'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
'I don't much care where --' said Alice.
'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
'--so long as I get somewhere,' Alice added as an explanation.
Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

One of my all time favourite quotes and was my gmail signature for the longest period. (A colleague once said - it looked like a boiler plate, so PR term!). Anyways, every time I am in mist of a decision or rather confused and going through the arjun syndrome, Lewis Carroll always comes to the rescue. Its not about destiny or strong choices we make, its about learning, making mistake and meeting random cats along the way. Its about not knowing what the end of the tunnel will look like. Getting there is all it takes. Famously know as journey, its should be one heck of a ride.

Bottomline, its okay if you dont know what you want to do with your life. Its an adventure.

Wondrously free

They walk in the sky
So near and so high
They're stopping for none
And when the day's done
They agree that the sea
Is the best place to be
Wondrously free
They live happily

They know from the past
Life simply doesn't last
So they live for today
For tomorrow they may
Not be able to walk in the skies

Sun slips into horizon
Moon reaches for the stars
Music is the healer
No matter who you are
No matter who you are...

Bonobo - Walk in the sky (Listen - http://bit.ly/nexAY)
Lyrics Courtesy: www.lyricsvip.com

Yes, we can

Wrote this piece in July last year and posting it now, must have written in strong emotions of anger, passion, enthusiasm…with all the stupid media hype amidst the games. It was more frustration, mixed with jubilation of competing at totally chaotic test event (many thought was impossible). Nonetheless it’s worth the bit we went through.

Date: July 30, 2010

Come August 1^st and we have exactly 63 days to go. Each day matters and I can tell you this after making the impossible possible. Today, we concluded the third and the final day of National Swimming Championship (Swimming test event) at SP Mukherjee Swimming Stadium (last among the many that were incomplete). What seemed like a herculean task 2 days before the test event, with incomplete false ceiling, non functional toilets, dusty pathways and entries etc, Organising Committee team staff along with the Venue contractors and respective venders – we all pulled it through. I am not fooling you as a reader neither am I saying that it was a flawless event, certainly we made mistakes, agree we have lot of work yet to complete, surely we need to put in more efforts but this test was effective and important lesson to learn.

This blog is directed to everyone –friends, family, my colleagues, media, brand ambassadors of India and many other out there to realize that each one of us are working very hard towards the Games. The criticism and the cynicism may go out to the Venue Owners and the Contractors for the unfinished venues and delayed work, to the Senior OC management for their selfish desires to make money, to the lazy and bureaucratic Government system for their inefficiency but it’s been all so easy for everyone to pin point faults. It’s been so easy for the media to report it in the newspaper, flash in it on every news channel or write it on your webpage. (I am not saying you should not pull them up, everyone has a right to express their fears and take full accountability of public money) However, in this process you are addressing more than 1300 workforce employee, who know they don’t have a jobs come October 2010, 5000 contractors, who possible may be thinking of backing off, and most importantly 35,000 volunteers, who are willing to work for more than 10 days without a single penny. You are directly addressing their aspirations, faith, trust and sincerity and discouraging them each day as we come closer to Games.

The Games are here to put India on a world map, not destroy its image showcasing the weakness and the ups and downs.

Our largest fear lies in losing hardworking staff member; the absence of the volunteers and the lethargy / defeat in our contractors. Imagine the logistic nightmare if these important people leave.

Swimming event that seemed absolutely impossible was delivered as scheduled. One has rightly said “The show must go on” and it will. A journalist on the first day of the test event was surprised to even believe that the test event actually happening as scheduled.” Therefore, we will deliver.

It’s unbelievable how the Indian society works. Probably we all leave it up to the end, ofcourse it’s a big time chaos, but we still make it happen. My foreign consultant was surprised when he saw the greens laid out at the archery stadium a day before the event. I remember a tar road was laid out outside the boxing stadium two days before the event. No wonder, he calls the last min situation as an ‘Indian miracle”.

As a member of the Organising Committee, I request each one of you to trust us, encourage us and keep that momentum sustained. As a reader, I sincerely request the media to be a little more sensitive towards aspirations of the people working behind the Games. As a part of the Games, I request each of my team-mate to keep up the hard work and faith.

Yet again!

I am laughting. Oh no, there is no joke. I am just laughing at myself.

First, I am rushing up a couple of blog post before the year ends. Yes, I always wake up in the last min. But it’s a tradition and I like to maintain it. I don’t want to look back 5 years from now and think that I didn’t do anything in the year 2010. That’s wrong. There was a lot!!!! It’s been my favourite year (so far).

And the funniest bit is, I realize I reach out to my blog only when am out of job! May be that’s good, I get to know how many times I’ve been totally clueless and so lost. J

Anyways, heres a quick beginning and an end to a fabulous year and possibly many more to come.

Cheers!

Prayer for a friend

I dont quite understand the purpose of life inventories, nor am I in the mood to probe the subject further.

At the age of 25, you start thinking of the very existence of life (especially when you've left an exciting job and dont know what to do next). Of course our very miseries in life are - to earn great money, have brilliant career and find that perfect groom/bride. I am not saying they are not important, they are, especially the last two and definitely the latter to keep your folks happy. But in the rut to discover these materialistic happiness one misses out on the purest joys of life and sometimes we realize there are more grave issues then just finding that perfect figure size.

I am not an atheist, nor am I a faithful god worshipper. But when you have a someone facing a dangerous illness, your only reinforcement is prayers.

