A Golden Icon

Once upon a time true love, devotion, faith, optimism, strength all in their respective superlatives got together for a meeting. The agenda of the meeting was 'how to increase our saleability' coz these days no one is interested in any of the above. They came up with many ideas, suggestions but nothing worked. Then at the end they decided to see God for help. After praying incessantly for years, God heard their prayers and blessed them with someone who would become a house for all the positivites on the face of earth. And hence "Bhaishri" was born. A person who is God's best signature, who loves God, life, people......Lives his life to the fullest and inspires everybody who meets him to do the same. He is the most impressive person I have met in my life. I really admire him for his courage, strength,his power to smile in the worst of situations and not only that, also find out the positive in that situation and accept it very gracefully as he always says "har kshan prabhu ka prasad hai, iska nir-aadar mat karo" He has this amazing ability to steal your heart away how much ever you try to save it from him with his talks, his smile, his inspiring words, his charming personality, pleasant aura and most of the times with his silence. Also he has this awe-inspiring ability of making each and every person feel very special irrespective of their age and varied backgrounds....He can talk business to a business man, computers to an engineer, medicines to a doctor, brands to an advertiser, games to a child, friends and ethics to a teenager, social work and life to an age old and God to a devotee!
I do not have the ability to write well and pour my heart out...but am sure even if I could do so, I wouldn't have been able to express my love and gratitude for this icon who becomes 'golden' today...31st August 2007 marks the golden birth anniversary of this self-illuminating, illusturous and the BEST human being on earth. So lets celebrate, rejoice and act towards becoming the one he would LOVE.

This is Hilarious!!!!!

My Celebrity Look-alikes

Generation - X

Just recently I was chatting with my girlfriend back home, remembering childhood days. Days filled with innocence, love, purity of heart and mind. This got us discussing the child of 21st century. We keep wondering as to what is wrong with the child today? Why do they act so maturely? Where is their innocence lost?? I got my nephew (5 years old) back home a v-tech superman laptop thinking he would jump over with joy and excitement receiving this wonderful gift. Surprisingly his response was very cold! No excitement, no fun, no amazement!! All that I heard from his was "thanks masi, but please next time get me a real one, not a toy"....Oh! my goodness...I was stunned. Where did he learn all this from?? Is it too much of TV or is it that we as parents give our child lesser time compared to how much our parents gave us? I don't remember possessing any play stations and nintendos as a child. All we knew was playing kho-kho, peekaboo, color-color so on and so forth. We used to watch the clock tick 6.00 pm so that we can play with our friends. Those days and memories are still so dear to us and have somewhere helped us become what and how we are today.
Unless we as parents do not snatch away those play stations and nintendos from our children and help them become more socially and physically active, will it be possible for them to grow, communicate and connect with others. Their future is indeed in our hands!
Poet Ernestine Northover expresses the same thought very beautifully in his poem "Childhood - The 21st Century" as follows:


Childhood - The 21st Century

How advanced they are, these children of the future,
Like small adults, within their tiny frames,
They grow up in a fast 'speed driven' culture,
Where 'learning pressures' change their kind of games,
Where is their childhood, in all this hurly burly,
Where is their pure untainted view of things,
Why do they have to grow so old, so early,
And lose the joy that only childhood brings.

Our childhood was filled with thoughts of joy and gladness,
We lived our lives, oblivious to the world
And all the hardships, wars, the grief and sadness,
We stood, waiting for our lives to be unfurled.
We had time to grow, and gain an understanding,
Of each new phase, each change along the way,
As we grew slowly, our senses all expanding,
So with clarity, we slowly changed our play.

We had a framework on which to build and flourish,
Slow and steady, this was no rushed affair,
Taking each step, then step by step to nourish,
Our childhood, so finally adulthood we would share.
What will become, of these 'New Century' learners,
I doubt if they, a dreamy childhood see,
Will they then tell to all those bright discerners
Of their own, how they remembered their childhood to be.

Let me end with this wonderful message:
Dance as though no one is watching you, sing as though no one can hear you, Love as though you've never been hurt, and live as though heaven is on earth!

My First FLYING Experience!

"Jumping is fun! Skydiving is not just falling; it is flying—the closest we have been able to come to free, unencumbered, non-mechanical individual flight," says Mike Turoff in the book The Skydiver's Handbook.

