"Sometimes we reach a point where, in order to move on, we have to wipe the slate clean.." - The Beaver

I've reached that point. Need to clean the slate. Have to make a new beginning...

But some idiot wrote on it with a permanent marker! Can someone seriously be that stupid? How do you not realize how destructive it can be! How do I clean this crap now?

Help! :-O

A handmade greeting card.
A phone call from a colleague to your boss, just to tell him you're doing a good job.
A weekly SMS from a friend from another continent asking about your day.
Reliving happy days from the summer.
The comfort in familiarity.

Whoever said it was the big things that count! Most people lead crazy, hectic, busy lives with a thousand things to accomplish each day. But even in the madness of it all, the ones who choose to take out five minutes for you- those are the people that matter; those are the people for whom you matter...

Weekends tend to be very contemplative nowadays - I guess the week goes by so fast that there is suddenly a lot of time to think without work! The good thing about that is that I'm learning to appreciate solitude- which I think everyone should know to do. The downside though, is that the introspection is often about where I am versus where I thought I would be! And as a rule, human tendency is to never be happy with the present!

Oh well... As always, Calvin says it best...

Thank you AOL / ICQ for coming up with instant messenger services in the 1900's and then Google for integrating it with their email service !!!

I officially love gtalk - because it can connect people who are 7374 miles apart and have not spoken to each other for over 13 days and who need to speak to each other !!! :):)

Stupid post, but this has been a crazy week and I'm happy it's ending and I'm grateful for a few special people in my life... :) And gtalk just helped me reconnect with them.. :)

Children

Random website-hopping brought me to this beautiful poem by Kahlil Gibran- On Children.

If you have kids, this is one of those poems you should have framed by your bedside and read out loud every night, almost like a prayer.. I know that's one thing I would do for sure..

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Note to all parents: After a certain age, let your children be ! They are smart enough to figure their way out..

No Title.

Yet another quote from Grey's Anatomy hits the nail on the head today..

"...And is it worth it—being responsible? Because if you take your vitamins and pay your taxes and never cut the line, the universe still gives you people to love and then lets them slip through your fingers like water, and then what have you got? Vitamins and nothing..."

Responsibility sucks. I never took my vitamins. I've made mistakes. But I've alwayd learned from them.
I never said I was perfect.
People matter. Love matters.
Life is weird.

Humans like to impose and demonstrate their power on other living beings like animals by killing them for food, pleasure or revenge. Basically they like controlling and manipulating others' lives. Survival of the fittest. I say, that is unfair. Which is why I'm vegetarian.

Then, God or whatever you consider above all of us, shows us our place by doing the exact same thing to us. That is unfair too. But I said I was vegetarian. Shouldn't that account for something? A few brownie points, maybe?

Maybe agnosticism is the way to go- No expectations, no accountability.

I'm using the blog as a diary again. Damn!

Musings...

Random things that have happened in the past few days; random thoughts that have crossed my mind..

1. My group of friends from COEP had a reunion of sorts a few weeks ago. We all met at a friend's place in Baltimore and hung out for the whole weekend. I think it was the most amazing, fun time I have ever had in a very very long time. It's weird how things never change with some people, no matter how much time has passed since you last met. I mean I am in touch with a few of my closest friends from college, but I met a few friends that weekend after like 3 years; and it was still exactly the same- actually I think I had more fun with them than we did even when in COEP! Thank God for long-lasting friendships!
2. The weekend in Baltimore also made me feel very old and grown-up.. There we all were- with jobs and cars, discussing about our companies; so many of us are engaged and getting married before the end of this year! Seems like yesterday that we all set foot in the US.. Does time pass this fast, really?
3. Talking about time- I think I have spent so much time now in a transient state that the idea of "settling" in a place doesn't appeal to me anymore.. I mean, I have always been a person who likes to make a place her own- even if it is one side of one bedroom in an apartment- I liked the feeling of owning a place and calling it mine- nesting as they call it. But now, being in one place for too long scares me, bores me and makes me nervous. Do I really have to work in this same company for the next few years now; stay in this same apartment year after year? I think while all people are moving forward, I'm moving backwards.. :P
4. Have you ever played that game where you think back to what you were doing on this day, a year back? I just realized that a year ago, on this day, I was gearing up for a very dear friend's birthday party- planning this big surprise, wrapping up gifts and all...- and today, just a year later, I don't know anything about that friend's whereabouts! We are as good as strangers.. I hate this game!
5. I firmly believe that people maketh a place a home. Windy, snowy, humid, dull, drab, tiny- none of these adjectives matter as long as you have the right people to share it with.. Man is a social animal. Man needs people to make life meaningful- the right people.
6. I always thought new beginnings were exciting- the numerous possibilities, the excitement, the apprehensions- I loved all of that always! But now, I want to go back to things, the way they were. Old is gold. Starting over does not seem fun anymore. Shucks, I am feeling old already! :P
7. Speaking of age- I recently saw the picture of my younger sister on Sari Day in her college in India- man, she looks so grown-up and pretty! I was staring at that picture for 10 minutes, unable to accept the fact that my sister is so grown-up.. I think I am starting to understand how my parents feel when they see us get older each year..
8. That Sari Day also doubled up as Rose Day in her college, so my sister was filling me in on the gossip and happenings of the day.. Apparently one of her friends' boyfriend gave her 143 red roses. Why 143- I asked her, assuming that maybe they had been together for 143 days or something! So turns out that 143 stands for "I Love You" !! Man, have I been out of college for this long?!!?
9. Is it possible to have a job that you love or do all jobs become dull and drab after a few months/years? I mean seriously, I need someone to tell me- is there a job that you can enjoy so much that Mondays don't depress you anymore? You have fun over the weekend, but the idea of going back to work on Monday still seems exciting.. Please tell me that there is a job like that!
10. I miss the World Cup- never have I felt more Indian than I did on the day of the semi-finals and finals! Man, what a game, what a team, what a performance! Hats off to everyone.. I felt happiest for Sachin Tendulkar actually- after 20 years in the sport, I think he deserved at least one WC win to his long list of achievements.. That joy and satisfaction was so evident on his face. Isn't it amazing how one sport can unite the country to this extent?!

