Book on AMAZON - Unravel Relationship Algorithms

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Not many INVEST in themselves. We are SOCIAL ANIMALS. Understanding how to build relationships in both society and at workplaces is a NEED. Many have written books on relationships.

Have you ever read a BOOK co-authored by a DAUGHTER, her HUSBAND and her FATHER? Have you ever read a book written  with over a combined "80 YEARS" of professional EXPERIENCE?

This book is about YOUR INVESTMENT needed to learn KEY ALGORITHMS in managing RELATIONSHIPS.

Do not miss reading. Read this book that is an AMAZON BEST SELLER.

Click Amazon and INVEST IN YOURSELF, because this book is a story by a FAMILY for YOUR good. For your FAMILY.

"Unravel RELATIONSHIP Algorithms" will make YOU think and YOU will feel right that YOU invested in YOURSELF. Look for what you want to be.

The only easy way up is the hardest dig down …

Dig your own grave .. We all live. Some survive. Some make a living. A few search and others research. Some live their passion. Professionals get paid for exclusive jobs like tea taster, chocolate engineer and so on. Some work as grave diggers and others as delivery personal. However a purpose driven life in most cases move ahead. Though the axiom “everything happens for a reason” may appear to be in contradiction with dream realization, I look at those who followed their dreams to live and find a pleasure to achieve their dreams. May be a dreamer can do a job of a Digital Death Manager. “Life-logging” will be a way of life, affecting how we record and remember what we do. Young, the scientist sees a role in future jobs who can make life-logged material, and make stories useful during lives to personally brand lives and also death. Today, it happens but with important people. We can imagine this is going to happen as a job who wants to shape what their legacy means. It’s about dreams that future holds for us. Some want to make their life craving for adventure. To achieve something that will make one feel to taste the sweetness of dealing with uncertainty. But we are in between “just enough” and “more” and that makes us stretched and torn apart. Where do our dreams end? Where are they? How do they vanish? Where are the dreams hiding away from us? Does of dreams die? As I was in Bengaluru recently I read a story of grave diggers, who do this job in a caste based corridor of profession. Shourie Raj born 42 years ago works digging graves in Kalpally cemetery. He has not seen beyond grave yards, through his life and deals mostly with dead bodies. This was his job for years. I remembered then my mother who passed away in Tarapur, a village those days close to atomic power station, a hundred odd kilometers from Mumbai. I was new there on my job and a volunteer group was called for support and they did almost all things including the ceremonies with the culture around that place. In my mother’s death my dreams got re-ignited. It was she who taught me to dream. The caste based professionals of Kalppally near Bengaluru had their own dreams. There were stumbling blocks and opposing currents like in realizing any dream. They got paid by those who accompanied the dead bodies of the deceased. To achieve any dream one needs to think and work hard. We need to work on the limitations and expand the horizon. Hurdles have to be crossed. When you feel like you are less than others probably you are right. But when someone thinks that one cannot rise from the difficulties by dreaming big, they are wrong.

“Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson. This is what was demonstrated by the grave diggers by dreaming. In February 2017, they protested by digging and staging their own funeral rites. They dug their own graves, at the same cemetery where they lived and lay down in them, and covered themselves with mud. Then authorities helped and identified 232 families as grave diggers. An employment contract was executed with minimum wages and a Rs. 4 lakh loan to renovate their homes. “This is not just about money. This is recognition of services our families rendered so long.” Anthony a grave digger says. Suresh, Secretary has more to state: The battle is only half won. This regressive caste tradition needs to be seen as a professional occupation like any other job” A dream is my dream like that of yours for you. "Embrace what you don't know, especially in the beginning, because what you don't know can become your greatest asset. It ensures that you will absolutely be doing things different from everybody else." --Sara Blakely That probably is the way to dig our own dreams.

Butterflies …

Texas Annual Exhibition is where my daughter Divya had a second look at the little wonder - butterflies. She gifted us with a frame of butterflies. I wondered about this lovely creature God gifted to nature. Butterflies have inhabited our planet for 130 million years.Lifespan of a butterfly depends on many things from two weeks to 30 days!Before a butterfly can flap its wings, it starts out as something completely different and transforms itself through four stages. Caterpillar after hatching from an egg has its first meal - the egg shell itself. Caterpillars molt several times and outgrow their exoskeleton. They lay hundreds of eggs but only a few survive. When a butterfly emerges from a chrysalis its wings are crumpled. It hangs with its wings down and pumps the wings with fluids to straighten them out - wait several hours for wings to harden and dry before flying away. How beautiful are they? They see ultraviolet colors, invisible to our eyes and can see flowers. They cannot hear, but feel vibration and have a sense of smell. They communicate with each other by color, chemicals and sound. Color patterns signal along with a chemical pheromone to attract opposite sex. Clicking sounds attract ants that in turn protect them. They use support systems and methods for survival. The 12,000 different species of butterflies play a silent part in pollinating the earth's plant population as part of food chain. Divya bought the gift from a Peruvian Store. Peru hosts 20% of world population of butterflies. These are farm raised with an idea of conservation and helps local people to earn a living. Butterflies are allowed to live their natural life cycle and allowed to die. These are dissected, preserved for years to please our eyes as well to learn in retrospect.

Lessons learnt:  Survival is an instinct that we need to practice on a continuous basis.  With a short life span butterflies does pollination. Will Smith quote - “Life isn't how many breaths you take, but it's the moments that take your breath away” – Do what is IMPOSSIBLE.  Growth is NOT easy. Work for it.  Help each other – Like butterflies and ants.  Use the resources God gifted us - to be different.  Learn till you live – no shelf life for knowledge. As human beings we need to appreciate our sensory capabilities and intellect. We can be butterflies.

https://amarnathpallath.wordpress.com/

imag-e-in: ശാരദ: "ശാരീ" - എന്നും ചിലർ എന്നെ വിളിക്കാറുണ്ട്. സംഗീതം ചുയക്കുന്ന സാന്ദ്രമായ ശബ്ദം പോലെ പതിയെ വിളിച്ചാൽ, "എന്തെ ?" എന്ന് വി...

