yet the mind refuses to think.

Its not boredom

Its not tragedy

Its not even sadness

Still the soul faints into silence.

I don’t want rest

I don’t want solace

I don’t even want happiness

Still I’m searching something.

I want to be thought-free

I want to be carefree

I want to break-free.

Yet I’m not moving.

Like a leaf, floating in water,

I want the buoyancy.

Like a leaf, moving directionless,

I want to go with the flow.

Let the water take me till the end,

Let me not think anything.

Let me explore the way it comes

Let me be sure to reach till the end….

KARVA CHAUTH-THE FESTIVAL

 YES, one more festival, one more celebration J. Well most of my non-indian readers would be interested to know- what is Karva Chauth? Ok, no worries I’ll give a brief insight on it.

“Karva” is another word for “diya” (a small earthen oil-lamp) and “chauth” means 'fourth' in Hindi (a reference to the fact that the festival falls on the 4th day of the dark-fortnight of the month of Kartik as per Hindu calender).

Karva Chauth is one-day festival celebrated by Hindu and some Sikh women in North India in which married women fast from sunrise to moonrise for the safety and longevity of their husbands. Yes, today I’m certifying that I’m married because many people still think that I’m a bachelor.

The fast is kept in such a high spirits by the married ladies that they don’t even drink a single droplet of water from the sunrise to the moon-rise. I’m sure you might be thinking that how hard are these rituals to follow, aren’t you? Ironically, when you ask the same question to the married ladies, who are keeping these fasts, they happily take pride in it and they embark this day a very special for the love of their husband.

A special day means a special dress code. On this very special day all the ladies dress up in their traditional outfits along with their traditional accessories. As part of the dress code, the ladies also apply Mehendi(Henna) on their hands. 

My Wife's Last Year's Henna 

In the night when the moon rises, the wife first of all worships the moon and then her husband. As part of the ritual, then Husband offers his wife the water, which wife drinks and breaks the fast, and it is then followed by a special romantic dinner date.

This year's henna

 Well, this is all going to happen tomorrow for us as we(Wife n me :-) are going to celebrate our second Karva Chauth. My wife has applied a really cool design on her hands using the henna and guess what she has also engraved my name(Vivek) on her hand. Anyway, I leave that task to you to find out where it is in the picture.  

COLORS, LIGHTS & HAPPINESS

O its that time of the year again!! India has a big season of festivals, starting with Ramazan(Ramadan) and Ganesh Chaturthi (in Aug-Sept) followed by Durga Puja and Dussehra (in Oct), then Diwali (on Nov 5th), and lastly, Christmas (in Dec). This is a special privilege of being in the multicultural country like India where every festival is celebrated with full tempo. Especially, if you are living in a cosmopolitan cities of India like Hyderabad, you are blessed to witness half a year of thunderous celebrations, no kidding :) :) :)

I really like these festive times, one thing that really excites me is the decorations and the lighting. Sometimes, when you are totally into your life, and the monotonicity has taken it's complete toll on you then one fine day, when you are walking along the streets or buying your grocery in the malls suddenly, you see the glitters and the colors of the festive season and instantly, you start feeling so good, you feel so relaxed and refreshed. Yes, that is exactly what happened to me today.

I'm sure you feel good on seeing colors too. There is a big connection of human mind with the colors and the lighting, and yes this is scientifically approved as well. So many times when we see something colorful it really makes us feel better and happy. Today I captured the beautiful lamps hanging in the mall, and I thought I will share here with you all. Hoping that it makes you happy as well, and wish you lots of love and peace.

GOA INDIA'S PARADISE

Hey all, I'm having an unusual deficiency syndrome called the R.L.V. (REMEMBERING LAST VACATION.. :-). Normally, it doesn't happen to me, but may be the time I spent there was one of the most memorable one in my whole life. I know spending the holidays with your partner is always an unforgettable experience but the place itself is simply awesome. Yes, I'm talking about GOA- INDIA'S PARADISE!!

I visited GOA in April end and no doubt I really liked it. I especially liked my stay in Park Hyatt Goa, its a wonderful resort with super hospitality, just that its a little costly as per Indian standards, but I read somewhere the best things in world are also the costliest ones...lol. I insist you should visit this place at least once, and if you are an Indian I reiterate at least visit Goa once in every couple of years if not every year. To show you what a beautiful place Goa is, I've created a new video having few of the beautiful pictures that I took in GOA.

