Lost Opportunities

I was rummaging through the desk trying to find the nail clippers, but to no avail. I had chipped a finger nail and wanted to cut it off properly. I had spent past 15 minutes trying to find it, and finally decided to give up and yelled for my sister to come and find it for me. ‘It must be in the bathroom, where it usually is’, she said impatiently. But I had already gone through all the stuff there a few minutes ago, more than once.  So I yelled for her again and heard her complaining. She finally got up, came to the bathroom, opened the drawer and pointed it to me. It was right there in front of me all the time and I didn’t see it. “See I told you its right there. You should go and have your eyes checked”. 

That’s when it hit me. You know, there’s a lot of things that you want out of life. And life offers you immense opportunities to that extend but more often than not, we are just so busy with our other endeavors that we fail to take advantage of the opportunities presented to us. Later when we look back and look at all the lost opportunities, we try our best to get a hold on them, but to no avail. It usually is always too late by the time we realize what we have missed, and what might never be ours to take because we missed it, or rather ignored it, when it was presented to us.

Often times it so happens that, those opportunities that we ignored show up again. But there's always a catch. You either don’t need it or its not yours to take anymore. You had your chance and you lost it. That is the reason why I say that ‘People come into your life for a reason, and its very important that you figure out why, before its too late’. Never take anything for granted, look at everything as if you will never see it again. If you like something, hold onto it and never let go. Who knows, what path life will take you on and if you will ever have a second chance of experiencing the same things again.

Crossroad

Finally the crossroad that he had been waiting for came into sight, or at least he thought so. He just hoped that it wasn't another mirage like before. He couldn't control his anxiety and decided to quicken his pace. The straps of his heavy bag were already biting into his shoulder, but he continued, lest he miss it again. There was still that feeling on the back of his mind that kept stomping on his optimism, telling him that this was just another mirage and he should not get his hopes high. But nevertheless, hope was the only thing that had kept him sane and alive for so long and persuaded his optimism to rise every time it fell.
And then he saw it, there it was. Was that smoke what he saw. He couldn't believe his eyes. He had seen a lot of mirages but never smoke in them before. This was it. This was the real deal. He bagan to jog and the run. Yes there it was, the bus that would take him to the paradise city. He had finally arrived at the first crossroad in time for the bus to Paradise city.
There was a big puff of smoke, and then a bigger one followed. He bag to sprint. No. Not now. Not now when he was so close. The bus began to move, and he tried to pick up his pace. He gave everything he had to catch it. He ran and he ran. Sweat pouring down like rain. He was literally drenched. He could feel his feet cramping up but he didn't give in yet. It was just an arms reach away. He could catch it. He would still be able to get on board, and then he fell. His legs cramped and he got a stitch in his stomach. He tried to get up but fell down again, and again, and again. And then he saw the smoke disappearing in the distance.
He just lay there. He could see the moon behind the clouds in the east and the sun in the west. And he just lay there. He was falling down, down into a dark abyss. There seemed to be no end to it. He had a funny feeling in his stomach. The feeling that you get when the elevator of a skyscraper first starts its journey down. The feeling of weightlessness. He was falling down and now he was afraid. he opened his eyes and saw the stars again. He sat up, had a small meal, some water and the began walking towards the next crossroad. There was still hope left in him. The hope that he would be able to fulfill his dream some day. Yesterday, he wasn't even sure if it was possible. Today he almost missed it, no no, he almost caught it, almost fulfilled his dream. So that was some definite progress. He still had hope.
Minutes became hours, hours became days and days turned to weeks when finally the next crossroad came into his sight. The bus was waiting. The anxiety in him began to ebb again and he could feel the adrenaline rush. He took a few quick steps and began to jog. Should he run faster, will the bus wait for him long enough, should he sprint? He suddenly stopped and stood still looking at the bus, with all the questions still buzzing in his mind. And finally he decided. If it was meant for him to get on it, maybe it didn't matter if he ran or not. He would be able to get on it regardless. And; he just walked.

Of Love

I wrote this quiet a while back, but never really got around to posting it. I was going through my drafts and couldn't remember any more, what it was that kept me from posting it. So here it is.

I had an interesting conversation with one of my friends today.

Him : About how far should one go in the name of love.
Me : I'd say its a personal choice ... but why do you ask ...