ശാരദ

"ശാരീ" - എന്നും ചിലർ എന്നെ വിളിക്കാറുണ്ട്. സംഗീതം ചുയക്കുന്ന സാന്ദ്രമായ ശബ്ദം പോലെ പതിയെ വിളിച്ചാൽ, "എന്തെ ?" എന്ന് വിളി കേൾക്കാനും ഇഷ്ടമാണ്. എത്ര പേരുകൾ കൊണ്ടാ എത്ര പേർ എന്നെ വിളിച്ചിരിക്കുന്നത്? പക്ഷെ ഞാൻ ശാരദ രാജൻ. മോളെ, മുത്തെ, പൊന്നെ, പോടീ, വാടി, ചേച്ചി - ഇതിൽ എന്തിരിക്കുന്നു? മൂളും പിന്നെ മറക്കും. അംബലപറബുകളുടെ അടുത്തുള്ള, ശ്രീകോവിലിടെ മുന്നിൽ തകിലും കൊമ്പും കൊണ്ട് പുലർകാലത്ത് ദൈവീകമായ ശബ്ദങ്ങളും പ്രാർത്ഥനകളുടെ മാസ്മരികതയും ഒന്നിക്കുന്ന ഭക്തി നിർഭരമായ സമയങ്ങളിൽ കണ്ണടച്ച് നെറ്റിയിൽ കളഭം ചാർത്തി തോഴുതാറുള്ള നിർമാല്ല്യമായ ആ ചെറുപ്പ കാലം. അടച്ചിടാൻ ഇഷ്ടപ്പെടുന്ന ഓർമയുടെ ആ ചെപ്പുകൾ ഇപ്പോഴും ചിലപ്പോഴെല്ലാം തുറന്നു നോക്കും. ഇന്നും തൊഴുതാൻ കോവിൽ മുൻപിൽ നിൽക്കുമ്പോൾ നെറ്റിയിലെ കളഭം കളവിണ്ടെ ച്ഛായ അലിഞ്ഞു ചേർന്നതോ അല്ലയോ എന്ന സംശയം തോന്നാറുണ്ട്. ചിലപ്പോൾ തോന്നും - "ഭഗവാനേ ഭഗവതിയെ, എന്റെ മനസ്സിന്നുള്ളിലെ ക്ഷേത്രവും ശൂന്യമല്ലേ?". സ്കൂൾ കഴിഞ്ഞതും കല്യാണം നടന്നു. അതെന്തിനാ എന്നൊന്നും അറിയാൻ കൂടി ശ്രമിച്ചിട്ടില്ലാത്ത ഒരു പരിതസ്ഥിതി. കെട്ടി. കുട്ടികൾ രണ്ടായി. അവർ വലുതാവുന്ന സമയം. സ്വന്തം ഒന്നും ഇല്ല, എന്ന തോന്നൽ. ജീവിതം എന്ന ഒരു കഷ്ടം മാത്രം മുന്നിൽ. ഒന്നും ഒന്നും ഒന്നിനും കൊള്ളാത്ത കാലം. സങ്കടങ്ങൾ സഹതാപങ്ങൾ ഇല്ലായ്മകൾ ഇതെല്ലാം മാത്രം കൂട്ടിന്ന്. മക്കളുടെ വിശപ്പടക്കാനും സ്കൂൾ ഫീസ്‌ അടക്കാനും നനഞ്ഞതല്ലാത്ത കുപ്പായം ഇടാനും പാട്ടില്ലാതെ ആവുമ്പോൾ "അഭിമാനം" - അതൊരു അർത്ഥമില്ലാത്ത വാക്ക് മാത്രം ആവും. ശാരദ എന്ന ചെറിയ പെങ്കൊച്ചിണ്ടെ ഭാവനയിൽ ഉണ്ടായിരുന്ന നിറങ്ങൾ മെല്ലെ മെല്ലെ നിഴൽപാടുകൾ ആയി മാറി . കുലീനതയുടെയും ആഭിജാത്യതിണ്ടെയും കുടുംബബദ്രതയുടെയും മതിൽ കെട്ടുകൾ പതുക്കെ *ആരും അറിയാതെ നിലംപതിക്കാൻ തുടങ്ങി. തുമ്പി പോലെ തുള്ളി നടന്നകന്ന ആ കാലം അങ്ങകലെ എവിടെയോ മറഞ്ഞു. പരിവർത്തനം മനസ്സിലും മനസ്സിൽ നിന്നും ശരീരത്തിലേക്കും. മൂകമായി. ആരും അറിയാതെ. മൌനത്തിണ്ടേ കൂട്ട് പിടിച്ച്. ശാരദ മാറി. കാലം മാറ്റി. വിളക്കിണ്ടേ പര്യായമായ പേരുള്ള ചങ്ങാതിനി വെളിച്ചം അല്ല കാണിച്ചത് എന്ന് ആലോചിക്കാൻ മിനക്കെട്ടില്ല. സമയം ആർക്കും വേണ്ടി കാത്തു നിന്നില്ല. മനസ്സ് എന്ന കരകളില്ലാത്ത കടൽ, അതിൽ ഊഴിയിട്ടാൽ ഒന്നും മനസ്സിലാവില്ല. ശ്രമിച്ചിട്ട് കാര്യവും ഇല്ല. "മുങ്ങിയാൽ കുളിരില്ല" ആരോ പറഞ്ഞു. ശരിയാ അത്. ആ ആഴിയിൽ അഴകുണ്ട്, സുഗമുണ്ട്, അപകടങ്ങളും. മുത്തുകൾ തിളങ്ങുന്നതും അവിടെ അല്ലെ? ആ മുത്ത്‌ ചിപ്പികളെ തേടി മുങ്ങി. നേടാൻ അല്ല; നടത്താൻ - കുടുംബം നോക്കാൻ. വെളിച്ചം കാണിച്ചു തന്ന വഴിയിൽ ഭയത്തോടെ നടന്നു. ഇസ്മയിലിണ്ടെ പുറകിലുള്ള വാതിലിലൂടെ ആ യാത്ര തുടങ്ങി. ഒരു ദുർബല നിമിഷത്തിൽ തൊലിക്കട്ടി ഇല്ലാതായി, നഗ്നമായ ഒരു സത്യം ആയി ശാരദ. ചെയ്യാൻ പാടില്ലാത്ത ചിലതെല്ലാം ചെയ്യേണ്ടി വന്നു നടത്തിപ്പിന്നു വേണ്ടി, അത്യാവശ്യങ്ങൾ പിന്നെ അവസരങ്ങൾക്ക് വഴിയൊരുക്കി. ഒരു പെണ്കൊശച്ചു വേണം എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞപ്പോൾ ഗർഭം ധരിക്കണോ എന്ന് കൂടി തോന്നി. തെറ്റുകൾ ശരി അല്ലെ എന്ന് തോന്നാനും. കുടുംബം പുലർത്താൻ പണം ഉണ്ടാക്കേണ്ട ജോലിയിൽ യാന്ത്രികമായി മുന്നോട്ട് നടന്നു, അറിയുന്നതും അറിയാത്തതും ആയ വഴികളിലൂടെ. കാലത്ത് എഴുനേറ്റ് വൈകീട്ട് വരും, കുളിക്കും ഉറങ്ങും. ആ കുളിയിൽ എല്ലാം തീരും, നാളെ മറ്റൊരു ദിവസം. അയൽക്കാർ ചോതിച്ചില്ല, ഉത്തരം പറഞ്ഞും ഇല്ല. എല്ലാം ഒരു ചിരിയിൽ ഒപ്പിച്ചു. ആരെന്ത് വിചാരിച്ചാലും എന്താ? ഒരു തരം വൈരാഗ്യം തീർക്കൽ ആയി കണക്കാക്കി, ജീവിക്കണ്ടേ മാഷെ? ഒരു പാട് കൊല്ലങ്ങൾ അങ്ങിനെ നീങ്ങി, അപരിചിത മുഖങ്ങൾ, ഓർമയിൽ നിൽക്കാത്ത പരിചയങ്ങൾ, സ്ഥലങ്ങൾ, യാത്രകൾ, തീരാത്ത, മറക്കാനാവാത്ത, സുഗത്തിന്ടെയും വിയർപ്പിനടെയും കഥനങ്ങൾ, കഥകൾ. ജീവിതത്തിൽ വെളിച്ചം നോക്കി നടന്നു. വെളിച്ചം കണ്ടിട്ടില്ല. പിന്നെ ഇരുട്ടും വെളിച്ചവും തമ്മിൽ എന്താ വ്യത്യാസം? തെറ്റുകളും ശരിയും പോലെ. രാത്രികളിൽ ഒറ്റക് ഉറങ്ങാൻ കിടക്കുമ്പോൾ ദീർഗശ്വാസങ്ങളുടെ ക്രമക്കുറവുകൾ കേൾക്കാം, ചിലപ്പോൾ. മയക്കം വരുമ്പോൾ കണ്ണുകൾ താനെ അടയും; മുറികളുടെ വാതിലുകൾ അടയുമ്പോൾ കണ്ണുകൾ തനിയെ അടയും പോലെ. നിയമം എന്താണ് എന്ന് ഇനിയും അറിയില്ല, ശ്രമിച്ചിട്ടും ഇല്ല. ആരുടേയും സമമതവും വിസമ്മതവും നോക്കിയില്ല. എണ്ടെ ജീവിതം അല്ലെ? ആ ജീവിതത്തിൽ നിറങ്ങൾ ചേർത്താണോ കറുപ്പും വെളുപ്പും മതിയോ എന്ന തീരുമാനം വേറെ ആർക്കാ? അനിർവചനീയമായ രതി സുഖം; വൈകാരികമായ ഒരു അനുഭൂതി - കൂടെ ചിലവിന്നു ഒരു വഴിയും. അപ്പോൾ അവിടെ ചെറുതും വലുതും; ചെറുപ്പക്കാരും വയസ്സന്മാരും, നിറവും ഭേതവും; ജാതിയും; മുറിച്ചതും അല്ലാത്തതും, ആണും പെണ്ണും, എല്ലാം ഒന്നാവും - അനുഭൂതിയിൽ. എല്ലാരും ജീവിക്കാൻ എന്തെങ്കിലും വിൽപന നടത്തുന്നു. തലച്ചോർ, ശരീരദ്വാനം, ബുദ്ധി, കഴിവുകൾ പിന്നെ ശരീരം വിറ്റും. ജീവിക്കണ്ടേ? എങ്കിലും അച്ഛനെ ആലോചിക്കും, ചിലപ്പോൾ. അപ്പോളൊരിക്കലാണ് ഒരിടത്ത് വെച്ച് ഒരു വലിയച്ഛനെ പരിചയപ്പെട്ടത്. ഒരു വൃദ്ധൻ എന്നതിൽ ഉപരി, ഒരു അത്താണി പോലെ. സ്നേഹം ചേർത്ത് കലക്കിയ ഒരു തരം ബന്ധം. എണ്ടെ വർഷങ്ങളായുള്ള പരിചയങ്ങളിൽ വ്യത്യസ്ഥം.ഞാൻ മാറാൻ നോക്കി, മാറ്റാൻ ഒരാളും. മാറി - മാറ്റി. പക്ഷെ എന്ത് ചെയ്യാൻ? എല്ലാ ആരംഭങ്ങൾക്കും ഒരവസാനവും; ഓരോ അവസാനത്തിനു മറ്റൊരു ആരംഭവും - ചക്രം. ജീവിത ചക്രം എന്ന് പറയുന്നത് ഇതിനെ അല്ലെ? പ ണം അതൊരു വല്ലാത്ത സംഖ്യയാണ്. തീർത്താലും തീരാത്ത ആശകളുടെ അവലംഭം. സുഖം, അതും പണം പോലെ. കിട്ടിയാലും നേടിയതെല്ലാം ആയാലും പോര ഇത്തിരി കൂടി എന്ന തോന്നൽ. വൈവിധ്യങ്ങൾ കൊതിപ്പിക്കും, തീരാത്ത ആശകളുടെ വരമ്പുകൾ അതിക്രമിച്ച് കടന്നു പോകാൻ. സത്യങ്ങൾ അപ്പോൾ മിത്യകൾ ആവും. മനസ്സിന്ടെ വേലികൾ അറിയാതെ ഞരുങ്ങി തകരും, സാരമില്ല എന്ന് മനസ്സാക്ഷി ഹൃദയത്തോട് പറഞ്ഞാലും, ഇത് കൂടി, ഒന്ന് കൂടി. ഹാൻഡ്‌ ബേഗിൽ ഉള്ള നോട്ടുകൾ ചിരിക്കുന്നത് കേൾകാൻ ഒരു രസം. അതാ വരമ്പുകൾ കയറുമ്പോൾ ഉള്ള ഒരു പ്രത്യേക അനുഭൂതി. ഒരിക്കൽ ശീലമായാൽ പിന്നെ ഒരു വിഷമവും ഇല്ലാതാവും. അതാ ജീവിതം എന്ന മാന്ത്രിക സ്വപ്നം. ചോദ്യങ്ങൾ നിലച്ചു. ഉള്ളിൽ കൊടുങ്ഗാറ്റ് പോലെ. ശാരദ ഇനി മിസ്സിസ് രാജൻ എന്ന സോഷ്യൽ ലേഡി ആവും, വിലസും. വലിയഛനു തണ്ടെതായ എന്തോ ഒന്ന് കൈവിട്ട് പോയ പോലെ. താനൊരു പമ്പര വിഡ്ഢി അല്ലെ എന്നും തോന്നി. പൊടുന്നനെ മഴപ്പാറ്റലിൽ കിളിർത്ത വെള്ള പാറ്റ പോലെ. വലിയച്ഛൻ ഏകാന്തതയുടെ മരുപ്പച്ചയിൽ ഇരുന്നു നോക്കി - ദൂരെ, മരുപ്പച്ച തേടി നടക്കുന്ന ചിലർ ഒരു മൃഗതൃഷ്ണയിൽ നിന്നും മറ്റൊരു മൃഗതൃഷ്ണ കണ്ടെത്തി ജീവിക്കാൻ ശ്രമിക്കുന്നു. വ്യർത്ഥമല്ല ഒന്നും; പഠനം ആണ് ജീവിതം. നഷ്ടപ്പെടാൻ നമ്മൾ എന്താ കൊന്ദുവന്നത്? മനുഷ്യൻ മനുഷ്യൻ ആവുന്നത്, ജീവിതം പഠിപ്പിക്കുന്ന അനുഭവങ്ങിലൂടെ. ഒസ്യത്തും ആസ്തികളും നിലനിൽപ്പില്ലാതെ. സമ്പത്ത് - അനുഭവങ്ങൾ, പാളിച്ചകളിൽ അതിൽ നിന്നും പഠിച്ച പാഠങ്ങൾ.

