Teach India – Week 8

If anyone is by any chance actually following my posts you would notice I have skipped “Teach India -Week 7”. This is cause I missed the session as I was tied up with something else...however it was not a teaching session that I missed but a quiz session for the kids so I am not feeling too bad.
I had an interesting session this week and finally got time to talk to other volunteers and made some friends! The sad part is that we would have our next session after a month and a half!! :-(

Overall the program by Kotak Foundation to teach English individually to children is a very nice but I am not sure if it is very effective and the main reason for it is lack of continuity. The program would have been much more effective if we had maintained continuity of talking/teaching them each week.

I don’t know how effective it has been but I have sure had fun and so have the kids!

So what was the session like this week…??

I had three hours of teaching and each hour was different and a new challenges

Session 1

I decided I would make the kids do a play in English. This would be fun and they would learn to talk.
Mom got me some fairy tale books and I decided to use them and make my kids do a play on one of the stories.
We used “The Three Little Pigs” story and had some fun with it. We read the story for sometime, then did the play in Marathi and then did the English version of it. It worked well but not as well as I would have liked it to cause the English levels of the kids was way too below par and it was difficult for them to do it. Also my this batch has 4 girls who are by and large quite shy and reserved.
Overall an interesting session. To end the session we actually went to an empty classroom and enacted the play where no one was looking so the girls did not get to conscious and shy!

Session 2
This batch is always very enthusiastic. This time also I had a big group of about 10 kids who wanted to sit with me and the Kotak volunteers came and picked up all the kids who normally do not sit with and made them go and stand and then allocated them to other volunteers! I finally had my regular group of 5 kids in this session! One of the volunteers asks me… “what do you do!? The kids seem to love you!” :-) ( I was obviously quite flattered with her questions!)

Anyways I finally started the session again….with the idea of reading a story and doing a play. So I handed overall the books I had to the kids and told them to decide which story they wanted to read and enact and they choose a Noddybook called “ Bumpy Dog decides to help”

We started…..and the session was going well….we were reading and relating the words and sentences to things in day to day life and saying different versions of the same sentence. Overall the kids seem quite involved and interested.

Suddenly one of the girls says…"Teacher Maaja nahi aa raha…bore ho raha hai” . I was quite taken aback! I though the session was going well and I am normally good at reading the body language of the kids so I wondering how I was so off the mark this time!

I asked the other 4 kids…if they were getting bored and luckily they said no …but I still had a child here who said this was booring! So I had to do something about it…so I asked the kids if we could change the book and let to girl who was getting bored star reading the new story. They hesitantly agreed…

And suddenly this girl started crying!!! I was like oh my god! What is happening here! What did I do!!
All the other kids were looking at each other and looking at me….I kept asking her what happned…with no response. Then one of the kids told me she has lost her Mamaji recently and so she is very upset with that. Now I at least knew the reason…but did not have any clue on what was the best thing to do!

Then One of the kotak volunteers saw her crying and suggested I take her for a walk and talk to her alone and see if she wants to open up..we went out sat on the school steps…spoke for a few minutes, she wiped her tears and said lets go back and sit with the rest of the children.

We did a few more sentences and this girl started crying again. She so wanted to put on a brave font and act happy and not cry but the poor kid was feeling so sad

This is when I told the kids my funda of what I do when I am sad…I told them it is absolutely ok to cry…I do it…everyone does it …it makes you feel better but after you have finished crying you have to smile and act happy and you will automatically feel happy!

After this I decided to take them to and empty classroom and show them how this funda works and to put it in practice

I taught them the song “If you are happy and you know it clap your hands” we sang we danced, we clapped we jumped we hugged, snapped our fingers…and we laughed!

We basically had a nice time….we played “ringa-ringa roses” :-) Musical chairs..basically English was out of the window for this session…but we had a blast and the girl was smiling at the end of it and that is what matters!!

I was exhausted…but the kids were all full of energy and could go on jumping some more…luckily the time was up and they had to go home!

Session 3
I was exhausted and my voice was hoarse singing the songs on the top of my voice and dancing!

2/5 kids came in for this session.
I started with my story books and these girls also choose a book to read. We were 10 mins into the session and then the kotak volunteer came and said since we have less students and more volunteers we would all get into a common circle and play something together.
I was quite glad…I had half a mind to put my kids in the circle and let them handle the session and disappear! So I told them go sit in the circle…this didi will tell you what to do and I took a back seat..
Everyone was getting into a circle…there was confusion on what game we should play…what should we do…..Lots of idea's were thrown around and then someone came up with an idea….let us play a story telling game…..

