Snow: A short story

He was walking back from work after a long and bad day. He was thinking what had happened wrong. This day started with the usual stuff till his wife called him at work.
"Yeah Eleanor," he continued," What happened?"
" I cannot do this any more."
" What you are talking about?"
" We are done CJ."
"What? Everything was fine in the morning what happened?"
" I am having an affair with Glen"
"So, you called me to tell me on phone that you are sleeping with my best friend and now you are leaving me," asked CJ furiously.
"Yeah, sorry but I cannot do this any more," she hung up.
CJ was still in shock about his wife's infidelity and his boss asked him come to his office.
CJ opened the door," You wanted to see me Don?"
" Yeah CJ, can you come inside and be sure to lock the door."
CJ locked the door and took his seat.
" So, what's up?" asked CJ.
"Why are you looking like crap?" asked Don.
" Nothing just something happened in my family. See, I am not in mood for chit chat now. Can we jump on the business right away Don?"
"Yeah, sure. Actually you know the Glenard's account?"
"Are you kidding me? That guy is a D%^&k."
"Yeah, I know and they are suing us, however, they will not sue us only in one condition."
"And that is ?" asked CJ.
" Management has decided to let you go."
" What? Why?"
" They don't want to pay millions of dollars in a court case in this kind of economy. So, I have to ask you to clean the space. Sorry!"
CJ was deeply disappointed. Everything has to happen before holidays. He had plans for Christmas. He was sad. He parked his car and started walking back to his home. And suddenly he felt something very cold on his nose. He looked up and he saw snow flakes all over the sky. They started showering on him. This was the first snowfall of the season. He chuckled with delight as he noticed it, he forgot all the bad things happened to him and started enjoying the snow. Then he realized the importance of living in the moment.

Confrontation: Is It a Bliss or Curse?

Yeah is it this something which most of us try to avoid as much as we can?

So, what is confrontation? We all know that we are not perfect, but for some reason we try to ignore that fact and see ourselves as flawless creatures; the epitome of awesomeness. I am not saying there is anything wrong with it, one should be proud of him or herself. However, sometimes it is very good to accept our imperfections. On the contrary, people tend to run away from it and live a peaceful life of self denial. So, when these people see their actual reflection in the mirror of confrontation they seriously freak out.

Now, confrontations can be bliss in the ideal world. People will appreciate the one person who confronted him or her. Lets take an example, remind you, this is ideal world experience: A guy walked to his friend put his hand on his shoulder and suggested him to use a deodorant, or advised him not to eat beans at lunch in order to spare other people around him. The friend will hug the person and remember the advice next time, and in the ideal world they would become best friends since that day. One more? Okay lets take the example of a dating couple. No no no I am not talking about bedroom experience; dirty minds. I am talking about the general complaints the girls have with their boyfriends," you never listen to me." Isn't that sounds awful lot familiar? So again in the idealistic world the boyfriend will apologize right away, I told you earlier that this is the ideal world example. Coming back to the apology, he will say "I am sorry and from now on I will listen to everything you will say," and then they lived happily ever after.

So my question is, do we live in the ideal world? Do we? Lets take this two ideal world examples in the real world. The guy confronts his friend with his body odor issue or bad gas issue in real world. Now, his friend will get mad at him if he is lucky else things might get bad from worse. People are very cautious about these two issues. In real world this confrontation will cost the confrontationist his friend. Second case, the guys answer to the girlfriend's usual question, " you never listen to me," would be, "yes, I do listen and I don't know why you bring up these stupid issues." Thus, we wonder why so many people end up single at the end.

Confrontations can be bliss and curse at the same time. It also depends on how people face their fears? Nobody wants to be told what to do and how to do things, and confrontation might also make one feels like being attacked or patronized. Honestly, ideally it is good to be confronted with my fears and imperfections but realistically I don't know if I have that much caliber to handle it. I think keeping open mind helps a lot. So , I will like to mention this cool concepts I saw in the movie 2012 ; they showed Dalai Lama in the movie talking with one of his disciples. The disciple had some doubts and as a result of it, he was not very sure with the outcome. Dalai Lama starts poring tea in his disciple's cup, the cup started to fill to the brim, however Dalai Lama didn't stop, on the other hand, he keeps on pouring and pouring, thus the tea started spilling all over. Then he smiles and says keep your cup of knowledge always empty because once you think its filled then you cannot fit more valuable knowledge into it. So, if we see it from this angle I think confrontations are worth the pain :D.

Cheers
MS

Hollywood Classics:North By North West

I am starting this section here Hollywood Classics.

So, past week we ordered 'North by North West' on Netflix. This Hitchcock's flick is considered one of the Hollywood classics. From time to time I have seen many renditions and heard referenced about the "Air plane shooting" scene from this movie. Carry Grant in the main lead was also one of the factors why I wanted to watch the movie. We have decided to watch movie on Sunday afternoon when there is not a lot going on and we wanted to just lay back and relax. However, it was not that much relaxing as we were expecting it to be, the DVD was stopping horribly in the beginning. I took it out then washed it under the tap water and for our surprise it was working fine.

The movie starts with Carry Grant dictating letter to his secretary in an elevator . Followed by his abduction after few minutes in the movie. His character was Roger Thornhill, Add men from Madison Avenue.n His performance was great as usual. The plot takes time to buildup but when it is build up it gets more interesting. Although, being a suspense thriller, it has a lot of jokes which also work in the favor of plot.

I will recommend this movie to be on the "to-watch" list. All in all great script, direction wise unbeatable, entertainment wise awesome. Few things might look dated however rest of the movie is very relevant to these times.

Cheers
MS

Paranormal Activity!!!!

So, we saw the paranormal activity and thought of just ridiculing it...here is what we got.

Guns Vs Gays: Are you serious?

People always keep me wondering about these two issues: guns and gays. So, if you are suffering from severe homophobia or you are running away from confrontations your entire life, I suggest you not read this article.

Recently, the law of gay marriage was rejected in the beautiful state of Maine. Plus, I found out in an article that 31 other states have also rejected (including the liberal state, a.k.a. California) the concept of two people of the same sex going in any matrimonial union. I have a question for the government: what are you thinking and what are you trying to accomplish by these self contradictory laws? The logic behind this escapes my mind. If we take a closer look I think the government is trying to play the divide and rule game among liberal and conservatives. First, the state governments declared same-sex marriage legal just to lure the homosexual community and for that matter the whole liberal vote bank . So, when they think that the liberals are happy now, it is time to please the conservatives. So, they go for a public vote on this law. Obviously most of the states' majority consists of straight populations and this is a very big deciding factor while handling this issue. Therefore, the majority wins. However, is it justifiable to discriminate somebody's right because he or she is gay?

Now, lets talk about guns. Yes, it is our birthright to own a gun , but come on, think about it: in the last 24 hours there were two shootings in two different states. Yes, I heard this argument several times, ' People kill people, guns don't.' But guns make it easy. Now people have another argument that is, if there are no guns then the killers will find some other weapons. I agree , but what would that weapon be - knife, stone, or may be a baseball bat. So, in order to use any of these alternative weapons one needs a lot of strength to actually kill a person. One more benefit is since it requires a lot of power and hard work, people will have to actually come up with a plan instead of just walking and shooting. Moreover, the impact, by impact I mean body count, will not be as high as when guns are involved.

Gun owners always claim that it is their right as per second amendment, to lawfully own a gun. So, why do we have a right to own a gun but not a right to marry whomever we choose?I find it kind of strange that it is okay to own killing machine but it is not okay for people in love to get married and spread the love. I personally think if people are allowed to carry guns then two people who love each other should be allowed to get married irrespective of their orientation.

Cheers
MS.

P.S. Please pass this around and help in generating awareness.

Believe "IT" or not: The Mystery of Evil Clown

The clowns are suppose to make kids giggle with their cool tricks; they are suppose to be funny and friendly to children. However, in Stephen King's IT the clown is depicted as evil and demonic creature .Since, it was Halloween, my girlfriend and I decided to watch some horror flicks. We have been hearing about IT a lot, plus I was not sure, how people can be scared of clowns.?So we ordered screen adaptation of IT, i.e a mini series which was aired in 1990, to see it for ourselves.

