Some habits die hard...

Today we were randomly talking during break and happened to discuss Habits. I decided to share it here.
Habits can get very peculiar and unique and even annoying at times, After a discussion, A friend of mine and I had once concluded that at times, the most important decisions in life were made while in the loo!!
Well, come to think of it, Loos are the best places for deep thinking! lol
While in school, i had a habit of shrinking my nose every now and then, I used to do this to adjust my spectacles on my nose correctly.
The habit continued to remain with me even after I switched to lenses, without my awareness. Just any onlooker would find it funny that I should casually shrink my nose every few seconds. I gave up this habit only after watching myself in the video my uncle shot without telling me.
Man, I hated to even imagine that those cute guys I was trying to impress and also those guys who had a crush on me would have noticed this ugly habit of mine!

What's most hilarious is this incident that happened in my sister's class room.
After the test papers were distributed, this student(lets call him Pappu) went to the lecturer to bargain for more marks or he would fall in the 'below avg category'
that would have to take up the test again.
He is in this gross habit of throwing up saliva while talking, and apparently till date he has never felt embarrassed.
Should anybody feel embarrassed, its always the other person talking to him!!
So while bargaining for more marks, the lecturer kept on declining his appeal for a couple of extra marks. The chap, all desperate and hell bent on getting some free points, in the process of convincing the lecturer, threw out a huge ball of spit and
a part of it entered the lecturers eyes!!
The lecturer, being a not-so-loud-person, not knowing how to handle this nasty situation, gave him a stare for a whole 15 seconds and scribbled a +5 on his sheet and pushed him away!! The whole class burst into laughter and Pappu was glad his habit fetched him some extra marks but never felt ashamed of it!

Consider this. How many times has this not happened to you -
--> You end up sitting next to a person in the queue/bus/train who is constantly digging into his seamless nose pits, concentrating hard on picking his nose like you have never before concentrated even when you watched India strike a six on the last ball.(Aaaaargh)
--> You get into an auto rickshaw, half way through he stops to take a leak, you get all paranoid and look into your wallet for change just so you don’t have to
take change back from him, and you realize that you have a single 100 rupee note(Sigh!)
How abt this-
You are sitting in a crowded bus on the aisle seat , person standing next to you is blissfully scratching his ass to Glory?!! (:|)

The Jeans way...

Why do some guys spend ages in the same pair of dirty torn jeans when they can afford to buy any number of new clothes, Ever wondered?

I have always believed that choosing the right clothes is very important for a person.

We are not getting into a discussion of what to where and when, for i am not even close to being a fashion designer.

But, clothes you wear speak a lot about your attitude.

In the process of wearing fancy/sober/bright/gaudy clothes, what we are really wearing is our Attitude.

For example I choose to be very smartly dressed on certain important days of the week, smart for me means a pair of jeans and a t-shirt/medium fitting comfy top, a snug fitting jacket. A stylish and non flimsy, (and needless to say NON golden strapped )watch is mandatory. Preferably shoes so I don’t end up dragging my feet all over the place (yeah, I cant really walk very comfortably with slippers on).

I call this smart because it makes me feel smart, in place and confident.

When I wear jeans and get ready to go to work, I am also getting ready to face obstacles, difficulties that I might encounter on that day. I am ready to take things on my stride and stand by what I believe, and at times just shrug my shoulders and get going with a Don’t care attitude.

These little obstacles and difficulties may be misconduct on the part of an onlooker/scalawag, an accident I come across on the way to work, an assault/harassment that I witnessed, tough time with my manager, arguments and discussions with parents/friends...just any thing i care to react to in a certain 'my way'.

I have been wearing jeans more or less everyday for more than 15 yrs now and it has so become a part of my skin.

Jeans is undoubtedly my comfort zone, for at times, it even helps me take right decisions. How?

Like i said, jeans have merged with my genes for a long time now, for it determines a particular characteristic in me.At times when its important to weigh the consequences before taking a call, and when decision making becomes crucial, It helps me to think "my way" and prepares me to face the consequences of the decision I stand by. I cant clearly explain how these things are really connected, except that I feel that I am there for me if I am in my regular outfit- jeans, or cool pajamas.

Its like my comfort zone where I can find solace if not solutions all the same, some sense of belonging.