I though it was the most sensible idea among the others that were floating around…

And somehow from being in the fringes deciding to disappear….i was there in the center…trying to conduct the story telling game with evey person in the circle telling one sentence to take the story forward!

Well eventually we played the “story telling game” the "describe me game” and “the introduce yourself” game with about 30 students and volanteers who were present there!

I think it worked out well…Could it have been better?…yes…could have done better if we were planned…everything that we did was extempore…

I personally quite enjoyed it….I think I love my place in the center of an audience where I have to do something to involve the audience and ensure they have fun! I should really consider something on these lines as profession…I am sure I will excel at it! (Actually I hope other had as much fun as I did…I hope they did)

Pont to Ponder : “Fun & Games” and “People” are two important themes in my life. I need to find a vocation which helps me to merge the two…

Lucky Me!

I really really wanted something….and I did not get it….:-(

I always like to believe that I am a very lucky person and I get everything I really want and if I don’t get something I think I want….I tell myself…"hey may be not getting was for the best…I just don’t see how yet!!”

This seems to be becoming a pattern with me lately and If I have to believe the statements above….I guess maybe I have just been wanting the wrong things!!

So am I loosing my lucky touch? Nah! I am only touching the wrong things!

I am a firm believer that if you “act” happy you will automatically start “feeling” happy and start “believing” you are happy and then you don’t have to “act” any more!

Replace happy with any other feeling and it holds true….Try it!

Reasons for Not Writing & Upcoming Posts!

Hey People…Sorry I have not written so long...there are many reasons to it…some of them being

1) Been Very Very Busy
2) Been slightly lazy about writing since I am considering moving to another blog
3) Not had the time/inclination/drive to actually start a new blog….so I am somewhere inbetween “na yaha ke na waha ke” types

Well I have lots to write about…
1) Teach India Week 8
2) Review of the Book “Earning the laundry stripes”
3) GSE Interviews

4) Breaking rules ( Was just chatting with someone about this...I think I will write about it some day to get clarity!)

So people keep looking at this spot (or another spot if I get over my laziness and make a new one) for these posts and other posts coming soon..

(I know this may be classified as one of my boring posts….but what the hell its 1.30 in the night and it is a working day tomorrow…I am allowed to be short and booring!)
Ciao!

My Horoscope- Week of 22nd September

New ideas and horizons beckon to you on Monday, thanks to the entry of the illuminating Sun in your sector of philosophy and spirituality. Of course, anyone who knows you is aware that you love to be unpredictable. The only consistent quality you have is your inconsistency. You'll have a lot of fun exploring your new pursuits, and you'll learn a lot, too. On Saturday your emotions take you on a very wild ride as the Moon opposes your ruler, erratic Uranus, in moody Pisces. You'll overreact to events, so count to ten before you emote.

Well I can already feel myself overreacting and getting overtly pissed! So friends...forgive me its the planets doing the trick!

Choices…

I have always felt I need to have the freedom to choose….But I have come to realize that choices stress me out….they spoil the fun of the moment…This weekend was a great example…

Had a hectic week with a lot of clashing interesting things to do and I had to choose! As usual I want to be everywhere and do everything….but it is not humanly possible

So I made the best selections and had a great weekend….But sitting here at the end of the day I can think of all the things I missed…would it have been a better option??

What Did I Miss??
· Teach India – Children’s Quiz Session
· Badminton
· Toastmasters Contest
· Sunday Dinner with friends

Well Well….looking at this list….looks like a whole lot of things I missed….but that was not the case…there is a lot I managed to do!

What Did I Do?
· Rotary Session
· Dinner and Dancing with friends
· Zadenki – Buddhist discussion meet
· B-Plan discussion session
· Pooja and Dinner and cousins place

Overall I did have a wonderful weekend.…but would it have been better if I did not have soo many choices? Maybe...I would have been more satisfied!

The week starting tomorrow…I am not going to have much of a choice…I will have to get up early morning and go to work…do I like that? Not really…I would love to have a choice!

Choices..cant live with them…cant live without them!

Expectations Reduce Joy

“Expectations Reduce Joy" This wise piece of advice was quoted by my younger but smarter bother….

I think it is soo true….

If you don’t expect something from someone…there are good chances that you wont get disappointed and feel let down….!

So what should you do?

Don’t expect anything ?? Keep a safe distance? Don’t trust anyone?

But If you have no expectations from someone….I guess you cant call them a friend…they are then they are then only acquaintances…..

Theoretically the right approach would be to keep faith and have expectations…..trust people….and if they don’t meet your expectations…..don’t bother…continue to keep the faith..

