Bio-data instead of Resume :)

K came up to me and said "I committed a blunder yesterday" and here's the conversation that followed -

K - "And you are going to laugh about it"

I - "And what exactly did you do?"

K - "I have made mistakes before but nothing like this. And the worst part is I never realized it"

I - "But what exactly did you do?"

K - "Here's what happened. I had sent my resume to Infy through S. S called me yesterday and asked "Why did you mention your height and complexion in your resume?". I replied that I didn't. To this S said "But the HR was saying you have mentioned these facts". I was taken aback. I went and checked my sent mail and found that I had sent my bio-data instead of my resume."

I - "You mean you send the marriage bio-data?"

K - "Yes."

I laughing now - "You really did that?"

K - "Yes. And S didn't even check it before forwarding it. In fact she saw it after forwarding it".

I laughing uncontrollably now

K blushing "Stop laughing"

I laughing even more

K now getting angry "Stop it will you"

I - "I am imagining how the HR would have felt when she opened your resume oops bio-data"

K - "Stop it"

I - "And then she would be putting it up in the Infy matrimony portal if they have one"

K - ''Ab bas karega"

I continue laughing and soon K joined in :)

Life has a strange way of doing things

Life has a strange way of doing things. Not something you are hearing for the first time - is it? Well I am just stating the obvious which will be followed by some examples which you all would have seen at some point of time.

The days when you are very busy many of your friends will call you; you will have many visitors (welcome at all other times expect for this); your friends will come up with great plans(not at this moment though); even your family and relatives will give you a call; you will have plenty of ideas to blog; there will be interesting updates on facebook; etc, etc.

Then there are days when you have nothing to do no matter whom you dial everyone will be busy; you will run out of ideas for your blog; facebook won't interest you; and nor would anyone come up with something to do (leave alone something interesting); there will be no books/articles to read; etc, etc.

Sounds familiar? Doesn't it?

It even happens with books. When you don't have any book to read your friends will not have anything interesting to read and you won't get across to a bookstore and find something interesting. On the other hand when you actually have a book to read there will be few more comming up in the pipeline; in fact you would happen to be in a bookstore and find many books appealing.

This bit would be familiar with those who have a habit of reading. Others will have something similar to relate to.

Well this is how things happen. Didn't I tell you life has a strange way of working? And I guess you agreed :)

Tomato and Chilly

I have seen people who mix up with others very quickly; while there are others who take their time. It has got nothing to do with the nature or personality of the person but it is just one of the traits which could easily fall under either. And I have friends spanning the entire spectrum. Where do I fall? I will leave this for my friends to answer :).

Sometimes it feels great to find people get in a group in such a way that it doesn't seem that they are new. While sometimes it is very annoying to see someone trying to get involved in a new group. It all depends upon how the person - who is trying to mix up - is perceived by others plus the viewer's own nature. And it varies from time to time.

Thinking on these lines I remembered something told by my dad sometime back. Let me call it the 'Tomato & Chilly' theory. People can be put under two categories - tomato and chilly. If you know a bit of cooking you will agree that when a tomato is mixed in a dish (sabzi) while cooking the tomato blends in the flavor of that dish and adds to its taste. On the other hand if you add chilly it gives its own taste to the dish reducing the flavor of other ingredients. Its more like a tomato dissolves in a dish while a chilly tries to dominate the taste.

Similarly there are people who become part of the group getting involved with the group as a whole and adapts to the protocols of the group. On the other hand there are some who try to mold the group into their own ways. Sometimes people act one way sometimes the other.

So what are you - chilly or tomato?

Toy Story or The story of life

Went to see the movie Toy Story 3 with a friend. It was a 3D film and supposed to be a comedy; rather it was a comedy film. During the interval my friend said "Aren't we too old for this?" It looked as if he was getting bored but I was having fun and I replied "Well I am enjoying the movie. It is reminding me of my childhood days when I played with toys". Yes I played with toys when I was a kid. Most kids do I believe but there are a few exceptions and my friend was one of them. In the second half when the kid (now a grown up going to college) is going to college his mother asks him to separate all his stuff into 3 parts - trash, attic and college. When he starts cleaning he sees his favorite old toys which he hadn't played with for long but which he hadn't thrown away so far. At the same time the movie also shows the toy's perspective towards humans. The movie shows that toys love being played with and love their owners who take real good care of them. The toys dread being thrown away. As I was watching the movie there comes a time when the kid handovers his toys to another little girl who loves her toys. At that moment tears rolled from eyes. My friend asked me what's wrong I said "Nothing".