I think, I can try my hands in Marketing. Goa tourism should promote my video on their website, isn't it ?

P.S. The music that I have selected is a famous Hindi movie song "Tere Ore", since along with the place I wanted to add the Indian flavor to the whole thing. I hope you like it, and as always I'm eager to hear from you. Enjoy :-) :-)

LEADERSHIP - BY ROBIN SHARMA

 

What makes an effective leader? This is a very important question that we hear almost everyday in our life. Yet, the answers we get are mostly bookish and unrealistic as a result we keep on diverting ourselves from this very significant question.

I’ve have been reading a lot of stuff about Robin Sharma these days. Robin Sharma is a renowned writer of the famous book- ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’. Sharma was recently the guest speaker in one of the B-School in Switzerland where he explained his views about the leadership. For Robin Sharma- ‘leadership comes from an inner sense of who you really are’. Sharma pointed out that “our performance on the outside is a reflection of what is going inside”.

Sharma insists, the great essence of leadership is the quality of positively inspiring creativity in others, and that requires developing one’s inner self. “We can’t celebrate another human being unless we have first celebrated ourselves”. “We must have great ideas inside to have great ideas in our work.”

I was really impressed with one thing in particular that Sharma said- great leadership is tied to who you are as a person, rather than to your official position. He advised executives to become “rock stars” at work, and finally to awaken the inner leader in themselves.

As per Sharma, The best leaders share 7 basic characteristics:
- They are ridiculously good at what they do
- They are ferociously curious.
- They balance the artist with the engineer.
- They leave most other people better off.
- They prefer marathons to sprints.
- They edit and then amplify.
- And finally, their “video is in sync with their audio.” In other words, they don’t just talk a good line, they deliver on what they promise.

One other very interesting thing that Sharma said was- we should ideally wake up early in the morning to strategize and plan our day. Ben Franklin used to say it: “There is plenty of time to sleep when you are dead.” Superior performance invariably requires rehearsal. “How can you be the Madonna of manufacturing, or the Mozart of management, if you don’t practice ahead of time?“ Sharma asked.

I suggest everyone to follow what the great Robin Sharma has said and make a significant difference to your life.

PS- For those who missed my first audio post here is a better one. Hope you will enjoy the audio, do share your thoughts about it.  

SELF BELIEF OR LIE- THE AUDIO POST

Hello ladies and gentlemen, its been a while since this idea has been scrolling through my mind and finally, I have implemented it. Yes, I have just created my very first audio blog post !!!

No kidding, you got to hear my voice now :-) :-), its not the best of voice, but I guess it should be manageable. I admit that it's not the best of the audio/video that one would ideally want, but with the limited resources and zero experience this is what I could manage for the first time. 

The content that I'm speaking in the video is actually one of my older posts- SELF BELIEF OR LIE. I really like experimenting new things, and even though I'm NOT a native English speaker still I don't shy away lending my voice and sharing with the world. After all, what I want is- my thoughts reach to people and I can get their reactions, this is the only way- We share and we learn!!

I'm excited to know your views about it, You like it? You hate it? Ok Ok?.....

 

PS. Please feel free to share your thoughts, criticism highly welcome :-) 

LET OUR HEARTS KEEP BEATING

Just little over a couple of months ago, I took a pledge to keep my heart healthy as part of the Billion Hearts Beating campaign. This was a fabulous initiative taken by the "Times of India Group" in collaboration with The "Apollo Group of Hospitals", and most of you would remember that I wrote a sad but a true post about it requesting all of you to take a pledge to improve your health, to better your lifestyle and to start loving your heart. In case you forgot it, I request you to please read this post again- PLEASE LOVE YOUR HEART.

In my opinion, the campaign was a real success and it definitely has opened a lot of eyes and most importantly, a tons of Hearts. The USP for this campaign was the way it was implemented. The huge amount of marketing done indeed made a big difference. Yet, the winners were none other than the people who got so much information in the simplest of form through this mega campaign. The campaign really had a mass appeal.