Only wish what you know theoretically and what you do practically was easy to integrate!

Restless Princess..

Someone at work coined a name from me today… “Restless Princess“

The princess part was just so it sounds nice and rhymes

Restless is the key word here….

To explore further I asked him…so tell me why do you say I am restless? And he said…overall your “Demeanor is very restless!”

Now I don’t think it was compliment ….chances are it was definitely not…but who cares! I take it as a compliment! Focus on the princess part! (Whenever in doubt always take it positively and say Thank you!)

Do I agree with the nick name….?
Yes I do…..
I am very restless….I constantly want to do something….something new…something different….any idea…any plan…I am always game…I always want activity…..It is quite crazy….There are times I get irritated with myself and want to calm down.

But do I wnt to change? No

Can I be calm and composed? Yes I can….
Do I want to be like that ? No I don’t…cause it makes me feel sad..
I like to be happy.…(act happy at least even if I am not feeling it!) I like to be enthu..…lively….energetic…
The negative scale of all of it would be hyperactive…restless…over enthu…and ya I guess I do get there sometime…maybe many a times…!

I think any ‘trait’ in excess would have a negative connotation and it is a balance that needs to be maintained in anything!

The good part is I think I realize it most of the times that I have tipped to the negative side of being energetic but the bad part is that even when I realize I have crossed over to the negative side of the scale I cannot come back to balance immediately!

Good night for now from the “Restless Princess” for now maybe that would be the new name for my blog…( I think it is quite cute!)
Better Ideas anyone for a new blog name??

Considering moving out of Blogger

I plan to move out of blogger…at least from the current site..Since I intent to continue to blog so I am considering moving to wordpress as the publisher.Now the question is why do I want to move?

1) Just for the kicks!

2) Wordpress is suppose to be better. Easier to use, better features etc etc

3) Wordpress has an import functionality so I can easily move from blogger to wordpress

4) I can access wordpress from work..blogger is blocked!

5) To have an interesting name to my site…having your name like I currently have is very boring
So people….give me idea’s…what should be the name of my new blog???

Some idea's
# aplihs...
# Princess of clouds...
Better brighter idea's please!

The Buddha in your Mirror

I like to read philosophical books…but normally I never read it end to end(Dr Brain Weiss is books are an exception) but a friend of mine give me this book “The Buddha in Your Mirror” written by Woody Hochswender, Greg Martin &Ted Morino, three authors from USA and I really liked it. It spoke about happiness, relationships, death among other things. I quite like the take on relationships work and happiness…

Some key take aways:-
# The only thing common in all your relationships is you!
# The relationships we have formed are a reflection of our own state of life
The key to transforming relationships lies in the process of transforming ourselves
· People do not respond well to constant criticism people love to be appreciation and praise and they will try very hard to get them!
· If we want people to do more…we need to appreciate the good they are already doing
· It is not what we do for a living but how we do it and whether we feel useful and find meaning in our work
· In real estate there are three important things…location location location! In finding happiness there are three important things attitude attitude attitude!
· The most important thing in finding satisfaction at work is becoming indispensible wherever you are!
· The best way to find the best job is to become the best employee!

Overall a wonderful book….and really easy to read with a whole lot of anecdotes and stories. Read more about the book and the autor at http://www.middlewaypress.com/reading_groups/BYM-guide.pdf

Happy Reading!

Why Blog...??

Today I finish a month of putting a blog post everyday!

I started August 14th and somehow it happened that I had something to write continuously for a week and then I decided let me keep up trend and write everyday till the end of the month. I managed to reach the milestone and then I decided…let me set another goal for myself…one post everyday till the end of the month and I have achieved it today!

It got me thinking…what motivates me to blog? What do I achieve?

Just keeping milestones to achieve does not motivate me normally for a sustainable time (I have tried it earlier with other things I have wanted to do on a regular basis like exercise/pray/meditate etc and it has never worked!)

Secret: I have managed to put a blog everyday for the last one month cause there is something wrong with the posting time on blogger…even if I would publish a post after 1:30 in the night it would still show the previous date! Eg a post published at 1:30 on 14th Sept Sunday night would show up as 14th September and not Monday 15th Sept! I don’t know what time zone it follows but I am not complaining!

But Why Blog....??

1) Satisfaction of having a produced a concrete out put

2) A decent number of hits on my page everyday. The last month I have had an average of 32 unique visitors a day out of which 15 are first time visitors and 17 are returning vistors! (I don’t know if this is good from a general blogger perspective but I am quite happy with it!)

