Gift yourself smiles.
It keeps your life vibrant.

Gift yourself happiness.
It gives your life youthfulness.

Gift yourself hope.
It gives your life a purpose.

Gift yourself strength.
It gives your life a reason to fight back.

Gift yourself dreams.
It gives your life a whole new perspective.

Gift yourself love,
It makes your life worth living.

And gift me the promise,
that you would cherish
your own gifts for a lifetime.
It would give my life a meaning.
Sometimes life blooms, we are born.
Sometimes death threatens, we are gone.

Sometimes winners, victories we taste.
Sometimes losers, setbacks we face.

Sometimes friends, for life and beyond.
Sometimes it pales, and we move on.

Sometimes happy, and smiles galore.
Sometimes tearful, and depression soars.

Sometimes loved, by ones close to heart.
Sometimes betrayed, with soul torn apart.

Sometimes well-off, riches we enjoy.
Sometimes in misery, our wealth’s destroyed.

Sometimes we realize, sometimes we don’t,
that nothing is permanent, nothing at all.

So cherish the moment. Treasure the present.
Value your today. And live your life.
Not just sometimes. ALL THE TIME.

It all started exactly a year back. She was red hot and it was love at first sight for me. As love always has it, I had my initial hiccups with her. She was not easy to get along with and I had to improve my skills at dealing with her with every passing day.

Today, we are inseparable. We go together wherever we go. A long drive in the ECR – Just she and me. A quick visit to the Besi beach – Just me and she. She is one heck of a company. Has never brooded over my choice of songs I played during our umpteen drives together.

And to realize that am just as excited as I was a year back only goes on to prove the power of this relationship.

Here's wishing you and me a Happy Anniversary.
When I droop,
Thanks to your smile.
I cheer up.

When I fail,
Thanks to your directions.
I challenge myself.

When I err,
Thanks to your guidance.
I learn from my mistake.

When I dread,
Thanks to your presence.
I face my fears.

When I fancy,
Thanks to your love.
I live my dreams.

When my world is way behind,
And my day has not been kind,
Trust me, am telling you,
Just your smile would do.

When my life is only dry,
My work just makes me sigh,
Don’t wonder what to do,
Just your smile would do.

When I fall losing hope,
When I find it hard to cope,
Am not lying, it’s true,
Just your smile would do.

When I live with no drive,
And I feel dead, though alive,
Don’t try anything new,
Just your smile would do.


  • One for, my lonely heart.
  • Two for, me and a lovely girl.
  • Three for, me, she and a budding relationship.
  • Four for, me, she, our union, and a blooming romance.
  • Five for, me, she, our two hearts, and beginning of true love.
  • Six for, definitely not anything that rhymes with the number.
  • Seven for, me, she, the guy next door, his charm, my insecurity, her confused state, and the turn of events.
  • Eight for, the guy next door and her 7-year itch.
  • Nine for, just he, she, a bead of shed tear and 6 pieces of my broken heart.
  • Ten for, so many number of my failed attempts.
  • Eleven for, 10 failed attempts and a new beginning.
  • Twelve for, back to number (square) 1.
Disclaimer: All characters in the above lines are completely fabricated by the author and they bear not even the slightest of resemblance to anyone or anything living or dead. Any such existence of a “SHE” or a “ME” or a "GUY Next door" in real life is purely a coincidence.
”If love was shelter, I would walk in the rain”
The above line which I saw as someone’s status message in yahoo inspired the below lines. The thoughts expressed, though, are in total contrast to the source of inspiration.

If love was a deluge, I would want to get drenched.
If love was tsunami, I would want to get washed away.
If love was a whirlpool, I would want to get sucked in.
If love was Katrina, I would want to be swept away.
If love was an inferno, I would want to get burnt.
If love was a quake, I would want to get jolted.
If love was an accident, I would want to die.
And if love is reality, I would want to live.

Despite the form it takes, the feeling rocks.
But for now, love is just a history book,
that I really don’t want to read.
6.00 AM
7.00 AM
8.00 AM
9.00 AM
10.00 AM
.
.
.
10.00 PM
11.00 PM
Midnight

Ever since I talked about a new role, that's just how my everyday clock has been ticking. And now, am going to be officially away from town for another week, and I don't expect myself to be taking the time off to update my blog :o((((

From hardly working to working hard... Damn ! I never knew there was a sea of change :o((((

P.S. Maybe am exaggerating. Am just a lil held up at work though :o)
Overheard this conversation while waiting for the elevator:

Guy: Hi, good morning, how are u doing?
Babe: Am fine thanks and you?
Guy: ** Extends his hand as if to shake hands with her **
Babe: ** Surprised and extends her hand too **
Guy: Today is my Birthday
Babe: Oh Many more happy returns of the day.

