PHYPA WEN RYEA!

It has been a hectic month and I could not really spend much time with my blogspot for a while now. But what I can gather looking at the calendar that this would very well be the last post I would be writing this year unless I have a change of heart before midnight and write another. But, it seems unlikely as I am running late already for, first, a birthday party and then the New Year eve party and I don’t take things for granted when it comes to dressing up for an occasion, you see!

So here's wishing a brand new year, a very successful and bright, a very fulfilling and satisfying year for all of you. Wishing peace and prosperity; joy and happiness; smiling faces and laughter; strength in the tiring times; and will power to stay put when things look gloomy and dark. And much more of 'me-time' and lotsa time to discover yourself to know the real 'YOU'.

And here I remember a saying which is so very meaningful to me: 'Success is a journey not a destination' and similarly I put it for life: its a journey, its about growth and the name of the game is to go on and not stop as its more than just reaching a destination.

Let’s say cheers to the New Year as we pop the bubbly.........PHYPA WEN RYEA!!!!! Hic hic....that’s all jumbled up as I try to say ....(may be I am already drunk)....HNY!

Saying Goodbye!

Just the other day I was discussing ‘this’ when I and a friend (the most down to earth guy I know for all his successes) decided to catch a movie to treat our eyes after treating ourselves leisurely over a lunch and some Australian wine.

That was a luxury for me. First I was at home all by myself and not traveling. And then it was a Sunday, a nice wintry December Sunday afternoon. And then the movie was a true blue bollywood blockbuster and a chartbuster of the season.

While we were casually chatting about the directorial lapses, and exchanging some such critical bytes after the movie we did touch upon the changing cityscape. How this city is transforming day by day which is almost like desperately going under plastic surgeon’s knives. And how multiplexes are becoming a big time favorite with the common people and the businessmen and the people in power alike. And how old cinema halls are standing like a sore point in this oh-so perfect hairline…err…cityscape.

As if someone heard us talking about it and lo and behold…almost in a few days I read an announcement with a heavy heart that this much loved movie hall, a classy address would soon go under the bulldozers to make one of those huge malls with multiplexes. One of those places where you don’t have to plan for a movie as one of those would anyway be showing what you want to watch just when one is in the mood. These days multiplexes are giving such options that planning for a movie sounds oh-so old-fashioned! Life is becoming oh-so convenient!

Chanakya theatre would not be there in future. The name which is synonymous with movie outings from childhood. It also meant good momos any time of the year. And it meant a convenient landmark where people from different parts of the city could gather when we plan re-unions and catch a movie over some yummy kebabs and entertaining bytes from friends. A lot of nostalgia of those idyllic moments spent would be bulldozed along with the movie hall.

For me at this point, it’s an end of a nice hang-out spot. And its end of a year as well which brought much changes and new beginnings. Hope Chanakya also gets a new beginning in future.

And I thank my friend for mentioning about a movie that Sunday while I was happily sipping that exotic variant from Oz or else I would have missed an opportunity to catch a movie at Chanakya one last time. Do I really have enough time to catch another before it shuts down for ever, may be Will Smith’s latest…err I am legend, what do you think?

Speak Up!

Speak up. Say it loud and clear. It helps.

It helps as it does not keep a residue within your mind and you don’t get to hold your grudges for long. It helps as the other gets to understand your point of view and indirectly helps you resolving the matter, if that is so. Or otherwise it gives you an idea what to do next. It helps a great deal.

This is about one of my friends, a female whom I had met many moons ago at work and became friends, became almost like a family. And she would always be loving and polite and would take me as I am without any offence. She would never feel bad when I would correct her or for that matter advise her or rebuke her. I knew she likes me for my point of view and for my clarity. And this way I had become part of many discussions and her family.

But I used to get troubled at times as much of the times she would not mind my blunt ways. I had uneasy moments after commenting harshly sometimes which would make me think for sometime but I still spoke my mind all the time knowing how close we are.

But I do not have to feel bad again. She spoke up.

I am happy that she spoke up. She said the way her mind told her and she did not bother to think how I would feel. Somewhere it was not a good feeling but at a different level I felt she is no more that meek and indecisive person any more. And somewhere I felt good as now I don’t have to tell her the way I think about things she does and now she knows and she would not ask another for decision. I will feel less guilty after I speak my mind.

Well, I will remain the way I am anyway, some things just don’t change! Except one thing- my admiration for her. Now I admire her more than before.