3) Comments from so many unknown people on the blog are very encouraging (My brother says…people read your blog cause you are a girl and not cause you write well or anything..like all the friend requests girls get on orkut! He has never taken the trouble to come and read my blog so I choose to ignore his wise cracks!)

4) Discussion on my blog : People I meet often tell me…Ah..you have written this on your blog…or oh I read this post of yours etc..! A recent example that comes to my mind ..today I was at a Buddhism meeting in the morning the speaker very casually referred to my blog and Analysis Pralysis post! The other day I met one of my clients who I have been taking to phone for quite sometime but was meeting him for the first time and he was like I have read you blog! I was quite taken aback!

5) Clarity of thinking : Writing has helped me to think better. Many times when I sit to write I have no idea what I intend to write but wile I am there in front of the laptop thoughts get formed and something interesting comes out. There are other times, when I sit to write with a concept, but as I am writing I realize that what I end up writing is very different from the concept I started from!

6) Change of Perspective : Now I look at everything and think…can I write about this on my blog!?

7) Learnt New Things : There are so many new things I learnt once I started blogging…like putting a stat counter….putting advts…etc etc etc!

8) Making Money?! : I have managed to put google advts on the site…it is not making me too much money($5.40 over a month!)…and google apparently pays only once you make 100 dollars..so that is a long long way to go!

Disadvantages of Blogging

Mom says I have become very non social….and don’t come home and talk…and talk more to the comp than people at home…

Bro says I have lost it….he asked me how a movie that I watched was…and I was like I have put a review on the blog check it out!

Overall…quite stressfull at times to have to come and sit on the comp again after a whole day of work!

Bottom Line :

I like to blog…I intend to continue to do so…maybe have a revised target of having one post every two days instead of one post everyday.. so I can strike balance!

What say people/readers/friends!?

Teach India : Week 6

Finally had a good session with the kids after a 4 week break!

I had almost forgotten what it is like to go there and go there and teach….1 month is a very long time!I was honestly quite lazy to go on a Saturday afternoon and I so wanted o sleep but I pulled myself up cause I had committed I would be there and went for the session and it was totally worth it.

I had a total of 15 kids today over various sessions!! It was good fun..

I reached late for my first session (was plain lazy and a lil disappointed with the last time’s session).One of my kiddo’s spotted me and I pulled him out of the session he was in and took him for a walk. We went to the school library and I spotted the child craft books and world books!! So we picked up a book on activities and sat and read it and saw the pictures. The session went off well. This child had come to the library numerous times earlier but had never bothered to look at those books.
I was quite unprepared for this session and I though cool I found my activity for the day…I will bring all the kids to the library and help them to explore the place and make friends with the books…But oh-ho… suddenly I see the Librarian getting up and closing the window and he informs me “Saturday the library closes half day”. There goes my impromto ‘planned’ activity out of the closed window! Now what!? So I asked the Librarian If I could borrow one of the child craft books…surprisingly he agreed! I picked up a Child Craft book “Celebrations” and we had many discussions on different celebrations around the world!

My second session with the kids was pretty good…I had two of my old children and three new ones! We went for a walk in the school…we learnt new words…we played the ‘shopping’ role play…In the middle of the session one of the new kids was being called away by one of the Kotak staff for something and she refused to go! She went with him only after he assured her that she could come back and continue the session!! This was by and large my best session of the day!

The third session started off wonderfully…I was sitting and waiting for my kiddos to come…my 4 bacchus came with a whole lot of their other friends!! So it was me and almost 20 kids around me ...each of them saying “teacher humko aapke saat baitna hai!!” Telling me shiyari’s doing full TP! What a chaos! But honestly I quite liked it…who does not like to be popular..!! Finally the Kotak Staff had to intervene and assign the kids to the other volunteers and I was left with my original set of 4! After all the excitement…the session was a big popat!...It was quite drab…after all no matter what you do…the energy levels with 20 kids vis a vis 4 kids would be different…and I was not really prepared!
We did a whole lot of activities…but the kids with another volunteer seemed to be having more fun! The official session ended…and I again had all the kids surrounding me again…and we had a shiyari session with me trying to recollect some old ones I knew as a kid!
Here is a new one I learnt from the kidoo’s today

“Dus aur Dus Jodo to Bees banta hai”
“Dus aur Dus Jodo to Bees banta hai”
“Hoot Aur Hoot Jodo to Kiss banta hai”

Giggles..giggles...giggles from all the kiddos..and then it was time for this batch to go!

