FLY ! .....On Short Notice.......

Wait!!! Atleast give me time to get my feathers and wings!!!!!.... HAHAHAHAHA....
Nope, I am not a bird and can't flap my hands and fly :) , but i sure can get on a plane and fly :)

Well, that is what i had to do, get on the next available plane and fly to the USA.

Tuesday, 16th October, office; i was about to go for a coffee break when my manager called me to his desk. Assuming it was just another routine thing, i walked over casually. When he asked me to sit down, i knew this was not the usual talk. "Can you fly this weekend?" - he said. "Sir?,Pardon me ". I must have sounded like a deaf guy who din't hear what he said as he repeated, with a little detail this time. "You have to go to the US for a while on work. Can you pack up and fly this saturday?"..... ok.. this was more clear! but it was like a charge going off in my head!!!!... "Sure"- I said..... Sure?? what was i thinking???? did my brain even knew that i had just uttered the word "Sure"!!!?? ... i am sure it didn't!! ...... i was not ready for this ! i din't know anything...din't know what work i was going there for, din't know for how long i will be there in the US, din't know any details about the trip..... and my mouth had to go on and say "SURE" !!! apparently.... my manager had been speaking to me all this while... i must have missed a few sentences because, he paused, looked at me and told me that i could take a couple days more if i am not ready and was smiling at me. ........... long pause.......

In that long pause, my brain was in overdrive, thinking .... about all the things... yes, i had joined this company just about 6 and half months back, and was into a complex project... nice, this is my opportunity for the next step in my career, i was determined... with a steely resolve. then came the thoughts about family, parents will be happy, the entire family will be happy...great. Then .... the pause ended....

I heard voices.... it was my manager :) he was asking me something...i din't hear what he asked. i just told him i will tell him by the time i leave for the day as to when i can leave. He was cool with it and then, we went for coffee.

I called up home, spoke to my uncle, aunt, parents and my guru.... well, i spoke to my parents last, as i wanted to be sure before telling them anything. :) ....u know parents...how they can get really excited for their kids real fast.....i got positive response from everyone. This was it! this was my chance.... i made up my mind, called my parents and told them i had to travel that weekend and i shall tell them details when got back home from work.

i walked back to my manager, told him i was ready and can fly that weekend. he said "Great". gave me a big smile and asked me to start all the official processes.

i went home in the evening... a lot had happened by that time. i also realised that the next day, Wednesday, i will be getting delivery of the car that i had bought couple months back! cool..i thought... then i realised that i had to do lots of shopping, as i din't even have suitcases to carry things in.... it was too short a notice! to travel for 3 months!

the next 3 days went by in a blur..... there was frenzy of activity for preparations and shopping...

then.... Friday night... started packing.... .... Power failure... !!! no lights..!! I actually had to pack for my first overseas trip in candle light!!?!?! hmm... that was tough..but eventually.. it was all done and set! :)

Saturday, 20th October; a couple of my friends arrived to see me off. my uncle and family also came.

we loaded the luggage in a cab that i had called and off i went to the air port.

i checked in and waited for my flight......

How was my flight? what was the experience?........ weird, funny and full of odd experiences.....

i shall write again.. another day, to tell you all about my first overseas flight :)

For now... lets just say... it was all...... On Short Notice ;)

Clean up the ......... Language?!?

The other day I was at a popular coffee place and sitting at a table nearby were a bunch of college kids., probably 6 of them. There were a couple of girls too. We all know this scene all too well. Loud music, lots of coffee and constant chattering !

What astounded me was the extent to which Profanity has crept into the way people converse these days. Sitting at the table, with our coffee, my friend and I were just plain shocked at hearing how the group of kids were talking. every sentence had the all so popular F*** word, BullS***, A*****e, M*****F*****, B***h!

Simply shocking!!

In India, the land of Great Culture, where people are (or should i say 'were') respected and elders obeyed and listened to, what has happened to "Clean Talk"?????????

I could hear kids no older than 14 or 15, at the most, calling their parents all sorts of names!! What a disgrace !
This kind of "Trash talk" is something that is polluting our own culture, language, tradation and respect. We are killing the dignity of our land. How do we even tolerate such talk?!?!
It is a shock that such language and Slang has actually become terrifingly popular than clean vocabulary.

These days we can hardly hear anyone say "Thank you" or "Welcome" or "Please" or Excuse me".

The question more than "How" is "Why?".

Don't we know what the curses mean? ofcourse we do.
Don't we know that these are bad names to call one's parents? again.. ofcourse we do.
Don't we know that it is a disgrace to talk trash?!... now.. that is something else.... these days.. as we observe... it is more of a status 'thing' to talk trash....

In a land where Women are worshiped as Gods..... people now call them "B***h".
In a land where Mother is equivalent to God...... kids are calling her names too low to even deserve mention!!

What happened to ---

"Maatru devo bhava,
Pitru devo bhava,
Aacharya devo bhava,
Athiti devo bhava"...................????????????????????

I wonder what the elders are teaching the kids?!?!
We see kids of "Important" people driving drunk and running over people, or drinking and doing drugs... yes... these things catch the eye of the press and they highlight it to no end... ofcourse... there is the issue of viewership rating and all that...but...
And the "Moral Police".... you stink...of Hipocrisy!!!
How many events where a little kid has done great in a big quiz, or done a fantastic painting, or is a music genius, or has amazing intellect has been highlighted?

How many kids have been mentored to utilize and channel that genius to become "truely great".
why is it that we don't see more people like Anushka Shankar, or Maansi from IIMB who recently showed that money is not the only thing in life (Maansi , we are truely proud of you!) ?

Where is that wonderful catagory of kids?
All I can hear these days all around is trash talk!!!

We need to clean up our language........ and parents......Please clean up your kids vocabulary... this is a heartfelt request.

WE NEED TO SET AN EXAMPLE THAT IS ... WORTH FOLLOWING!
HOLD UP THE LEGACY THAT IS ALREADY THERE.... CLEAR THE DUST THAT HAS GATHERED ON IT !

LET US SHINE.....not Stink!

Continuity.........

I am not a new writer but this is a new post on a new blog.... surprised? well , I had a blog, wrote for a while, din't write for a long time, forgot my password! so had to make a new one. :)
But WHY? what made me think of creating a new one and start writing after so long? That is what i want to tell all of you who are reading this....

I was talking to a friend of mine over lunch. I got to know this guy not too long ago. Very dynamic chap. Being new friends we kept talking for a long time and finally finished eating and got back to work. He has a blog too and asked me to read it and so we swapped blog addresses. we eventually read eachother's blogs and realised we think alike in many aspects. So he asked me why i am not writing anymore and I told him the password fiasco. But i also told him that due to other reasons also I had stopped writing.

He said something curious - "Why are you truncating your future because of some past freak experiences? Just continue your work pal!"

I am sure this sounds so normal to say,or hear, but to me, a guy who had totally stopped writing and at one point had angrily swore to delete my blog, this was weird.

It was not just about writing again, It was about forgetting the past, it was about Reviving what was nearly dead and dormant.

I was completely skeptical.

After a few weeks, it sunk in. It was about CONTINUITY. About not stopping a wheel that has been set in motion just because the road has a few bumps.

My friend was teaching me a very important lesson in life! To keep moving ... and to keep Continuity.

Thanks dude..!
I will keep writing and will keep moving....AHEAD!!!!