The Heart

The Heart is funny. It has its share of sins and it has its share of benevolence. Its weird how the fight is constant. With different emotions playing, love, hate, peace, restlessness, ambition, pain, passion, compassion, revenge, forgiveness, the heart is perhaps the most complex repertoire of moods. An angel sometimes and sometimes, the devil himself.

Why

I have no clue why I did this one. But I guess, that's how the word spells out. Why. There are no reasons and no answers why we do certain things. Or why certain things happen to us. And we are left asking. "Why?"
But every "Why" has a flip side, a side which is a lesson, a learning. And I guess that's what I have tried in this.

The best place for Diwali Shopping: The internet

Diwali, the festival of lights brings with it the festive spirit, the choicest sweets and the lightest of pockets. The unprecedented rush to get the best from the irresistible offers and discounts often undermines the intuitive power to save. After all its festival time. But then like Deepika used to say in the immortal Nirma advertisement, "Jab wahi jhaag, wahi safedi, kam daam mein mile toh koi yeh kyon le, woh na le?". Exactly my point. When you get the same stuff for a lesser rate, why splurge in huge showrooms in malls, when you can do the same from the comfort of your home? Yes that’s right, it’s time to turn on the computer and get online. Some of the best places to shop this Diwali are:

Hanuman

Another attempt to paint the Monkey God, using Pixlar. I guess I need to practice more...

Bal Hanuman

On a Friday night, thought I should have something for the Lord Hanuman, for Saturday. And what could be better than Bal Hanuman rushing after the the Sun God, thinking of him as a fruit. This then is my dedication to the most powerful, the most tough God out there. Jai Veer Hanuman!

The Lonely Sea

Wanted to try out something different with pixlar and couldn't think of anything really nice so decided to just let it flow. Always had this image of a boat struggling against the deadly sea. Wandering, beaten down but never defeated. Waiting to reach the shore. Waiting to live. And somehow it felt so true to our lives, we fight endlessly, with ourselves, our minds, our worlds, believing that someday life would be better. My dedication to all of us mellow fighters down there. Waiting, fighting, struggling, Winning!!!

Ganesha

One of my first experiments with Pixlar. My experiments have always been attempts to paint my mind using simple brush strokes. It was Ganesh Chaturthi and the mood was more than festive. As I sat down unaware of what to do with the brush provided, I decided to close my eyes and visualize what was going on in my mind. And all I could think about was the Lord. In all His simplicity, the strokes have brought about my vision of someone whom I have been praying to for the last 14 years. A dedication to someone who is always there.

The Ballad of Phoney Gray: First Step

Born out on the dull blue floor,
Growing slowly on chips and more.
Was born he shiny, painfully lone,
packed in the box, which would be home.

This is the ballad of Phoney Gray,
Made of metal, born in a tray,
This is the ballad of Phoney Gray,
Silent as is or talking through a ray.

Nahin

Rikshaw hai jo rukta nahin,
Bus hai jo dikhta nahin,
Paer hain jo chalte nahin,
Manzil hai jo aati nahin.

Dost hain jo milte nahin,
Dushman hain jo pighalte nahin,
Pyar hai jo khilta nahin,
Tanhai hai jo jaati nahin.

Rain

As the sky readies for the battle of the sun,
A battle which has already been won,
The shining star has to retreat behind,
As the darkness covers, leading the wind.

As the drops gather in force,
The earth below moves from bad to worse.
The great humans left to stare,
Attacked by surprise, from the force nowhere.

Wake up and smell the life:

A ping from Anju, a highly successful colleague of mine, came as a surprise. She seemed worried. She had it all she said, but wanted more. She had plenty of money, but wanted more. She had a loving husband, but wanted more of his love. She had become exceedingly touchy about her work and needed better, more meaningful work. Over the fifteen minutes that I managed to chat with her, I realised that she was not even aware what she wanted. And finally when I asked her the question, “Anju, what is it that you are searching for? Wealth, success, love or peace?” It took her by surprise.

The little hand of peace

I was coming down with cold, had a terrible headache and was nearly bursting at the way things had been turning out at work. The chamber was dirty and I had no strength to clean it up. I was done sitting there and decided to get out of the enclave, just so I could step out and have a brisk walk,to burn out the frustration and convert into sweat.

Armed with my headphones, Gorillaz blurting out a song on Clint Eastwood,I walked down the stairs. It was coming on, and coming on and coming on...Watch out streets, here I come.

Yeh Zindagi

Kadvahat ki zaroorat nahin, par phir bhi peeta hoon,
Zindagi se darr lagta hai, par phir bhi jeeta hoon.

Manzilen dhoondata raha zindagi bhar, par
ab toh bus raaston se pyar hai, zindagi se darr.

Badi Kashmakash hai yeh zindagi ajeeb,
iss se ladho, jhagdo, jeetoge nahin, rahoge garib.

The Lady Fair

Every day, in my sleep,

I see this fair lady weep.

Her eyes worn, her gaze far away,

The gentle breeze making her sway.

Lady, why won’t you talk to me,

Tell me what troubles you see.

That you have to weep so sour,

Why can’t you just sleep when it’s four?

A cloudy future:

The rains have been lashing the lashing this side of the country for over a month now and everyone has been talking about how the weather would be over the next couple of days. However, there are also people who never have to stop out on the road but still seem to be very upbeat about the prospects of the cloud. These are people who have defined the future of technology over the years. The companies they have set up or have been running are the behemoths of Information Technology. From Google to Microsoft, from Oracle to SAP, from Amazon to Yahoo, everyone has only one point of focus- the cloud.

