just a snippet ....

pacifier: common sense is the most uncommon sense to be found around us
frutrated: and non-sense...the most common .....

curiousity-turned-into-sparkle

There's always a first time for eveything. and though the first time may not always be perfect,or the most memorable, its still always completely unforgettable.Whether its a small car, which you invariably want to upgrade , or a house that's too small, or too noisy or your stupid first crush on your seventh grade teacher...its special because it was the first. Because it was something new and it gives your eyes that curiousity-turned-into-sparkle of a wonder revealed for the first time, a fresh mystery unravelled. And I believe that life is just one day at a time, and no matter how much we grow up, it is the desire to feel and experience new , hitherto unexplored arenas that keep us looking forward to the next day. If at the end of each day, we have discovered felt or created something new, no matter how tiny, that the feeling of achievement brings a smile so genuine that it doesnt matter if that smile lasted a flip second. That's why children enjoy life more than anyone else, and as we grow older our frustration, stress and dissatisfacion levels increase because we forget to notice the wonders of life around us and get lost in the struggle for survival and race for acquisition....

So what do you do when you see a grown up adult, a teacher and a mentor you hold in high esteem, telling you that he had never seen a hailstorm till a few yearsback, and has never tasted hail till date???? ......you pick up the most perfect piece of hail you can find, wash it it the rain for a few moments and hold it out to him. And as he eats it, you click an everlasting mental picture of that childlike curiousity-turned-into-sparkle in his eyes, of a wonder revealed for the first time, a fresh mystery unravelled....

and create an everlasting memory of the first time you actually taught your mentor something new ;)

I need an a-pin

I thought infinite loops exist only as bugs in softwares. I sincerely hope I made some very stupid mistake, or else, this morning's incident is bound to have a lasting impact on my notion... ;)

Worried about not being able to check my credit card outstanding statement, I decided to generate an a-pin for my credit card. And so I called up the ICICI helpline...Here's how it went...


me: dial...
them: (its ringing)...please enter your 16-digit credit card number
me: xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx
them: please enter your 4 digit a-pin...
me:?????
them: or to generate a pin online, press 1
me: 1
them: please enter the verification code on the reverse of your card...
me: xxx
them: please wait while we connect to a phone-banking-officer, your wait time is approx 4 minutes
...after 4-5 minutes of listening to the safe banking instructions(which if I had practiced I wouldn't be calling thwem up...and now that I have called them up, its obcviously too late !! )....
them: goodafternoon how may I assist you?
me: I need to get an a-pin generated for my cr. card
them: can I have your cr card no. please?
me: (again??) xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx
them: can I have your Date-of-birth please?
me: dd-mmm-yyyy
them: can I have your Credit Card expiry date for verification purposes?
me: (pfff)...mmm-yyyy
them: thankyou ma'm!! I'll transfer your call to the appropriate menu, you can generate your a-pin directly...
me: (finallly!!!) thnx..
...back to the menu....
them: please enter your 16-digit creadit card no.
me: (iiiiiiiii!!!!) xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx
them: please enter the verification code on the reverse of your card...
me: xxx
them: please enter your 4 digit a-pin...
me: oh-God-is-this happening all over again!??!
them: or to generate a pin online, press 1
me: 1
them: please wait while we connect to a phone-banking-officer, , your wait time is approx 4 minutes..........


If you can figure out where I made that seemingly un-apparent stupidity and chose the wrong option, please let me know, else... I'll call the ICICI helpline again ... :P

u-turns...

Does life take u-turns?? I don't know, people do say though, that "Time comes a full circle" and "History repeats itself" ... so I guess it must. but lets not get into the rhetoric since I have also read and heard many a times,... it is the journey that matters more.Well nor do I know if it always matters more than the destination, specially when the destination is not death, but a movie show, or a wedding, where getting late may mean missing the actual event :P ....

But then what is a little sacrifice of a movie or a wedding functgion or a dinner party, to a lot of driving, losing the way and getting stuck in traffic... not to mention an occassional crash encounter with another equally lost driver, or a uniformed officer looking to make a quick buck ;) ....and most of all loads of joking, no-bars-laughing and some unfogettable memories and loads of u-turns.....


lost1:

1 car, 5 friends, an expected 2.5 hr drive, a friend's engagement party...
planned arrival time: 9:00 PM
actual leaving time: 10:00 PM
2 hrs down the road...car going at 80 km/hr

frnd1: allright, so now we're about the enter the state, take out the invitation card and tell me the address
frnds2-5: ??????????????????????????????
frnd2: i'd asked u guys to take a print out...u have it right??
frnd3: im the guest, you ppl are suppsed to organise the logistics
frnd1: somebody tell me if we have to take a left or a right from here, its the highway i cant stop
frnd4: take left
frnd5: i think u shud take a right...

