Moment!

While watching the movie 'Hitch', this dialogue by Alex Hitches got my attention. It goes like this:
".. Life is not about the number of breathes you take… it’s about that moment which takes your breath away!”..

I wonder whether that moment repeats itself..! Sometimes.. i feel it happening!

On Time

Old habits die hard…true, but Bad habits surely have long life..!!

One such habit is arriving /coming late!! Yesterday i had this opportunity to attend a seminar, and to my surprise, the second speaker arrived first and the first one came after that! He apologized for that and went on give a splendid lecture!!

Why do people get late? Even though we put in order everything, yet manage to arrive late.
Unfortunately, i am one of those (many) people who just cannot manage to go anywhere on time. Of course, i’m not always late, and even if i am, it’s maximum 5 minutes. I know of few people who cannot come before half an hour past the scheduled time! It gets sometimes annoying for me also!!
But then, i happened to read it somewhere, that if we are late everywhere, right from the beginning, like to the school, college, meetings, date, then no matter how hard we try, we just cannot come on time!!
Is it so?? Okay, i’ll try to break this rule…i thought! I succeeded for sometime! And then i found out, that there is nobody to appreciate me coming on time!!

Uprising

Many a times it used to happen to me that after seeing a person, or even at the site of his snap or the mention of that person by anybody else, used to make me uncomfortable. And it was so surprising that whenever i wanted to get out of the thoughts of that person, some thing or the other always used to happen and that person came into the limelight! And this used to annoy me like anything!
I used to feel very bad for Me, because i had never hated any body upto this extent... and somewhere it used to make me think, am I going wrong somewhere?

But lately, because of certain events and eposides, instead of feeling the same, i feel pity for that person, because that person is the only one in my life whom i hate. I pity that person to have made it to my list and being the only one there...!

It has not been easy for me to come to this level, from hatred to pity. I had to go through a lot of thinking process, and finally came to the conclusion that i have not done anything wrong. In fact, i am wasting my precious time in thinking about such a person, who doesn't deserve to be in anybody's thoughts.

I am happy! And i am smiling.. :) Yet, i invested my time in writing this post! :))

Why did we cry?

There are so many emotions we exhibit while watching a movie. Not just at the first viewing, but every time we watch it.
And being a BIG BIG movie fan, i generally display almost all the feelings like being sad, some time sing along, laugh even to the most silly jokes (well, not exactly so silly, but jokes which can be imagined! Yes, the power of imagination is a great gift to mankind!! And i make use of it every now and then.. may be that is the reason why i enjoy the so – called PJs!)
.
But there was one thing which i’d never done before, crying while watching a movie. I used to think movies cannot make me cry, until i watched ‘Taare Zameen Par’…
It is an awesome movie, one which will always be in my top 5 movies’ list! Hats off to Amir Khan (who has made countless people cry, which is very difficult when it come to films. Making people laugh and cry are the two most difficult things which a movie maker has to do.)

And finally i also cried. I know the same must have happened to many people, almost everyone cried while watching this movie.
But when i try to think in retrospect, i’m just not able to settle on one particular reason why this must have happened.

Majority of the people have confessed that they cried, or at least felt very bad at the time of the song “Maa”. Reason is very evident. There are some more scenes apart from this which make you very sensitive, for example scenes like when the teacher makes the father realized his mistake and when he seer his son actually reading the poster by himself, or when the boy wins the award and hugs his teacher, or when the parents cannot believe that they’re looking at their son’s report card, or when the boy runs to the teacher and he catches him, or many other scenes which i am not considering.

If we notice, there is nothing very special about these scenes.. for instance, a child is bound to cry when he’s separated from his mother, or a father realizing how he’s been neglecting his child’s problem. But this is shown in many ways in our movies. Then why this time so many people are shedding their tears and on top of it, admitting in public that did so!

Just because of the intensity with which Shankar Mahadevan has sung the song? Or because there this funda of “all’s well that ends well”?

We experience similar things every time. We become sad when there is no one around, we cry with joy when something happens unexpectedly well to our loved ones.
Then why have we become so much obsessed with this move? Is it then, because of the simplicity with which it is shown, or something else?

Do Not Call!

Today i got a call from a financial company asking me to take a loan which they were supposedly offering at very lucrative rates.
I had read an article in newspaper about how people do not opt for “DO not call” option, and then get irritated afterwards. I was one of them, till this call came!

I got this call when i was exhausted by giving a full fledged lecture on correlation and it’s application in economics! So i was enjoying my coffee when this girl called. Otherwise if such kin of calls come, i thank the caller and hang up. But surprisingly this one lasted for 3 whole minutes..! it was like this…