The plea:

“Oh My God, is it true? Has it really happened? Can you really be dead, love? Can it be true that you have left me here? Alone, lonely with no one to care for me? No one to bother about me?

And to think I couldn’t even be by your side when you breathed your last. Did you wait for me, love? Did you try your best to fight against Death as it walked closer to your soul? Did you bargain with Death to keep you alive just for some more moments so you could have a glimpse of me? To breathe your last in my arms?

But, you know what? If I had been here, I would not have let you go. I would have bargained with Death to win you over. And I would have succeeded. I would never have let you leave this world before me, love. Never.

Sit

The class was packed tight,
And the teacher was always right.
“Students, lets gather some wit
Open your books, pay attention and Sit”

In the bus, the crowd was a throng,
You’d get bashed even if not wrong.
With life risked, I nearly seat with true grit,
“This is a reserved seat, don’t you dare sit”

Beware: Kids at work

Over the years, I have come to realize how childish people are when they are actually at work. People take the workspace rather personally and forget that they were are just employees and the organization doesn't owe or own them. That the manager is not their mother and the workplace is not their home. That they are only professionally related to their colleagues and not through relationships.

I have noted how people take everything and everyone personally and ruin the office decorum which is supposed be the office environment free of all the emotions. With the tactical team of HR professionals trying their best to make the employees feel at home, the poor workers do take their word for it. Home is where you can be free, home is where you can move around unhampered, home is where you can be naked.

Skype: Eulogy

Ooh Skype, I loved you. I loved you for your originality and your fantastic quality video calls. I loved you for being so low on ads and I loved you for what you did best-near perfect audio.

And now after being chased by Google and Yahoo, you end up in Microsoft's arms. Not that I do not like the company that Bill Gates started but why were you so desperate to be sold. You were a phenomenon, Skype.

I know you will survive and you will evolve. But you will no longer be Spiderman. You will be the dark Spiderman. You will be full of ads and you will mean business. You will support issues and you will crash.

But I guess all good things come to an end, huh? Only I can never imagine something as good as you can come to an end (virtually, as in losing your individuality) for a mere 8 billion dollars? Did you realize you broke 8 billion hearts?

But I hope Microsoft takes good care of you. And I hope you still manage to survive for what you stood for-Quality. I hope you still manage to keep lovers' hearts united, friends bonded and siblings loved. For you Skype were one of the most benevolent software of our times.

I hope..I so hope

Critique-aly yours

If there is no dearth of something ever in life, it is critique. There will always be critics waiting to gobble up your best effort and spit out such powerful words of contempt, you will feel ashamed you even tried.

The point however is whether you should give into critics. One way of looking at it is to take it as positive feedback and try to inculcate what the so called gurus point out to you. Ooh ya, take the feedback positively and  change your style. For what and for whom? Why should I change my style or anything just because some people feel so.

Building Life’s data marts:

In continuation to my earlier post on A data warehouse called Life, let’s try to build small data marts for life’s departments.

A data mart by its ideal definition is a subset of the data warehouse which is oriented for specific business lines or teams. What this means is that while the data warehouse would be storing data for the entire enterprise, a data mart would have data relevant only to specific businesses within the organization. A marketing team would have no use of HR data and vice versa. Likewise for our architecture for the data warehouse called Life.

A data warehouse called life

A data warehouse, simply put is a vast storage of all relevant data available within an enterprise. And why a storage place for data is the next question that probably pops up. Its because data invariably brings out trends. A technical analyst scans huge amounts of data to find a pattern in stock movements. A marketing professional needs data to understand customers' interest in a product. Data is imperative to any business. And hence the next step to a data warehouse is Business Intelligence.

The dog gets his due

In persuasion to my last discussion about how women can very magically turn men into dogs, I realized that they can again turn them back into humans, emotions et all. Men and emotions? you ask but yes. Ask a man who has been ditched and you will realize how full of emotions men are.

And so did our man. Who had recently been transformed into a dog by his loyalty to a particular lady. When he finally decided to express his feelings for her, he was expectedly turned down. But the dog in him won. And though visibly hurt he still managed to play doggie for another day.

Finding peace

How often do I hear,"all I need is peace". Its everywhere. The dialogue seems to have embedded itself on everyone's tongue. Everybody is cribbing about the lack of peace. And at the same time, they are all running away from it. Everytime I hear someone cribbing, I ask them to define peace.

Of women and dogs

Its wonderful to see how a woman can have as many dogs as she pleases. There is no dearth of men always wanting to be wrapped around the little finger of a pretty lady. As long as the lady knows how to play. All she has to do is throw a ball and the dog will be only too eager to fetch it for her.

One such recent example has been that of a colleague completely enamored by a fresh joinee. He will wait for her for lunch, he will have a late breakfast if she is late for office and even wait for her outside the women's rest room. Once the star performer in the project, he is now the laughing matter of the entire team. His performance is below par and he has gone from being a 'like' to a 'dislike' among the team. And why wouldn't it be. All he has time for is his 'good friend'.

I am Hitman once again

Its been a rather frustrating week and as always I look forward to playing computer games to keep my mind more engrossed. And this time it has to be Hitman 2:Silent assasin.

The game looks nice and I have finished playing the first level. Though I am not really 'silent', I am not much of a 'mass murderer' either. Which is not bad....is it?

Office was as usual. Killed myself at work and slogged to forget, the pain that I feel in real life. I realised that work is a better sedative than alcohol. Not only does it keep you engaged..it tires you to hell...making you sleep sound.

Well folks...thats the update for today...will keep you posted..