Plot:

It all starts with kids getting killed mysteriously in Derry, ME. Nobody knows who is killing the children of the town, except one guy who knows "IT" is back. He and his friends have defeated that demonic evil clown 30 years ago however, now it is again haunting the little town of Derry. This whole story is about seven friends, who are living their lives separately but get back together after 30 years to finish "IT."
Overall, the whole series is interesting and very well done for a show aired in 90s. Tim Curry was brilliant being IT a.k.a. Pennywise. The child actors were great too and one interesting fact: Seth Green still looks the same. The grownup actors were alright; not that great. However IT was good enough to keep us hooked for three and half hours.

We liked the series but not very pleased with the ending. The director, Tommy Lee Wallace, was very good in keeping the suspense till the very end. But the climax didn't work out great. It felt like the whole thing was buildup for nothing. The first half is obviously better then the second half, no doubt. However,there is always room for improvement. I will also say that seeing IT in these day n age does make the effects look poorly done, but you know it was very well suited for 90s and IT is considered as one of the horror classics. Therefore, I will say "IT" is good.

The Film Club: Review

The word film always excites me . Since I was five, I've always enjoyed watching movies. Even though, growing up we were not allowed to watch a lot of movies. My love for cinema increased with age. English not being my first language kept me away from watching English films till the age of seventeen; since then I have watched a lot of English movies, including classics. So, a book about film naturally grabs my attention, but I was very reluctant to get hooked to another book when I have a lot to accomplish. My girlfriend also wanted to read the same book , so we got a copy of 'the Film Club' from the local library. She read it first and after completing it she told me that this is one book which I would really appreciate. I was very apprehensive about reading it, but I started reading anyways. A couple pages later I said," I am hooked on this book."

To say it in one sentence: this is a story about a father and son who watched a lot of films together. It sounds boring, doesn't it? I felt the same way, I said to my self ," why do I need to know what movies they watched together? However, after reading a few pages, I realized it is a story about a father and son. Both of them are in different stages of life. Son is sixteen years old and he is dealing with all the teenage issues like hating to go to school and girls. The father is dealing with his own life along with being a dad to a sixteen year old. This story also depicts how they see the world and how their relationship evolves.

David Gilmour, is the author of the book "The Film Club". It is based on true story ; his life. It also covers a lot of classics and little juicy bits about the movies which avid movie fans will like to know. The writing style is very creative ; the author made sure that he is doing justice to the story along with movies. Plus it is not very hard to read, very entertaining and keeps you hooked.

Cheers
Mragendra

Village WITCHES : Consequence of superstitoon and illiteracy

It is Halloween time, so discussion about witches and witchcraft will sounds commonplace.However, recently five women were tortured for allegedly being witches in India. The details can be seen on http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8315980.stm

It is so horrendous that people in third world countries still believe in ghosts, witches and all sort of superstitions. I blame the the illiteracy as the contributing factor towards this kind of behavior. This is neither the first case that ever happened nor that last case that we will see. This incidences are very common in the rural India.

India is one of the fastest developing countries. When people talk about IT , economics , and for that matter, any thing ; India will always be mentioned. India is competing with developed countries in all the aspects, head to head;shoulder to shoulder. People love Indian cuisine, Bollywood is one of the biggest movie industry of the world; they make more movies per year than Hollywood. However, apart from this developed side there is one aspect of India which negates the entire achievement of it as a country. The underdevelopment of Indian villages.

Majorly people in rural India depend upon agriculture as occupation. However, farming in India is not the most coveted profession and farmers are not the rich people. Most farmers in India live below poverty line. They have not enough money to feed their families. The whole family work hard to get the bare minimum to survive. Generally these villages are deprived with the basic necessities like electricity and water supply. In some villages ladies have to walk ten miles to get a gallon of water, everyday.

Generally education is not very popular concept among the villagers. Government of India, spends million of dollars to create awareness in rural areas about literacy; but it is not impacting the masses.Corruption also have a part in it ,but that is another can of worms.However, the school enrollment among the kids in villages is increasing day by day. Though, it doesn't change the fact that there are still uneducated superstitious people living in the villages; who believe in ghost, and witches.

The lack of education also stops people to think rationally. Although,Social evils like discrimination on the basis of Caste, Child Marriage, and Dowry are illegal ;they are still being practiced in the villages. Yes, in this day and age. If you are unfamiliar with these words I will suggest to google them. I mean discrimination on the basis of caste not only exist in smaller villages but also in big cities. Several, ladies are still being burnt alive because of dowry all over the country. Every once in a while there is news of child marriage in the news paper.

So, when I saw this news I was not shocked actually; however, felt sad about the situation. I think I was fortunate not to be born in any of those conditions and be able to get education so that I will be able to distinguish between right and wrong. These, villages needs awareness so that people living in villages encourage their kids to go to school and help in eradicating the whole concept of superstition.

Cheers

P.S. If you loved this or you hated it to the core or you are in middle somewhere please leave a comment and let me know how you feel about it.

Mad-Men: The Review

This AMC drama's takes place in 1960s. The show mainly depicts the life of people working Madison Ave New York in that era. Advertising, was emerging as a full blown industry in the same time as well. This drama revolves around the creative head, Don Draper, of the Advertising firm " Sterling and Cooper". There are other important characters as well in the show, to name a few Peggy Olson, Betty Draper, Roger Sterling,and Pete Campbell etc.

It is fascinating that how brilliantly the creators has delineated the mindset of people living in those times. It shows, how there was no such thing as sexual harassment exist back in those days. Women, in offices are not treated equally. Racism, adultery , and drunk driving was very prevalent. It also shows how people use to carry themselves in the social circles.

So, as far as screen play is concerned, it is written brilliantly. They did their homework very well. It doesn't look like a made up story. It also shows how the whole advertising industry became so big from being a very unthinkable occupation. They made sure it looks authentic.Few things I will like to mention are; The cigarette smoking,the alcohol consumption, the clothing style, and the setup it make it look more believable.

Over all the show is a good combination of creativity and originality. It keeps one hooked; very addicting.

Commercials Between the shows; don't you love it

You are watching your favorite Crime Drama, or your favorite game show or your favorite reality show; you are getting into the show and then animated detergent particles appears on the TV screen dancing and singing about their cleaning strength followed by a car commercial. You get the point; it spoils the mood. One thing I promise about this blog , there will be no commercials :).

TV is filled with either TV shows or Commercials. Who gets excited about commercials? No one; I mean, they are really annoying. They have no skin, they just drop by whenever they feel like. OK, I have to say commercials are not always bad. There are some great commercials which are very entertaining. However, the sad part is that they are not that many.

My problem is with all the commercials which are boring and they last forever. I hate the especially infomercials (Information Commercials). They are one of the most cheesy things I have ever seen. So, these infomercials always has some sort of great inventions which will transform your life forever. Once you get that product you will get all the virtues in the world. You are now confident all the girls wants to hangout with you and suddenly you became rich. Infomercials always have 'before' and 'after' concept;Before this person was such a loser and after using the product he is Super hero. For my astonishment these infomercials actually works on the people. Apparently, people buy a lot of things from these infomercials. Since we are talking of infomercials it will be shame if we don't discuss"Snuggie". This product is the most ridiculed product; however, Snuggie made $80 million since it came out, even in this economy. Recently , they came out with new designs for Snuggies i.e. Zebra and Leopard print.

Now lets talk about some of the good and creative commercials. The commercials which actually make you laugh and helps you in remembering the products they are endorsing. For instance Geico commercials are one of the most liked commercial;especially the Cave-men commercials. Their tag line:"15 minutes can save you 15 % on insurance" actually helps in remembering about their services . So, when you think of insurance the first thing comes to mind is Geico. Contraceptive, commercials are also very creative ones too; unfortunately majority of those commercials gets banned before they even get aired. If you want to check out those commercial go on www.youtube.com and look for banned commercials; there are loads and loads of banned commercials and these are the commercials which are funny and entertaining.

Now, lets talk about the commercials which are boring and they infuriates us when it comes on tele. Erectile dysfunction commercials are the worst. They show a couple doing outdoor activities and the narrator is talking in double entendre. I will consider those ED commercials are poorly made also how can you solve bedroom problems in outdoors. It giving out the wrong message. Now second worst commercials are car commercials. They start out interesting only to kill your suspense by showing a car in the end. When I see some interesting commercial, I hope it doesn't end up as car commercials. Let talk about the commercials which talk about "those days" or "monthly gift". I mean, do you really need to show on TV at prime-time how much liquid a sanitary pad can soak in a day. I mean there are many other ways to skin the cat advertising agencies should find a good way to represent it.