Him : Just want to know if someone in this world has any definite answer to this
Me : Maybe just keep going on ... till you are sane
Him : Hahaha then your love would go far away from you
Me : If it still goes far away .. then maybe it was never really worth it

Later I wondered if one really had a choice in how far one wanted to go or can go. You see, love is not a bed of roses as it appears to a lot of us. The rose is just a camouflage to what actually lies under. When in love, one just keeps going on. The intent is to only keep going on till one is sane, but when in love, one never knows when that boundary of insanity is crossed. One never knows when to stop, or even if he knows, he can't. Even if he wants to he can't. Its a kind of a quagmire, from which, maybe, only time can rescue you.
I wonder why birds choose to stay in the same place when they can fly anywhere on earth. And then I ask myself the same question. I wonder what it is that has the power or will to pull one out of that quagmire. What it is that can make birds to never stop at the same place twice.

Rain

I woke up today morning to find the whole neighborhood drenched in rain. It had been incessantly raining since around 3 in the morning today. As I was whiling away my time by the window with a cup of coffee, the wish that I had since my childhood crossed my mind and put a smile on my face. You see ever since I was a kid, I have seen storms and floods and all sorts of natural calamities on TV. never in real life. So I always wished to be in a place which gets flooded bad. Pretty bad. I have lived parts of my life in some places which are very notorious for floods, they flood year after year without fail. No matter what. But guess what, during the time I was there, no floods.

Anyways, this evil wish of mine was gone from my mind when I went out in the evening and rediscovered my passion of driving in the rain. I love whizzing past slow traffic and spraying them all over with water. Driving in the zero visibility spray is like driving into the unknown :P. Well its pretty late at night and its still raining. Believe me or not, it hasn't stopped raining even for a single minute since morning. Yeah at times it was just a light drizzle, but even that didn't stop at all. So I hope it continues like this all through the night and by the time I wake up tomorrow, I hope the whole place gets flooded :P.

The Art of Parting

I finally found the article that I promised you I would find. Yes I'm talking about my tenth class English composition about the art of saying goodbyes. No, I didn't google it :), although that was the first thing I tried and it showed me some really weird results. I know few of you guys and gals, with whom I had the pleasure of sharing my last few memorable days at school, do follow my blog. I hope you will be happy to read this beautiful article, which was one of the few last amazing compositions given to us by Padmaja Ma'm, again. So here it goes,

Everyone wants to make a good first impression. But have you ever thought the importance of the last impression? A well delivered farewell can secure a friendship forever. A well chosen exit line can close a business deal.
In any walk of life, dealing with partings partings positively and optimistically is not just a matter of good form, it is the way to make the last impression as memorable as the first. There's an art to leave taking and it can be learned. Good byes should be imprints of individual personalities. If you are the strong silent type, you don't have to be flowery or sentimental. A firm handshake, a straight look in the eye, or a simple "I'll miss you" is enough. The essential thing is to make the moment an impression of yourself and your feelings.
Goodbyes mark important changes. A goodbye signals a change, and change is rarely easy... Sometimes it breaks our hearts. When we sever ties with people, places and things we love,a thread of our own being is cut.
Goodbyes needn't always be in words. When you are tongue tied, a simple embrace or kiss is more poignant than overripe words. Touch has always been the most magical means for sealing people together. They can be momentous. The most meaningful goodbye gift is imbued with some measure of yourself. They come from the heart.
The final goodbye, of course, is death. Often the one departing has no chance to big farewell (really ...! :).. I very vividly remember saying this in my head during that exam). Few of us can compose a farewell statement eloquently, but then, we don't have to. All we need to do is speak honestly and sincerely from our hearts. That's the real secret of Good Byes.

I don't know if my English teacher has written this on her own or taken it from somewhere else. All credits go to the original creator of this article. Any comments will be most appreciated. Here's a nice song to go with it.

Reality Check ...

When everything in your life is right on track, it's easy to believe that things happen for a reason; it's easy to have faith. But when things start to go wrong then it's very hard to hold on to that faith. It's hard not to wonder whose reasons these things happen for.
-- Allie Kyes from Taken

First Impressions ...