Remember she is a babe? And so most of our eyes (how shameless) were on her and so all our ears (close to 10 pairs) were glued onto this interesting conversation.

Guy: So when are you going to give me a treat?
Babe: Oh yeah. Am kind of busy today. Will let you know.

And she was only glad the elevator came down finally. They parted ways.

Overheard inside the elevator:

Babe: What’s wrong with him?
Her friend: Ha ha! I think he has something for you.
Babe: It’s his birthday and he is asking me for a treat.
Her friend: How shameless.

Well I only wished I were working in one of the top floors. I had to get down while they were still talking.


Well, maybe his intentions were genuine. But the ploy only turned out to be tactless. Hmm if only men can read the mind of a woman…

P.S.
After 4 long years, I have finally moved onto take over a different role at work. Know what that means?

New team.
More responsibilities.
Lots to do.
Less time.
New boss.
And the worst...
No more laptop.

Which means less time and limited resources to keep posting as often as I used to do :o((((
I was on vacation.
I had gone to a different nation.


A nation where blog is an unknown concept.
A nation where the mind goes blank.
A nation where there is no inspiration.
A nation where motivation levels are low.
A nation where time moves at a slow pace.
A nation where friends cease to exist.
A nation where sleep is the order of the day.

Today, am back.

Back from my hiberNATION.
“Today is my last day at work”, I went around extending my hand and telling everyone at work. In these 7 years of professional engagement with my current organization, I have never once been prompted to take this decision. In me, the feeling was mixed. But in others, I was surprised to see no emotion.

“Today is my last day at work”, I was telling my friend at work. “Oh yeah! Take care machi”, is all that he had to say. Does he really understand that am going to be away. After years of association, do we just end up becoming colleagues? Nothing more?

“Today is my last day at work”, I said to a colleague. “Good Somu, am happy for you”, she said. I even told this to the highest authority in my business unit and all he said was, “Why are you even telling me this?”

Have I not built relationships here for friends to miss my presence? Have I not contributed professionally to the cause of the organization for my management to feel the void? Maybe they realize I would be back in 20 days. After all, today is my last day at work before I go on vacation.

P.S. Booking tickets for Bangalore for this coming weekend and already made arrangements for the Bryan Adams show ;o)
Running customers through our entire range of support tools is something I am designated to do. In one such demo exercise with a bunch of customers yesterday, I was encountering problems in navigating from one link to the other.

Not wanting to tell them that it is to do with backend issue, I just mentioned, “Sirs, am on wireless and the signal strength seems to be very poor”.


Convinced, the customers started walking out when one of my customer-friendly associates said, “Somu, I have a PC wired on the LAN. You can show it from there.” Little did he know that the problem was to do with backend and not my wireless LAN.


After 15 mins of embarrassment, I had to tell them what I wanted to avoid all along. “Sorry sirs. It is unfortunate that we are having back end issues now. I would love to walk across to the conference room sometime and show you the demo”.

Trust me. If you have been thinking “THINKING ON ONE’S FEET” is an individual trait, you are wrong. You might need others to shut their dim-witted mouths up for you to be successful in it.
It all started with having to drop my sister off at the MGM resorts yesterday. And on my way back at Mayajaal, I thought I would book tickets in advance for the evening. Having no concrete plans for the day and with everyone else being busy with their own work, I decided to chart out my own plan for the day.

Without delay, booked tickets for Aathi and watched it all by myself. End of it all, I was so happy, for, I did things I have never before done in life.

1. Watched a movie in the theatre all by myself.
2. Broke the mental block of having to drive through the ECR (This is primarily because of a nasty experience that I have had in ECR that costed a drunk by passer his life)
3. Crossed the 100 kM/Hr barrier (it sure is fun to see those vehicles disappear behind you)

Rest of the day saw me sleeping, window-shopping, and paying a visit to the good old Besi beach. In short, a wonderful day spent in the solitude of the best company I have ever had.

P.S. After Aathi, I would like to declare that am officially out of the Vijay fan club.
What happens when you have

A cold coffee
A devil’s own
A blue colored jazzy drink
A butter scotch ice cream
A black forest pastry ??????

You end up having a Happy Pongal.

Surprised?

Check out What happened on Jan 14th, 2006
** Based on a true story **

Time: 1930 hrs
Date: Jan 18, 2006

Much to his irritation, his mobile goes “Tring tring” just when he was about to leave home from office. Having battled with “Sir, you haven’t paid your bills” and “Do you need a credit card” calls all through the day, he was in no mood for anymore such trash. Being the sincere guy that he is, he could not ignore the fact that it could possibly be a customer of his. And so he picked up the call.