Hey ‘you’, thanks for that verbal ‘deuce’ you lobbed at my court the other day, honestly it felt good. It’s good to be open and say things the way it is and I like it this way!
And it’s good to see some changes at least. And you scored a point there!

Will you find HappYness?

I am a morning person and I am at my creative best when its sunrise time and I am at my productive best in the morning. And today was no different and I had to put an imaginary lid on the pot where all the thoughts were brewing for my next blog, for the recipe I would try tonight, the dress I would wear over the weekend when I attend that reception and things like that.
And then there were influences all around, we humans are just like blotting papers at soaking up ideas, moods, and vibes; only difference being we can regulate our selection unlike a sheet of blotting paper which without failure would soak anything it is thrown on!

Well, to tell you the gist there were a good number of influences around me this morning which triggered my thinking process on this blog, and it was at that time when the daily planner at my desk was flashing a colorful collage!

First it was Will Smith, (this man is surely addictive) and then the film called The Pursuit of Happyness and then that sudden encounter with that bitchy colleague of mine, and the group discussion at work as we are planning to relocate our office space and then….well, that’s something within my mind which got into that ‘deep thinking’ mode!

And I was thinking how tough it is to be humble and be genuine about it.

In this competitive world its difficult to scarf insecurities and often the inner bitch peeps out and we transmit a vibe unknowingly. I feel it’s a great quality to be humble when you are sitting at the highest rung of that ladder. And only those could flash it genuinely who have reached there after traveling rough patches in life. It shows through your eyes, through your actions, voice AND you can’t act there.

We all are running in this game of life, whatever is our goal, however successful we are, wherever on the ladder we are placed. Running is the name of the game. And we do it, its habit, you know it or not.

And there I read this: "I couldn't tell you that we were homeless, I just knew that we were always having to go. So, if anything, I remember us just moving, always moving". That’s what Chris Gardner tells when asked about his life on which the film is based played by Will Smith.

Wish we knew its just so for everyone: YOU, I and everyone, may be it’s a different track, on a different lane. So gear up, on your mark…GET-SET...and Goooooooooo

Tall Black and Sexy

Aren’t these sexy? Umm…I like them pointed, I like them black and I like them when they are real sleek. And I have many of them. Well, I am talking about my love for stilettos (this is so girlie for a tomboy).

And as I stay put on the bed recuperating from, what a very nice doctor diagnosed as, soft tissue injury at lower back, I was reading/discussing more on lower back injury and things to do etc. And there I heard from a colleague about working out on stilettos are gaining ground in Manhattan and such places. I was wondering what went wrong when I tried to run…err walk a li’l too faster on my sexy stilettos last weekend. Now you know why I had to spend much of my weekend on my back…oops, it still hurts.

Learn to walk like a lady, if you can…umm, I am telling myself as my mum told me over phone!

be the man..err CHANGE

I was away from my sweety for sometime now, was busy teasing my brain..err I was at work and it’s a demanding field you see! But I am in so much love with my blogspot that I had to be back and make my presence felt!!

I was part of a round table discussion to discuss what policies can inspire more men to end gender-based violence globally and more essentially in South East Asia. And there I came across a few lines which truly moved me:

be the man who says NO to Violence Against Women
be the man who Stands for Equality
be the man who Breaks the Silence
be the man who Cares

And I wonder how many (MAN) would truly answer in affirmative in this so called progressive era. And I ask: Are you man enough?

Well, don’t have to answer me…think for yourself .

November Quotes

Its December already! And I have to go on a vacation.

One more year is going to pass. And for some reasons December has always been associated with parties, get-togethers for me, not only because of usual Christmas-New Year eve fest-ing and feasting but also because of my tenures in different places had mostly ended in December. But this year I have seen more number of farewells in November; farewells of my colleagues from various offices across the globe. And that was quite a number.

And I am a sucker of good time, good food and good words.

I flaunted some of my beautiful dresses and got compliments (they are actually for my designer friend).I ate some nice food, got to know some recipes and gained some flab. I drank some bubbly and felt nice. I listened to those speeches and I saved two quotes for my blog post.

The first one is what Confucius once heard saying "Our greatest glory consists not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall" .

And the second is an Irish saying "May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be at your back, may the sun shine warmly on your face, the rain fall gently on your fields and may a kind and just God hold you in the palm of his hand until we meet again".

May you all have a nice time in the forthcoming festive season as I plan to go on a vacation.

And I am done with this one for the moment; need to catch some sleep after painting the town red…..oops, in my red dress.

Oops, I am still short of one blog from hitting a half-century..whats happening in the gardens of Eden?