Inspirational Sunday!

Found this quote on a new blogger friend's blog and I'm reproducing it here because something about this philosophy really resonates with my belief too..

“Make a wish and place it in your heart. Anything you want, everything you want. Do you have it? Good. Now believe it can come true. You never know where the next miracle is gonna come from, the next smile, the next wish come true. But if you believe that it’s right around the corner, and you open your heart and mind to the possibility of it, to the certainty of it. You just might get the thing you’re wishing for. The world is full of magic. You just have to believe in it. So make your wish. Do you have it? Good. Now believe in it. With all your heart.”

Isn't that just amazing?!?! :-)

Copy-Pasting a Blogpost

I was reading through the blogs of some of the friends on my blogroll, just to catch up on what they've been up to. Been a while since I spoke to some of them. And I came across this post written by a guy I know in Pune. I was reading his post- which was really small, but brilliant, an analogy of sorts. At that point, I realized that I had read a very similar post on the blog of another senior of mine from COEP. Just to check out, I opened her blog and hunted for that post.

And horror of horrors, it was the exact same post! And by exact, I mean word-for-word...

Now obviously, my COEP senior had posted this about a year before this other guy, so it's obvious who used Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V !! :P And having been a Masters student in the US for more than six months now, I am pretty sensitive to plagiarism issues! (Lol!) No seriously, I didn't like what he'd done. In spite of that, I decided to give him a fair chance- maybe he wasn't aware of blogging rules. So I pointed it out to him in his comments section. Even linked it to the url of the original blog post. I thought he'd accept his mistake and either remove his post or mention the source as an "inspiration". At least that was the gracious thing to do!

When I checked back a day later, he had deleted by comment and the post was still there as it is- without any modifications! Furthermore, he was actually receiving applauding comments from his other friends about how insightful his post was and how clever of him to think up of such an analogy !!!

Now there are two things to this- the guy picks up a post from another source, without changing even a preposition in it (the only thing he did was italicize a few words... :P:P). And to top it off, he doesn't change it even after someone tells him it's not his original work! Well, he's an engineering student, and I know that as a group, we don't think too much of "GT-ing" our sheets or copying journals, but that is for convenience (;-)) This is pure plagiarism only coz he couldn't find something smart to write on his blog!

I know most people who blog do it for pleasure. Our posts are not protected by copyright laws or licenses. But as bloggers, there is an unwritten code of conduct we all follow, and that is to never Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V another person's post without permission!

I hope that guy reads this post and realizes the mistake he's committed !! :P:P

(Interesting cartoon taken from here)

PS: I'm not mentioning either the guy's blog link or the link to the original post because I don't want to embarrass him. But I sincerely do think he should do something about it!

Orkutting !!

To put it very simply- Its addictive !! Its been only a month and a half since I got introduced to Orkut by Gaya, and since then it has truly succeeded in taking over much of my Internet time ! Whether its building up my friends list, or participating in online community forums, or even 'sharing my friends karma' !! Latest count- I have 8 smileys, 4 ice-cubes and one fan !! Now how cool is that ??!! :-):-)

My homepage changes from the usual Google to Orkut...
The first half an hour of my net time is spent scrapping people, replying to scraps and messages and updating profiles and photo albums !!
'Orkutting' is the newest activity to hit COEPians- if the participation in the COEP community is anything to go by !!

And communities- a plethora of them to take your pick from- from the usual Puzzles, Books, Politics, to the more personalised ones like Poona, Chintoo, Hotel Vaishali, to the absolutely feel-at-home ones like COEP, Boat Club, COEP Mechanical, and of course the out-and-out whacky ones like 'Born Losers', 'Arbit, Completely Arbit', and what not !!

Ok...now I'm not advertising for Orkut or anything, but hey...its really a wonder site, where networking and maintaining contacts is concerned !!
Where else can you keep in touch with your friends all over the world, absolutely free of cost, and without the hassles of writing emails all the time !! Just a two line scrap does the job ! After all, its just a question of telling people that they are remembered !!

My favourite activity on Orkut - writing testimonials !! I was once on an absolutely feel good trip and ended up writing testimonials for nearly 8 of my very good friends ! And I must say, definitely feels great to know that you have so many cool people in your life !!

With that...I'm off to scrap few other people on my list...Chao !!

$ups

The First Post...

Heylo !!

I cordially welcome myself to Blogistan !! After getting truly inspired by the blogs of some of my friends and acquaintainces, I decided...time for me to do something as interesting as this...and 3 unsuccessful attempts at getting an account on blogspot and numerous trials at getting a suitable URL for my blog, later....SUPS comes alive today !!

Frankly speaking, I don't really know if I need a blog...maybe not...or maybe I do. Probably I just look at it as a place to put up all that goes through my head !! About anything and everything under the sun...sometimes a tad too much of writing about seemingly insignificant matters !! Even the occassional lot of gibberish !! ;-);-)

And readers, the Shoutbox and Haloscan are all yours...feel free to comment !!

Here's to blogging !! May it live a long long time !!

Chao....