In this day and age how many people do you think actually watch the commercials during the shows?The answer is not a lot of people. Generally the TV commercials focus on a market segment and the people in that market segment already have TiVos or DVRs where they can record the shows and watch whenever they want "Commercial Less". So, they don't have to go through the pain of seeing people wearing Snuggie and talking on the phone or any of the ED commercials. I think it will be good if the agencies will start coming up with the cool commercials so that when viewers are interrupted by commercials during their favorite show they don't get miserable.

Cheers
P.S. If you loved this or you hated it to the core or you are in middle somewhere please leave a comment and let me know how you feel about it.

How to get rid of Writer's block: Well tested Formula

The in-ability to think about something to write is called "writer's block". Writer's block not only incapacitates the writer; but also makes him/her feel horrible about one-self. Writer's block can hit you that time when you need your creativity most. Furthermore, it doesn't discriminate between writers or non-writers; it can hit anyone at anytime.

The symptoms of Writer's block are:
1) Blank face
2) Isolation
3) Distracted state of mind; in extreme cases people have been reported to start talking to themselves.
4) Very fidgety
5) Unable to hold conversation; in extreme cases people have been reported to start rambling random words which does not make sense at all.

If you experience any of the above mentioned behavior that means you might be infected with writer's block. Now, if you find out that you might have been attacked by writer's block, remember DO NOT PANIC, because the more you panic the more you will make it worse.

Dos and don't if you get exposure from Writer's block. I will start with "don't", first.

DON'T:
1) Do not panic, if you did not notice it above, in caps.
2) If you choose to ignore my advice then, DO NOT ORDER, "PIZZA". You think it will make you feel good, after have couple slices. However once you finish eating, you will realize the amount of calories you have consumed which will make you more depressed. Same applies with ice-cream as well.
3) Do not go on internet because you might read some tweets, Facebook message or YouTube video which might trigger inferiority complex in you; that might result in harnessing negative energy in you. Trust me you don’t want to do it.
4) Do not try to take nap because you will have nightmares.

Now I will be covering Dos
DOs:
1) Phone a friend; if you have left any.
2) Take shower, which you were avoiding for weeks
3) Pay your bills; because loosing money will automatically kick the writer's block of you head.

Now, I am going to cover few techniques which will help you in getting rid of writer's block.

1) Start writing random words on the piece of paper. I will explain this concept in detail about how it helps in elimination of writers block. Imagine writer's block as a water dam; which is stopping water to flow through. In our case the Writer's block is analogous to water dam and the water is ideas. So in order to break that dam we have to dig holes in the dam. These holes will let the water seep through the dam, and if we keep making the holes the whole dam will be collapsed and the water will start to flow. So, we are trying to accomplish something like that here. If this doesn't help, try the next method.

2) Take a pen and paper and act that you are about to start writing. Now I explain how this will help in knocking writer's block out of you system. When you start acting as you are about to write it will create a self doubt in writer's block which will weaken it and once its gets weak then you can knock it down. If this doesn't work, try the next method.

3) Start talking to your writer's block. Have a question answer session. I can sense that you are not convinced with this step. Writer's block might have some issue and nobody have ever given attention to it. It might need a shoulder to cry on. Give it the shoulder and then see how fast it will be gone. If this also doesn't work try this.

4) Write a blog about it. This will definitely work :)


Cheers
P.S. If you loved this or you hated it to the core or you are in middle somewhere please leave a comment and let me know how you feel about it.

Google Wave: A sneak peek

Recently everywhere, and by everywhere I mean on internet, people are talking about Google Wave. Its just a surge of people tweeting about "Google Wave"; facebook and myspace users are asking each other if they have a Google Wave invite. So, it made me curious to find out what all fuss is about Google Wave.

Google is generally a recognized term . It is also officially added in dictionaries like Oxford and Webster as the synonym for search. Google was started with a very basic idea: an algorithm which can search the internet for query words. It started as a small company in 1998 in Menlo Park, California, and now it is one of the fortune 500 companies.

So, now the question is: how does a company with only one application ,"search engine" get so big? The answer to this question is entrepreneurial brilliance and I will explain this in detail. When Google started back in '98 there were other companies, i.e. Yahoo and Hotmail around. These companies were huge. They had so many services such as: email, photos, news etc. plus most people were using Yahoo and Hotmail to do all sorts of searches. Moreover, it is one portal where one can go and get access to so many applications at once. However, there was one issue- these portals have so many applications on the main page which made it very bulky . This added with the very slow internet speed back in the 98s resulted in yahoo and MSN home pages to take forever to load. On the other hand, Google just had a text field along with the search button which which took one-fourth of the time to load the page. So when people have the option of going to something which will take less time to load and give result with the accuracy of 90%, they started using it. Since then Google has made a fortune. They introduced the concept of Pay Per Click and Pay Per Impressions. There are so many Google applications around, Gmail, Google Maps, Google finance, Google Documents and Google photos are to name a few. Google has launched new application,"Google Wave" on May 27 2009.

Recently, Google has released the beta version* of Google Wave. Only 100,000 people were sent invitation to test the Google wave. Google Wave is personal communicator and online collaboration tool as termed by Google. Google Wave is a web-based service, it is a platform which allows users to communicate with each other in multiple ways such as: instant messenger chatting, video chatting , short message texting, emails and social-networking. Moreover , for the online collaboration tool part , people will be able to share documents, pictures and videos along with their desktops in real-time scenario. These days all these above mentioned features are available, but in differerent platforms. So, Google wave will be the place to where you can do all the possible things by just logging into one platform. Google has also released a 1 hour 20 minutes video just as an introduction for Google Wave, if you certainly interested just check it out.

Google Wave have potential to impact all the majors online collaboration companies such as Cisco's webex , Citrix and Teamviewer etc. By making these online collaboration utility easily accessible , common users and small businesses will be more inclined to use Google Wave. However, corporation might stick with the old vendors, but I think it is too early to make any conclusion. Since the Google Wave was out it has created a lot of news. Once the final version will launch then it will be available not only on web but also on mobile phones especially Android(G-phone) .

Now, some juicy facts:

1) Since the Google wave is out it has become such a sensation that people are still twittering all about it.
2) People are selling Google Wave invites on ebay ranging from 99 cents to 80 dollars. Allegedly people have already bid in three figures on ebay.




*Once software is ready and functional the developer has to test those in order to find the bugs and discrepancies so that it can be made bug free and completely effective. So beta testing is one type of testing when they released a beta version to selected public and ask them to use. Now when these people find any errors they report these back to the developers to fix it. Developers follow the feed back fix the errors and release the software.


cheers
P.S. If you loved this or you hated it to the core or you are in middle somewhere please leave a comment and let me know how you feel about it.

The Nomads: Aren't we all

The nomads are people who wander from place to place. It doesn't mean they are crazy. That is why they are called "no mads." Most civilizations in history were originally nomads, however they started settling after industrialization took place . They wander from place to place in the search of food, water and shelter. There are still many nomadic tribes in today's world-no joke.

However, I am not going to focus on that aspect of nomads today. I would like to discuss more about how people in established civilizations have started to live like nomads. Yes, it is kind of a new concept, or say a lifestyle, which people are choosing to live these days. I personally have no problems with this type of lifestyle and this is just a new perspective.

Since the old days one aspect of us human beings that is not stable is "the mind". It wanders and wanders to the new dimensions of knowledge and exploration. Due to this instability of the human mind the whole world ends up with the most structured civilization. Now, the funny thing with humans is every generation calls itself "the prefect generation". People have always claimed this, even since the Roman empire and one thing which always remained constant is development. This wandering mind of humans has given birth to so many discoveries and inventions. Moreover, generation after generation, humans became more intelligent. I mean look at us! How much we have developed since the age of barbarians to the age of embezzlers.


During this development each generation has discovered what they want for their world and what they want to pass on to the next generations. One aspect of life which all the generations have in common is pursuit of happiness and the definition of happiness changes from generation to generation.

What do people want in today's world? Independence and freedom.

All the people have one dream to have a good life and a safe future where they don't have to worry about old age. If these two fields are covered people feel so happy. However, this is what's making today's generation act like nomads. People wander form place to place; first, to get education so that they can build their skill sets and then they start moving from place to place to look for jobs. Yes, people in a industrialized world are not nomads because we live in concrete houses. However, if we examine closely we are no different then nomads . We both(i.e our self and nomads ) are on infinite journey to find the things which matter to us most.