The last session was also interesting….I had 5 new girls who were coming for the first time. I was no longer nervous like I was in my first day of teaching and the session was smooth and fun!
I think I quite love teaching…It is extremely challenging to keep kids engaged…and it is soo easy to make out when they are bored! I hope we have a session next week…it would be nice to have some continuity!!

Alfredos : Juhu

Was a looong week… an exhausting day…and a fun Friday evening. It was a friends b’day so the jingbang went to Alfredo’s for dinner.
Had a really nice time there as usual ..…but I was wondering what is so nice about the place…
It is loud…..too loud for a dinner place…too soft for a lounge….so loud that you can bearly hear people
Cramped up…..the seats are so close together that there is bearly any place for the waiters to walk around…and people really have to squeeze in to get into their seats….
Seats are like dinner table chairs….I was really missing the comfy sofa’s that some other places have…
Food was not bad…the lazania(don’t know how to spell it) was great…Pizza was so so…cheese corn balls were great…Nacho’s were different(not the good different)..the pasta was ok types..
So what is so great about the place…?? I don’t know…maybe the brand…and the ‘cool’ factor…
By the end of an hour….we just wanted to pay and get out and go to a place where we could actually hear what people were talking and we did!

We went to the beach…. :-) the sea is so beautiful by the night!! I am so glad Alfredo was loud and cramped up!!

Time to go to sleep and dream about the beach and the moonlight reflecting on the waves! GN!

Entrepreneurship Forums..

In line with yesterday's post…here are some entrepreneurship forums I accidently came across…is it a sign?? Is it fate's way of telling me to move on??

(Read http://lipak.wordpress.com/2008/09/11/the-language-of-signs/)

..As usual I really don’t know!!

Check it out…and tell me if you have heard of them!

Young Leaders Forum - http://www.imcyew.org/
The Young Leader's Forum (formely YEW) was setup by the Indian Merchant Chambers in 2001. Our mission is to create a platform for young Indian leaders to build network, grow and realize their own potential. Through cutting-edge events, forums, site visits and workshops (10 every year) the forum aspires to empower provide opportunities and expose young Indians to a cross section of leadership issues. The YLF will be the youth platform most known for identifying and empowering leaders

TiE Mumbai - http://tiemumbai.org/
TiE Mumbai is part of a global network of entrepreneurs which mentors, supports and facilitates the growth of new enterprises. TiE Mumbai was seeded in October 1999, and formally launched on December 7th, 1999. Today, TiE Mumbai is a multi-faceted organization and is an active TiE chapter dedicated to fostering entrepreneurship leading to wealth and job creation.

Entrepreneurship….

I dream to start something on my own someday but I don’t know if I will really ever get down to doing it.
So many people who are working and have this ‘loose’ dream that they want to become entrepreneurs…Some manage to go out there and take off …others always keep talking about it.
I have a feeling that I belong to the second category…..but I really really want to move to the first and actually take the step just quit my job and do something on my own.

But I don’t have the guts…and I really don’t know why! It is not that I have major responsibilities in life or in dire need of money and cannot take the risk. I don’t know what is holding me back.

I don’t know what comes first….
· Quit your job and then think of what to do to fill your time and make money
· First have plan and then say good bye to work

I would say ideally feel have a plan and then say good bye!

But while I am still working..…life is comfortable…..I almost like the routine..…I like going to work…I like most people at work(my boss can be a pain many a times..but overall he is not too bad..infact he is quite nice when he is not screaming!)…and I like the paycheck that goes into my account….it is overall comfortable…..so I don’t really really have the need to rock the boat!

So life goes on….I don’t know if I am doing anything significant and meaningful at work…but I am sure I must be learning something cause there is so much I don’t know.....

Overall….I really don’t know where I am going with work and what do I want to achieve…

What I know for sure is that ultimately I most definitely want to quit a 9 to 9 job …

It would be nice to do something on my own..I want to have my own clinic/chain of physiotherapy/ wellness centers where I can employ people so I don’t have to be there all the time and simultaneously I want to become a corporate trainer/teacher..(?!) wherein I take periodic sessions for adult groups….maybe become a part time RJ…and a part time Yoga Teacher!
‘Part Time’ is a very important word for me….I love variety… It would be so wonderful to be able to play multiple roles at the same time…be a corporate trainer some days a month….a yoga teacher in the evenings….and an RJ on sundays …. run your own wellness centers and make enough money in the process!

My current job…I really don’t know if it is taking me where I want to go….maybe it is…I am not too sure...because I don’t know the path to get where I want to go….

