The Best Years of my Life

My good friend and CEO came by my cube last Friday to wish me in advance and ask me how I felt, now that I was about to cross the quarter century milestone. I looked and him and smiled. My whole life so far zipped past me.

I felt like I was leaving behind the best years of my life. A part life which I had never taken so seriously, but still remains the best remembered in my life of all the other parts. I wish I could relive some of them again someday. I have changed a lot some would say, but friends really close to me tell I haven't changed a bit. I have picked up many good habits, and maybe a few bad ones too along the way. I have had many happy moments which would always remain imprinted in my mind forever. First time I was recognized in front of everyone at school, first time I lived on my own away from my parents, my first crush, first time I was on a stage, my first.. no OUR first hugely successful science project, first time I stayed in a hostel, my first infatuation, my last days at school, the going away parties, first time slogging for over 14 hours a day, first time I felt free after junior college, my days in undergrad, the practicals and the viva's, days spent at the canteen or at movie theaters away from classes, the day I got my student visa, the day I landed here in US, when I got my first part time job, the day I got my first paycheck, the summer holidays, the projects and the impossible people we had to deal with at school, my first football game, the day I got a job offer, the day I left school, my graduation, my first big paycheck, the day I bought my car, the weekends and the parties, the long drives and the adventures. Yes I will remember them all.


The journey has been long and sometimes tiring, although I have enjoyed most of it, just as I enjoy my long drives. I did pick up a lot of friends on the way, some of who will remain with me forever, while others might not. Some of them rode on along with me for a while which seemed but like the blink of an eye. I wish some of them to have stayed longer, but their destination had come and they had to go.
Well anyways, I told my CEO that I felt like I was getting old, and he started laughing. He said I have a long life ahead. Heck he's close to 50 and still thinks that he has a long way to go. He said it doesn't matter how old you are, what matters is the quality of life you have lived, with happiness and joy, without regrets, remembering the good old times and always looking forward. I do have some regrets, but otherwise I have lived a happy life so far. Life is long, and it just keeps going on and on. Although I feel like I am leaving behind the best years of my life, the truth is, to quote one of my friends "It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but it's also true that we don't know what we've been missing until it arrives".

-- Life is a journey, not a destination, happiness lies along the way, and not at the end of the road, for then, the journey is over and 'tis too late.

For Mumbai

This is in Memory of those who lost their lives in Mumbai between 26'th November 2008 and 28'th November 2008.

Childhood ...

No..no .. You be the mommy and I'll be the baby ... You have to feed me ...
No ... I want to play princess, not mommy ...
OK, lets go and play something else then.
Shall we play hide and seek, theres so much place back there. There will be so many hiding places.
No lets play house house.
But we play that all the time...

You guys must be wondering "what the heck am I reading here" ... Well actually these were the exact words spoken by a bunch of lovely kids at the restaurant the other day when I went for dinner. There was lots more, but sadly, I can't remember any more. It must have been a party or something. Four families were occupying the four tables in the center of the restaurant, the parents occupied two tables while the kids were having the time of their life on the other two. They were all having dinner when I had first entered and written my name down for the maitre d to seat our group. By the time I was sitting at my table, the kids had finished and were running around playing all sorts of kids games. My best guess, they were all between 5-6 years of age.
Yes, I like kids. I love them. Its fun listening to them. They come up with all sorts of strange ideas for everything. They don't care for anything that doesn't concern them. Sometimes they don't even care if it's something that concerns them, 'coz what else are parents for. Enjoying a bindass life with no worries of yesterday, today or tomorrow or of anything for that matter. Aah... I wish I can go back in time.

The Glass Should Always be Half Full

Often times in life, when asked if one is optimistic or pessimistic, many people answer the question without knowing how they actually perceive life, pessimistically or optimistically. I'm an optimist and I consider it an integral part of being happy in life and achieving what you want. How can you be sure if you are one or the other? Let me give you a simple example.
A guy wants to learn driving. He has driven motor bikes before but never a car. When the instructor asks him to get inside the car and give him a demo of how good he is without any training, he becomes nervous. Thoughts start racing in his mind. He has never driven a car. He doesn't know how to use the gear shift. How hard should he press the breaks, is it very different than bikes. How hard should he turn the steering wheel. What if he hits something in the first run. What if the instructor gets a bad impression about him the first day itself.
Well, so you get it, right. The first feeling that one gets in such situations, says it all. Let us look at the other type. When asked to show a demo, he feels a sense of euphoria and great excitement. He thinks now is the chance to show the instructor that he's better and different than his other students, as he has experience riding his bike. He know when and how hard to use the breaks and accelerator from his experience. Both are machines and both run on similar mechanisms, so it should be easy and he could learn really fast. He could make a really good impression. Again his feelings say it all about his approach towards life.
This might seem very trivial. So let me give you another example. A girl and a boy have been good friends for some time. The girl is thinking that its time to take their friendship ahead to a new relationship. She thinks, she knows the guy so well, so why not. She knows what he likes and dislikes. She knows his taste in food, she knows his taste in music. She knows he's a book lover just like her, she knows that he respects her, trust her and believes in her. More importantly she knows what kind of a person he is and the way he looks at life, his ambitions, goals, how he treats other people, friends or not etc etc. So why should she not take the relationship forward.
But the guy looks at it completely differently. He knows a lot about her but theres so much more that he doesn't know too. He doesn't know anything about her family, he doesn't know if all these feelings that they have been having are just spur of the moment or something genuine. He doesn't know her way of living, as they have never lived together, they have just been good friends, hanging out a lot more with each other than with somebody else. Can he trust her, does she really believe in him, or were they just empty words that she spoke. Isn't it too early to be thinking about a relationship. Questions like these plaque his mind, and hes confused and not able to take a decision.
To the guy, I would tell him to learn to trust people, and never to think that the glass is half empty. Stop worrying about tomorrow and don't think too much about yesterday. Bask in the warmth of today.
To the girl, I would say its great that she thinks positively about life and a life partner, but she should never let the thought, that the glass is ONLY half full, slip from the back of her mind. I can give you more examples but I guess you get the gist of it.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. -- Mark Twain

Congratulations

Congratulations to Barack Obama on winning the 2008 Presidential Election.