Winning

Being a sport enthusiast as well a sport person for me winning or losing meant playing a game and applied to life it meant nearly the same. Being a mechanical and a cryogenic engineer, mathematical solutions were never a part of winning – as a win only meant sum total. A win-win situation is an expectation and not a solution. Relationship building involves a win-win strategy to move ahead on the grey path not idealizing the perfectionist attitude. You live and let live. Accept failure. Win is at a dead line! Parameters are measured, evaluated here and in competition the winner adjudged. For some - winning is habit and for some it’s not. Those who loose and learn from losses are richer than winners as the experience of losing and learning makes it wealthier on a path to wisdom. Arjun Vajpai a 16 year old was youngest to scale the Mt. Everest on May 22, 2010. A few hours later Jordan Romero, a 13 year old became the youngest to conquer the same Mount. Arjun in an interview said - “My sleep deprived body wanted to abandon the climb many times but I ignored the resistance of my body and resolved in mind to complete the climb” – Both their journeys were to compete within themselves. Their unidentified human potential was conquered. The journey itself was a win. Bench marks are often revised to allow human potential to unleash – that’s a win against your-self. Budha Says – “It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell”. Mahatma Gandhi –“Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment, full effort is full victory” – “Winning isn't everything--but wanting to win is.” - Vince Lombardi. Priya Kumar in her book “I am another you” says – “There is nothing wrong with the outside world, if we sort out the world inside”. I found similarity between winning and victory. Victory is about – “success in a struggle against difficulties and obstacles and a state of having triumphed”. It’s about achievement. Winning is summarized well by Ronald Reagan – “My philosophy of life is that if we make up our mind what we are going to make of our lives, then work hard toward that goal, we never lose - somehow we win out”.

“The 8th Habit” by Stephen Covey tell us to find our Inner Voice. May be in his words we need to conduct our own funeral as we live today and introspect what we missed and what we need to do to leave an image as we pass away. I plan a re-visit the internal thought chain and focus on what need to be done to achieve an image of the victorious me. Winning is not being THERE, winning is about putting yourself to test.