Cheers
MS
P.S. If you love it or hated it or you think you are in between these two extremes please live a comment and let me know how you feel about this.

Emotions: A Mystery

Aren't they crazy?I mean emotions. They can make you do all sorts of things. The worst thing is they don't even listen to any rational thoughts. It is so fascinating how people know that emotions are unreasonable but do it anyways. Some one once said "Emotions are only things which makes us different from animal" yeah sure that is why there lives are not that much screwed. Can you imagine animals having all sorts of emotions. Wow that will be so f%^&ing hilarious. Deers and Zebras can always play the compassion card and all the carnivorous animals will die of hunger with the satisfaction in heart that they did the right thing. PETA people will all loose there jobs because animal know there rights. There will be inter species cheating among different animals plus we will also see all kind of different species evolving. Ok its is going a little out of hand, but we got the point.

So the world is divided in two categories Emotional and Non-emotional people. It is a cool thing to say in today's world "I am not that emotional types" and reality these are the actual sissies. I have seen all the people who are so emotionally strong are the people who are very emotional. This is fact I am not kidding. Let see how? These emotionally strong people are very cautious about there surroundings. Yes, it is good to be aware about your surroundings but not cautious. Because when you start being cautious that means you are not only know about who are the people around you but also you are very much interested in what they might think of you. So, by doing it unconsciously you are trying to hold of your emotional self. Just to look cool and strong. And that remind me of one particular species of Homo Sapiens called straight man. They are very good in being "Non-Emotional" person. One more fact about straight men generally they are filthy as hell. They don't like to be clean it against the rules of being straight especially when you are man and clutter is must in the house.

Emotional people are very strong that what I feel.they are not afraid of what other people might think . If they feel like crying they cry if they feel like laughing they laugh if they are grumpy don't go near them. Trust me they will cut you off in two pieces. I think it need balls to cry in the movies . It need balls to laugh out loud when you are happy in the train, where thousand other people are sitting. But honestly, I think people who are emotional have more chances of living long because they express them whenever they have them.

One thing which is very infamous about the the emotion is the action taken in the high wave of emotion, in other words we call it "impulse". This is a very fascinated topic. I will like to explain how our mind and matter work in coherence on an impulse. We all know brain two part left brain and right brain let call the LB and RB respectively. So, LB has all the logical stuff. I the mathematical calculations, all the logic for puzzle solving , all the functions which we can perform logically , The structure oriented approach comes from this part of the brain. Now RB is not like his brother he likes to be free as a wanderer. He doesn't like boundaries , he loves the beauty , he loves the creativity. This is the super source of innovation in ones head. So by this I was trying got explain that our brain is capable of doing all sorts of works. Now there is also one important part there which also need recognition. We have heard it so many times.Yes you are right the subconscious mind. And subconscious mind is govern by emotions . So if we see some thing for instance a flower , logical mind will give the statistical details about that flower as per in terms of name and characteristics. Now RB will tell you the aesthetics and Subconscious mind will makes you feel the happiness.

Isn't it amazing? Now how does impulse work? So, When we go to a store or say when we go the a clothing store. I know a lot of people will be able to co-relate with this example. Coming back, you go to a store and you know you don't want to buy any more clothes because either you have too many clothes or may be its not in this months budget. So, you are looking around and what did you see. A sale 25% sale sign on a $50 set of trousers. Now it is tempting you. Now, in the brain it is a battle between you two halves. One part will be giving you all the reasons not to buy it and the other part will play the devil here.It will give you all the reason to buy it. So LB and RB will aiding both of your halves. Now your subconscious will step in. I am not saying subconscious is all god and mighty in the situation.He is prejudiced by the impulse which has initiated the whole battle in the first place. Now, subconscious makes the decision as per impulse and now LB is requires to provide with the all reasons to buy it. So , that you don't feel bad about it. This was just an example but don't underestimate it. This is some real efffing S%^t. Most crimes are done in impulse. People still have hard time figuring out what is the cause of impulse.

Lastly one emotion which is valued more in the world is compassion. With compassion people can do wonders and at this day and age we need more compassionate people who can help the society to be a better place to live. Many generations have passed by and many more generations have to come. And compassion is the only way which will help the coming generations to see what is it like to be alive.

Cheers
P.S. If you loved this or you hated it to the core or you are in middle somewhere please leave a comment and let me know how you feel about it.

Wave about the Google Wave

What is GoogleWave?

What? another application by Google. What is Google up to?I think they are working hard to make things easy for common people. Coming back to Google Wave. It is allegedly a "Personal communicator and collaboration tool"(as termed by Google) through which people will be able to have all the things they need from internet on the finger tips,that what they are saying. For my understanding it is the google version of Webex or Citrix online meeting tools, which are very predominant in corporate world.

Now if you ask me if it is good or bad. I will say no comments because I still have to watch the 1hour 20 minute long video about Google Wave. However, for all the research I have done it "so far" seems like it is going to give good competition to all the big wigs like Webex and Citrix. Also I feel sad for poor Yahoo. However, 70% of internet users in Japan still use Yahoo web tools. Which is not too bad.

I tried to log into Google Wave but still unavailable. Is Google Wave the Tsunami wave for all the other companies in the same arena which will sweep the whole market or is it just a high tide. I guess we have to wait and watch.

What do you think abt the Google Wave? Please share your views through comments.

Analyze This

I really have nothing much going on other then LIFE...as Caitlin always says we are high on LIFE. As far as motivation is concerned ...we are... motivated to get the better life.

Now lets think about the following:
What is the biggest fear people have??

Of loosing someone they desire. Desire gives birth to the need and then the question comes up.

What we need??


ALL You is need is LOVE.

Tweet Twwet its the Twitter

What do people do first thing in the morning?? I don't know about everybody but I just go to my laptop and see what are the trending topics on twitter. Trust me, it is the best way to find out what are the top headlines of the moment. I was the first one to find out about the Michael Jackson's death in my whole friend circle. Isn't it feel amazing to have the feeling of "I knew first".

Twitter is amazing I have to say just find out about the coupons find out about most recent celebrity gossips, it the best way to keep you abreast with all the new happenings. It was like 2 months ago I have to go to different news websites to find out what is happening where. It was so hard to remember URLs of all the different website like CNN.com, BBC.com. But now nothing to worry about our Twitter is here with the consolidated information.










*Please comment on this let me know what and how you feel about twitter*

Apprentice UK III

So, I don't have much to say about what happened. There are few things which I think could be done in other way.However, it is the game show and I am not Sir Alan Sugar.

Instead of reporting what happened I will like to talk about what I thought about the finale.

First of all I was shocked when Sugar fired James. It just doesn't make any sense at all. However, people were saying James was there just for the TV. Despite the fact that he is the one who have won most tasks in the whole competition, he was fired. I don't know what Sir Alan sugar was cooking in his head. And I was shocked more when he fired Paul, leaving Saira and Tim as the finalist.

However, it starting to make sense when he gave the final task to both the remaining contestants. And it was evident that its too hard to teach new tricks to old dog. He asked both Saira and Tim to create an event. Which will be judged on the basis of creativity as well as the success of the event. Profit will not be "the Criteria" for this challenge. Which meant he wanted some event which doesn't have the short term profits but have long term benefits. He also want to see who listens to him as well.
So, Tim had a fashion show which was a simple and great idea and Saira had the wine tasting which is more lucrative as well as more fun. She had a great business plan but she didnt get one part and that to listen to the requirement, or say listen to Sir Alan Sugar.

She was more focused on making profit and selling the idea. Tim, on the other hand was hiring the prospective customers.

Saira made profit of 800 pounds and Tim was left with 2500 pounds in loss. But what he did is to make sure to listen to the Master. And that is the first duty or the apprentice or aspiring to be apprentice. That is why Sir Alan sugar said " you are hired" to Tim Campbell.

* if you liked it or if you hated it or if you are in the middle of like and hating please leave a comment and let me know what you feel about it*

Cheers

Random observations

This post will be updated whenever I will see any random observations:

I was watching Gandhi on TV and at the bottom of the TV screen I notice an announcement for the next feature and guess what, which movie was it?? "The Terminator"LOL

Instant Gratification

Road to success is not that easy as it seems.....And I am very close to a nervous breakdown....it seems like it. How much time does it take to just get simple dreams in place.

There is a saying "a man is known by the company he keeps". All the successful people surround themselves with successful people and all the losers do the same thing as well, the only difference is they surround themselves with absolutely big time losers.