Yet, one of the most unusual gifts of the creator- "the volatile mind", forgets all the things after sometime; And I'm very sure most of us would have became a little careless if not completely forgotten our pledges that we took couple of months ago as part of the Billion Hearts Campaign. Being very much aware of the biggest weaknesses of the human nature, the organizers of the campaign have made sure the campaign is not just forgotten with the time by now sending a special e-mail to each pledge taker.

Yes, I've got a mail !! In the e-mail, I have received an acknowledgment that certifies- "I took the pledge". Also, in the mail I have received a 12-page booklet attached giving valuable and basic information about the various heart diseases such as Hypertension, Heart Attack, Angina, diabetes etc. Truly, speaking I'm delighted to receive the acknowledgement and the very useful booklet along with it. Also, at the same time I do realize that along with me the readers of my blog post- PLEASE LOVE YOUR HEART also took the pledge and many of them live outside India. So, I decided to share this certificate with all of you here, this belongs to all of you. Also, I will be happy to e-mail you that 12-page booklet if you are interested.

I'm glad, we are changing because the change is visible. I'm glad there are still such campaigns. I'm glad there are still so many people who react to what they read and I'm glad that now you will do something to change your lifestyle to make it better. THANK YOU & LET OUR HEARTS KEEP BEATING !!

 

JUST A THOUGHT

I was driving this weekend, helping a friend to move to his new house. Yet, sometimes even the moving part is the most relaxing part with lots of fun involved.

SOMETIMES THE LONGEST OF THE DRIVES IS THE MOST RELAXING
-JUST A THOUGHT :-)

DABANGG-IFIED

Very recently I saw a Bollywood Hindi movie called 'Dabangg'. Its a completely Bollywood masala movie and Salman khan, the lead of the movie, stole the show. His acting as a corrupt cop is awesome. Actually, the movie is centered on Salman Khan and if you are a Salman Khan fan then you will regret missing it. A perfect 'chulbul' role played by Salman as Chulbul Pandey. The music and the songs are already so popular especially "Munni badnaam hui" is such a big hit.

Overall, the movie is fantastic, and Salman's acting and his own very special style was a perfect fit for the role. Salman Khan is surely back, back with the bang.!! Salman Rocks !!

I got inspired by Sallu bhai and tried his special Dabanggified glasses. So, what you think? Isn't it like the real Dabangg ??.... :-) :-) :-)

RED LIPSTICK: WHAT MEN THINK ABOUT IT

Well well…I was just reading through the blogs that I follow and I found this post on Tanvi’s space called Red Lipstick. I have been following her for a while now and she indeed has that super thing about her blog that keeps her loyal readers engaged to her screen.

Red Lipstick actually made me think what men actually think about it. This is perhaps the question, which many women around the world would want to know, but the views presented here are purely mine and you could easily bump into a man who is an absolute contra to what I think. After all there are so many men on this planet :-) :-). Still, I insist you to trust me for the most part of this post.

On an affirmative note, men really are visual creatures. Men notice everything about the women they can see. Red Lipstick is surely an eye catcher for men, especially when you are on a perfect date with your man and those sexy red lips can do as much for your man as the kiss itself. Trust me its true!!

One very important thing that all the women should keep in mind is that men have hardly any sense to understand your makeup, they won’t know anything about that shiny thing that you have on your eye lashes, they won’t know how your reddish lipstick is so catchy on that day etc etc. For men even if its your lip gloss or the lipstick there is hardly any difference between the two, as the men just see the beauty of your sexy lips and hardly distinguish between the gloss and the lipstick. Ladies you have to make sure that you do a perfect makeup that suits you and perfect makeup means that looks best on you, it could be heavy makeup, mild makeup or no makeup et all. Men surely won’t like a woman who has overdone the makeup and put that extra red shades that makes her look like a clown. Let me admit to all my dear ladies, men feel more embarrassed to go out on date when you don’t look great and this is also true that there is hardly any lady who don’t look at her best when she is going out on a date.

If you look around yourself, everywhere in the media you will see women having the red-lipsticks. The reason for it is- those sexy red lips are an added feather in the cap of femininity, it’s such a womanly thing that attracts men. If you are forced to look back, you will realize that in the 1950’s Marilyn Monroe was the cultural icon for female physical beauty back then and she seemed to favor bright red lipstick as did all of the adult women of the time, and no doubt it had a great impact on all the men around the world.