“Go further to get closer”

In the laboratory of life, there is a Law of Attraction. It is about thoughts that propel and attract health, wealth and happiness. Happiness is still an IDEA defined and appreciated and understood in a different perspective. For some it’s a search of someone to fall in love or be loved by someone. The distances are insignificant as thoughts attract and we follow. Distance is a boon in a virtual world we live. Desire catapults distances and boundaries are then insignificant. It’s about heart beats, vibrations when we reach out to people we love. Imagine speed and comfort of travel and frequency of flights to fantasy. Imagine and be there superseding speed of thoughts. Convenience counts. Being close is a matter of illusion, a feeling; being physically close is a reality. "Life without travel is like reading a book without turning a page." Experience is like turning pages of the live’s laboratory. You need to leave the shore, to see frontiers of unknown. Who knows the one whom you want to share your love is where? Put thoughts on Google search engine. Check out and “CHECK IN” at the flight desk to see what and who awaits your destiny. Nothing is far, boundaries are imaginary. Get closer and get happier through the laws of attraction.

Condition Serious Hai! - Bhai

I recollect a meeting of Alumni of my Engineering College a couple of years back. Though some of us met after many years there were seriousness on faces. The tags on their shirts indicated their name so that in spite of the fact that people and faces changed seriousness evades the way seeing the name tag and people start communicating. Some did and some did not. The agenda included introduction of self to the rest – this was a more serious affair where some of the members spoke about their career growth, how they worked in some MNC’s and their positions at the end of the career. Serious matters on targets and time schedules for the budgets that we have all seen through – but was this the time to speak about such serious things? I being the organizer looked at my old friend Bala to the stage, by-passing the sequence of introduction list. Bala came up held the mike and told a story when he arrived in the then Bombay with his University Engineering Degree from Kerala. He said - “That was my first travel in the BEST bus and came the conductor and asked him in Hindi/Marathi something he could not understand. But a keen watcher he had watched others answering when conductor enquired to them with his characteristic style. Answering the bus conductor Bala told “Balasubramaniam”. And conductor laughed and then in his broken English said “Enkai GO?” Bala understood the fool he made himself of in giving his name when asked for the destination for that day’s travel? Bala remembered the scenario when the woman on his side said “Prabhadevi” the man in front told “Haji Ali”, the good looking lady said “Annie Besant ” and the fat lady on the side said –“Mahalaxmi” None who followed were serious as the previous ones – life is simple, yar! Don’t take anything Serious – After all none of us have any control in anything that happens around us forget about what can happen to us the next moment.

TASTE BUDS

When Shri suggested to Megna, my second daughter that we go to Kareem’s for dinner, I had little idea of the food that will be served that night. A ride in the Delhi Metro that we enjoyed took us to Chandini Chowk. “Karim’s” - Shri mentioned to the cycle rickshaw puller and I was a bit reluctant initially to climb on a pedestal that I did some years ago in Visakhapatnam. But this was a superb ride, enhancing my thoughts with the cool winter breeze waving past our faces. We passed through the narrow lanes rather roads that enriched life with business of printers along with the road side stalls engaged on making food that was aromatic. The queue of cycle rickshaws moved at ease like the Range Rovers move about as we climb up the hills to see the sun-rise in Kanjanjunga with horns and whistles that nestled a lovely scenario and backdrop. The small shops around sold silver and other spices and people crowded to buy and sell as well to eat. Wow, that drive in the cycle rickshaw is different from the one you can experience in Kolkota streets. In a jiffy we alighted at the dhaba, named Karim’s and the restaurant was conspicuous by its presence a bit inward from the gully we got alighted – “This is the place!” – Shri said. As I read the menu and the details on that, I was fascinated. Haji Zahiruddin comes from a family whose bloodline extends back to the chefs who conjured elaborate feasts in the courts of Mughal emperors. Generations of chefs honed their culinary wizardry in the nearby Red Fort until the last Mughal Ruler was toppled by the last British ruler in 1857. Returning to Delhi in 1911 after his family spent decades in exile, Haji Karimuddin, the grandfather of the present owner , setup shop in the same alleyway where his descendants now prepare their family recipes, each one a closely guarded secret. Secrets are worth keeping as they preserve the original tastes! Times of India wrote once –“Karim has stuck to the typical Mughlai menu....the mughlai dishes have resisted the onslaught of offbeat culinary skills. We ordered some dishes and as the aroma spread, the presentation attracted our taste buds even before we ventured to put our hands on the dishes. Let’s have one more portion of this and an “OK” came instant to support the need to fulfill our taste buds. Once we finished and paid the bill we knew “even paupers can eat like kings”. I have tasted mutton raan in a Karachi restaurant and rack of lamb and Firni in an Afghan restaurant in Jeddah – juicy and tasty are the minimum I can narrate. They belong to the Mughlai cuisine. As we returned and boarded the Metro back home to Dwaraka, I commenced and indulged in the thought of culinary skills and the surrounding scenarios that came up in mind. As my elder daughter Divya wanted to do her graduation, she chose to do it in Hospitality Management and I was not so thrilled initially. But then options and perspectives evolve on time and you grow in any chosen field doing your best to exceed excellence. Shri is a product of Dadar Catering College and had tested his skills in cooking. My mom and grand mom were experts and now wonder someone took the brand name –“Grand Mother’s” and extended to ready to eat packaged meals! That’s like the ready-to-eat gourmet cuisine “Kitchens of India” of ITC which my son-in-law markets. My wife’s cousin married a Chinese named Anu and their son Anoop Phalghun a Chef of International Acclaim and now work with Hilton, Melbourne. Recently Sandeep, from Mahe tested his recipe to win the first prize, at the Australia Cooking Standoff, in Mumbai. My own cooking skills come from within, with whatever is in store and fridge and given shape by creative skills as my mood exists each time – I call it “food in mood”! Creativity is an art and comes from within and with a desire to excel, one tend to supplement like in Karim’s or at any other restaurant. TV anchors takes you round the world to show case the different features and tastes that are cooked around the world. Indian-origin Chef Vikas Khanna, cooked for Barack Obama at a fund-raiser event, and is quoted "President Obama actually is a very big foodie. The President loves spicy food and I'm sure he enjoyed our creations, inspired by Himalayas." Taste buds are special structures that help detect tastes. We all have about 10,000 taste buds, mainly on the tongue with a few at the back of the throat and on the palate. They're replaced every two weeks or so. Taste buds surround pores within the protuberances on the tongue's surface and elsewhere. A taste bud is a taste receptor. There are four types of taste receptors, sweet, sour, salty and bitter. These receptors are on various locations of the tongue. As I age there are restrictions that add the four tastes and I slowly reduce my eating habits. An older person may only have 5,000 working taste buds and for some of us -the two white poisons, as someone called it Sugar and Salt in abnormal quantities can harm us. Where the taste buds reside is our tongue and that’s a tough worker. It is made up of groups of muscles and like the heart it is always working. It helps in the mixing process of foods. It binds and contorts itself to form letters. The tongue contains lingual tonsils that filter out germs. Even when a person sleeps, the tongue is constantly pushing saliva down the throat. Many consider the tongue to be the strongest muscle, at times talking tough and covered that only can SHUT by lips - that do the second best job after a KISS. Imagine the culinary journey of a morsel of food from cultivation, packaging, cooking and eating; it all ends as the chain of food traverse through the tongue for a flicker of seconds and we tend to live for those sumptuous moments of truth.

Before I conclude this BLOG on taste buds, it reminded me of my Mother Tongue! Hey, let me find out and write one on the same topic in Malayalam!