I totally agree with him because skydiving provides the maximum liberty that one can ever experience. In this post, I'd like to describe to you my first jump in order to show you how much fun skydiving is.
First of all, I learned about skydiving from my dear friends who have sky dived recently. Their video was mesmerising! When I told G about it, he also expressed interest and next I knew was we were on our way to our first FREE FALL Adventure ;)

After reaching an hour late than the reserved time, we ended up waiting for more five long hours. We were shown a DVD warning us what we were about to experience and were asked to sign our lives out (waivers) stating the clauses of death warning and "no sue" deeds. Man! that was tough. When our name was called, we went in for training on how to fly. Then came the gear-up part! We put on our diving overalls, altimeters which are used to watch the altitude during the skydive,and goggles. Instructors put over their parachutes. Next step was to board the airplane which would take us 13000 feet high!! It was a big airplane with capacity of about 20 people. I was sitting right between my instructor and my camera woman. They were all asking me if I was feeling worried or scared. I wasn't. At that point, not at all. G was very excited and had cheered me up before even entering the airplane. My camera woman was sweet enough to talk to me continuously so that I feel comfortable. She would encourage me to watch the altimeter myself and say when was I ready to fly. My whole attention was on G who was all charged up and excited. He was well aware what he was going to experience in a few minutes would be the most memorable moments of his whole life. Our only concern was that we were flying at 7.00 pm in the evening and it had started getting darker and darker. So the videos and pictures would not be that great and clear. And that's exactly what happened. But we couldnt afford flying for the first time and possessing no digital memory of the same.

Finally, all the altimeters were saying thirteen thousand feet. The instructors opened the door. I felt the cold air touching me and encouraging me to come in its arms. I gathered courage and as soon as I started nearing the door, I realised G was ahead of me and it was his chance first to dive. In no time he flew off with his instructor and disappeared in the clouds in no time. Now, that's what psyched me off. I could have seen anyone else but him dive.....I can't express how nerve-wracking that sight was!!!
However, it was my chance now. I neared the door, took my positon as directed by my instructor and next I knew was, I' am flying...like a bird, freeeeee!! Those were the most interesting and enjoyable seconds that I have ever experienced. After a while, after about the first ten seconds, I could see my camera woman filming my free fall.There was no longer any sense of falling and speed. It was mostly like floating in the air and hearing the wind deep in your ears. My instructors were holding on me in case of any emergencies, but luckily there were none. :) I thoroughly enjoyed those fifty seconds of my free fall and they are indeed the most memorable moments in my life. After dropping down to about 5000 feet, my instructor unlocked the parachute with a warning which I was too busy flying to understand. The parachute experience was also very good but slow. Sudden fall in speed decreased my interest in flying with a parachute. After about 5-7 minutes of parachuting, we landed on the ground safely.
Both me and G had an amazing experience and are looking forward for an opportunity to sky dive again. The videos and pictures of this beautiful experience are one of our most valued possessions now. It always wonderful to know, see and believe that we can fly!!

I now know how Hanumanji feels! :-)

I would like to give one more personal message: Skydiving is a must-do activity, and everyone must try it at least once in his or her life. I guarantee you that it will be an unforgettable experience for you, too!

Happy Friendship Day!

"Friend"...wow...this word itself is so soothing to both the ears and the heart. :) I personally believe that if you are lucky you make somebody your friend, but if you are the luckiest, someone befriends you coz your friend is someone who knows everything about you, and still likes you. Now that's not easy, isnt it?? Its really difficult to know the physical,cultural,characterial limitations of somebody and still accept them and love them for what they are...I am the luckiest to have friends like you who accepted me for what I was and help me become what I am capable of becoming.

Herez something interesting for all of you :

Friendship Recipe
1 Cup of Friendly Words
2 Heaping Cups of Understanding
4 Heaping Tsp. of Time and Patience
A Pinch of Warm Personality
A Dash of Humor

Measure Words Carefully.
Add Heaping Cup Of Understanding.
Use Generous Amounts Of Time And Patience.
Cook On The Front Burner
But Keep Temperature Low: Do Not Boil.
Add Generous Dash Of Humor
And A Pinch Of Warm Personality.
Season To Taste With Spice Of Life.
Serve In Individual Molds.

'The only way to have a friend is to be one'
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

A Relationship with Self

Last night when I sat for my regular meditation suddenly a thought entered my mind. What is a relationship? How are we connected to one another? Are we together for some purpose? Surely there has to be some reason why God made us all meet each other and get closer. Why those ‘particular’ parents, friends, colleagues, superiors so on and so forth… We are all destined to fulfill our duties and play our roles well agreed, but hey! Do we know who we are? Are we the same when we are with our parents at home watching TV as compared to when with friends at a party or a college canteen? Do we behave in a similar manner with our youngest sibling as compared to that with an elder? If we dive more into this thought we come across a fact, we are different people at different times! We play multiple roles and therefore have multiple personalities.

Day before yesterday one of my coworker came in to collect some documents from me. We were sitting on the couch and discussing something till my younger sister came in with her friends. She and her friends wanted to watch some TV show and asked us to leave the room. Having politely told her to give us 5 more minutes she refused and we ended up in a tiff. I ended that conversation with my sister somehow; swearing will never see her again. Got back with my coworker who keeps on praising me incessantly for some strange reason and forgot if something had happened till the time my sister came in again and grumbled, “You can talk nicely with her but never with me. You are so bad”. This struck me hard. Just a second before my coworker was praising me and the very next moment my own sister comes in and complains. You see this difference? Being the same me, two different people had two different opinions about me. I am sure this happens with one and all. Is it the situation that is to be blamed or our mind-set, our mood or our perception?