20 minutes down the right...

frnd2: we're nowhere ...let me call them up, do u have his parents' no.?
chorus: NO!!
frnd2: fiance's parents?
chrous: NO!!
frnd2: his roommate's
chorus: NO!!
frnd2: ne1's no...???
frnd4: i have my PL's no...do u want it??...
frnd1: lets just take a u turn, and go back and take a left from there...
phone-a-friend: have u reached
frnd2: no, u connected to the net? check ur mails, dig the card out and tell us the address....

another 40 min down the left, armed -with-the-address...

strngr1: sir, go straight and take u -turn at the first cut, go back to flyover and take a left, its a 30min drive (we had taken a u-turn after 20 min)
another 10 min and a u-turn later
frnd4: im feeling sick, can we find a chemist first....
the-chemist: sir ur taking the longer route...take a u-turn, go straight...take a left from the round-about, go straight till the road ends in a T, and take a right, 10 min from there....

final arrival time: 1:30 AM
function status: engagement over, dinner almost over, guests have all left long ago, its just the family, and us!!!
Commments: some of the best times with my friends...

lost2:

4 cars, 12 people, headed for an office dinner party ...
expected arrival time: 9:00 PM
actual leaving time: 9:30 PM

driver1: who knows the way??
driver3: I do....just follow me
driver2: cool...

10 min later, the expressway.....

driver1: hey driver2, look, that car is trying to race me,
driver2: lets roll........
driver4: i'm in

another 8 minutes (or so) and the race which-never-happened later...

driver1: oh shit! where's driver3? we were supposed to follow her...
me: Let me call her up... its busy , and so is driver2...i think they're talking to each other..
driver1: oh there's driver2, ahead of us, lets go...

...10 min later...

driver1: where's driver2 going, right , no left, there's no left here...oh no there is! wait!! now what!?! why has everyone stopped??!!
driver2: (on a call)@driver3, we've taken the left, where are you?? what!oh ...we're one left early
driver1: lets take a u-turn
driver4: lets go back in reverse, it'll be fun...
another one like me: i know the way, this road joins that one, just take a right
driver1: allright...ev1 follow us...

...a right, a left, and the next traffic light....

driver1: we take a right from here right??
another one like me: yes
driver1: oh shit, no we should not have taken this right, this is not the one...let's take a u-turn...

....back at the traffic light...

driver4: now where to?
me: driver2 has reached the meeting point
driver1: i think we should've gone straight, so now we take a right
driver4: okie

...and the next signal,

driver1: there's nothing here, we shud've taken a left, let's take a u-turn...

....back at the same traffic light...

driver1: let's go straight

...straight and the next left turn....

driver1: bingo! there're the other cars.
driver3: plz just follow me now

...2 min & a left turn later...
driver1: oh shit! we're here!! its was this close!!??!!

final arrival time: 10:30 PM
dinner status: lets not even get there....
comments: i never knew I could laugh so much without my friends...

Looking forward to the next series of u-turns....after all life is a u-turn ;)

I write. Though the infrequency of my posts, and their intimidating length (:P) does indicate that I am not a very reader-friendly writer, but the fact still remains that I write. And the fact that I write must obviously imply that I believe in the power and beauty of words. Right?! Wrong!! I detest using words. I am not a very talkative person, atleast not with most of the people, most of the times. I prefer listening way more to talking. My role in most of the conversation is that of a listener, varying from intent to polite ... depending on the content of the conversation ofcourse ;) somehow listening is just so much better than talking. Though I am sure people around me don't agree with me, they are so fed up of not being able to extract
more than a "hmm" , and that too after much effort :P ....But seriously there's so much you can learn by listening to someone, not just about or from the content, but about the person as well. Their eyes, body-language, nature, specially if its a personal story. And besides, most people are quite comfortable talking about themselves, and quite fond of it rather...that its the easiest way to get into a relaxed, easy conversation.

So you come to know about a person, by listening to them. And you come to know a person by being with them, observing them in their most natural day-to-day activities, interactions with their families, friends, colleagues and strangers. But when do you know you really connect to somebody. At any level, a colleague, a friend , your parent, child, lover, spouse, anyone....when do you really connect with a person?? Have you ever realised that you can stay with someone all your life, talk your heart out to them each passing day, and yet feel that the other person does not understand you?! That some inexplicable day, you feel utterly alone simply coz u have ran out of words??? Its because you never tried the power of silence.

Have you ever that quote, "With your best friends, you can sit silently and walk off feeling you've had the best conversation ever"... its not just a quote. and its not limited to just your best friends. Mom's head massage, a relaxed quiet dinner all by urselves,a movie with your sibling, a drive across a drizzling path with lush greenery on both sides, a coffee with a friend as you both just look out the window, lost in ur own thoughts, holding the phone silently for a few moments followed by a simple goodnight....

The best moments in life, the best memories, more often than not, have nothing to do with words.Silence speaks louder than any number of eloquent speeches, and the people with whom we learn to share our silence are the ones we connect with most strongly and intimately.

The power of silence is far greater than any other mode of communication, words, perhaps topping that list....and yet, if silence speaks, then too much silence kills as well. So I guess its just about striking a balance between the two.

Yet, it remains my favorite mode of communication...though I know people who'd respond to this saying, "Your favorite mode of no-communication-at-all" :P .....