Some ppl have a special thing for Jeans and go paranoid when they cant find a particular pair of jeans befitting the occasion. I belong to one such category too.

One of my best friends carries herself pretty well even at functions like marriages and naming ceremonies in a pair of baggy jeans and a T-shirt, totally oblivious to the fact that oldies around are giving her looks with raised eyebrows not knowing how to react to

her outlandish dress :-)

I have felt the need to express gratitude to the concept of jeans for some time now, and this is my way of doing it.

This is a tribute to 'Jeans' and all the jeans lovers :-) Let’s go the Jeans way...!!!

Death and After...

Yeah, I know, this is one very common but interesting topic you generally get to read.But before you start imagining things, let me tell you right away that this has NOT got anything to do with ghosts or spirits. Now, having said this, if your spirits are already dampened, then, sorry about that. You can still save a couple of your precious minutes by exiting this blog right here. But if you want to save yourself from one grave unforgivable mistake, if you do not want to live half of your life with the worst possible regret, then read on.

I chose to speak about death simply because I had a few thoughts hovering in my mind. And when thoughts overflow, this is where I pour them. :-)

Very recently, I lost my uncle to Cancer. This is the third time that ' Death' kissed someone in my very close circle of relatives. The first time death struck my family, it gave me an unforgettable blow, some thing from which I have not been able to completely recover even to this day-It took away my favorite person, the sweetheart of my family, my Grand Dad.

I personally believe that Death takes some virtual form, may be that of a human being (Or shall we say Yama?). Although I do not know exactly what Death looks like, I know for certain that Death, when it hits, it bears an unfading impact on the person's family. Although I do not know for sure if the moment for the arrival of the death for a person is deterministic, I know for sure know that when Death becomes one with the person, it cant be undone. It is probably the only loss of such indescribably huge magnitude that cannot be made up for in this world, even to a small degree. Every time Death strikes some one very close to me, it gets me thinking about it all the time, it is always at the back of my mind irrespective of what I am doing, what time of the day it is.

And then, comes the toughest part- finding answers to some of the toughest questions that often pop up in my mind, out of the blue. This requires some serious thinking. This blow called Death might approach different people in different forms and ways, but the one thing that is certain is that the magnitude of this big blow on the every person's family is more or less the same.

Everybody goes through the same trauma, the same thought process and most of the times, the very same questions pop up in our minds. Like say - Did it have to be him/her? How can it be that a person was very much alive and "existing" till yesterday and is no more today? What is death exactly? What is it that is missing in that person if he has to be dead now, is it just the heart beats in layman terms? How can I even imagine a world without him/her? What about all the good times that I have had with this person, will they now only remain bygone memories?

Many such questions come and go...some answered and some unanswered. Some of these questions only remain at the heat of the moment, and as time passes, these questions go into the oblivion unanswered. Probably this is what they mean when they say 'Time heals everything’?! But there is one thing which will always remain with you till the very Death strikes you, and that is - REGRET.

Regrets for not being there for the person when he/she needed you the most. Regrets for not completely understanding his/her feelings, regrets for hurting him/her at times. Regrets for not taking good care, showing due love and affection, regrets for not bringing that smile on his/her face. Regrets for not expressing benevolence and gratitude, empathy and consideration to your loved ones, particularly parents and grandparents.

I have pondered on such thoughts ample number of times, and each time I have arrived at only one answer. The only way to ensure that you are not given to regrets is by showering infinite love and affection. Learn to be oblivious to small unpleasant incidents that happen in everyday life. Realize the importance of parents in your life, realize that parents can only get older as time wares, and elders are meant to be treasured. Remember that any amount of explanation and reasoning after losing the person will not help and this regret will continue to haunt you for the rest of your life. Remember that we will also become old one day, and history repeats.

I sometimes feel it takes the death of a loved one to teach us what life really is. To this day, I haven't been able to make up for this void that was created in my life the day my grand dad died, and I know that the space in me that can never be filled again.

Parents are the only asset that you can die for. Act now before its too late.

--When we lose one we love, our bitterest tears are called forth by the memory of hours when we loved not enough. ~Maurice Maeterlinck, Wisdom and Destiny, 1901, translated by Alfred Sutro