There are two things: what am I really and what others think I am?
Am I “good” as my coworker thinks or am I “bad” as my sister believes? Am I “nervous” as that guy believes or am I “friendly” and “extrovert” as my friend sees me? Or am I beyond all this perceptions? Well this is life! The search of the real “I”

Is work worth it???

Last night I attended a reunion party where I learnt a ‘growing trend’ that’s making news all over the place; Sex at work! With increasing job avenues also increases the need for safety and protection of the working population. Studying further one finds many reasons for such a behavior like easy way to succeed and climb up the ladder, part of the job, financial instability, to get a breakthrough, weakening of the family structure, changing social and family scenario, compulsion, fun, and sometimes free will sadly. Also changing public attitudes towards sex and morality, growth of sex tourism, the entertainment industry, pornography in print, electronic and cyber media are some of the important factors which aggravate the growth of such disgraceful activities. The percentage of such filth is increasing and getting more serious in nature by every new day.

Forcing someone to get involved physically is not only unethical but also illegal harming that person physically, emotionally and psychologically. Sexual exploitation is undoubtedly one of the most reprehensible and heinous crimes perpetrated against humanity, but the pace at which world is today is it really so deadly? We cannot clap single handedly. Nowadays both men and women are willingly participating in such acts. Most women use their charms to get things easy at the work place thereby digging their own grave unknowingly. Because of a variety of reasons including non-reporting and secrecy there is no clear estimate about the magnitude of the problem yet. By all account in recent years the problem has only worsened.

Is this the kind of society we are looking forward at? Aren’t we here to make world a better and a safer place to live in where all are human-like and not animal –like? It’s highly disturbing and unnerving to learn the fact that despite of hours of hard work and years of our life spent in earning those pay checks we keep our lives and self respect at stake so easily! I always thought we work in groups to only make things easier and achieve more targets through collective sincere efforts. Sadly now gone are the days when working together meant good ‘money’ business! Nowadays it’s increasingly some ‘other’ business. Can we not shun our animal instincts and behave like human that we are, for once? If this is our present we can all imagine how terrifying will be our child’s future. Everyone is behind a mask of an animal that hungers for sex. Only exalting our spirits and getting in terms with the facts in life is going to save us truly. People who have undergone such a trauma in life should voice their experiences without any social stigma and we all should collectively empathize with the victim and get the sinner punished. By doing this not only will we share the pain of the victim but will also warn other wannabe sinners to mind their attitudes. Building self-confidence, motivation to be vocal and expressive, brave and daring and installing moral values like self-respect, truth, honesty etc. can act as great preventive measures and thereby assuring no willing participation in such a crime. Moreover people armed with strong family support and trust seems to indulge less in such shameful activities. Also educating the working population, the evils of such obnoxious behavior is imperative. It is extremely important that in our busy schedule we find sometime for ourselves and indulge into glorifying practices like yoga, meditation and so on to reduce our stress and excitement levels and help us gain control over our body and mind. Its high time now for us to be capable to gauge the sinister aura that haunts our surrounding, exerting a corrupt and baleful influence. Also parents and employers should take serious notice of this issue and suggest preventive measures to avoid the situation tactfully and with courage (ie.If they themselves aren’t involved in any such offence).

If the victims raise their voices, the sinners understand the ill effects of their shameful acts and if the society empathizes and rises to help one another rather than blowing things out of proportion can one hope a safer future for themselves as well as their children. “Prevention is better than cure” goes the popular adage, but how much of it is really practiced, is a question unanswered.

Advertising - 'IT'

Is Advertising only related to 'product' life cycles?? do these products necessarily have to be targeted to the consumer markets??? No, I don't think so. Just a couple of years ago, I was full time into advertising brands like MTNL, Maruti Suzuki, SBI and so on and I enjoyed doing that thoroughly. But now, I am no more a "Brand Manager" in an advertising firm, no more work with an advertising agency....does this imply that I am not into advertising any more?? All my love for advertising, whatever little knowledge I had about it, is all waste??? No! No!!
I now manage an IT recruitment company. I market engineers rather than products. Make their career cycles rather than product life cycles....create a unique identity for them as I would for any product that comes across my desk. I make them capable of facing the interviews, expressing themselves and their skills at their very best and help them be more confident about themselves. I make them saleable to the employer who in this case happens to be my target audience. I too study the whole market scenario, do my research, SWOT analysis, formulate a marketing strategy and so on to present my product "an engineer" to the market and ensure its promised performance and productivity. It gives me immense pleasure and satisfaction when my 'brand' is a HIT in the market and sells like hot-cakes. I somewhere feel... Yes! the advertiser within me is still alive...I can still sell, create a brand!
Am I wrong?? Am I just trying to make the little advertiser within me feel good, feel alive?? or is it that I have really not lost touch and just that my product and target audience has changed?

will appreciate your feedback.. :)