Today I offer my sincere prayers to God, with a purest heart, to look after my dear friend, to be present on his bedside, provide him enormous strength, belonging and warmth of safety. For all that support he has been to many, for being our parents' best friend, for all the laughter and joy, for being an inspiration and for loving his wife dearly, dear God, I pray to thy for his health and wellness.

May we all understand the basic existence of life and the true meaning of unworldly joys.

I see signs of ageing

Ah see, you didn't expect me to write the very next day. Did you?

I am in a happy joyous mood right now (read 1:00). Just got back from Fine arts garba. I finally forced myself to go out, explore and see what the world is upto. Today was my first visit to garba. (6th day of this year's Navratri).

Life can be funny, it always is. For all those years, one would never miss attending those vibrant garba grounds, socialize with various people you havent met for years, spot your old time crush and blush away coyly, etc. Those were the childish school days when every little issue was a big thing and every little occasion was important.

Navratri has been one of the primary reason for young kids to stay out till late night, with their parent's welcoming permission. You hear drum beats and music till 2 in the night post which you hear traffic noise till 4. Vadodara is definitely the place to be during Navratri, the only place where I have heard traditional garba songs and seen the traditional garba steps. Vibrant, Colourful, Dynamic, Spirited and Live.

So here I am in Vadodara during Navratri, the best time to be in the city, after three years that i spent in Mumbai. While in Mumbai, I never left a chance to crib how terribly i missed garba but being back here now, I realized I had lost all the enthusiasm and interest to visit all those vibrant grounds and see all those beautiful faces. With time, you lose out on the right company, you get over things of the past, and above all, you grow old.

After spending 5 useless days sitting at home, I finally visited the famous Fine arts garba. today I was touched with the level of enthusiasm, colours, vibration, festivity and the non-stop dholka beats. It reminded me of good old days and I couldn't resist but try few baffling garba steps. Ah! I was back to the good old Baroda, with few good old faces I recognized and with few good old traditional garba songs. And therefore I conclude that I haven't gotten over things of the past and I haven't grown old.

Three years gap

It's nearly three years since the last and the only blog post I wrote. Ironically, I started writing my first and the only post before I left Mumbai, that was in 2006. And I write my second, and hopefully not the last, after leaving Mumbai, which is right now in 2009. I blame this all on my hectic schedule, endless train journeys, adjusting to a chaotic nomad life (I never really stayed at my hostel) and of course my hostel, which denied me the access to plug points (I am talking about those times that I did spend staying in hostel).

Anyways, I am glad I am back. Thanks to few blog post I read earlier today and got inspired to continue mine. To begin with, it took me approximately half an hour to find my blogpage. No kidding. I thought it would be easy. All i had to do was google "lost and found" or "popgoestheweasel" but instead I ended up visiting lost and found classifieds, which i realized i should have used about four years back when I lost my suitcase in Mumbai. Long story. we will deal with that in later posts. So, there I was on my blog page, then trying to figure out what my password was.

Well I don't want to make this a long post to read. I doubt if half the people really read what i write, unless of course I am Lance Armstrong or Amitabh Bachhan. But for those how do read these posts, here's simple reading. All I can offer you is this little girl's crazy adventures and careless encounters. Hope you enjoying reading further.. yes I do plan to continue writing

Jam tomorrow

Firstly it took me two whole days to figure out how to make your own blog, and hours to search for one interesting URL name that existed.. and I almost lost all the enthusiasm of making one.. but anyways..

With so many of my friends making their own blog, and some, who couldn’t stop boosting about theirs, I decided that If I ever make one, I will make it after all those uncertain questions such as “what do you plan to do next” are answered. My complete sympathies to all those who are still figuring out what to they want to do with their lives, to those what are still trying their luck at various places; to those who are still confused and even to those who think they might have to repeat a year.

I admit ,it's never easy to deal with the question that people can never get over asking “ so what do you plan now”. What the hell man, you’ve just finished your graduation, that's a huge achievement in itself, what more do you what??? Worst is when you have just barely finished your second year and still people want know your confused dreams. :-/ and trust me now I understand people who have gone through this turmoil even before I did, actually I was lucky, I know people who spend one year that way, completely paralyzed with people advising her and shooting their expert option of what she can do next. She told me once “it was suicidal annoyance”. Damn!!! That can be really bad.

Some take it really cool. My friend was very sure he would get into Xaviers Institute of Communication., but realized there was no Christian quote after his exams….hmmm now that’s tricky. He couldn’t make it to the interview. All of us were worried about him. To pacify we made endless calls to him from far far away. Guess what he has to say. “ yeah its okay, I have nothing better to do so am watching football match”.

Some of them are the luckier ones, well or may be the lucky confused ones. This guy got into goggle. Wow getting into goggle main office, immediately after graduation, is something. But guess what he didn’t take it. He had a better option of assisting a director for a huge film in Bombay. Well I know he is very passionate about his dreams, but who can deny a google job? Now there's one more dilemma, he received an interview call from one of the top universities for production course in Delhi. Hmm now what do you call this: confused over your future or confused with your luck.

So you see.. whether good or bad.. this phase of life is terrible, annoying and extremely painful. There was a time, when together, all we did was gossip, bitch about people we don’t like or share hysteric laughter, but we soon realized that as we grew old, we became wise and all we talked was about the future and what we plan to do next.