Valentine

The day was fourteenth, of February Two Thousand Nine
Attending the wedding I was, of a friend of mine
While celebrating the world was, the day of Valentine

Knowledge I had of that, going I was to follow suit
Companion of a lifetime, I was to find down that route
Knew I not though, how long will be the commute

Valentines had come and gone, they had all been the same
Matter they did not, such had been the mind’s frame
Change it was to, as they would now bear her name

Who she was, where she was, this I knew not
A picture of her in mind and there was her thought
See her when I did, my imagination she caught

Long are the conversations and the days are divine
Surreal is this life and every moment of it pristine
Now that I have her, every day is the day of Valentine

Dada!

(Before you jump to conclusions - this is NOT about Sourav Ganguly!)
He is 8 years older than me - almost a generation ahead. He is someone I have always looked up to, for everything in life. He is someone I have spent very little time with, but yet have learnt a lot from. He always has one or two wise things to say to me, but he also cares to seek and respects my opinions on matters important to him. And I am very happy for him as he turns 35 tomorrow - a milestone for him, a spur for me!

Dada stands for elder brother in Marathi (as it does in Bengali, of course), and it's a privilege to have one like my. He has worked hard for to reach where he is today, while I have always been pampered and had things easy. Never have I seen him complain about a difficulty or constraint. His success story is built upon the strong base of various challenges he has overcome, and it has just started flourishing. I am sure he is going to reach heights the entire family will be proud of!

I wish he achieves all he aspires for and more!!!
And I hope my surprise visit to him tomorrow turns out to be a memorable day. Amen!!!

I Wonder!

I wonder why this happens to me
That I trust people before I meet them
And then it is easy to see
That it does not happen to all of them
But there are those who have trusted me
In times I was doubting myself
That's certainly something that will be
The source of a higher faith

I wonder why this is happening now
When someone's entrusted me for this life
There's the feeling I know not how
That tells me this is the best part of life
I have now, a different perspective for things
The base of which is "compromise"
And in my mind, this thought now rings
That it's not at all a surprise!

I wonder what will happen in years to come
Some events will bring sorrow
And there will be joy brought by some
But there is something I know
Everything that life has in store for me
Over that I need not ponder
Together through it all, we sure shall be
About this I don't have to wonder!

The BIG Picture!

What's the best thing about being born an Indian? It is being a member of a big typical Indian family. And one realizes it the most when the family gets together to have fun, as ours did recently at a cousin's farm house in a scenic little village in Konkan. As I look at the entire family (including me!) smiling back from the photos, the 4-day vacation flashes back from the memory. It's going to be something to cherish till we get together again for another next year.

It can't be said that we cousins grew up together, with the age difference between the eldest and the youngest being 20 years. But we have been together through thick and thin, in good times and bad and when we are together the camaraderie shows up. You have to take efforts to maintain the family fabric as individual members get busy and geographical and logistical barriers get created. But when the end result is more than 30 smiling faces, the efforts feel little. It also feels nice when one sees the next generation share the same bonding, and you feel assured that the family legacy will continue.

And family is not all about enjoying time together. Yes, it feels wonderful to share joy and happines, but more importantly there will always one or more members you will tend to turn to when faced with a problem or a dilemma. The necessity of such a support system is also a factor that makes a family tick, and if you have one you can consider yourself to be very fortunate.

It's amazing how just 4 days with your loved ones can rejuvenate you for the routine of the year to follow. As I write this, the moments from those 4 days still linger on in my mind, and they will for a long time. And the mind will look forward to more such moments, whenever they are to come next!

Milestone!

18th March 2009. It was just another day at office, yet it was special. Becuase it marked a milestone in my career so far. On that Wednesday, I completed 5 years in my first job!

This milestone has come in probably difficult, but interesting times. The world economy is striving hard to recover from the "slump of this century", and it is going to be a very slow recovery. At the same time, at 27, life's reached a juncture where changes are likely to happen thick and fast! Considering all this, when I look back at these 5 years there is a sense of pride, of achievement, of gratitude. And then there is this feeling that I have not even scratched the surface of what life has in store for me, there is lot more I am going to achieve.

How have I done in these last five years, as a professional and more importantly, as a person? I think I have done quite well. I say that because I have made lots of mistakes in this tenure on both professional and personal fronts, but have not succumbed to them. Rather, I feel I have acknowledged each one of them and tried my best to build on things I have learnt through them. According to me, a person's success is directly proportional to the mistakes he has made and the failures he has overcome. This one from Michael Jordan perfectly sums up my definition of success: I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

Failure is deceptive. If you focus on the failure, it can make you feel that you are doomed. Instead if you focus on the lesson attached to the failure, it can prepare you to get through a bigger one. You've done well if you feel prepared for the failures to come.

They Say!

They say, you can't do things this way

And ask me to keep my methods away
Yes, they will keep me at bay, but to no avail

Because in the end, only I shall prevail

They say, we have been doing this for years

Every small job moves through bureaucratic tiers

All of them are busy earning their livelihood

But are they happy enough to make that sound good?

They say, life has to follow the established routine

Do not walk down the alleys, no one has seen

All of them have walked down the beaten path

But I will not follow, whatever be the aftermath

To the life I choose, they will want to object
And the things I propose, they will want to reject
But I will not make that the concern paramount
All I will strive for, is to make every thought count!

Baba!

He turned 65 today. Another year, another milestone! What has changed in the year? Practically nothing inside him, but quite a bit inside me - most of which has come from observing him .

He continues to fascinate me with the way he continues to accept our ideas, not necessarily agreeable to him. Even when he does not agree with an idea, he never rejects it outright. He thinks about it, registers any apprehensions mildly and gives a "go ahead" to execute it. This ensures that we think freely and yet not leave our touch with reality. It must be really difficult not to be stubborn about thoughts matured over a span of decades and further, to be ready to scrutinize and fine tune them. He manages to do so easily.

He becomes an important part of every person's life who comes close to him, and he does not deliberately strive to. it's just the way he works - in a meticulously ordered and disciplined manner - that makes one depend on him. Testimony to this is the fact that he handles a lot of stuff for us children, which we would otherwise be running from pillar to post to get done. That remains to be taken over from him, if possible, along with the discipline he handles the stuff with.

The most interesting thing which I think I have noted only in the last year is the way he reprimands someone. It just shows how much he loves people close to him and how much he hates the act of reprimanding them. It was quite a feat that I managed to evoke the act at least 3 - 4 times last year. I saw the pain he goes through, each time. It was probably more than that I felt by being at the receiving end. It was audible in the tone, visible in the expressions on his face.

I have to do much better this year - and in the years to follow - to avoid these instances.