FELINE GRACE ON A CONCRETE MAZE

MELODIES AND BUTTERFLIES

Last December I got an opportunity to sing on stage for Christmas.  Of all the performances I have done so far, I believe this one was the best. The previous stint was almost a year earlier.

I have to agree that I did experience almost a factory of butterflies inside me in the last five hours prior to singing. But still I feel I was able to manage it well. Singing is best done when we are able to breath normally and when we are at complete ease with the surroundings. I really felt that happen this time.

I remember the first time when I performed on stage in college. I had truck loads of butterflies inside me for almost days before the singing. I had not practised the spots where I had to breathe and the whole song came to stop in the middle and I exhaled heavily into the mike. It was like the sound of some mini typhoon for the audience, when I finally exhaled :)) It took several months for me to come to terms with that fiasco :))

Singing comes best when we are casual and at ease. But I think I am rarely in that state and that is why I believe it is always a challenge for me :)) In fact singing is a great way to destress.



The funniest part is that someone had to tell me that I could sing. I am thankful to my college mates S.V.Gopal, Arul Daniel and Giridhar for pushing me to sing on stage the first time and to go beyond my diffidence.

Once when I was working out of Kolkata, I memorised a few Hindi song scripts written in English and went for a Hindi song audition. I did well and the judges rated me high. Ankur my roommate at Kolkata was the one who helped me get there. That performance gave me a lot of confidence. But the real mishap happened when the judge started to talk to me in Hindi after the song and all I could do was to blink in response :)) There are many other friends who always wanted me to sing in gatherings, small or large and all these little stints have had feedbacks and has helped me to dive deeper with much more interest and enthusiasm to sing.

Being part of the choir singing group at Church gives me a lot more confidence to take the pretty high and low pitches and to control my breath. Our choir leader Vinod has been a great observer and trainer. Team singing though, is a different cup of tea.

WRITINGS ON THE WEB - DESTINY'S CREATION- NASKA - OCT 2012

Its my pleasure to share that a poem of mine "Destiny's Creation" has got published in a magazine promoted by an Indian Association in the United States named NASKA.


Please visit

http://www.naska.org/news.php

and click on Dowload Souvenir 2012  to download the magazine in pdf format. The poem is in there on Page 29.

In case you find it difficult to dowload, please read this poem at the link below:

http://cherryspace.blogspot.in/2010/03/destinys-creation.html

Have a good time..

THE BEAUTY OF LONELINESS

There is a pleasure when I am in the company of people. Yes being gregarious is a quality that many  like. But the company of people also sets my mind into vibrations, some positive and some negative. Many times I have sat around and thought as to how I could revive my mind after the impact of a negative interaction.

That is where patches of loneliness, really comes to my rescue. Sometimes I spend quiet times alone, in corners of the house sipping coffee or sitting near a water body and doing nothing, but just pelting stones into the water and seeing the waves and ripples that they create, or playing with a train of ants who are busy doing their work :)) During these times I allow my mind to wander and for trains of thoughts to pass through it with no boundaries. I find these times to be really soothing for the mind. It is like a great revival happening in the mind after a negative shock or a stressful situation.

But in the true sense many times I am really not lonely. For reviving my mind, I am actually disturbing a pond or a stone or an ant or something else that nature offers. But as long as they are not humans it is fine for a while :)))

JOY AND PEACE SHALL PREVAIL

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas. May joy and peace surround you in the days to come.

This year the Christmas was different. We had the tree setup, there was lot of food that was made, and lots of friends and relatives called up and we exchanged greetings. But what was more significant for me and my wife was to join our senile and extremely sick parents to the church and to break bread with them.

We had to exhibit a lot of patience as they are heading into an age where we need that patience that is required to take care of a child. Old age has lots in common with the very young age that we have come through. And to find joy in this patience is where my focus was in this year's Christmas.

When our children see this patience in us being exhibited, I believe they too will learn and exhibit the same in the long run.

LESSONS FROM A CALL CENTRE SUPPORT STAFF

The last few days had been abnormally hectic at office. My sleeping hours had also become pretty less as we were clocking late nights at work. I was irritable to almost everyone around and stress levels were on the high, not because of the workload, but because of the situations churning up created by individuals. I did end up eating biriyani and chocolates and sometimes eat like a glutton, all these being the side effects of stress.

I hit home and then hit bed pretty late and woke up up pretty late too. I had to work out of home and while in the middle of it, I received a call from an insurance company where I had a policy for my vehicle. I think it was the voice of a very young support staff...probably a young girl. She had called up to verify my personal data and also to fill up the missing areas in that database.  In fact I had fully completed the form, but the company did not collect all the required data through that form. I was so impatient with her and kept asking her in a very angry tone as to why this data was not fully captured when I had filled up the original insurance policy form. I did not even allow her to speak freely and every time she started talking, I kept interrupting, pouring out all my accumulated frustration for which she was not the actual person responsible.

The young girl was so patient and matured in her response. She still continued to politely request me for the data and I finally gave her all the data what she wanted, inspite of the frustration that I demonstrated. She then thanked me and closed the call. An hour slipped by and I realized how immature a person I had been in front of a little girl, who was pretty younger to me. She had in fact demonstrated much more patience and maturity.

An hour later, I related this incident to my sister, as I was feeling bad about it. She told me that the little girl was only doing her duty, and was undergoing the treatment I gave her with patience, because she like many others very badly needed to hang on to their jobs. This is something that I actually know, but I wonder how I still am so very impatient and immature. How blessed I am when compared to so many such individuals going through such difficult jobs facing their rude customers.

THANKS FOR DROPPING BY

Over the years a lot of individuals from across the world have dropped by.

There have been visitors from countries not listed here too like Nigeria, Pakistan, Iraq, Lativia, Oman,Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway,Slovenia, Belarus, Switzerland, Israel, Taiwan,Hong Kong, Australia, Serbia, Colombia and Chile. Welcome to each of you from all these places !!!

It would be great to connect with each of you and know about your life and interests.

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