I hate mediocre life, period. I don't want to live in a mediocre risk free surroundings. As I was talking to my dad he always advice me to be satisfied what you have. I think this what he wants in his life, but not me. I think it is a good excuse for all the lazy , scared people who just don't want to make any effort to achieve success in their lives. I think satisfaction of achieving something is good, But stop progressing because of last success/failure is horrible, or say a heinous crime to me.

I have to say a person gets influence by surroundings or say the people he hangs out with. I have seen and observe in real life. I liked my high school friends, don't get me wrong they are nice people, however they were good for nothing they didn't have high aspirations and commitment towards themselves, so their lack of self commitment affected me and it also slowed my growth. However, I never gave up my dream. My friends in engineering college was very focused and very self committed and despite being the black sheep in the whole group I achieved what I have today. I want to keep going more forward and be really successful.

People generally ask me why I want to get material success so badly? The simple reason is I get kick out of it. I know things doesn't happen overnight but I want them to happen. My mind,heart and soul will not be calm or relaxed till I achieve all my dreams.

Cheers
Mragendra

The Apprentice UK: II

.....

4th episode: Sir Alan Sugar asked all his contestants to sell in retail environment. Selling is one of the most important aspect of business(stating the obvious). Because of the obvious reason i.e sales directly proportional to profit. One know how to sell in order to stay in the business. And to be honest, their is not one general formula for successful sales. People have to come up with different sales techniques all the time.

So coming back to challenge, Now the teams' task was to pick products form "Harrods" and sell them. Both the teams have designated areas with equal potential. Both the teams picked up almost similar kind of products. The products mainly consist of stuffed animals and accessories. Both teams have different strategies, however the same goals i.e to get the most customers and make more and more sales. what do you think? am I going to tell you what happened....oooo noway Jose...tune in BBC America and watch the show.

I like the way they are teaching the basics of business and good way to get motivation as well.
be back with more(To be Continued...)

Cheers
MS

Why did I change the name of my BLOG???

To be honest what ever people read(if any) is my brain dump. So, I thought why shouldn't I be honest and call this Blog by it actual name. Read "disclaimer" if you have any expectation from this particular post.

Random Thoughts......

Why do people have prejudices ?? I just don't get it. And the worst part, they infect me with their prejudices...thanks to Caitlin she helps me in maintaining my sanity.

Yes, I will be rich and famous...I might have appearance on Celebrity Apprentice...if I feel so....but I am not liking this phase in between.

Lets face it there will be no world Peace ever....all the people who are working towards it, LISTEN, I support you. But till the time any form of fanaticism exists...it is not achievable....people just out there for each others BLOOD ,which is shame full...I thought we were suppose to be the high life form...isn't this an Irony.

Culture impacts a person's personality to an extent...which happened to me as well....I end up being SHY which I hate most about me... I don't know why I have to be shy.....I just don't get it...working on to improve it. Interesting story: (tadaa Story time)So I was watching this shows "1000 ways to die" there was a case where a couple died while consummating love.(I love it ..teehee) Now the analysis behind it they were raised in a culture which look down upon sex and love .Furthermore, it is not one of the topics which can be discussed openly ...so after 7 consecutive years or marriage they were not able talk or perform the act of love making which means, because of there shy nature after being married for 7 years they didn't have SEX(imagine that). Every time they tried they got so nervous because of their shy nature....So, the couple decided to take help of some sort of counseling...their counselor told them to have some foreplay which will help them to over come their shy nature and try alcohol... they tried different things...once they tried to have sex under the influence and it worked because they were able to over come their shy nature....but since they were not use to the handle the blood pressure during sex they both died of heart attack....WOW...imagine that. This is an awful way to die...I hope the guy cleaned his pipe before taking off.LOL.


I love wine....but it is hard to say which one....but I like one of my catch phrase:"Pour me some Chardonay."

This is all form Brain dump section...be back with more random stuff.
Cheers
MS

Disclaimer: Just don't expect anything because this is a BD aka Brain Dump

The Apprentice UK

Since we were kids, generally people around us ask: "What do you want to be when you grow old?" I don't know about others, but what I have generally seen is that people tend to get attracted towards corporate culture, and corporate culture demands every candidate to have certain skills. The selection committee of corporation figures out if a person is suitable for a job or not by a job interview. Job interview- isn't it one of the most scary things in life? Especially for people who are aspiring to be in corporate culture. There are also interviews for different sectors as well, but the focus on this blog is towards corporate and business interviews.

Now, generally before getting a job a candidate need to go through several level of interviews. Ask any person, irrespective of whether they are from finance, HR, IT, R&D etc. how their job interview or interviews were. I am sure they will have a good story with juicy tidbits in it. However, if you ask the according stress level to get that job, mostly everybody will share the same experience, which was"stressful."Now lets talk about a job interview which takes 12 weeks in total to end. Job interview for 12 weeks means 12 rounds for a job interview. Yeah, this is the concept behind "The Apprentice."

People in the business sector generally know Donald Trump all over the world. He started the original show. His catch phase "you are fired" became so famous, which also made the show super-hit. Then the show progressed from Apprentice to Celebrity Apprentice. Martha Stewart also has a version of show and now there is a UK version of the show where the boss is Sir Alan Sugar.

Amazing idea, that is what I say, and good way to get the basic concepts on business. This season so far Sir Alan Sugar has fired 4 people so far (mind you its on BBC America so I might be a little inaccurate). I started watching the show form the second episode, so I missed the first task. However, the second task was pretty interesting. For those people who don't know what happens in the show :

1. There a two teams of highly qualified successful businessmen/ businesswomen.


2. Both the teams are given same task and both teams will pick project managers for that particular task .


3. Now, the winning depends on the nature of the task.


4. Finally, the winning team will get rewards and loosing teams get board-room bashing and one of them gets fired.

So, coming back to second task, it was very cool. Both the teams was suppose to create a product for a world's worst consumers-kids. This task was focused to see how people can handle themselves when they are dealing with one of the worst market segments, and also it will help an individual to learn how to focus on the specific segments by keeping aside their prejudices. That was one of the most important lessons. It is hard to get rid of prejudices, however IMHO this was the actual challenge for this task. So both the teams approached the task differently. Both the teams did research and created products. One team won and the other lost, and so one person from the loosing team was fired. But the lesson was important-to focus on the market segment. If you make houses for low income group and try to sell it to high income group do you think you can make money? IMHO I think no, unless high income group person is looking for investing to generate some sort of cash flow because all the market segments are driven by specific wants and specific needs.

On third week both the teams were given the task to buy certain items, and who ever buys all the items and saves more money will be the winner. So, this task was also important for the fact that in order to sell stuff you also need to know where to buy stuff from. The cheap but good quality stuff brings a lot more money into our pocket. So, now the funny part was both the teams were shopping in relatively expensive areas for this task. Then one guy, from one team took the team to less expensive areas and they got the good deals.

Its just basic stuff which we tend to forget.

To be continued.....


Cheers
MS

2 years.....

Tomorrow will be 2 years since I saw my parents and sister last. I just cannot imagine living without seeing any family what so ever for last two years....WOW.I don't know how is my rest of the family dealing with it? Must be hard for them.

My mom always says" when you see off somebody say goodbye with a smile on face because that is the face , they will always remember till they see you next." This is very true, till today when ever I have glimpse of my family I always see their smiling faces. I hope they also remember my smiling face always.

Two years is neither a huge time difference nor a small time difference. But this is the longest I have lived with out seeing anybody from my family. Yes I do miss them, yes I want to spend time with them. I still miss those tender moments with my mother. I still admire my fathers way of showing affection to me. I still miss all those brother sister fights almost on anything with my sister. But I have certain goals to achieve and I am very focused for them.

I remember how my mother was against my decision of leaving home. I also remember how much effort I need to put to persuade my father. I also remember those stress times in order to get all the paper work done. Making a decision is one thing and sticking to it is another. I have proved it to my self that I made a decision and clinged with it.

Lately, My parents and I have started to drift apart, becuase of difference in opinions. But this doesn't mean I didn't love or respect them. I still miss them and hoping for things to get better between us.

Peace
MS

Morning Commute

In the train, generally in mornings see a lot of people sitting around me. The fascinating thing about everyone is,we all are thinking the same thing in a different ways. Some people are working on their laptops, some people are reading books, some people are listening to music,but all of the people are thinking why is this train moving so slow? Despite the fact it is running a the normal speed.