നാം എന്ന നമ്മുടെ ചിന്ത (It's our thought that makes us, what we want to be)

"നിർമ്മാണാത്മകമായ കർമങ്ങളിൽ ഉന്നതമായത് സ്വയം എന്ന നമ്മെ സർഗശക്തിയിൽ രൂപപ്പെടുത്തുക എന്നതാണ്" - ദീപക് ചോപ്ര. നമ്മുടെ സ്വന്തം ആശകളേയും സ്വപ്നങ്ങളെയും പറ്റി ഉള്ള അറിവാണ് ഇന്നിൽ നിന്നും നമ്മുടെ നാളെകൾ ചിട്ടപ്പെടുത്തുന്നത്. നാം ജീവിക്കുന്നത് എന്തിനാണ് എന്ന അറിവ് ഉപബോധ മനസ്സിൽ നിന്നും ഉരുത്തിരിൻഹു ബാഹ്യമണ്ടലത്തിൽ കാണുമ്പോൾ ജീവിതത്തിണ്ടേ അർത്ഥം ചായത്തിൽ പകരും. വ്യക്തമായ തീരുമാനങ്ങൾ ആസൂത്രണം ചെയ്യാൻ ഇത് അവശ്യം. ഈ ഇടത്തിൽ നിന്നും സ്വപ്‌നങ്ങൾ നെയ്തെടുത്ത ഭാവി കണ്ടെത്താൻ ഒരു കമ്പാസ് വേണം - അപ്പോൾ യാത്രക്കുള്ള വഴികാട്ടി ആയി നമ്മുടെ വടക്കെന്ന ഭാഗം കാഴ്ച്ചയിൽ വരും. ദൃഷ്ടി കേന്ദ്രീകരിക്കണം ദൂരങ്ങളിൽ ഉള്ള നമ്മുടെ സ്വപ്‌നങ്ങൾ കൈവരിക്കാൻ. മനസ്സ് ആ മാസ്മര ചിന്ദകൾക്ക് ചിറകുകൾ പിടിപ്പിക്കുമ്പോൾ നാം കര്മോൽസുകമായ പ്രവർത്തനങ്ങളിൽ വ്യപ്രിതരാവും. ചിന്ത ശക്തമാണ് - ആ ശക്തി പ്രവർത്തനത്തിലൂടെ പ്രത്യക്ഷമാവും - അവിടെ വെളിച്ചം വഴിയൊരുക്കും, വിജയത്തിന്ടെ നിർവഹണം ആഹ്ലാദിക്കാൻ, സംഗീതം പിന്നണി ഗാനം ഒരുക്കി കൂടെ ചേരും. അഥവാ പറ്റാതിരുന്നാൽ അതിൽ നിന്നും പഠിക്കുക വീണ്ടും ശ്രമിക്കുക അന്ധ്യം കാണും വരെ.

Thought takes speeds more than that of light – Get connected....

That was a winter morning and at the railway station, Shimla. Chill, yes but fine to enjoy. We had boarded the Toy Train from Shimla to Kalka and I walked out as usual to have a glimpse of the place and people. As I peeped in to that tiny compartment, I saw my wife, Usha speaking with Ms. Liloutee, who sat opposite her. They were in deep thoughts and I could see the smiles on both their faces. The train whistled and started its descent down the hills and Usha and I exchanged about our trip that just concluded. Walking around the woods in the hills every morning . The train whistled and moved ahead halting at all stations on the down ward journey. We felt we would have missed the pleasure of this rail journey if Ravinder Singh did not suggest and reserved our tickets. Ravi and Babli drove us up the hill from Amritsar where we stayed with my old friend and colleague. Liloutee got engrossed with her e-Book and read page by page as if the surroundings were of lesser interest than the content she was reading from Kindle note book. My curiosity grew and I asked Usha about her and where she belongs. Liloutee lives in London and with her was her adopted son who was being educated by her, on a cause of charity. I wondered how love and gratitude transcend and take shapes along the Himalayan hills. What made Liloutee provide a holiday for her adopted son coming all the way from UK? By the time we travelled about two thirds of the journey the e-Book was closed and my desire to open a conversation with Liloutee enhanced. I commenced a conversation that opens up in a train. Sooner the discussions went beyond the routine. It was as if we opened up subjects that had different colors and shapes on an architecture that was built by us. It looked as if I was and she did tilt the Kaleidoscope to get across perspectives that emerged with clarity of thoughts. The family probably migrated from India and was in Africa and she moved to UK. Studied psychology and taught this science there. My inquisitive silly question to her – “What do you say when I tell you our mind is like a monkey?” – She whispered in a jiffy – “good”. We went beyond the subject to reading and writing, effect of social media and digital world that encompass the direction of ours and the thoughts of younger generation etc. She quelled and displaced some of my mis-interpretations with logic and deep knowledge. I started correcting my perspectives and a learning process commenced at ease. We alighted at Kalka from where we were to board the same train to Delhi, departed as friends and agreed that we be in touch and with an open invite to visit her house in UK and with an extension for her to be with us in Kerala during her next year’s visit to India. Narrating the points that I appreciated during this very tiny stretch of our journey are interesting. The most interesting point is that a train journey is a better mode than a flight. I recalled my old friend George asking me in a flight from the then Madras to Bombay whether I enjoy the 3rd class sleeper berth vis-à-vis the just fit seat of a flight – we had agreed that it’s the train that makes you connect. The second point is all about communication and if I did not watch Usha opening up with Liloutee, I would not have waited patiently for the e-Book to get closed, oh no “SIGN OUT” - the new terminology. A smile ignites and you start up a chain that leads you to relationships that can last for long. “Learning” is a process that does not have a shelf life or an expiry date – you can initiate with a willingness and attitude that provide you with immense knowledge about people, places and concepts that tend to lead to action that’s worthwhile. In this world of Facebook and other social media or even an ATM, where you may not find real faces, a journey even in a toy train can give you the sense and sensitivity that link to feelings and love that may slowly blossom. Boarders and boundaries are illusions and names and cultures not limitations. My daughter Divya says in today’s world that is nearly a crucible, cultures melt and form new recipes that taste buds of the mind can capture easily to mend and form teams. One can start a new day every time Sun rises on the East and take it along and pursue your intent and couple it with intellect to build bridges. That takes us to unknown frontiers, unseen and not witnessed thus far. Begin with an end in mind - the steps are easier than we believe. The KEY is to START. Knowing that I write Blogs I intend to copy this BLOG to her and mail it to her. Where she is on the day she receives my e-mail, is not a matter, but she sure will get connected to the Shimla-Kalka toy train journey that sparked this topic that you just read.

At cross roads - Life goes on the same!