There are certain themes that are important to me….
· Learn/do something new and different...have a variety
· Have fun!
· Meet People..
· Have some flexibility

And as I write this I realize…my current job provides me with all these things at least by and large most of the times…It may or may not be directly taking me towards my end goal…..or I may just be right on track..

An anology that comes to mind to explain the situation: I think I want to go to Delhi(own clinic/Trainer/Yoga Teacher/ RJ) and have Chole Bature (part time work/variety/multiple role)…I am sitting in a train(my current job) and having Alu Poori(learning something new/having fun/meeting people etc)…hopefully the train is going towards Delhi(my own clinic etc)…even it is does not….I anyways don’t know which train goes there!
So bottom line no point in jumping off the train as of now… if I do I will end up missing the Alu Poori that I am currently getting and be stranded…as I do not knowing which train to catch to get to Delhi! And you never know…this train may just be on the right track and take me to Delhi…well even if it does not and reaches Bangalore…I may just like Bangalore better!!

Bottom Line : "Enjoy the Journey"…

Stat Counter…

Discovered something new today on “stat counter” thanks to a friend at work who is also a fellow blogger.
We were discussing blogs as usual at work in between our attempts to do work and he was showing off the wonderful statistics that wordpress has to offer. I was really quite fascinated and had half a mind of shifting from blogger to wordpress so I would also get to know some more details on the people who have visited my blog etc.

I use the “stat counter” to see the number of hits that I get on my blog…(If it is a decent number it keeps me motivated to continue writing!).

All these days I have been looking at the default page which gave the summary on the page loads/new visitors and returning visitors and I suddenly realized there is so much more stat counter has to offer! So duh of me not to realize there was a whole menu to choose from and get interesting statistics on your blog!

The stat counter which is a free counter gives you over 23 other options to choose from and I was restricted to only the summary! How Duh!

Here are some of the interesting things stat counter has to offer..

1. Summary : Well well….they only thing I would see all these days!
2. Came From: An interesting statistic…It tells you how people reached your site…I realized people I don’t even know have referred me on their blog!
3. Keyword Analysis : This is a cool statistic to see…it analysis the key words people have put on google to get to my blog. I did not even realize that my blog was available for google search!
4. Recent Keyword Activity: This is a continuation of the previous one…..what was very interesting was that 8/20 google searches that landed on my blog were to do with my ear wax post!
5. Recent Came From: This gives details on the recent visitors on your blog. Where they came from, what browser, OS etc they use, their city, IP address and even how long they stayed on the site etc etc! Quite Informative
6. Exit Link Activity : Gives details on How many times your links to other websites are being clicked by your visitors….definitly interesting to know!
7. Downloads: This was a surprise….did not realize people download stuff from the site!
8. Download Activity : Gives stats related to downloads...a revelation!
9. Visit Length : This gives the amount of time someone spent on your site.. :-) good to know..some people have spent over 30 mins here!

10. Recent Visitor Map: This one is super cool..it gives a world map and the peole who have visited you form various sites as dots on the map
11. Country/State/City/ISP : This one is my favorite….it show you the people who have visited your blog by country city state etc! Among other countries I have had visitors from Tanzania..! I wish everyone who came to the blog left a post!

Mistakes....

Everyone makes mistakes….and I make plenty!


Type of Mistakes

1) Known: You know it maybe ‘wrong’….but you still do it…..these are the “greys” in life. I believe that life is not all black and white…and there are a lot of things which are grey!
2) Unknown: It is a genuine slip…and you realize it once it is done. This is actul mistake! It just happens and you realize…oh my god!
3) Blind : You don’t even realize you have made a mistake, but others around you get hurt and upset. Being a PS I am sure I do many of these..!


I made a mistake today and was very upset about it….not a very big deal….but I was still quite upset with myself…It was one of those mistakes which was somewhere in between the known and unknown…..Your intentions are right….but you still don’t say/do the right things at the right time…and you immediately realize…oh oh… Looks like I said the wrong thing or I did not say the right thing…and feel so stupid!

And then what do you do…?? How do you make amends?

Is realizing and repenting enough….?? Is having the correct intentions good enough??

I really don’t know….

I remember someone from my Buddhist practice group once told me that …realizing and repenting in not enough and you need to make amends…

She had read this somewhere and remembered a chana wala in the lane she use to flick chana’s from as a kid for the kicks, she actually went back to the shocked chana wala’s son who was still selling chana’s in the same lane and paid him 50 bucks!

I don’t know if it is a good idea….but it sure made me feel better…made me feel a little in control..

I though I could actually do something to amend a mistake….may be not directly cause words once said cannot be taken back...but indirectly!

