May be it is time to start over again!

Well, that is what I want to tell myself as I want to get back to blogging. Life has really moved on since the last time I shared my thoughts here. 

M came in to my life to make it more beautiful than ever. She has captured my life, thoughts and every bit of me beyond imagination and I have fallen in love more than ever. What a new life can do to you is just amazing. These days I find it hard to talk casually to anyone without thinking about her or mentioning her. Believe me, I never thought motherhood would be this intense :)

Work and M are the two dominant parts of my current life. As I restart blogging, I wonder why I will have to share and if that will even be worth sharing. Not sure why I never had such thoughts when I started blogging the first time. Is it age? Is it because life became centered around fewer things? Is it because I have started becoming more inward? Well, I don't know. But I think I should give it a try and lets see where it goes.

Looking forward to this second stint.

Can you help me, please?

Hi folks,

I am doing a project on "Understanding the helping patterns of people in the society" out of my personal interest. As part of that, I have come up with a survey to get inputs from people.

I am looking at having 200 responses. I need your help in reaching that number.

You can help me by
1. Taking the survey
2. Getting at least 3 of your friends take the survey.

Survey link - http://www.esurveyspro.com/Survey.aspx?id=c17cbd63-10d7-4278-b355-6fc738fa5ca4

It takes around 5 minutes to complete the survey. So, please go ahead and give me your inputs.

I will be happy to hear any comments you have.

Love,
Aarthi

I want to enjoy my childhood, ma

"I want to enjoy my childhood, ma", this was an article in the last Sunday's Hindu paper. This article really moved me and I could so much identify with that child.

What surprised me even more was to see Dr.Abdul Kalam's response to it in a few days. His reply was also publishes on the Hindu. Here is a poem from his article that I liked very much.

The Student’s Prayer

Don’t impose on me what you know,
I want to explore the unknown
And be the source of my own discoveries.

Let the known be my liberation, not my slavery.
The world of your truth can be my limitation;
Your wisdom my negation.

Don’t instruct me; let’s walk together.
Let my richness begin where yours ends.

Show me so that I can stand
On your shoulders.

Reveal yourself so that I can be
Something different.

You believe that every human being
Can love and create.

I understand, then, your fear
When I ask you to live according to your wisdom.

You will not know who I am
By listening to yourself.

Don’t instruct me; let me be.
Your failure is that I be identical to you.”

I thought, there is a connectivity among young hearts even beyond ocean — “I only want to enjoy my childhood, ma” and “The Student’s Prayer.”

All these meaningful articles make me more fond of Hindu than any other newspapers :-)

Just Books

Today me n N dropped into this new book library 'Just books' on IndraNagar 12th Main road on our way back from the team outing. I should say this place is awesome and their idea is just so cool... As I write even I am wondering what makes them so cool, they are just a library.

I have not seen (m)any good libraries in Indra nagar area in the last 5 years. This one is really a blessing for people like me who need some motivation like a big collection of books to read. They have some rare collection of books. I was sweetly surprised to see the English version of Kalki's Ponniyin Selvan there. The staff were so friendly and kind enough to take requests for books unlike the other famous big ones in the city. They have a cool sensor based book checkout to bypass the long queues and waiting for someone to make an entry. To top it all is the various membership options -- they have a basic plan where one can take 2 books + one magazine at a time, pay Rs.175 as montly fee and 250 as registration. There is a 1000 bucks refundable deposit. They have other options too but I found this one perfect for a slow reader like me. Ooops, i forgot they even deliver books to home. I am just waiting to take pv there to get ourselves registered.

I am so damn excited to get back to reading...

BTW, that remind me I am currently reading "Making It". I will post the review once I am done.
The more I see such places, the more I get enthused about giving life to my own ideas :-)

"Good or bad!! Short or long!! I want to write a post today. How many long days will I keep telling myself different reasons for not writing one. Enough is enough", I told myself on my way back from office and I decided to overcome this inertia.

This post is about our diwali celebs this year. I have so many other things to write about too. Two weeks ago, I suddenly came up with the idea of celebrating 'Green Diwali'. I wanted to be that caring ecotizen (hahaa...self coined) who does not pollute the environment. I told pv and he agreed to celebrate a green diwali by not bursting crackers. Immediately my mind made plans (totally involuntary) on how else the crackers money could be spent :) . I came up with the next brilliant idea of buying diyas and decorating the house with them.

Then I searched and searched on google to find some NGO selling terracotta diyas (my latest interest) and ended up finding few which did not seem to have good designs. I then went around the Tippasandra market and finalized on the shop where I got a good deal. Pv and me went there and purchased diyas for 500 INR. Pv was shocked on seeing the amount.