I guess you all know the importance of first impressions. One should always make a very good first impressions as it will take him/her a long way. But I have begun to doubt if it can be relied upon. I think (its my opinion, if you don't agree, then I don't care.), that the first impression should not be given so much of an importance. Why, you ask. Because, it is often misleading if not complete. People put on fake impressions just so they are able to achieve whatever it is that they are striving for.
In my opinion, its the last impression that should take the limelight. For example, when you leave a job, its very important that you leave the right way. My manager, Tony (The best and only manager I ever had) keeps telling me this over and over again. Not that he suspects that I may leave, but just so I know. Its very important that you never leave in the middle of a project that you are a part of (If you can help it that is). And even when you leave, its very important that you make sure that the person who's filling in your shoes, finds it really easy to do what ever you used to do. If you do otherwise, then no matter how good you were at work, people are going to bitch about you a lot for making their lives miserable.
Not only a job, but say even when you leave school and say good bye to your friends. You should make sure that you take their contacts and gives yours to them. You talk to them or not later, thats a completely different matter. What matters is that you let them know that you care about them enough to ask for their contact info and give them yours. Why contact info?? Well, thats what came to my mind right off the bat and I mentioned it. It can be anything to let them know that you valued their friendship. A memorable gift or may be a going away treat... yaaay... I am all up for that one....
What I want to emphasize is that, the memories of the last impression, live longer than the first impression. In some cases they are eternal. And the if the last impression that you left was not a good one, then even though the first impression might have been extraordinary, it does not matter any more. The last opinion that they have of you is tarnished and completely different now and it would remain that way till you take the effort to change it.
So my dear friends and readers, no matter which walk or aspect of life it is, always make that extra effort to learn the art of saying good bye the way it should be said and done. That reminds me of a very nice english composition we had when I was in 10'th standard "The art of saying good bye". Don't worry, I'll hunt it down for your benefit :).

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

The Four Agreements, By Don Miguel Ruiz ...

While browsing today I came across these interesting set of rules for a good and peaceful living. They sounded very simplistic and easy to follow, but are they?

1. Be Impeccable With Your Word - Speak with integrity. Say only what you mean. Avoid using the word to speak against yourself or to gossip about others. Use the power of your word in the direction of truth and love.
2. Don’t Take Anything Personally- Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won’t be the victim of needless suffering.
3. Don’t Make Assumptions- Find the courage to ask questions and to express what you really want. Communicate with others as clearly as you can to avoid misunderstandings, sadness, and drama. With just this one agreement, you can completely transform your life.
4. Always Do Your Best- Your best is going to change from moment to moment; it will be different when you are healthy as opposed to sick. Under any circumstance, simply do your best, and you will avoid self-judgment, self-abuse, and regret.

Can you follow any of these say, for a week.

Lessons learnt in life

I have come up with a few "lessons well learned" in my life so far. Its not a complete list but a good list nevertheless. Hope you find them interesting and useful too.

1. If everything is going very smooth, check everything again.

When everything around you seems impeccable and when you can see nothing in your path towards that small speck of light which is your door to success, check everything and make sure that the small speck of light you see is not actually a mirror reflecting the actual door to success, which is on a completely different path, strewn around with every hurdle you can ever think of. Life is never fair to anyone and as Calvin says, its never ever unfair in your favor (hope you got that).

2. You never get everything you ask for.

Oh yeah, this is so very true and I've had so much experience in it. If you wish for a few things to happen, the most insignificant of those would happen for sure not matter what, but your dearest wish that you wanted to be true will never happen no matter how much you yearn or however long you wait for it to happen. There may have been exceptions for others, but not for me. Yet.

3. Girls are hard to understand and are unpredictable.

Well I've had limited experience in this category, but whatever experience I've had will surely last me a lifetime.
[Didn't find a suitable picture for this...Any suggestions are welcome.]

4. Never lose you confidence.

Never ever in you entire life, not even for a minute, should you think that you are a loser. There are times in your life when you get lucky and accomplish something great, that even you thought you would never be able to do. Use such accomplishments in you favor by thinking that you got it right because you are good at what you do, not because you got lucky (sometimes that's what is actually true and you are being modest 'bout it). Build up your confidence. But its also very important to not be overconfident and put too much on your plate than you can eat.

5. Be optimistic.

Being optimistic almost aways goes hand in hand with being confident. But there is a slight difference. Being optimistic in the face of trouble doesn't actually mean that you should always think positive. In my opinion, it means that you should always be on the look out for those negative (pessimistic) effects too but be positive (optimistic) about them and think of solutions to solve problems. Being confident is believing in yourself that you can achieve those solutions.

6. Treasure your friends

There are a few situations in life when you feel lonely and helpless, when you are beyond the reach of any family or when although you are in reach of family, you can't ask them for any help. Only person that can come to your aid at such times is a friend. Never lose them, for they are not something which can be found if lost. Friends never ask for much, only a 'hi' or a 'hello' once in a while will ensure an everlasting friendship.

There are more but these are the ones that came to my mind right away. As a reader if you disagree with any, or if you want to add to the list, you are welcome to start a discussion.

For a Reason...!

