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When Destiny Sends Its Helpers

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Keep running. The right people find you on the way. At different stages of life, you’re confronted with different challenges. And each time you cross a hurdle, you feel that familiar sense of accomplishment. It’s tempting to attribute that success to your own skill, tenacity, and willpower — to pat yourself on the back and feel proud of how you handled it. But when you zoom out and look at the moments where you somehow managed to trump the odds, a quieter realization sets in: It’s never just you. There is always an unseen army that shows up at the right time. It was 2005. I had decided to pursue my Master’s in the US. I picked a few schools in the Midwest where the expenses were manageable, and that’s how the University of Missouri–Rolla entered the picture. But funding was still a massive question mark. I hadn’t secured any assistantship, and we didn’t have the means to pay out of pocket. We went from bank to bank, hoping for an education loan. Each manager aske...
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Bye Bye India!

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Right now, the most common topic of discussion for an average Indian would be the performance of the Indian cricket team at the Carribean world cup. An endless list of adjectives will easily ooze out on the slightest provocation. A country of close to a billion cannot find the right combination of eleven to succeed in the most passionate sport in the country. Truly disgusting! Where are we getting it wrong? Is the selection committee not able to find the right eleven to represent the country? We do not care about how we fare in the other sports, but when it comes to cricket, the common man is ready with his views. India has been knocked out of the first round, thanks to the ignonimy of losing to the minnows of world cricket Bangladesh, and to Sri Lanka, who have improved leaps and bounds in the last few years. The lack of pride was so evident in the way the Indians played on the field. There was no sense of passion or commitment to enforce their way to winning positions. One felt that ...
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Emotion(less)!

Last week, we had a discussion about the different facets of emotion in human beings. The movie field is a fascinating field just because it is such an important source of entertainment for the common man. Of course, it has its share of controversies and other big issues, but over a period of time, it has emerged as an important industry in terms of revenue. Movie business is really big money. Getting back on track about emotions and movies, where is the relation? We have our special actors and actresses who gladden our hearts during those two hours, and we are taken to an ethereal world, where imagination takes over everything in an atmosphere filled with pure gloss. This is when we felt how difficult it is for newcomers to cope up with this profession. Any actor has to display various emotions in those two hours, which actually would have taken months of filming involving different artists, and at the end of the day, he has to come out unscathed from the reel life experience. That is...
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Now, the trio :-(

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Introduction A couple of years back, four guys came together to live in a place called as Rolla. Everything was pre-decided in India as to who our roommates were going to be, and so it was no surprise that we stuck on together when we came here. We were perfect vegetarians, conservative and outgoing, having the right blend of modernity and orthodoxy. We knew from day one that we were perfectly made for each other (before jumping to conclusions, I meant "roommates" and nothing more!!). The four of us I remember the early days, when we used to sit back and start off a discussion that would seem as if it was going to end in the next few minutes. The discussion would meander endlessly, and as one of us swaggered lazily to look at the wall clock, he would let out a shriek "Oh!! Do you guys realize that we have been talking for the last three hours on a variety of topics?" We would then with great difficulty get up from our positions and worry about Buvva (food!!) for th...
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Am I going to stop?

I have this rather great(let not others answer this question) habit of humming tunes while listening to songs. It is no doubt a wonderful thing to be in a state of artful thinking. Being passionate about music doesn't mean you get the basic elements right to reproduce the same. But, there should be some coherence to the originality that would make others to listen to the so called hum. What happens if the standard deviation takes you to terrible limits? Last night, I was listening to some of my all time favourite songs of AR Rahman. Obviously, the music takes you to unimaginable heights that you are left wondering how in the world did he come up with those out of the world compositions. The mesmerizing thought just adds fuel to the fire, and almost sub-consciously, you begin to follow the lyrics without paying any heed to others around you. Venkatesh, a step away from my seating position, asked me to calm down and came up with a suggestion. Why don't you put on the head...
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Man..Man..What man!!!

Indians have this habit of translating the conventional thought of native tongue to the superfluous English language. Obviously, it does sound awkward at times, providing food for thought about the sentence formed. Somehow, many words have just found its way into the day to day sentences. Be it a North Indian or a South Indian, there are some typical words that get essayed in normal usage. It is not uncommon to find two Indians in a "man"ly conversation. A typical desi style talk would meander on these lines x: Hi! How are you man? y: I am good man. What about you? x: These days, I am busy man! Lot of work man!!! y: OK man! Catch you later!! Notice the gist of the conversation, an average of "one" man per sentence, and as the complexity of the sentence increases, the "man" increases proportionately. At a particular point, the conversation was too funny once my roommates and I realised the "manly" usage of the word. RL: Good man, I did this! ...
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In a daze...

As I look at the calendar and see the number of days that are attached so called special significance, I wonder where we are heading. Every day is more or less commercialized. Father's day, mother's day, friendship day, valentine's day, dog's day, cat's day, pet's day....and the list seems never ending. Half the time, I end up forgetting people's birthdays, and also wonder what the fuss is all about. As long as you like a person, you would end up doing good for the person. Why wait for a particular day if you have to express your love and affection? Open a website, and the message would prop up Express your love to your mother, buy some roses for your valentine, do this to your best friend...... I would never wait for Mother's day to remember my mother. I don't even know when Mother's day actually falls on. I get reminded about it from numerous television programs and thousands of web pop-ups that disturb my browsing peace. I wonder w...
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Thoughts

There are moments in life when everything around you comes to a standstill and the only thing that seems to be filling the void are your thoughts. Not everyone can give you company at every point in life, and there is always this strange feeling that you might be left stranded some day. The way life paces out itself is truly amazing. An unexplainable lowest ebb in your life creates a queasy and uncertain thought in your head, and according to me is certainly the most complicated aspect of life. You have no idea why you are going through certain things that you shouldn't be going through. There is nobody to look upto, since everything turns unexplainable. You just sit and wonder whether people around you would be able to comprehend the incomprehensible. Thoughts come streaming in when your mind is blanked out of everything. This according to me is the worst experienced feeling till now. There is always this tendency for an individual to go back in time and hope to set right ...
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