That was some time back when our friend Salma’s daughter Sharon asked me “Why you, ‘expiry dated’ speak about her?” The question had a meaning. I and Sharon’s father Suresh were talking about Aliath who is a colleague of my wife at the school. Aliath is much younger compared to Suresh and me. At cross roads in life we hear questions like this. Expiry is a milestone on time. Abraham Lincoln said – “In the end, it’s not the years in your LIFE that count. It’s the LIFE in your years”. Today 11th June Usha, my wife celebrates her birthday and I wrote a poem that mentioned “Ageless, Usha”. Age is a matter of time. Happiness is important for us, mortal beings. It’s all about harmony with creation. Harmony is all about accepting life as it unfolds and play with the orchestra. We need to change and Bernard Shaw said – “Those who cannot change their minds, cannot change anything “that includes being happy. Most of us seek happiness for ourselves and probably that’s the problem. It isn’t easy to find then. When we share happiness with others, happiness finds it ways back to us. Keshav, Attitudinal Consultant, told me once “When life changes to become harder, change your-self to become stronger”. Emotions are at play in our lives. We are, to a large extent, involved with emotions and those influence us both ways. Regret is one emotion that kills us more at times. Some of us may feel that we had the courage to live life on our own terms and not what others want us to be. Professionals may feel why they worked so hard so far? A few at least can think that they had the courage to express their feelings. About relationships some think that they should have kept those valuable ones alive as they moved on their path. A large number may feel that they should have let themselves happier. Happiness is making a choice by you, to be happy or not to be! “Contentment consists not in adding more fuel, but in taking away some fire.” - Thomas Fuller. When I see people with an urge to acquire I remember the words of Frances Burney – “A youthful mind is seldom totally free from ambition; to curb that, is the first step to contentment, since to diminish expectation is to increase enjoyment.” Isn’t it true that the gap between expectations and reality is the culprit for most of our sorrows? It was not so long that I attended a ceremony where bones of the deceased were collected after cremation. As many of the close relatives shed a tear from their eyes, I thought –“isn’t those bones like that of mine?” In fact we are that – part of earth panjaboothas. Arunima Sinha's journey from railway tracks to Mount Everest is a story that unfolded on May 21st 2013. After climbing Mount Everest she said – “There was a time when the gel in my leg had slipped out and there was blood but I could not dare to either remove my gloves or bare my leg as it could have led to severe frost bites. I took my time and fixed it up before starting to climb back again.” She achieved the world record feat of becoming the first woman amputee to conquer Mt. Everest. She was inspired also by Yuvraj Singh who fought with cancer some time ago. Adversity can, at times make changes in our lives … Julio a little Spanish boy had a dream. He wanted to play football for Real Madrid! He practiced hard and became a good goalkeeper but met with a terrible accident was paralyzed from the waist downwards. Doctors were sure he would never play football again! To lessen the pain, Julio took to writing poems at night, with a tear in his eye. A nurse gifted him a guitar. Soon Julio began strumming the guitar and also singing the songs that he wrote. He never played football again. But with a guitar in hand and a song on his lips, Julio Iglesias went on to become one of the top ten singers in the history of music, selling over 300 million albums. “imag-e-in” - if not for that accident, Julio Iglesias would have been a goalkeeper. What happened to Julio that evening in 1963 could happen to any of us. A setback or an accident or failure can often appear to be the end of the road. But if we really look at it we may be at cross roads. Learning to cope with failure is a critical step not regret – the way to happiness. Today as I pass through a cross road in our lives, I feel that we should focus on our own lives and enjoy the gifts of God and try less to satisfy others. We have only one life to live truly we should make the best of it, by living the way one feel. We can’t compare ourselves with others and if we do that we miss our train. Being ageless on time happens when we understand current – this moment that is precious and not regret on past or worry on what cannot be done tomorrow. “Many people lose the small joys in the hope for the big happiness.” - Pearl S. Buck. Swami Chinmayananda said “Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket” – Both these are words of wisdom. I wish Usha, my wife as she passes this step on her milestone, best wishes. She has always been simple, content and happy with what she has and moved on … including the testing times when she had a tubular pregnancy and I was in the hospital with transverse myelitis, cases that could have lost our lives. Her calm and composure illustrate at times, the way to look at life, patiently and move on, as life goes on the same, irrespective of the window through which you view it!

The breath we take; and limits & boundaries in between

26th February 2013, reflected in me as a close friend and a companion in deserts where we worked later. Mohan Mathew whom any one will like was at the terminal of his moment with destiny. A friend called to say this condition and one from Saudi sent a mail. As I traveled to meet him, memoirs continuously attacked me with the times we shared as college mates. Memories never fade - good ones for sure. His wife Santha had her smile slightly distorted, but brave when we witnessed his breath took longer with struggle. His eyes, closed, without food and water for a few days we are waiting in prayers for a miracle. Our breath also had silence in between. His children had come from US and from nearby. Pausing and engaged with thoughts in prayers we returned and on the way back, I thought of the limits and boundaries we have with destiny. There exists a “Lakshman Rekha” a very thin line between the limit and the boundary. This idea evolved from my past experiences and encounters and is food for thought set on your table - provoking and at the same time tempting. There are few things hemmed by boundaries. Boundaries do not bind rather they set limits. We imprison our minds and create a YOU that you are not. Thoughts have hardly any boundaries – they move around in the neighborhood as well beyond. Space and the outer-space have no set boundaries and are in balance. Cosmos is in existence is with attraction and repulsion forces but co-exist and move on. Friendships are love affairs to some extent. Limits are set by mind and not anything else. Between birth and death there exists a thin boundary called breath and between thought and speech there exists a thin line of silence? Our minds construct the world we live in. The perception and concepts we hold determine and create the way we see. Patterns of thought, limitations and boundaries in understanding influence how we interact with and shape reality. Such limits and boundaries define the parameters of friendships and existence. As a child we are dependent, we grow and become independent and in a social and professional concept become interdependent. Friendships are everlasting especially that incarnate during school and college times that makes us interdependent. As I traveled back, I went past my own history of an encounter with death with a disease named Transverse Myelitis about 12 years ago. I was invited to depart and pack my baggage to enter the world unknown. Transverse myelitis is a neurological disorder caused by inflammation of the spinal cord. The term myelitis refers to inflammation of the spinal cord; transverse simply describes the position of the inflammation that interrupts communications between the nerves in the spinal cord and the rest of the body. What began as a sudden lower back pain, rapidly progressed to more severe symptoms and I was paralyzed from below naval, urine retention, and loss of bowel control. The attack was on a fine Saturday afternoon with a heavy back pain and the resident doctor advised me to take pain killer for the night. My breath with death was that night. It was at Hinduja where I was diagnosed and I was in the MRI scanning machine for more than an hour and a half. Lucky I am to have come and tell this story, and live to see my friend Mohan Mathew. What I missed was my breath when the consulting mentioned that I may have a few days ahead to have continued breaths and as per statistics the case is so. When an alumni friend requested to know Mohan’s status with a sob in his heart, I felt the breath in him holding for a moment and I spoke on his terrible condition and his encounter with the “Lakshman Rekha”. Pain has limitations and his son told us he does not experience pain in his condition. But pain inflict in those in love with him. This afternoon I was with a doctor who explained a condition like that of mine that caused tragedy to his father in law recently. This is termed - Guillain-Barre (say "ghee-YAN bah-RAY") syndrome. This is a serious disorder that occurs when the body's defense (immune) system mistakenly attacks part of the nervous system. This leads to nerve inflammation that causes muscle weakness and other symptoms. This is an autoimmune disorder (the body's immune system attacks itself) and damages parts of nerves. This nerve damage causes tingling, muscle weakness, and paralysis. This can cause paralysis and lead to death. The doctor informed me that his father in law whom I met a few months back came back to life after stretched limits of encounters with destiny. We have beliefs and the times I had are experiences to seek from the ultimate to give chances. Those whom I informed about Mohan were in a spontaneous feeling for one another. We reached the zenith of our friendships in conversation – beyond the limits and boundaries that set apart positions, ideologies and beliefs. Love dominates at such instances. Lao Tzu make us think with his words – “Be content with what you have, rejoice in the way things are and when you realize nothing lacking, world belongs to you. When you are content, with what you have and become simply yourself - respect comes”. We then think differently about life and its manifestations, sufferings, pain and joy. The breath I lost in witnessing Mohan’s breath made me understand that death is a necessary phase that transgresses from one to the other. I learnt more within the thin limits of time existed on the 13th floor at Hinduja hospital twelve years ago and as my colleague Ravinder Singh said sitting close to me – ‘Amar, I am reminded of a joke and that will make you laugh and feel good’ – really so, I enjoyed his wits and fun more than the sympathetic looks I used to receive in the visiting hours those days. “Life is not about how many breaths you take but about how many moments in life that take your breath away”.

