The almost perfect weekend

I happen to change the definition of perfect quite often. It being a Saturday I enjoyed getting up late and being served "bed tea" !!!! Last nights' mammoth headache had vanished.. thankfully! For once I told myself... don't be stupid... nobody wrote to you over the past two days... so don't even bother checking your emails... ha!". And so... the next task (and I always have some of em) was to think how many bills are still to be payed. What time does the electricity office close? Which ATM drop box would take the cheques for gas. How much time do I have? Breakfast? not now. Enquiry about the gym? Find out how far is the gym from home? How? Well!! travel there and then you'd know. what about the bills? Idiot! pay 'em on the way. Groceries!!! Buy them from a supermarket near the gym...cool... Ah! weekend! Only so few things to do!!!!!
Anyway... there is nothing like an afternoon nap after a good lunch and a good movie. So off I went to that lovely cozy bed and caught some zzzzzzzzzzz! S is out. Meeting an old friend for lunch. Somehow that lunch got extended to coffee and time pass and she isn't back yet!

I am talking about all this. While the back end processor is on... I don't mean anything other than a remote section of my brain... the one that really screws up my thoughts!

I have recently been advised that one should not speak straight up. Let me explain. Supposed someone at work asks you..what are you doing tomorrow. And you say nothing. and then they say... well then get prepared you are going and meeting so and so since they need our services. And now you can't protest that its a weekend and you don't want to work since you already told them that you aren't doing anything! So basically... you got yourself screwed..simply because you gave a straight answer. Now imagine that someone asks you again... "what are you doing tomorrow" and you say - "why do you ask". They say.."so and so client wants to meet someone from our company since they need our services" and you say.." well I could meet them on Monday". So what is the smart thing to do? Go with the second option. Always! particularly at work.

Anyway..anyway..anyway

Thats it for now. Oh .... and have you seen this flick called "A lot like love".... bit** of a good movie.... !

To Mr.B

I am not a movie buff. I am not crazy about film stars. But off late I am getting to know a legend in a new fashion. His name is a household name. As household a name as the Kissan ketchup bottle that has been around forever or at least 29 years. He writes a blog. Someone told me to check it out saying its a good read. And so I was this casual visitor to his new domain - his blog. I was unprepared for what happened next. How I felt was something like witnessing an intense intelligent process. It was like participating in someones personal transition. Being part of that persons awareness. It was not possible to stay a witness. The sheer honesty of purpose, the grace and dignity reflected through the words chosen caught me off guard. Beauty in things has that effect on me. I am blown to bits. He wrote in complete and unfailing honesty. Straight from his heart to the reader. He did not write for the effect he would have. He just wrote for himself.

I am also wondering about my need to declare that I am not a movie buff. I am just a sucker for beautiful minds, where ever I find them. Intelligence delivered.

Its important that I admit this. Way back when lady Diana died. I cried watching television. And I kept thinking, will this person that we consider a permanent fixture of our house, one day be gone. The answer brought shocked tears. Why. He will probably never read this piece. How can I love this man who reminds me of the ketchup bottle that I love too. (Mr.B, my apologies if you ever read this, I didn't mean to offend by using the kissan ketchup example!).

There are so many individuals out there. What makes one succeed and not the other. I think it applies in every field - conviction, principles, clarity in what our desires are and what we want to do about them, faith, good intentions, courage, integrity are the essential ingredients. And then of course, one has to have an eye on the possibilities that arise out of choices. We are responsible for what we do with the choices we have.

Choice - Wildflowers Vs Ulcers

Was it Gandhiji who wrote - My experiments with truth!

Well...what an apt title for my new book or short story or essay.... oh heck... just a small write up ...but like all good things its already taken...by good ol' GJi

I notice that whenever I am in a new situation, the urge to ape someone else whom I may have seen in a similar spot takes over. So hypothetically speaking- Say I am in conversation with someone in my team. And we have a disagreement on an issue, what are our options.... (1) I recall my first boss five years ago and step into her shoes and then I yell on top my lungs coz I am the boss and get my way (2) I behave like yet another boss and don't even bother about the disagreement and let it go ... coz I don't bother either way. (3) My ego kicks in and I behave exactly like a ***ch that female bosses are anyway made out to be and get my way.

And then there was the last option... (4) to be just me.

Its a scary decision but I was glad I took it. I realise that if you don't work with your team and just like playing boss coz you happen to be, your team will align themselves to that. But if you can shed that picture that bosses don't make mistakes, well... its a lot of fun. Everybody learns together. I also think that you don't really have to be the mystery boss who doesn't share the reason behind their decisions. Its a good thing to share the logic with your team, who knows they might after all come up with a better alternative. I am proud of myself, particularly when I realise that I can handle situational feelings ... anger, frustration, even extreme happiness. Patience is a good thing. Destructive ego - very bad. Keep it in check and you'd steer clear of half the miseries.

The people I work with teach me a lot about myself. They give feedback - verbal, non-verbal.

I recently attended a meeting with a very senior manager at a firm. Ten minutes into the meeting, I realised that I was sitting with all my muscles taut. And I asked myself, what about this person in front of you is making you tense. And suddenly, that changed. It was silly but his designation was scaring me and I could see the other people respond similarly. They were all super attentive and very tense too. I sat back in my chair and just treated him at a human level then on. Funny how designations can elevate people in other peoples minds. I could concentrate more on what I had to say and thattt! I couldn't afford to mess up!