Caller: Is this Mr.So and So?
He: Yeah, this is very much he.
Caller: Am calling from XYZ bank.,
He: (As if he was waiting for this opportunity) Would you mind not calling me at such odd hours ? I am already on the verge of losing my patience.
Caller: But sir…
He: I absolutely have no need for credit cards, personal loans or any other shit you have to offer. So quit calling me again.
Caller: Am sorry sir. Your friend Jaikumar has given your name as reference for his personal loan application. So, this is just a formal enquiry.
He: Is it ? Geez Am so sorry. How can I help you?

And so the call finally ended.

At 2352 hrs, he is still wide-awake sincerely hoping that his friend gets the loan.
Never does she leave me,
notwithstanding my frantic attempts
to keep her in a safe distance.
She is all over me,
heedless to the utter disgust,
that I have developed in immense.

Though I despise her to the core,
I have had this live in relationship,
for more than a decade now.
Every night in my room,
before I catch up with forty winks,
hmm, to elaborate my etiquettes don't allow.

I might be her only Love,
but that's no reason
for me to be caught in her trap.
I cannot be married to her,
for the rest of my life,
fine if you brand me, a stone hearted chap.

Persistent, I can't let her get,
or allow her conquest of my life,
'coz I don't see it as a positive sign.
I desperately need to find a way,
to beat her to death,
this damn boredom of mine.
Everyone else : Ha ha ha
So me too : Ha ha ha
Everyone else : Clap clap clap
So me too : Clap clap clap

This happens every time I attempt something I do not understand. This time around it was a night show in Satyam – BLUFFMASTER. With the guy on my right happily sleeping (well he is worse than I am) and the one on my left thoroughly enjoying, I was left with no option but to interpret the movie in my own way. Luckily for me, I have this knack of enjoying movies no matter how crappy or incomprehensive they are.

After all this, there is just one question lingering in my mind.

How can a Hindi movie seem so much Greek and Latin to me?
Eating in Subway has become a routine for few of us at work. The quick service and the delicious sandwiches they have to offer are reasons why we sneak out for lunch there even on a working day. Overheard this conversation today at the Besant Nagar outlet between a customer (CU) and the subway guy (SW):

CU: Italian bread
SW: Veg or non veg ?
CU: Non veg, Chicken tikka
SW: Extra cheese?
CU: Sure. No tomatoes and olives
SW: Mint sauce?
CU: Sure.

After a while…

SW: May I vomit?
CU: urghhh no.
SW to the billing guy: One 6” Chicken Tikka, with extra cheese, without warming.

The rest of us: Ha ha ha ha ha !
I know I have this habit of writing about every small meet that I attend. But everytime it gives me an oppurtunity to get to meet someone new that I can't help but write about them :o)

Not only were Upma, Vadai and Bhajji on the menu, but Nayantara and Narayana Moorthy were the chief guests of the teeny-weeny meet we had this weekend.



It was really nice of Ravi and Chitra to have invited us over to their place for supper last Saturday. Having been living in an apartment ever since I remember, it was quite natural for me to be surprised seeing a long standing independent house with a spacious courtyard right in the heart of the city.



DV made a special appearance and was keen on projecting himself as a kid-loving guy. The motive behind it is only known to the few who had gathered and maybe to few of his close friends too. Never knew making two fortnightly trips every year to Chennai from Quatar can have such serious objectives.



The rest of us were regulars.

Hari who was popularly known as Mister Hari on that day and the lady who has already broken her resolution by not talking much were the others who graced the occasion with their presence. Nayantara and Narayana Moorthy are Ravi’s cute kids :o) And ofcourse we missed Sophie who could not make it.



Thanks for the wonderful evening Ravi.

P.S. “I need to take this picture just to make her feel jealous”, DV was heard uttering these words as he clicked the below picture.
I mean no harm. I just wanna have a couple of drinks. Dance around for a while. Eat to my heart’s content. Spend some good time with friends. Probably network if there is an opportunity. And maybe at the end of it all, wish everyone a Happy New year. However undamaging my intent might be, the ban on me only seems unjustifiable.

And I just found out from here, that the synonym to a stag is a hart. Now you know why I call such parties HEARTLESS.
Dear 2006,

Free this world
from earthly quakes and seismic shakes,
from fiery volcanoes and blizzards of snow.

Free this world
from ruthless floods and brutal bloodsheds,
from dreadful droughts and awful blackouts.

Free this world,
from twister’s swoon and tornado’s doom,
from engulfing seas and merciless tsunamis.

Free this world,
from storms frightening and deathly lightening,
from raging fires and all of nature’s ire.

Looking forward to a disaster free year,
we welcome you.
HAPPY NEW YEAR !!!

P.S. Though this was written just after Tsunami, I was prompted to repost after reading one of Ramya's poems here.