H A N D S

imag-e-in: Take a turn at right angle from your path . . .

imag-e-in: Take a turn at right angle from your path . . .: The fondness for nostalgia intimidate at times with thoughts that ignite, especially if such memoirs are familiar to failures and weaknesses...

Take a turn at right angle from your path . . .

The fondness for nostalgia intimidate at times with thoughts that ignite, especially if such memoirs are familiar to failures and weaknesses. I was requested as I alighted from a train that halted at Mangalore railway station by a co-passenger to help guide a person who was blind. Leading him through the platform till the auto-rickshaw stand I enquired whether he was blind from birth and he said yes. I made an enquiry whether he was missing something by not being able to see like others. He answered saying he do, as he has all other faculties functioning well and miss that link of picturing the whole world. He traveled from Chennai to attend a friend’s wedding and as I made him sit in the auto rickshaw, he thanked me and said – “I will find the rest of my way to the wedding hall”. He came to part in a wedding of his old friend’s daughter. I wondered then what my relative had asked me “why I undertake that journey after an accidental fall that injured me?” Hearing the blind man’s story made me realize how purpose defines path. I use a video clipping posted on You Tube on Nick Vujicic during training sessions to demonstrate how obstacles can be visualized as challenges. Most of those who watched the video got charged. We all are luckier than many others. Another man, a double leg amputee made history recently by competing in an athletic event in Olympics with carbon fiber blades and thanked his mother Sheila for instilling values in him. The South African Pistorius watched his 89 year old grandmother flying the national flag as he ran. Sheila never took NO for an answer – “Looser is not a person who gets involved and comes last; but one who don’t get involved”. The nature of habit is an automatic compulsion to do what one has become accustomed to. Habits want to repeat old patterns to stay within comfort zones. Edward de Bono is one who spoke about parallel thinking to find deviations in our life’s journey. Tension can be classified in four type viz. of task, relationship, surprise and mystery. With demanding life styles we try to cope with tension as we are in confrontation with situations and yield in defeat, procrastination or surrender. This is where the familiarity of failure disallows parallel thoughts for improvised action to grow and sustain. As a student of engineering, I studied surface tension and it is termed as the pressure difference between the inside and outside of a BUBBLE. Water strider an insect can freely run along the surface of a quiet pond. There is something we need to learn from the insect – to utilize the tension and move forward! Surface tension in simple terms is the balance between the inner and outer chores. And in a different concept it may be applied as our inner thoughts and environment we live. When the few of us who returned as NRI’s met at Wayanad for a picnic, Vijay Menon had lots of games in stock and if you click You Tube video you will understand his question “how many coins can that glass of water accept without water spilling over?” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2mKpZHnEzw Fact is that human resilience to motor through un-known terrains is huge, and we need to appreciate this as we encounter ups and downs of lives. Most of us won't approach problems, but we seek peace of mind. It’s written on Facebook’s walls – “done” is better than “perfect”. Our lives today place enormous demands on time and energy and these demands exceed our capacity to deal with them. We try to align and attempt to function. Too often, this underlying tension surfaces at slightest provocation, and we find ourselves in conflict. Our responses shift to tensions reflecting conflicts. We need to progress through change of beliefs. I believe tension is a need to vibe to the music in our lives. Guitar makes wonderful sounds with tension in the strings. Like in a symphony, we need to learn and adapt to situations, to avoid tension. Happiness is all about harmony with creation; harmony is all about accepting life as it unfolds. Stretch is the elasticity of comfort zones that can redefine our identity bringing out hidden capabilities. Look at a child – he moves on and on. We should not allow the child in us to grow. Then we can participate in that grand orchestra of life. Essentially, to turn sideways with parallel thinking is to reject mental blocks of conflict management. For most of us, we are so programmed either to submission or aggression. When in the journey of lives, the path is a dim and uncertain we need to take a right angle and yet reach the same goal; and get onto move ahead with life. At times behind a hidden door, the key to that door may have been temporarily misplaced but finding it by wisdom, compassion and enlightened thoughts makes it possible. It’s possible with matured, balanced thoughts without breaking the envelope of water bubble that holds the phenomena of surface tension - Longing to seek peace result in belonging.

An Internal dialogue – between me and I

That was after a few years since I drove on that road in front of Christian College on the East side that takes to Mavoor Road, a bye-lane those days that now is a busy lane. I followed a huge Volvo bus that steered in front of me all the way up. I felt it was almost difficult for me to overtake as vehicles moved this side as well with attention and difficulty to pass through. I then thought of the “Just Do It” slogan of Nike shoes, that I am glued with at my native place, Calicut. With the passage of time, the social system has undergone changes. We are experiencing new things or at least hearing about such things frequently and getting used to it. New freedom has given way to new frontiers. We begin with big dreams and high ambitions. Some of us achieve them and others don’t – but both sets are either happy or unhappy. “I love you” that used to be a murmur those days have given way to “I love ME” in loud terms. Commercially every possible item is on sale at a discount and the affordability to buy is also high. Lifestyle has undergone a variety of changes and people accept the New Paradigm easily as the group or peer pressure is allowing them to adapt and acquire at a rate that supersede thought processes. When our desires or ambitions manifest it creates a momentum of action in us. The mistake may be, in our ignorance that we tend to believe that whatever we think or dream of, will come true if we work hard for it. When boundaries are reset, freedom provides new meanings. Culture – the so called – also amends to suit the need, based on young minds and their demand on themselves. When I was a student, the model of code was totally different from what I set for my children and what is set by my children on my grandchild on a transitional model of code of ethic. This is when I got tuned to a definition on how to fit a square plug in a round hole theory and find ways and means to deal with the aspirations and execution of ideas that make our future life. The authority of the social fabric has shifted many rotations and touched a limit that we appreciate now, and that is due to the economic freedom coupled with the knowledge base of the people. The opportunities that galore with the new dimensions of business, deal with technology that embraces today’s life style are another dimension. This context is important where the grandfather was recently told by the youngster that “Your retirement salary is what I earned last month” and that focus on the wealth creation by the opportunity from knowledge based work and skill. When we use the force of ego and power our action and then drop it before the momentum of action takes over we are making a sacrifice. This causes frustration. When this happen, with vested economic authority the old boundaries cannot make any sense and loses its sensibilities. The issue that we confront has a lot to do with old mind sets with enlarged freedom and the new paradigms that rule the world. “Just Do It” or “I know my way” are redefining self-confidence and if directed through right channels will bring in more confidence and new ideas to deal and challenge the un-known - that is future. The sense of RIGHT and WRONG are no more perfect whites or perfect blacks – it runs down to a kind of grey where majority traverse with their lives. For arriving at this grey, we need to have an internal dialogue among ourselves. Then we need to interpret these with the freedom quotient and redefine new frontiers of authority that weaves today’s social patterns that mature and blend with the modern times, as we progress. That will engrave a deeper and more enduring and sustainable reality into the social fabric. Modern in outlook and deep-rooted with value system; like they say the old wine in a new bottle. Then we move away from extremes in behavior nurtured with an attitude that keeps us in between, in balance, like the grey that we heard before, a path that governs respectful and tolerant patterns of understanding of human values. If the aspirations of a strong India have to become real, we also need to monitor and generate codes with extended freedom within a new set of boundaries – this is the challenge. We live here at present and need to design what’s ahead by renewed thought processes without any bias and mis-belief of the environment so that not the perfect, but a more desirable outcome is evidenced. “True North” is the way management experts talk about the path finder compass. Let all of us define the broader boundaries of behavior in our social system to suit in terms of progress and shifted authorities generated by economic freedom, and look at True North and focus our attention to set forth new codes of ethics framed in such a way, confrontation give way by compassion and love for each other. If in this process we find ourselves falling off the wagon, or we are struggling to stay on it, let’s reduce the challenge, let’s re-visit and stay course to the cause so that the New Year will end at a better note than what we anticipate.