But why the tears? Was it because I loved my toys and haven't played with them for years now? Well its true that I still love them and still have them. But is the reason for the tears? I guess no. Maybe I was seeing a much bigger picture. Our life is similar to that of toys.

As we grow up we get involved in different things and as we move to next stage we dump the old ones. The things which were inseparable once are not required now. The games we played earlier are now games for the kids; we have grown up. The clothes change, the food changes, the style changes and so does the thoughts. Things get dumped just like toys. Even friends change. We change our jobs. We change our vehicles. The older ones are left behind; not needed anymore. There was a time when we used to force our parents to play with us. Then we grew up and spent time with friends. Then we grew up further and spent time with classmates. Now we spend time with colleagues. At each stage we take up new things and leave back the old ones. That's life I guess.

When your friends change some of your older friends are dumped. When your friend moves on you are dumped. When you switch job you dump your old firm while when your firm fires you you are dumped. When your friend marries their priorities change and so his time spent with you reduces. The more you grow up the less time you spend with your parents.

Does that mean life is all about dumping and being dumped? I guess so. And you fall into both sides from situation to situation. Were these the reasons for the tears? I don't think so. Maybe the tears were mix of all these and much more; maybe I got too much involved in the movie; maybe they were the results of the 3D glasses; maybe something went into my eyes. Was anything wrong? I guess nothing.

Never thought a comedy movie made specially for kids could resemble life so closely. Well I am going to take my toys out and find something to do with them. And you may go and watch the movie :)

Rock On - a few thoughts...

I was watching 'Rock On' for the nth time and still enjoyed it like I did the 1st time. But this time around the movie made me ponder over certain things. Everyone has a past - a life that they lived; some enjoyed it some didn't. People often want to go back to the old times especially the good old times - the times when they were happy, the times when they were surrounded by their loved ones, the times when there were no worries, the times when all they could do was enjoy. Again there are people who want to run away from their past; people who are glad that it is all over; people who had hard times and are now out of it.

While watching the movie when Sakshi delves into Adi's past I was asking myself "Why the hell does she need to do this?" (I mean they had everything they needed). But then Sakshi goes on to say that she wants him to be happy. It all seemed meaningless at that time for Adi as he was leading the life he had chosen and was pretty successful. But then when Adi actually meets his old friends from 'Magic' he seems so much at ease with himself and his friends and they all mix so well that it seemed nothing had ever happened between them. And they were all happy. And this made the whole effort taken by Sakshi worthwhile.

In their lives - barring a few - most people would want to go back to the good old times. Its something people always wanted to do and so it comes to them easily. The moment a football touches the feet, of someone who used to play football, the tricks come back automatically. So is the case with other sports like TT, carrom, badminton etc. How easy it is to go to a old friends home after a very long time and act as if u have always been there, ask aunty for a cup of tea, walk to the fridge and take out a bottle of water. Its so convenient that when three friends get together at someone's place the usual activity (that used to happen when they were in college) takes place without the need for asking. How the lyrics fall in place when one hears an old song which one hadn't heard for long but now one starts humming.

There are lot of such things which brings up the question - why do people move on when they want to hold on longer at the the place they are? It works in different ways. In the movie Adi became successful and so did KD but they let go their passion for music. But Adi never made peace with his past and was unhappy while KD was happy as he had made peace with the past. Similarly Joe and Rob continued their passion and both were not that successful but were happy that they could continue doing what they wanted. But apart from this Joe was overall unhappy while Rob was happy. So what is it that one should do? The answer would be a personal choice. Like in the movie all four of them made a choice and chose to live by their choice until fate brought them back together which made everyone happy. Well life is not a movie...