Morning commute is always fun. The main objective for people,who use public transport, is to catch a specific train or bus, though the next one is coming in 15 minutes. If they get the bus they feel like they conquered a big battle against the time. However, if they miss it they will be so mad at the driver, like it all the driver's fault that he/she is trying to run service on schedule.

I tend to observe a lot of people on buses. There are all kind of people taking buses and trains for example,students, workers, small business owners etc etc. But one thing which I observed is nobody want to sit next to a stranger. People have very high self esteem. They prefer to stand despite if they have an open seat next to someone. People are very less friendly on buses and trains I don't know why? . This is what it looks like, there are 40 people in a bus and nobody is talking for 40 minutes. If we put these people in a room for 40 minutes I am sure people half the people will end up talking. But on public transport I never saw it happening.

It is also fascinating to see groups of people taking the bus/train. They will end up being the loud and obnoxious people on the bus. Because nobody else is talking and they have somebody to talk to so they flaunt it to others. They think they are the only people in the bus/ trains who have friends. Isn't it funny.

Disclaimer:This is mere an observation.Facts may differ.

Cheers
M

Networking With right minded people

....

I once heard " Man is known by the company he keeps",trust me this is so true, I have personally experienced it. However, it doesn't mean people who are not in good company cannot do wonders. I always remember one saying one of my old friend use to "Man makes his own destiny" and that is true. But again what is destiny for one individual will not be destiny for other individual. Some people are satisfied with the mouthful of sky and some people wants whole sky and there is also a third type who doesn't know what they want. To be honest there is nothing wrong with being any of the three types. It is totally personal choice. However, in order to achieve right set of dreams and aspiration one need to hangout with people who have similar kind of vision. For example, if a person want to learn to play guitar and he goes and hangs out with athletes who want to play and exercise the chances for this person to learn guitar is very low because whenever he is surrounded by these friends he cannot focus on what he wants. This doesnt mean he cannot learn to play guitar if he wants it really bad yes he can make it happen. But hanging out with people with right mind set helps a lot.


To be continued .... (be back with more)

Networking is The Key to Success

In this day of technology and Internet,the one issue which is emerging is people are getting isolated from each other. Mostly everyone have their profiles on "Myspace", "Facebook" ,"twitter" or any other social networking site, they have loads and loads of friends on their profiles but they don't have real friends.

Today I am not going to talk about social aspect of networking, the focus of this blog is the success in terms of financial and business endeavors through "NETWORKING". This century is the century where people can be successful(Monetarily ) by just having a great idea. The information is the most valuable thing in today's world. The popularity and commercial success of Internet is the proof of it. However, we still need human intervention in order to run it. In this technological advance world the one thing which people lack is human networking.

Networking is needed so much in order to be successful. People, need it at each and every aspect of life. If you want to grow you have to be networking. And everyone cannot be amazing at it, this is some thing which one have to learn. By networking one can leverage their effort to an astonishing level. Networking with anybody can not help however, networking with right people with a progressive mind set help one a lot.

The most important attribute one need to posses in order to do some thing is "positive attitude" everything else can be learned.

To be continued.....

Slumdog Millionaire and Wolverine:Same story line pretty much

Most people don't agree with the statement above. I know, it doesn't seem to be right, but in reality if we observe closely we can find it. For those who have not seen either of these movies and care to watch them, I will suggest them to watch them first and then read the analysis.

Lets begin form the beginning. So, Slumdog Millionaire is tale of two orphaned brothers and how their relationship changed with the course of life based on making personal choices. Now, coming back to Wolverine it sounds kind of similar, but I will explain it how. Two brothers (I know they are not really, but it is pretty much depicted this way) with similar kinds of super powers that have rough childhoods. Then, as they grow older, they drift apart because of the choices they make.

Lets take much closer look: Logan and Victor have super powers and this makes on of them different form others however one embraces the fact and go do the right thing other become bad and vicious. Jamal Malik and Salim are poor brothers in the slums of Mumbai, India. As the grow older, Jamal becomes nice and hard working, while Salim becomes a gangster.

Now we are coming to the part which also make both the movies' story lines similar-the love triangle as we speak. So Victor, a.k.a. Sabretooth, takes away Kayla (Logan's lover)whichthen motivates him to go out and look for Victor so that he can take revenge. So, becuase of this the whole deal , where Logan get injected with Adamantium(alloy) , happens. The main thing which makes wolverine who he is. Now lets compare with Slumdog. Salim rapes and takes Latika away from Jamal. Now Jamal wants to find Salim so that he can find Latika and that is why he tries to go on the game show. I know they are depicted differently but I have to say similarity is there.

Lastly, Victor defends Logan against Deadpool, and similarly Salim protects and helps Latika to escape which in turn helps his brother.

Don't get me wrong I like both movies. They are very well made, directed and above all very successful-which I appreciate. But it looks like it this might be a great formula for Hollywood now to create blockbusters.

Cheers
Mragendra

Watch this:

Dream+Determination = Fulfilment of Dreams

I was raised in a middle class family of India. My dad is Doctor and he has his own reputation in the small community of ours. He is brilliant at networking with people. He loves to help people but he never expects any things in return. But today here I am not talking about my dad here. I am going to tell a short story about a "milk man",that what my dad use to address him as.

It was the whole surge in our great city of lakes, Bhopal, people were switching to unpasteurized milk because some how people conceive this notion that purest form of milk is unpasteurized instead of pasteurized milk. My dad was very skeptical about this switch because he is doctor and he knew the benefits of pasteurized milk. However my mom some how convince him to get the pure milk from a local dairy where people milk cow and deliver fresh milk to houses, even though it was a bit expensive. Simple economics I will say, demand and supply. So, through my dad's huge network we got some connection to a dairy which was a good local dairy and they use to supply unadulterated milk. At that time lot of dairies were doing un-ethical business as well. They use to mix milk and water and sell it little cheap and earn big marginals profits. My dad was wary about it that is why we agreed to this specific dairy because the owner had a good reputation and my dad got good referral through his network.

After few years the trend changed because of privatization of diaries and there were several independent dairies which were selling pasteurized milk at subsidized rates. People start going back to pasteurized milk. And we stop using that local dairy. I heard later that at that time this guy, the owner sold his dairy for marginal profit and moved on with his life.

People generally keep in touch with him because of my dad magnetic personality . So, every now and then I use to hear about our former dairy owner that he invested somewhere , helped some politician, bought some business and stuff. Since our family is middle class types and we never use to open to the business side, the only concern in the family is to go to college and get a good job and that kind of stuff.
In this economy when people are getting laid off everyday.It was couple weeks ago my dad got concerned about my job situation and he asked me how am I hanging in there? Then he mention about our former dairy owner. I know it is predictable but it is true story. That guys became really big now. He has his ties with some of the big businessmen back in India. So, my dad suggested if I need he can ask him to help me if needed.

So, the point is this guy has a good sense of business trends he knew when to go in the business and when to jump out, the other thing which was consistent with him is that he is persistent and he keeps trying and he is willing to take risks.

It always occurs to me, people who have dreams and have the determination can always achieve their dreams. It doesn't matter what effort one can put into something but the only thing that matters is where they are heading to in term of goal & dreams achievement , I also say everybody cannot be at top but people who have dreams and determination, can be on the top.

Cheers
MS

Inspiratrion

What is inspiration to me might not inspire my girl friend and vice-versa. There are so many people out there who did wonderful an amazing things, people who have amazing talents and they do it so beautifully and surprise us and inspire us to believe that impossible speaks out loud and says "I M Possible".
Couple days ago I was surfing internet. Internet is such an amazing invention, mind you it is also born of inspiration, imagination,dreaming and love(Like every good thing in the world).So, I was on youtube and on the home page it had featured videos of the day one video caught my attention. So the clip looks like Simon Cowell is resting his head on him palms. It made me curious to click on it to see what is in there. That clip is so remarkably amazing I just realized after seeing. It was Susan Boyle's audition for "Britain Got Talent". Stunning performance not only because she is good singer but also because she is 47 year old ordinary looking woman who have never been kissed and spend her life in taking care of her sick mother. When she came on stage audience plus judges thought it is going to one of the performances where people think they can sing but they just go on the national TV to make fool of themselves kind. But her performance was simply amazing.

This is a perfect example of how perseverance can get you what you wanted. I don't know about other people but when I saw that I got all pumped up with inspiration which motivates me to achieve my dreams.