Karjat Calling…

Well the trek worked out finally and it was rocking!!!
After much debate on time/place/mode of transport 11 of us set out to go to Saguna Baug and then we moved on to a waterfall….had a wonderful time!

I am up since 5 in the morning thius extremely exhausted now to write any more….so just check out the snaps…
And if you want to read more..Check out my friends blog….. http://lipak.wordpress.com/

Update:10th September

Sorry need to pull out the snaps...

Update :14th September

Another friend wrote about the trip...check it out!

http://dhiirajp.blogspot.com/2008/09/saguna-baug-and-waterfalls.html

Coordinators Hat…

The last trek we went to Lonavala was wonderful and we wanted to go for another trip before it stops raining and we believe that the more the merrier…

So all of us decided to call “other” friends…and make a biiiig group….and we did….we are 11 of us in the last count I took…

From the last two days I have been trying to coordinate the whole thing and it has been such a pain!!!…

No consensus on place!
No consensus on time!
No consensus on mode of transport!
No consensus on anything!!

I have an Hyderabad group and we called ourselves the “Junglee Musafir”…and one of my friends Ria would always wear this hat of the coordinator….and now I understand why she would be so frustrated by the end of it!

But end of the every trip she would plan….we would have a ball of a time…..lets us see if this trip tomorrow works out…

The Week That Was : 30th Aug to 5th Sep!

Well end of the week…don’t know what to write….so I guess I can put one of those posts on the week that was….

Saturday : 30th August
Celebrated Saturday and slept all morning! Finished the book “Earning the Laundry Stripes”...Went for the Teach India session only to be disappointed as no kids turned up and then went to play Badminton in the evening….did not get to play too much…but that is my fault I went really late but I jogged in the ground so it was overall a good trip to the club!

Sunday : 31th August

Slept all morning and watched TV...all ‘intelligent’ boring stuff like the news et all….cause I got into trouble for not knowing enough on current affairs on Friday…(long story! may write more latter..)
Evening met some friends…and went for a movie…but that was a fiasco….we we found a nice chai place at New Bombay called “Masala Chai”…and chilled out….chatting…played truth and dare …(All truth no dare!) Over all was fun…I had gone with a group of people I did not know too well….so the fiasco at the movie hall(Read Fame Raghuleela Fiasco!) was almost a good think as we all got to know each other better!

Monday:1st September
Normal day at work…..Highlight of the day…I came home and went for an half an hour jog at 9.30 in the night and worked up some sweat!

Tuesday : 2nd September
Work as usual…and then went and watched Rock On for the night show....already post a post on this!

Wednesday: 3rd September
Ganpati Bapa Moriya! Had a whole lot of people coming home was good fun!

Thusday: 4th September
Took a day off from work for Ganpati Visarjan

Friday 5th September
Normal day at work…went out for dinner with some office friends and did the general crib routine..and the talks on what we dream to do! Overall a fun evening!

Well so overall an nice week….with two holidays in the middle of the week and a lot of action!

Ganpati Visarjan…

Visarjan done….I feel like writing on of those school time essays which end with “we were tired but happy!” but chill that is not what I am going to do.

From the time we have started keeping Ganpati at home almost 11 years back, the visarjan has always been at Juhu Beach…

For all those of you’ll who have never seen Ganpati immersion at the beach it is a site worth seeing…it is beautiful…the sea is enormous with and the Ganpati idols are majestic.. The beach is vast with people dotting every available inch….it is very windy and you can feel the salted humid wind hitting your skin…there are people huddled at regular intervals on the sand around their ganpati idol doing the pooja and trying to keep the flame burning despite the breeze…you can hear the aarti at different stages…synchronized claps…jingle of the pooja bells…all interspersed with roar of the waves and the sound of the wind in the background…

We would do our pooja at home…walk down the garden steps…reach the beach…huddle….do the final pooja…carry the ganpati to a certain distance out into the sea and then get one of the many boys around to take it further into the water..and stand in the sea with the sand disappearing from under the feet and watch...

Somehow we would always go in the night and I can so clearly remember the moon shining on to the sea waves and getting reflected back…we would see the boy carrying your ganpati walking into the darkness of the sea …and then he would turn around and there was just enough moonlight for us to catch a last glimpse of our ganpati….

It was a very private and spiritual moment out there on a crowded beach…..