The girl from that financial company: Good afternoon ma’am, am i talking to Mr. Vijay Deshpande?
(This annoyed me!)
Me: No, you’re not. And if you’re saying good afternoon ‘ma’am’, then it cannot be Mr. Vijay Deshpande!
Girl: Oh I’m so sorry ma’am, actually this number is registered with this name, that’s why I said so. I’m really sorry for that.
Me: Okay fine. Tell me.
Girl: Ma’am, if I have annoyed you, then I apologize again for the mistake!
Me: I said it’s okay. Come to the point.
Girl: Thank you ma’am. Actually I’m new in this company, and this is the first assignment given to me, that’s why I’m a bit nervous.
(I thought, “Okay girl, no problem. But that has got nothing to do with me. Are you by mistake considering me as a counselor or something??!?!”. But i didn’t say these things, instead….)
Me: Ok. Have you called to tell this?
Girl: On no, no ma’am. Actually I’m calling from **** Financial company. I wanted to brief you about this new personal loan which we’re floating in the market.
Me: Ok. Thank you, but i’m not interested.
Girl: Please ma’am, at least let me tell you about the loan. I’m sure after listening to the benefits which our company is offering, I’m sure you’ll want one.
Me: No please! In that case please don’t! I already have one loan, and i’m in no mood to take up another.
Girl: Oh, if you’re not in a good mood ma’am, I’ll call you sometime later.
(What?!??? is she crazy? Or have i said something like that??)
Me: Look, i think you do not understand. I am saying that i don’t’ need a loan as of now. And if i need any, i’ll surely let you know.
Girl: Oh that’ll be great ma’am! Do you want my number? So that whenever you want it, you can let me know.
(Now i started laughing!)
Me: Well, no, i don’t. But i’ll surely call your office and ask for you. But as of now, please i don’t need any loan.
Girl: Okay ma’am. But in that case, let me just tell you about the offer. So that you can save time later.
Me: Oh, is this offer for lifetime??
Girl: No, this is our special Christmas offer.
Me: In that case, when i need one, that time this offer will be changed.
(There was a pause for a moment. I thought she will give me some reason and will hang up. But again, i was surprised at the reply she gave!)
Girl: No ma’am, I’ll ask my manager to keep this offer especially for you!
(Oh how sweet! And how stupid!! Now i really thought i’ve wasted enough time on this call. So tried to be a l’il adamant.)
Me: That’ll be nice. But i think you’ll need to first check with him whether it’s possible. And i know it is not.
Girl: How do you know that??
Me: (Now really frustrated!) Because, anybody who’s eligible to take loan would know this. (But I should not expect you to understand!!) And because i teach this subject, so don’t even bother.
Girl: Oh okay ma’am. I think I’ll come to you someday to understand these things.
Me: Yeah sure. Bye!

And after this, i started to enquire about “Do not call” option!

Foodie!

Many people will laugh reading this(“kitna kam khati hai tu”, “isliye itni dubli hai”.. no, i am not at all ‘dubli..’:(..)…and when i say that i am a bon vivant, i mean i love eating different kinds of foods.. not in large quantities though!
There are a few people whom i know, say they like home made food, ‘Ghar ka khana’.. of course, everyone likes that! So do i! We don’t have to mention it all the time when we are asked, “What do you like to eat?”! Obviously, we cannot answer a maître d'hôtel when he asks ‘what would you like to have’ with this answer, ‘oh actually i like home made food, but as i’ve already come here, i’d settle for 'paneer bhurjee and a nan'!”
That is why i am keeping that catagory out of the purview of this post! :)

There are so many places we like to go to just because of the distinctive taste of the food which is served there, and not only because of the great ambience.
For example, i just love the ‘bajaj nagar -pani puri’..there is just no other place in nagpur where one could get even a similar one, leave alone better one. I’ve been eating at that point since i actually started to eat out by myself.. and the taste has always been the same! God knows what he puts into that ‘pani’ apart from pudina, hari chatni, chat masala, which makes it so appetizing! And this is one dish which can never be enjoyed in a plush restaurant! You have to stand near that ‘bhaiya’ , holding that bowl made of dried leaves, and control your tears, which are bound to come once you gulp that puri!

Similarly, 'rolls' is one such food item which is best enjoyed in an open eatery. And i believe be it a ‘paneer roll’ or a ‘cheese & spinach roll’ or a ‘veg roll’, served with extra ‘kanda’, is the menu for a perfect working day dinner, followed by a nice cup of tea or coffee.

Now coffee is one thing which i am not very educated about! Though i enjoy it a lot, i generally prefer it with something sweet, like a cookie or a piece of cake, if the coffee is hot. But talk about tea, and i can go on talking about it right from the flavors to the different methods to prepare it. but let us not go on to beverages! Or else, it’ll make me write about my new found love, red wine! :)) so let us not go into that domain!

Chinese food is one thing which i personally think should not be made at home. It has to be made by that ‘chang’ looking person, in that huge vessel, with all the fire coming out of it every time he puts something into it! But yes, there are many restaurants which are famous for this category of food. You can find a roadside Chinese ‘thela’ serving the best of hakka noodles, which can give a cut – throat competition to ‘China Town’ in pune!

Now there are certain things which have to be enjoyed in a restaurant, like a pizza in “Pizza Hut’, burger and fries in “McDonalds”, icecream ...well, icecream is one thing which really doesn’t need a brand name.. and when a vanilla ice-cream is served with chocolate sauce, then who cares whether it’s Quality walls or Top ‘n town! But yes, Softcell in DP is worth mentioning , specially it's 'Top Notch"! Such softies really make my heart melt!
Samosa at “Preity Corner” is arguably the best in town. Also, sizzlers is one thing which is coming up high in my list. Specially the ones made in spinach!

I have specifically added SOME of those items which i feel are meant to be enjoyed outside home. Because if we start talking about the things prepared at home, then i think the list will be endless. And as a gourmet, this list can never be exhaustive… just some of the favorites.. any more which anybody can think of??

I wish

I wish i could become a little girl for some time.. so that i could cry without any reason.. so that even if i cry, i wouldn’t have to tell the reason to anybody.. or even if i had to, i could give any stupid reason..

I wish i could just pour my heart out to anybody, knowing that he wouldn’t mind it...
I wish i could have no inhibition to tell my people how much i love them.. Where i wouldn’t have to give any reason to do so.. so that people could love me selflessly...

I wish i could meet anybody whenever i want.. Without any special reason…..but I also wish i were not alone on those special days.. on those special occasions..
I wish i could again choose not to make some people part of my life…to take back my days from them.. so that i could hate them no more…

I wish i could become a little girl again for some time.. so that i do not have any reason to write this post…