MY DAUGHTER'S GIFT FOR MY BIRTHDAY

Happy to share this card with all my friends. I believe she spent a few days before the birthday getting this ready.

Kindly skip the adjectives like "Awesomest", " Greatest" and the words "Entire Universe" :))).

We spent a long time together going through this creation. This gives me much more happiness that anything that happens in my workplace.

I still believe that our entire time is our family's time in which we as parents are the main entities. It is a part of that time that we are committed to do the work at our workplaces that we are responsible for, with all diligence. The more we focus on managing that time well, so as to find time everyday for our family especially our kids, the more joy we will experience.

WHEN I COMPLAINED THAT I HAD NO SHOES....

Last weekend I drove to my friend's house. We have been friends since childhood and we keep sharing a lot of things between us. I was happy to see him. We talked and talked on many subjects. The evening was great and though a lot of children were around playing and creating a cacophony of sorts, we still enjoyed the ambience of the park with the fresh flowers and greenery.

Long conversations always brings out something about my profession too into it. I happened to share with him that these days my job has a large chunk of activities that don't really contribute to my competence, but still they are activities that have to be done as part of the organization's need. I was telling him how I feel really sad about it. When I slowly moved from a sad state into a cribbing state, my good friend told me that he was actually without a job and that he was desperately hunting for one. He was fine to take up any kind of work.

The best part of that conversation with him was that he never even once advised me not to crib, or to be happy with what I have. Instead he just told me he was prepared to take up any kind of work. His tone and his body language conveyed a lot. I believe that the message to me was that atleast I have a job to crib about. It was a funny situation where I was not prepared to do any job dumped on my head, but only nice and juicy ones with competence, whereas he was prepared to take up anything as he had no choice.

It is true that beggars can never be choosers. I believe that I who is cribbing today would with a smile take up the same work and do it if I did not have a job in hand.

I was actually complaining that I had no shoes to someone who had no feet!!!

OUR OPENING PERFORMANCE THIS YULETIDE - SANGEEDHADHARA

We had put in several weeks of preparation before this first performance. But still we had lots of hard lessons to take back with us. It was very clear that competition was almost biting us at all corners.

There was a speech by one of the guests, that was really apt for the occasion. He brought out the significance of choir singing attaining a spiritual level when harmony sets in through the voices of all the performers in a team. That harmony that comes in when individuals place the group's objective as primary in their mind according to him, is a great lesson in team work. That is where he said that, each of us need to transcend beyond our self to perform together with others in the team, for acheiving the team's goal.



We could apply this concept to any team activity pursuing a common goal. That is why individuals who are keen on strong individual performances many times may not be able to fit into a group performance.

 

 

A FIRE ENGINE EASTWARD AND AN AMBULANCE WESTWARD

Happy Diwali to you. It was about 7.00 pm yesterday, when I reached the main road close to my home. I thought it would be good to buy some fireworks on my way to home. I spotted a shop close to the main junction and stood in the long bee line. In a few minutes I could hear the horn of a fire engine making its way towards the east. Five minutes later I heard the horn of an ambulance go in the opposite direction. I am not sure if either of the two were in any way connected to an accidental burn injury caused by fireworks. But it was a very peculiar thing to see on the eve of Diwali. Almost everyone waiting there in the line also shared the same thought.

We should all have a blast this Diwali, but we should also ensure that we and our dear ones last and remain in good shape.

I have to admit that I am always really scared while walking on the road on the days around Diwali time, always wary of the cracker that would take you unawares at some corner of the road. In fact yesterday evening, I took the road that had mostly shops lined up on both sides, so that I could avoid the areas where children danced around with crackers.

Again on the flip side, it's not that we should be too scared and lose all the fun. But we shoud take good care to be in good shape in the days that follow Diwali.

 

HOTEL BASERA - A GREAT GREEN SPOT

The Basera Hotel on the ECR Road in Chennai is a nice spot for spending some time. More than the food, I liked the natural ambience. It is a great place to hang out with family.

For corporate teams on the OMR or ECR roads looking for a three hour break over lunch, this is the right spot. I spent a long time in the greenery. I also consciously kept looking at distant objects up in the trees to soothen my eyes, as IT professionals are more used to giving their eyes a laptop or personal computer treatment most of the time.

Food is also really good. The only incovenience I felt was that the charcoal burners kept on each table were too close to the seats and it radiated heat.

Food is also served outside in the green or even atop the thatched houses.

You don't have to worry about the rains as the seats and tables are well arranged under huge beach umbrellas.

I spent a lot of time around this pond cooling my strained eyes.

Sitting in a well managed hut within the city's boundaries gives a good feel with greenery around.

SEEING A CHILD TAKE ITS FIRST STEPS

Weeks back I had the opportunity to see a child take its first attempt at taking its first steps. God's creation is amazing. The child was trying out something it has never done before, something unknown and today most of us are not able to take big leaps and big risks because of the fear of the unknown that looms large in front of us. But as a child we somehow took bigger risks.

A baby for sometime crawls and then moves around on its hands and knees. When it tries to stand up, many times it falls flat on its belly, face down. Seeing that happen to my daughter years back was indeed spine chilling. I almost had a feeling that she would break herself. But even after the fall it rises and tries again. That is something I felt is a great lesson for an adult like me to rise up and try again even after a fall.

With every fall that we have comes additional fears, insults and a drain of self esteem. If little babes were to have all these with each fall, they would never have ventured to stand up and walk at all. How amazing is God's creation.

IF WE HAVE NOT LEARNT OUR SUBJECTS PROPERLY

It is an interesting situation that crops up when we have not studied our subjects properly in school. The most obvious impact is that money has to be shelled out by our parents to get a seat in a college for a professional course that is supposed to open a green channel towards employment. For those students who have been lucky of getting into courses leading to jobs without having to take this impact, there is another impact lurking in the corner.

When they grow up and have a family, the kids approach them with questions on concepts in academic subjects. If they are not in a position to guide them, sending them to tuition centres is the only option. And today it is a big expenditure to get our kids coached through these centres.

Getting great marks is one thing. It can many times be the result of a one sided peripheral study without depth, where the retention can be pretty ephemeral. But studying a subject properly is a totally different aspect. If the latter happens, then once the concept goes inside a person, it never evaporates.

I am not sure how long I will keep sustaining that magical impression in my daughter that I am the expert in all subjects. So far so good :))