Everything you do in life, you do it for a reason, for a goal that you have set for yourself. it's not been any different for me either. I went to school when I was a kid for a reason, to be aware of the society and life around me. I went to college after that for the same reason. I worked hard in college for another reason, to get the best job possible. I tried hard for a job for another reason, I wanted to be independent. But there was another reason, why I didn't take up the first job that came my way but instead chose the dependent life for a couple of more years and came to this so called land of opportunities.
But what happens to life if that reason dies? What if there is nothing to live upto for? There are a few reasons that I can give, like to support my parents in future, to be successful blah blah blah which are always there. But these are not reasons good enough to lead an exciting life. These are not the reasons, that would force you to accelerate through life or to live on the edge or to take risks. These are reasons that are good only if you want to cruise through life. And I believe that life without risks is no life worth living. I want to get back on to the fast lane again, but a good reason is the ticket that would get me there. And thats what I'm living for now, to find a good reason to get back the life as it was.

Oxymoronic Proverbs :-) ...!

Came across these while browsing and thought its worth sharing with everyone...Which do you think holds true ...

1. Look before you leap
   He who hesitates is lost
2. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again
   Don't beat your head against a brick wall
3. Absence makes the heart grow fonder
   Out of sight, out of mind
4. Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today
   Don't cross the bridge until you come to it
5. Two heads are better than one
   Paddle your own canoe
6. More haste less speed
   Time waits for no man
7. You're never too old to learn
   You can't teach an old dog new tricks
8. It's better to be safe than sorry
   Nothing ventured, nothing gained
9. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth
   Beware of Greeks bearing gifts
10. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you
    Nice guys finish last
11. Hitch your wagon to a star
    Don't bite off more than you can chew
12. Many hands make light work
    Too many cooks spoil the broth
13. Don't judge a book by its cover
    Clothes make the man
14. The squeaking wheel gets the grease
    Silence is golden
15. Birds of a feather flock together
    Opposites attract
16. The pen is mightier than the sword
    Actions speak louder than words
17. Laziness is our biggest enemy.
    Learn to love your enemy.

The Alchemist And I

This post has been lying as a draft in my docs for too long now. Although I've figured out to a certain extend as to why things had gone wrong, and think that some of the conclusions drawn have become obsolete by now, but I spent too much time to write this damn thought and so am going to post it anyways. But one thing I would like to tell everyone, When things decide to go wrong, there is nothing stopping them. Its what your destiny was meant to be, maybe for your own good too.

"The Alchemist", a book which you can read infinite number of times and still crave to read one more time. Well, so I read it once again today, my third time so far. This time I read it envisioning myself as the protagonist and associating various events in the book to those in my life and I began to wonder about my achievements. I had many dreams (interpret as goals) while I was growing up (When I say dreams, I don't mean the dreams I had between Age 1 and 13 :-) ), and I had always been the kind of person, who's very optimistic and likes to take his own decisions in life. And that has helped me a great deal to get to where I am today.
I had my share of luck, burdens, choice, failures, hardships, risks and successes in life. And so I asked myself, have all my dreams been fulfilled? I wondered for some time if that was ever possible and finally declared that it is an impossible thing to happen. Why, you ask? Any guesses? No? C'mon you can do better than that...well OK, I concluded that as life goes on, so do your dreams, I mean you have new dreams everyday (or every night) right (If not you should seriously think of getting some help). So there is no way that all your dreams can ever be fulfilled. So I rephrased that question and asked myself have all my dreams, that I had a few years ago been fulfilled? It took me a while to recollect what my dreams were a couple of years ago. And finally when I tried to answer this question, only one dream kept coming back to my mind which was once my dearest, but was never fulfilled.
I tried to figure out as to what went wrong there. Why did I fail that one time? And I realized that I had not always been that "optimistic" and "taking my own decision" kind of person in my life that I had envisioned to be. There have been certain episodes in my life when I was very negative, hesitant and very afraid of loss. I was so afraid that I never even tried to turn that dream into reality. I was happy the way things were and continued to live on. But "change" is inevitable in nature and so is it when it comes to our lives. Things changed so drastically in such short time that my dream hit a hard deadline that had been set for it a long time ago which I had but ignored. It was too late to make things right then and I had to give up. The only way it could still have become a reality is if I could somehow go back in time, which is all but impossible.
So I decided today, never again to be pessimistic, 'coz the one time I had been like that, I had to pay a heavy price for it, and I don't want to feel sad for something I could've avoided, ever again. And so to all those who are reading, I say this: Dream big, never hesitate, never be afraid unless its upon your life, take calculated risks and always be positive. Never think how things went wrong when you fucked up, but think what you gained when things went wrong. And so here I am today, ready to read "The Alchemist" yet once again.