It was very special but it is now that I have actually realized the real value of it…as this year was different…

Since we have moved away from the sea front; we went to a Talav (Pond) near home to do the Ganpati Visarjan…it was a very different experience….. It was brightly lit…lot of noise….not too much wind so our Diya was burning brightly without us having to huddle to keep the wind away……As for the moon…earth was too brightly lit by halogen lights for me to notice the moon if it was there…

We put the Ganpati Moorti on a wall in the corner…did the pooja…. There was a narrow gate guarded by Policemen to go down the talav and only one person was allowed to go down the steps that to upto a certain point and not into the water….my brother managed to go past the gate…We were not allowed to go down the steps….and were craning our necks from across the grill to catch a last glimpse of our Ganpati with the policewomen trying to shoo us off and whistling into our ears….One of the volunteer boys carried the ganpati into the pond….and tak…its over……

I am not even sure I spotted my Ganpati going down…We are asking each other…"Ho Gaya kya..?” And then someone says…"Nahi hua…..hua hota to Sam(my bro) would have come up by now” and then we realized that visarjan ho gaya…and Sam came back from another gate which was the exit gate from the pond…!

So it was done…..quick….Well organized….well coordinated and managed by the police and the volunteers…..but so mechanical that somehow the sprit was lost..

Done…One more year of Ganesh Chaturti is over…. As usual I always feel it gets over very quickly….the house feels so empty after visarjan…everyone who gets Ganpati at home/colony will know exactly what I mean…

Overall been a wonderful two days…

Ganpati Bapa Morya!

We brought Ganpati Bapa home today! Was a nice day....had lots of people coming home!

My old friends from Juhu....new friends from SGI....new friends made at Badminton court all came home for ganpati darshan.....and many for the first time!!

Neighbors Relatives Friends..... I love people visiting!!

I guess i just love being with people...

Not in a mood to write much...so will sign off and go read......brush....pray....maybe do a Tarro Card reading ....and go to sleep!

Rock On Rocks!

Finally saw “Rock On”…and it Rocks! I am not a rock music fan per se….and cant really directly relate to being a part of a band etc….but the movie is great and the music is good…..It is one of those movies you come out smiling….:-) and feeling good…
Farhan Aktar looks hot……Arjun Rampal….looks like a looser…….well that is his character in the film so he looks that part! Good acting by everyone….Prachi Desai was also not too bad….but I somehow did not like her hair style in the movie.....they could have done better with it!
Purab’s character could have been better defined….there is not much about his family or relationships or anything….looks like the did not have time so they cut out his track…
Watched the late night show….but did not sleep through the movie….so basically it was entertaining enough!
Tired now….going to sleep…..go watch the movie! And “Don’t download the songs Buy the CD” (This comes on screen before the end titles start exactly at a point when you are thinking to yourself…ah lets go home and get the songs!)

Personality Plus Classification!

Florence Littauer classifies people into four personality types. I had attended a workshop on this a few months back and then I found a book written by her a few weeks back and it revived my interest. It is quite an accurate classification and now every time I look at someone ...I think..ah he is a PC/PS...or a PM/PP...or eh....this was a typical PS statement..If nothing else it is fun to bucket people in different categories....and tell someone...you are a PC...and have them look at you in confusion! (This by the way would be a typical PS statement!)
Check out this link and do the test for yourself..and do remember to tell me the results!

http://www.oneishy.com/personality/personality_test.php

By the way…..I am a PS/PC….read on an you’ll know what that means!

Popular Sanguine (PS) : The Extrovert The Talker The Optimist
Appealing personality
Talkative, Storyteller
Life of the Party
Good sense of humor
Memory for color
Physically holds on to listener
Emotional and demonstrative
Enthusiastic and expressive
Cheerful and bubbling over
Curious
Good on stage
Wide-eyed and innocent
Lives in the present
Changeable disposition
Sincere at heart
Always a child

Poweful Choleric (PC) : The Extrovert The Doer The Optimist

Born leader
Dynamic and active
Compulsive need for change
Must correct wrongs
Strong-willed and decisive
Unemotional
Not easily discouraged
Independent and self sufficient
Exudes confidence
Can run anything

Perfect Melancholy (PM) :The Introvert The Watcher The Pessimist
Makes friends cautiously
Content to stay in background
Avoids causing attention
Faithful and devoted
Will listen to complaints
Can solve other's problems
Deep concern for other people
Moved to tears with compassion
Seeks ideal mate
Easy to get along with
Pleasant and enjoyable
Inoffensive
Good listener
Dry sense of humor
Enjoys watching people
Has many friends
Has compassion and concern

Peaceful Phlegmatic (PP) :The Introvert The Thinker The Pessimist

Easy to get along with
Pleasant and enjoyable
Inoffensive
Good listener
Dry sense of humor
Enjoys watching people
Has many friends
Has compassion and concern