Being in the situation - An Encounter

Things look so different when you are actually in the situation. This may sound cliche but it is true. I am not saying this because I have been through something similar (I must admit that I have been in one situation recently) but because there are times when you just can't act the practical (read suggested) way. Its not that you don't want to do it; its just that you can't do it - can't here doesn't mean that you actually can't do it but it means you don't feel like doing it. (Quite confusing isn't it - but I believe you have understood :P)

Some scenarios could be leading a normal life after a break-up (this isn't the reason I am writing this blog ;)), returning to football field after having broken your leg while playing football, saying no to something a beautiful girl asks you to do when you wouldn't have done it for anyone else, getting up early for some workout, spending time learning something on a holiday, etc.
All of the above are some scenarios when you don't do what you should ideally do but give in to the situation which - if you ask me - is perfectly fine as long as you don't regret doing it later. The reason I say this is that there are times when people have to decide; and at these times they either chose to do something or not to do them. The situations and choices keep coming - many a times people don't even realize that they had an option to chose as they just go through the flow, which is fine I guess.

So what brings me here to write this blog? It happens to be an ENCOUNTER. Encounter not in the real meaning but an encounter here means meeting your prospective bride/groom :). The term is not coined by me but is unanimously used in my friend circle. And yes I happened to have an encounter about a month back.
Now I am not going to talk about the details of the encounter but I will talk about something else. A lot of my friends are going through this phase and I am helping them find their right partner. Guiding them hasn't been that difficult as I always thought it is not that difficult to judge if he/she is the right person. In fact I had planned the way mine would go if any happened. But when the time actually came all my plans were left wanting; not because they were not planned well but because when I was in that situation I was caught in a hurricane of thoughts. And the thoughts revolved around things that I hadn't deemed that important earlier but at that moment it all took top priority.
Being in the situation really made the things look different. I knew this but never thought it could be so different... and that too with me. But I guess I was wrong and this encounter made me realize this.

What is it with night?......and with Mornings?

I have observed this happen many a times but haven't been able to figure out why this happens. There's got to be some reason but I haven't been able to reason it out.

Why is it that at night your mind is full of different thoughts but in the morning almost all are gone? At night your mind goes through all the incidents of the day; even to days before today - in fact sometimes way back. You remember all the things you always wanted to do, the things you forgot to do and things you could have done better. Your mind starts making sense from un-attached events and tries to form a pattern; as if it was a movie. You feel as if everything was planned and you are just acting it out; which incidentally might be true.

So what all does the mind go through? There's nothing specific that the mind goes through but its a host of a hell lot of things depending upon your mood and how the day has gone.
For instance if you had a bad day at office then your mind goes through the entire sequence of events step by step. It analyzes all the events that had occurred, tries to find a pattern in it and also tries to find how differently things could have been done.
If you had a fight with a friend you again start going through the entire sequence and do an analysis of the entire thing. You tend to criticize yourself or your friend depending upon how your nature is. You also have a decision to make as to whether you should start talking to him or if you should wait for your friend to take the first step. By this time you have an entire list of pros & cons for both sides.

Also at night you are all geared up to formulate plans for the next days. You are all gung-ho to start something new or to start doing things you always wanted to do but never started doing; sometimes you realize your mistakes and make it a point to apologize to certain people; sometime you remember old friends and decide to catch up with them the next day; so on and so forth.
But come morning and everything you planned is gone. You had decided to wake up early and exercise but alas you wake up late. You had decided to call your friends but now you decide against it or postpone it. You had decided to jot down a plan for you but now you don't feel like doing that - in fact you can't even remember the things you had planned.

I wonder at times what is it that a night does to you - its somehow always better to speak to your friends/dear ones; its almost always much more fun to have night-out with friends than any other time; its easier for most people to study at night; its makes it better when you watch movies at night; and so on.
It seems that nights give you the desire or maybe the experience to do things right - it could be related to the end of a journey when you experience the things that went wrong and/or could have been done in a better way. And similarly a morning is like a start of the journey where you think of taking things as they come. Or maybe you feel its just the start and you will have plenty of time to correct things if they go wrong.