The exotic 12.12.12

“We exist in time, but we belong to eternity. We are a penetration of eternity into the world of time” – I read these wonderful words today when the mystique of the date 12.12.12 for some stands alone. I could reflect barely on the magic of this number as I wrote the date of today on this title except that I need to change the calendar for this year 2012 in about 19 days and that I am yet to receive one for the next year. Time gets measured in varied forms to many. For historians it comes in millenniums, for researchers in billions of years and for Bolt who runs for Olympics in split seconds – all valuable with connotations that represent the arena and scope definition of the field involved. How does time measure for you and me? 12.12.12 happens once in 100 years! At 1:21:02 a.m., number lovers can rejoice in the single second that marks when the date-time combination is the same read both forwards and backwards: 2012-12-12 1:21:02 = 201212-1-212102. At 12.12.12pm, today offer fans of the number 12 six repeats - 12.12.12 12.12.12. Some internet doomsayers have picked 12.12.12 as the date for the world’s end. Anyway, Twelve 12 12 is the last of the memorable dates, including 9.9.9, 10.10.10 and 11.11.11, during this century and all of these dates have proved popular. Numerology is watching and understanding the meaning of numbers and at times interesting. Astrologically numbers provide inputs to believes. “The date represents a window of possibility for an evolutionary leap, the awakening can only occur in as much as we decide to create it”. The meaning of 12 12 12 - A Mathematical and Societal Overview of the Number 12: The number 12 is a unique, interesting, and very useful number. The unique usefulness of the number 12 has been recognized by mathematicians, scientists, meta-physicists, and society in general since the beginning of recorded human history. The usefulness of this number derives from its divisibility. There are relatively few small numbers that can be evenly divided into so many subsets. The number 12 can be evenly divided into halves, thirds, fourths, sixths, and twelfths. Multiples of 12, by definition, retain this divisibility. The inherent divisibility is the reason that the number12, and its multiples, are so intertwined into our society. We use it here, there, and everywhere. The general consensus is that the Egyptians came up with the first 12 month calendar. The Romans later modified it, but retained the 12 month format. Both cultures abandoned any attempt to match the calendar with the lunar cycle; all emphasis was placed on the solar cycle. Interestingly I looked at the scenario connected with this hype. Wow, so many things are happening all over the world and include that of the release of Tamil 3D film “Sivaji” of our own megastar Rajnikanth today. 12.12.12 — The Concert for Sandy Relief will be screened at more than 200 USA theaters. This concert will feature performances by Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, The Who, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band, Billy Joel, Roger Waters, Bon Jovi, Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder,Foo Fighters‘ Dave Grohl and more. Money raised by the show will go to the Robin Hood Relief Fund, to help those hit by the recent hurricane storm – a good thought. About 490,000 babies are born daily around the world. As such, the UN assumes that same numbers of babies were born 12 years ago, and as such, the same number will celebrate a 12th birthday today. And so many will be born today! While some parents say the desire for having a baby on the date is due to numerology, others say it is because of astrology and some say it is to cherish the memory of having a baby on a historic date. Unlike my wife, I keep forgetting birthdays and death anniversary dates and if some of our friends have their children or grandchildren are born today I am sure will remember the date for the convenience of it. A doctor says – “delivery on request is done only if the baby is mature and we do not see any complication. Then we go ahead for request deliveries for 12.12.12”. The question is –“Is timing a delivery ethically and medically proper?” A large number of Hong Kong couples are planning to marry on 12.12.12 – seen as a fairly fortunate date by feng shui masters. For me - "It's just a normal day." Except for one thing it is the last time that I will see those numbers in my lifetime in a calendar, but how does it matter? If this number was to repeat every year and not in 100 years, the digital and social media would have converted the day to one of those very successful market campaigning ones and an eventful day to sell on hard commercial terms. However we shall take some time on December 12, 2012 – perhaps at 12:12 or throughout the day – to celebrate the understanding that we are all interconnected in the living system called Planet Earth. Let us together share one dream, one heart and one intention with an infinite variety of expressions. May be w

e think at this moment share all experience needed to co-create a sustainable, just and fulfilling human presence on this planet. Let this be seen and heard on 12-12-12! Of course I shall remember this day for yet another reason – my old friend Gopi and his wife Thankam leave for Canada to migrate early this morning. In my personal diary that will be an imprint on nostalgia.

Guzarish, the request

GUZARISH, the Request

The scenic beauty depicted is from God’s Own Country. Goa is not far from Kerala in terms of nature where the story of Ethan Mascaranez commenced.

I had read the narration of Guzarish and when Usha wanted to watch this movie, I agreed, though in terms of experimentation, I had felt “no more movies”. There was intent.

Depicted well, edited to perfection and sensibility and sensitivity captured to near perfection, I watched and felt that a good theme for a story teller and a good movie for the audiences - Sentiments of love grew as hidden narrations on almost all frames. Sanjay Leela once again has shown his genius in the film making.

More than Guzarsh theme or the film, I enjoyed the scene when the Lawyer was asked to get into the wooden box at the Court room when a magic show was to be conducted – the lawyer was asked to be within the box for 60 seconds and he knocked out of it by punches from within – suffocating in a state of mind of isolation and solitude. If that be the case, Ethan was trying to convince the judge at the court room, this time at his house, that being alone, in isolation even without much pain but in anticipation of the ultimate is very testing and extremely difficult.

Ethan’s story is where he has been on a bed unable to move his legs and hands and almost immobile for more than 12 years, after he met with an accident. His nurse looks after him, and his assistant comes to learn the tricks of the MAGIC, that was Ethan’s profession.

The MAGIC of LIFE is that LIFE itself is a MAGIC.

One needs to understand and appreciate the stories that tell LIFE in various forms.

By learning the MAGIC of life, you tend to soften your approaches and choose paths that are neither pure white of perfection nor black that is filled with thorns and hatred.

Feel the MAGIC of life and that helps you move through the uncertainties that lie ahead in future.

I am reminded of those 100 minutes that preceded with a diagnosis that I had contacted “Transverse Mylettis” – by being within the MRI scanning machine at the Hinduja Hospital. The 60 seconds allotted to the lawyer reminded me of those 100 minutes.

Instead of the 12 odd years that Ethan suffered in the time machine of life, I had passed through more than a month - Un-knowing what was in store for me, hearing from the Neuro physician that I may become a vegetable like Ethan.

Watching Guzarish with Usha was like swimming in the MAGIC pond of my own life – recollecting how and what goes through the mind of Ethan.

Hope comes in various forms and for me on the thirteenth floor at the hospital, it was a dove that sat on the overhanging window pane of my closed room of MAGIC, that I renewed with prayers that life seems to be ahead.

Transformation is part of learning.

I learnt then, that one need not worry much, with prayers that can create MAGIC in life.

I remembered then, what I saw last week at the Karthika Deepam festival at the Thali temple --- when I was handling an earthen lamp, trying to light and fire on the wick using the near by lamp on the boarders of the water pond where reflections were making a MAGIC in the surroundings. The four of the panchaboothas were together that time, but the invisible breeze (air) the fifth of the panchboothas turned my wish down. Determined and praying, I lit more lamps.

Living life with contentment and hope will help engulf love in to the relationships.

Love is the MAGIC that lights the days that challenges with uncertainties.

Guzarish, the request is that we tend to appreciate the natures’ bounties around us, gifted by God, and thank Him and pray for the ultimate to happen, so that we become part of nature, all over, once again.