Trust me, when a man shows a lipstick mark on his cheek after being kissed by a woman, it cannot be anything else but the “red”-mark. So, no doubt RED Lipstick is something every man loves and there is hardly any other shade men remember.

Just going a little off the track and sharing something about the cultures. In Indian culture “Red” color is considered to be the color of married women. In fact, not few years ago married women mostly used to apply red colored shades only, but of course with the changing time this is not necessarily the case now. Anyway as part of the rituals and cultures of North Indian festivals especially among the Punjabi’s the mother-in-laws still gift mostly red-lipsticks to their daughter-in-laws. Red color shade of lipstick indeed holds a lot more significance in the North Indian culture.

Nevertheless, even now if you do a poll by asking 20 random men walking on the streets, the red-lipstick will still gets a big thumps-up. Even though there might be no understandable reasoning behind it sometimes. So, ladies don’t you shy away from trying the red lipstick, and keep having fun with the color red.

MY LATEST INTEREST-FLUTE

I have this urge to learn the flute since the last year, but every now and then due to some reason I just had to walk away from it. Recently, on a lazy sunday afternoon when I was feeling like listening to some soothening music I accidently found this beautiful song on the youtube. The song is called the "Flute Song" or "The Irish Celebration Song" and is performed by the band called "The Corrs". One of the main attractive feature of the song is the "Flute". I really liked the melodious sound of the flute. Especially, I was so much impressed by the lady playing the flute in the band, Andrea Corr. As a result, I joined her facebook page too :)

I literally got so much indulged in the song that I listened to it non-stop for couple of hours. I felt so nice about it, but at the same time it also acted like a catalyst to my hidden desire to learn flute. I again started searching over the internet about the place where I can buy a flute. Though, I haven't find any good store yet and still looking for it.


Later, I searched a lot of videos over the internet where I could see more flute songs and incidently, I found a lot of videos related to Irish Flute. I really liked the Irish Flute, its good and it really fills the person's heart with joy. I could easily co-relate to it, but at the sametime when you really want to be in a quite mood then it could be an erratic experience as well. Though, I do not have any knowledge about the flute but I felt that Irish flute doesn't have large variety, most of the songs are pretty similar and have the same tone, but this is just a personal observation and I might be completely wrong as I start discovering the Irish Flute.

Anyway, this is certainly one of my latest found interest and soon I would want to buy a flute and take some lessons over the internet. I sometime wonder, how these things didn't come in front of my eyes earlier, may be by now I would have been an expert in it, but thats fine. I'm happy that I realized my love for flute now. Hopefully, I will soon start learning it.

P.S. Do share your thoughts about the flute and the song (I posted above). Also, I would want to know if you play any musical instrument or you would want to learn playing any musical instrument. One very interesting thing I read over the internet and it says- "Music washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life. ~Berthold Auerbach". So, its good to be associated with music someway.

NO HALTS PLEASE:IPHONE APPS

It’s was a Sunday evening and I reached the grocery store but only to discover a long queue at the store. Helplessly, I joined the line, but thinking what m I going to do for the next 15-20minutes in this queue. Suddenly, the gentleman in front of me took out his cellphone, it was Apple’s iPhone. He started scrolling through various applications on his iphone. Sometimes giggling, sometimes thinking, the gentleman kept playing with his iPhone and passed his time.

Yes iPhones, which in the last few years have become the full fledged computers with hundreds of applications running on them, let people relieve the boredom of the grocery store lines, exercising, traffic jams or lulls in the dinner conversations. The iPhone applications make the tiniest of the halts in one’s life entertaining, and many a times potentially productive. The research studies showcase the fact very clearly that iPhone users spend a great amount of time playing with the iPhone applications rather than talking on the phone, this also justifies the huge popularity of the iPhone applications among the iPhone users.

One of the main reason behind the huge popularity of iPhone applications is their wide range. Not only the iPhone applications are innovative but also their creativity is in abundance, and there are still several millions of territories unexplored. The scope of innovation and creativity is large and Apple Inc. has made sure that creativity is not restricted by allowing everyone and anyone to develop iPhone application.

For the developers, the iPhone application development has become a gold path, a short cut to achieve fame and money at the same time. Already across the globe there have been developers who have shot to fame overnight.