Below is interview of Susan Boyle:

Brighter Side of Darkness

Imagine if you stranded in a dark room. A pitch dark room no trace of light and then suddenly you start noticing the little beeping noise coming from somewhere. Since you can not see it, you try to find the direction from where it is coming and start moving in that direction and keep looking for it till you find it. So in the above scenario the darkness is future and future translates to so many "possibilities". The little beeping noise is "opportunity" which we are trying to find.

Every time I look at future it is never clear. We never know where are we heading? The day I gained my consciousness. I was like an empty canvass. I had no idea who I was, who were those people around me where was I?It was a big question mark. But then after sometime I start recognizing people.And now what I am is because of my past, but what I will be, is still in dark.

Is it good or bad? Nobody knows but the best part about it, is the possibilities are numerous in the future. I am not quoting possibilities with negative or positive connotation. It can be any thing. The possibility of me getting a "Nobel Prize" is there in the future, the possibility of living a normal life is there, The possibility of me getting hammered is there too. So, all sorts of possibilities are floating in the sea of darkness.

Did it ever occur why people hate darkness? Because nobody can see in darkness which translates to not knowing what is hidden in the darkness. It might be good and it might be bad. Same applies for future too. We cannot see it and that is why it is scary. But the best part is we don't know for sure that what is in future is good or bad. The things which seems bad might be actually good or vice-versa.

But the best part about future is the foundation of it is always set in present. So, If somebody says our future in in our hand I think he/she is right. What is present today was future in past. And what we did in past has shaped our present. For example, I was watching "Celebrity Apprentice" last week. Dennis Rodman, the NBA Star, was there as the project manager of men's team. He was so unorganized and arrogant to other team mates. He was drinking constantly for the entire task. In the board room, Donald trump asked him why is he not a team player. He defended himself by saying he did win 5 championships by being a team player. Then Jesse G. James said that it was the past in which he was fabulous and in present he is alcoholic and if he don't take action to stop it now then I am foreseeing a dark future. Which makes sense. We (Whole world) is in such a big recession which is supposedly heading towards depression, is because of bad decisions in past. However, if we act now then there is a chance we can avoid the depression. Future is still dark as always but with the current situation we can predict what might be coming.

As in the Disney flick "Pocahontas" the old tree tell John Smith and Pocahontas that the small ripple in the water can turn into big waves. So, a small initiative for betterment now can be seen come back with many fold advantages in future. It actually applies in every field just think about it.

Cheers
Mragendra

Dreams Unlimited!!!

I was walking on the street and suddenly it started to turn into grass... I jump up and stretched my wings and I am flying in the sky, racing among the clouds and birds. The birds look a bit weird they reminded of fishes. Wait a minute. They are fishes but what are they doing in the sky? Hold on I am in water now swimming, looking through the corral. It is such bliss. I came out from the water and start drying myself. I put on my clothes and turn around I found myself standing in the middle of the busy highway road. Oh goodness!!! How did I end up here? I tried to move towards the side as in the game "frogger" and then I noticed myself playing frogger on my computer, my cell phone starts ringing. It catches my attention. I get up off the couch the laptop, the cup, the pen, paper falls on the ground in slow motion I try to run to get it. I slipped somehow and just opened my eyes. Its 6:30 am, I am very much in my bed and my alarm is ringing.

Dream or say dreams are so magical people can do whatever they want to do in their dreams. People love to see dreams. Love to live dreams. All of us have some kind of dream. Dream originates from small seed; Idea. How do we get ideas? It is just a fascinating science.
We get ideas from reading, interacting with people, listening to music, watching TV and movies etc. We can get ideas from anywhere. At first Internet was somebody's idea then that Idea was blended with imagination and it became a dream. This inspired people to work on it. All the man-made things which we see around us was some person's idea once which turned into dream into finally transmuted into reality. Whenever people talk about the biggest dream come true they always mention "Wright Brothers" they are the best example of how dreams can take shape of reality. Lets do a deliberated thinking would anything be possible which surrounds us if somebody has not thought about it? Food, clothes, medium of transportation, TV, Internet, just look around where ever you are sitting and you will find at-least one thing which was once a dream. Can you find it?? Let me help you a bit. The computer where you are reading this :) is also a good example.

Dreams are so great, don't you agree? You can do whatever you dream for. Just think what you have dreamt of once irrespective of what happened to dream later. But the first time whenever you had that dream I bet it will have made you feel inspired and happy. The best part about a dream is it gives you power to think out of the box. For instance, Let’s assume that you are a below average student who aspires to be admitted to ivy league schools. However it seems impossible because the competition is so hard or its too expensive with out scholarship. But if you are that student and if you have that dream so whenever you think about living in dorm of ivy league schools, hanging out and partying with the students of ivy league school, or just seeing yourself at the graduation ceremony of ivy league school. It will start pumping your heart much faster and you will feel just simply amazing. That is what you wanted and you will start living in the dream. However when the reality struck there will be two possible things I can see happening. I will not like to label these two views as negative or positive because what is positive and negative to me will not be same for some other people and I don't want to typecast these attitudes, however it will help people to realize what I am trying to say. So the first attitude will be: You will say to yourself "Look at the grades there is no way I can make it. No matter how hard I study I cannot make it. Not a chance." Then you will compare with people who didn't succeed and just move on with your life. The second attitude is: You will say "Look at your grade. Is there any way I can work on it to make them better. Maybe; work hard to get good grades. Try to set small goals. So, that I can attune myself with my dreams and then achieve it”. Then start working to follow it .

I personally dislike when people say "That is not possible" or " You cannot do it." I always say don't limit the scope of your brain. You can do wonders. Don't get discouraged by failures. I was watching "Kitchen Nightmares" a show by Gordon Ramsay yesterday and he was helping this guy to make his business run smoothly. The show is OK but the thing which makes it good is the message it gives to viewers. So, he was talking with this owner of restaurant who doesn't want to try new things on the menu, because he was afraid that people may not like it. Gordon Ramsay forcefully changed the menu despite of his objections. The outcome was so wonderful. People liked the new menu. Then in the end of the show he took that guy to have one-on-one chat. And he just said to the restaurant owner that he is afraid of failures that is why he doesn't want to try new or different things. The restaurant owner’s eyes started watering. So what I was trying to say here is that don't get discouraged if you face failure because failure will give you chance to learn from your mistakes and help you in recuperating in much better way. Everybody knows about Abraham Lincoln and Albert Einstein.

So, if it is so easy why doesn’t everybody achieve it? The answer is as simple as the question. People don’t have persistence and desire to achieve their dream. I know many people in my friends and family who just gave up their dream because they don't have courage to keep up with it and I also know people who were not sure about how to fulfill their dream however they just knew they are going to fulfill their dream. Once you are committed to your dream then you start noticing the ways to get it. Don't ever let anybody come in between yourself and your dream. All the obstacles that are in the way to get your dreams are for purpose to check how much you want them? And once you overcome those obstacles you get more seasoned to take responsibility of dream you have. It is all learning process trust me. This is the reason why lottery winners get broke after winning so much money because they didn't go through the hard work to attain the money which means they are not seasoned to keep it so that it can be used to generate more money and they lose it all.



In the end I will like to conclude by just asking this how close are you to your dream??

Cheers
M

If I Had A Million Dollars

Activities to do: Type "Freedom" on Google and see what you get and then analyze what does freedom mean to you.

Yes, I am talking about freedom. It has different nuances to different people, however after talking to so many people one thing which commonly comes up is that all the people are worried about their finances. Just sit back and think what you could do if you have a million dollars? The answer is you can do what ever you want to do with that million dollars(million dollars is used as figurative speech for a lot of money). However, that is not the focus of this blog. It is a self evident truth that with a lot of money anybody can buy a lot of stuff... but there is one more thing that money brings and that is "financial freedom."

We live in a free world and free society.We have freedom to sleep, eat, wander around and practice our religion. But is this what freedom means or it is just state of mind?Just think: why do you need to work for somebody when you are free ? Just to earn money, right? This make us dependent on others and where there is dependency there is no absolute freedom. So, now the question is are we really free or do we pretend to be free? We all are worried about the finances all the time, house mortgage, car payment, child expenses and credit card debt etc are modern days shackles which will snatch freedom from an individual.