At yet another place I was dealing with an old gentleman from the fauji background. Being from a similar background, I always feel at home with such people. They are the best people to be on a negotiating table with. They have patience. They mostly look at your face when they talk. They treat you like a lady. They usually aren't shrewd. So, here's another insight, for some reason of my own, since I feel comfortable with these people, I automatically am less guarded with them, which means that there is more trust which further means that I bring positive energy to the negotiating table. And the other side can always sense positivity and its usually contagious. So maybe I should practice trusting my opponent a little and see where it goes. hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Atlas needs to shrug

How many times have you done something that you had to muster all of your willpower to do simply because it had to be done. How many times would you have looked at people returning home and released all the weight on your shoulders on a sigh. Does it ever happen to you that you hug a loved one and choke up but know not the reason. Everyday I do at least one task that requires a huge effort and I find so many reasons to prod myself that sometimes I just do it .... without thinking. If this is what growing up was all supposed to be about, I am afraid I am not having too much fun. The party must be happening elsewhere for sure. I am exhausted today in every possible conceivable believable way!Atlas needs to shrug!

Trivia

Have you ever had that feeling that the moment you are in is actually huge but it doesn't appear that way.... you know the defining moment which resulted in your choosing a single direction instead of all the other options......somehow I can spot those moments but only in hindsight.... I can actually see it as one huge map with all these lines going everywhere and my path chosen by the choices I have made seems crystal clear complete with those little red flags saying you took this major turn here and that turn there. Its all so clear. Of course not all decisions were right but then, you either take a call and choose your own course or someone else will do it for you. I have to my credit all of the good decisions and also all of the not so good ones. I don't think there are any bad decisions, simply because we always always always take the option that best suits us at that moment and we do it with all the limited information we have and where we stand on that fine balance of the emotional logic verus simple reason.

........ and as usual I continue on my natural inclination to talk sense and sound reasonable. Although what I really need is this --- dfmbfbfkfkjnkfnfnlflmmfmfefkekd. Yes, thats right. I need to just talk crap. I spend probably thirteen hours a day for five days a week trying to make sense of what people are saying to me (sometimes it includes what they are not saying)and trying to explain logic in small things to them... the "my side of the story".

I wish to be les thn perfct fr a chnge.Henc I shal nw tlk abt thngs tht may nt mke sens bt I lke thm fr som resun. Fr instnce I lik da loooong ride hom in a crauded lokal wth stnding room onely. ppl r caind 2 u if u hav biin standing 4r 45 mins without stepping on dem. dey wud giv upp their ceet 4r da las 10 mins auf da ride. Oh an that pheels gud.

I lik da experiments I du in da kitchen an mor so when the results are good.

I like the 4th raund auf my jogg when evry masal in mi body is screaming for me to stop and I dont.

I like tu c a warm feeling flood mi wen i talk tu an ol frend aftur a long time and ve hav this long conversaion about evrything andar da sun.

Oh an I lauuu paani poori.........

The me that changes so much that I can't keep Track

I am unable to shake off this feeling of being a part of the larger picture where I see that not everything that happens around me is something that I have actively designed. This is not deliberate but I end up keeping quiet for a long time. That's the only time I spend with me. what I see and observe is getting stacked somewhere between the ears. I often don't feel like disturbing the view by becoming a participant. It fun to find patterns. A really long time ago a very old teacher had told me that those who can relate one thing to another would always know more. And I find myself walking that road. Always on the look out to find similar patterns in things around. From the human behaviour to human body to the universe. From god to fear and from love to indifference. And I get glimpses of mysteries that reveal themselves in strange ways and moments. Sometimes I feel really wise and then there are moments of sheer and absolute stupidity. I experience too much at times. Sometimes how I feel liberates me while on some days I am a chained slave to my self.

I find myself on a head on collision with my own head. I recently turned vegetarian. People who know me well have given varied responses. There were all shades - There was surprise, there was accusation that I am turning into a Buddhist and hence the vegetarianism, there was appreciation, there was excitement (How long they ask!).... and so on and so forth. To the relentless "whys", I said - just like that. To those who actually wait for an answer I said the truth - I had to defeat my mind which had announced to me that girl... you can never leave non veg while your mother continues to make biryani. Ha! I won..... its been four months already.

There is something else I learnt, when you feel an incredible temptation, its a great high when you let it flood your mind and then instruct it that desire will not turn to action. Hence, I can smell a great biryani, see it, appreciate my moms love that she puts into it, find myself gulping and swallowing saliva that can fill a bucket and yet not eat a morsel of it. That feeling is so good... to know that I am the boss and that's different from that ruthless thing between my ears.

There are moments of great sadness. When I see the cold places of the world. By that I don't mean the north pole or simla but rather that road divider where a very old woman stood crying for twenty minutes because nobody would stop and help her cross the road. I found myself a completely helpless observer. It was a wretched feeling and I can't get rid of it. I don't want to either.

I have been with myself. I realise that I am learning (painfully slowly) that beyond a certain point, nothing can affect you. I don't mean it in a negative way. Can an accusation hurt someone. Yes but it doesn't have to. If my self worth and confidence finds its source in me and not the other person then yes, nobody can hurt me, not even me. Also, what I am is not what I do. That links with dignity of labour. Do I have a right to feel superior or arrogant in front of a janitor. If I do, then probably I am the lowest of the kind that crawls on this planet.

Trust, I taught myself that when I trust another, I am able to experience that person better and they always sense it and respond in similar way. This lead to the belief that the world is not full of bad people. Its how I am that I am will see others.

When all this goes on in my head, a natural prerequisite is silence, not just in the room, but within. And so.......... I don't talk all that much.

I think I am just about ready for an out-of-body experience. Ha!