As the iPhone applications revolution started spreading, the Indian market also got the taste of it and many freelancer developers along with the companies jumped into the iPhone application development business. Cost is always a crucial factor, and India with its sharp technical and innovative minds has capitalized the iPhone application development market, and already the impact is visible. Sourcebits, a software development company with offices in Bangalore, India and Atlanta, USA established in April 2006, has become a one stop solution for the iPhone application development.

Sourcebits was among the first developers awarded an official iPhone Developer License from Apple. Sourcebits iPhone applications and games like- SnakeXT, Night Stand and PocketBracket were rated among the Top 100 in Apple iTunes Store. Night Stand- a simpler bedside clock was among the Top 3 apps at one point of time, the application became an instant hit with its simplicity and neat style.

With the continuous flair for the iPhone applications picking and the technology world responding it with the equal zeal has spiced up a great deal for the iPhone users. Clearly, the tech-busy minds across the world are having no downtime whatsoever while others are standing blank in the long grocery queues, thanks to iPhone apps. :-)

TATTOO DILEMMA??

Angelina Jolie's Tattoos

I sometimes really have a deep urge for getting a tattoo done on my arm. Somehow, I feel too fascinated by the tattoos. Unfortunately while I realize that it’s a mammoth task to remove it once the tattoo is engraved on my body, my mind takes a 180 degree flip and keeps me away from doing it. Still my dilemma between the fascination and the fear continues…..double minded!!

David Beckham Tattoos

Anyway, what if I don’t have a tattoo on my body but I still love it. Usually, I like the tattoos those are not overdone, I have seen a lot of people who hardly leave any space on their body, and that certainly don’t look good instead it becomes too crowded to identify the precision of the design. I believe if we over do too much tattoo then the whole class is lost, even the person who will be seeing it may get lost into it. Small and clear tattoos look good, they have a different class and they look supa-sexy!!

Oh, I forgot to tell ya that while I was in Goa for vacation, I did a temporary tattoo on my arm once. The tattoo was of a CRAB, it looked awesome. In fact after having continuous sun baths at the Goan beaches, my body got very tanned as a result when that temporary tattoo came out, it left me that crab sign on my arm that remained un-tanned due to the tattoo-covering. After reaching my home post vacations, it stayed for few days and yes, it became the talk of the town..lol. Everyone was asking me how did I get such a tattoo and I did some blah blah..lol. Yet, it was fun!!

Jolie's Small Tattoo

Ok, whatever I’m still confused. What do you guys suggest? If you would want to do a tattoo- where and what design would you do? Do share your thoughts too; And one last thing, when we think about tattoo can we forget to mention these two names- Angelina Jolie and David Beckham, NO!! They are the trend setters, aren’t they??

David's Complete Tattoos

David's Tattoo-Victoria's Name in HINDI

CRAB Tattoo Design-similar to what I had in Goa.

Do Let Me Know Your Thoughts On Getting The Tattoo Done.

COLORFUL (MOOD) SWING

TURQUOISE ROOM SETTINGS

PERFECT COLORFUL SUNSET

COLORFUL BOOK SHELF

TREE LIGHTS MADE OF WASTE PLASTIC BOTTLES

I’m tired, I’m burned out.

I’m empty, I’m collapsing.

I’m totally wasted!!

Mistakenly, I saw something.

I saw something catchy.

I got engaged in it.

I forgot everything else.

I felt energized.

I felt refreshed.

The ASIAN COLORFUL LIGHTS

The happiness was unique,

I didn’t know the reason,

But it was soothing.

Sometimes, unexpectedly we encounter something.

Surprisingly, that swings our mood.

We feel rejuvenated.

I witnessed a mood swing,

It was unusual, but youthful.

It was my reaction to the colors.

MY COLORFUL PEACE :-)

Yes, it was the colors, the catalyst.

Bright and shinning colors

The colors changed everything,

The colors brought back the energy in me,

The colors energized me.

I’m thankful that I got this colorful-(mood) swing!!

P.S. Colors are important in our life. Colors bring the most refreshing texture in the life, without the colors life will be dull. Colors are a real source of freshness, they can energize us. I’m sharing few of the photos and hoping that you too will be energized by seeing them. Do share your thoughts about the “colors” and their importance in your life.

COLORFUL BEACH HOUSES