Just imagine a day without worrying about finances. It is good isn't it? Yeah, but what we do in order to get that freedom? Before talking about it I will talk a wee bit about economy. Since last year we all have seen the global economic recession. So many people get laid off, because of layoffs everybody got scared and as the consequence mostly stop spending and start saving. I was watching tube the other day, they had a commercial which stated " in this hard times we all will be going back to basics" true, doesn't it? It explains why we are in economic recession. People just don't want to spend money on the things they think as luxury or something they thought they don't need now, but can wait to get it till the economy gets better(This is just an observation). So it just simply create a huge attrition in demand , with low demand less supply. so when we don't have supply why we need workers and hence more layoffs and the vicious cycle continues. So, the question is everybody getting poor during this time? I will say no, people who had financial freedom they were able to face it more intelligently and were not effected by it however people who were not financially free were the most effected ones.


But often the thought comes what we do to get "financial freedom"I will say just think what can we do to attain it. It is not the rocket science it is just the willingness to reach to a level and take initiative. Once the mindset is changed then we will start noticing thing which were always there but invisible to us.

In the end I will wrap up with this thought
"All kinds of freedoms (i.e Freedom of thoughts or deeds) pretty much dependent upon on the foundation of financial freedom in today's world".

cheers
Mragendra

Valentine's day Pillow Fight

As the clock struck 6 people started attacking each other without mercy, every one was on one another,nobody got just one blow they got several hits. They try to hit back some succeed and some just missed. However, they never stopped just keep trying hit each other, on the valentine's day 2009 in Justin Herman plaza, with their deadly weapons,"pillows". Yes I am talking about the Pillow fight. Unbelievable sight!!!. Thousands of pillows was just flinging around. I just couldn't have imagined how people can just jump out of their comfort zone and start hitting completely random strangers without a second thought with their pillow and when people get hit by other people's pillow, they enjoyed it as well.

My girl friend (Caitlin) and I want to do something cool and different this Valentine's day and she found out about the pillow fight in San Francisco in Justin Herman Plaza . We were looking forward towards it. We decided no matter what will happen we are going to do it. Then lately we heard the news that the weekend of Valentine's day will be rainy and wet but it didn't effect our decision we bought ponchos as the rescue plan. However it didn't rain during the pillow fight hours.

So, This was the fourth successful pillow fight in the row. I will not talk more about the history and whereabouts because it all available on-line. I will be talking about how does it feel to be there in the "Pillow War Zone".

So before we couldn't even start the pillow fight around 5:45 pm there was these people dressed up as UN officers were protesting against the pillow fight. For an instance we thought they are real UN people and they want to stop pillow fight but soon we realized that it was just joke(As seen on flyer:) ). However for those who don't know what "UN" is; UN stand for UNO which is acronym for United Nations Organizations. I am not being condescending here because I saw couple people went to the UN fake officers and start asking what "un" stands for? they didn't have any clue whatsoever that there is something called UN. Which kind of spoiled the joke. They were just handing out flyers.

At 6 sharp I got my firs pillow hit on my face and then another followed the first one on my neck it didn't take time for me to realize that I have to start attacking soon. I just start flinging my pillow in all the direction. And it is the same scene all over Justin Herman Plaza. People were dressed in different interesting costumes; A set of Zombies(they were just maneuvering within the crowd pillow less, and every body was hitting them), People were dressed in sleeping robes, people were dressed as super heroes, Ninjas. There was a DJ as well riding on his bike ,carrying his speakers on it, moving all over the arena.

After 45 minutes or so some pillows started getting torn and in 15 minutes or so whole area was filled pillow feather It just looked like snow all over. People didn't care about it they were just keep hitting each other with the same animosity ;). Apart from the main arena people were doing extreme pillow fights in different groups. It was all very well managed by the participants despite of such pillow brutality there were no fights what so ever which is really very good about it. It was all in the name of just simple fun.

There were so many moments but this is the one I remember most. So, there was this couple they were actively participating in pillow fight and then the girl dropped her pillow her boyfriend helped her to get it back and then they just kissed each other. It was so "cheesy ";kissing in the fore ground and lots and lots of jumping pillows in the back ground. However, they just didn't realize that it was in the middle of pillow fight ...hahaha




Cheers
Mragendra

The Change

This is one of the cheesiest poem I ever wrote. But I think it was very inspirational still in a cheesy way. I have modified it a little bit as well form the original version..trust me this is better then the actual version..but still after reading this if you insist here is the link to the actual version. Hope you like this :)

THE CHANGE

the time has changed,
as it was before
now it's the time
which will change more and more
noway to rescue it
no way to stop it
only left is to realize
that we are stuck with it
this rigidity of thoughts will take us to the new world
Where false ego and complex will have there consequences manifold
relinquish the obstinate attitude, look amicably to change
will soon realize there is no loss
but have gain and only gain


Cheers
Mragendra

Scary Cow Screening 02/07/2009 Castro Theatre, San Francisco,CA

when ideas turn into dreams and dreams need to get fulfilled, The 7th Scary Cow Indie Film Festival is the place where one can see how dreams materialize. A nice initiative by the Scary Cow guys. The screening was nice and lot of people showed up to the lovely Castro theater. They had a Red Carpet and a real Scary Cow(awesome). This was my first experience in any kind of film screening and I enjoyed it.

The festival was divided into four sections:

1. Phase 1
   
2. Intermission
3. Phase 2
   
4. After party.
   

PHASE I:
In phase one there are 13 short films ranging from 2 minutes to 10 minutes. I will like to talk the movies I don't like and the films which I like most.

Previews:

1. team 21's preview was "Lifeline" interesting concept but not made me want to wait for the film. I will rate it 1.5 of 5.
2. Team 25's preview was "Don't Call us..." what in the world was that.My rating 0/5.
   

Short films:

1. Team 20's short film was "Mission Tales"(Documentary). My comments was good effort in a boring way. Just try to provide the basis why did you choose a specific guy. I mean think of all the people who don't live in San Francisco. It was just like we are listening to some guy he is interesting but we don't know what he is blabbing about. I will rate this as 2/5.
2. Team 34's Short film was "Miniature Ambitions". Good work Lads!! Nice concepts and good acting. Funny but something which doesn't stick out too much. I will rate this film as 3/5.
3. Team 5's Short film was "Gorilla Boy". What in the world was that. Not a good screen play. its general story about infidelity and teenage kids. I personally didn't like but the good news is you took the initiative. My rating 2/5.
4. Team 30's Music video was "Waiting Game". Good effort but a wee bit cheesy. Did not stick out too much. My rating is 2.5/5.
5. Team 23's Short Film was "Eat Pray Whatever".Good work guys. I will say it seems like best usage of limited resources, and it is true; to make a good film you just need the good concept and a clear vision. Pretty good I would say. My rating is 4.5/5.
6. Team 17's Short Film was "The Naming Party". I liked the concept, the acting and jokes. Good job. My rating is 4/5.
7. Team 12's Non Fiction Rant "Rantz". Awful, Everybody is so angry and blaming others. Very Negative in outlook. But you know its a free country you are allow to have your view and i am allowed to have my own views and in my view the rating is 0/5.
8. Team 32's Short film was "Play Someting". Good work. I like the song "creepy craig." A nice short story where people can show an awful lot of acting skills. Good concept and good execution. my rating is 4.5/5.
9. Team 33's "the Notes in the Hat". Another Good movie, good screen play and funny. my ratings 4/5.
10. Team 36 's "Vampsploitation." Mind blowing concept . Awesome footage. Still need improvement. my ratings are 3/5

Overall my favorites were "Eat Pray Whatever", "Play Something" and "The Notes in the hat".

PHASE II :
Previews:

Team 3's upcoming movie "the Pitch". Seems good but unoriginal. I would like to see the whole film though.my rating 3/5.

Short Films:

1. Team 2's "Thirst": What in the world was that. I will say good concept poor execution and not a lot in plate to offer. I will give 0.5 /5 for this one.
2. Team 14's "S for Psycho": Good one I like it. Good use of limited resources. Awesome ideas and very cool execution. Jokes were very fresh and intelligent. Good Job guys. I will give them 4.75/5.
3. Team 31's "Die Mekaniks": Again a good execution of a good concept. It more of Art like. I enjoyed it but half the time I was wondering what is going on. In the end it made a lot of sense. I will give 4.5/5 for this one.

In Phase II my favorites were "S for Psycho" and "Die Mekaniks".

We never made to the after party so we don't know who are the winners. In the end I will say good work Scary Cow. I am looking forward to another Screening.

Cheers
Mragendra
P.S. These reviews are my personal views. I do not intend to hurt anybody but for constructive criticism . I am not affiliated with Scary Cow in any form except as audience.