We started our diwali celebrations with Pooja followed by yummie payasam made with Milkmaid. After sometime we got bored with the tv programmes and felt something was missing in our celebrations. We heard every one bursting crackers and we could not resist ourselves sitting inside the house. In few minutes, I gave my ecotizen status and went to buy crackers :)
In the evening, we did a small rangoli in front of the house and decorated it with diyas. Then started our foto session and pv's wonderful clicks. We burst some crackers in the night with friends.

Overall it was a good diwali. One big realization for me was, I cannot celebrate diwali without crackers as they form an integral part of my diwali. I can't even imagine any other way of enjoying diwali. I should find one before the next season so that I can be a true ecotizen then.

I have uploaded pics here.

I know but still ...

Sometimes (actually most times) I feel there is so much in this world to do than to sit in a company and be at the mercy of somebody's decision. I mean, there is so much one can do in every damn field, then why do most of us end up sitting in an office, doing work that does not interest, end up feeling unrecognized for their work and above all don't have any say in the decisions made by the management. We know for sure that we can put our talents to better use in a place which demands so much public attention for improvment, yet we settle for a heavy pay check that gives us all the materialistic pleasures than satisfaction.

I have come across so many so many ideas recently that I wonder why I haven't been able to think about them. Maternova -- bringing maternal and child care by connection health workers, health facilities and innovation in that space. Imagine how useful a handheld ultrasound would be for those rural women who can't afford to travel to the hospital which has the equipment. They have come up with a motor bike ambulance. Another intelligent idea I came across was Sasix - It is a social investment exchange. They have given a truly different shade to the concept of 'donation'. All social development projects are listed out here and people can invest in it like buying shares. They get regular updates (say quarterly) on how the projects are going on. This helps in funding the project for the beneficiary, at same time gives a kind of realistic view to the share holder on how the money is being used and makes the beneficiary accountable for the change they are trying to bring in society.

These aren't any rocket launching ideas, but they are on their way to become path breaking ideas. I am sure they are gonna make a big positive impact on the society. If we carefully look at our society, almost every domain - health, transport, environment, people, education, care, family, agriculture, crafts, tradition, tourism and countless other things are looking for ideas which could greatly benefit. It is not that we don't know -- we know and we still IGNORE.

I started out writing as "I" and ended up as "We". Let me get back to I. I know every time my project at work gets put on hold, I get to think it is His way of telling me that 'Aarthi, why don't you go out and try your ideas. It will be of help to the people.' I know it will be helpful, but I am scared to dirty my hands, am shit scared to quit my job and try. Now I have the time, but the whole project put on hold at work only makes me dejected, disappointed, frustrated and disoriented in life. I know I have to get past this and use this time to try out my ideas. I know.. I want to... I will...

Too many things to write about

There are too many things I want to write about and don't know which to add and which to omit. Does this happen when one does not write for long???

I will try to cover tid bits of everything I want to write about.

Pv and me took a '2 marriages and a week's vacation' sprint a week ago. We started off with Hyderabad - the city of foodies (no offence) as I would like to call it. Attended a marriage in the morning and went to PARADISE (rightly named) for a round of Veg biriyani and Qurbani ka Meetha for lunch. If you are new to Hyd, don't miss the biriyani here..its yummie and the best of Hyderabadi cuisine. For the first time, I wanted to be a non-veg so that i could taste the other varieties. Visited charminar, for a change I spared pv wallet :) and then had a lovely walk on banks of Hussain sagar.

Wanted to watch 'Magadheera' chiru's son's debut movie but ended up watching 'Gopi Gopika Godavari' :( Don't ask me how the movie was, that emoticon says it all.

Saw some prawn cultivation fields on the way to Kaikalur. Could not get to go closer and check how it would be, I din't want to go near thinking it would stink :)

Auto wala robbed us on the wee hours of monday morning as the rain Gods welcomed us with a heavy shower when we entered B'lore. We paid 100 bucks to come home from CMH rd BDA complex. This is called 'Pagal kollai'.

Yesterday turned to be a memorable day in the life. I had my first convocation on completion of the social entrepreneurship course. Wow!!! I found the course really useful, especially gave a lot of clarity to my thoughts on venturing into social sector. Mom still is apprehensive of that.

Another piece of good news is my mentor agreed to help me out more on my project. Oops.. I dint tell abt my project yet. Its not making science more fun and easy to understand for kids. I have started out with the grade5 children of Ashwini charitable Trust and so far its been ok. However, I am struggling to get simple concepts like sound, environment to children. We (me and the children) created some hand made telephones to understand how sound travels. I enjoyed the whole session more than the children :) I am waiting to get the help of my mentor to take this project further.

The tv at home is down with flu. I mean the picture tube is having some problem. All we get to see is a horizontal line when it is on. Gotto get it repaired. I am slowly realizing the power of 'No TV', atleast I got myself to blog after long time...hehee...

VVVeeeRRddddddddd

me: Hello
on the fone: Good afternoon Madam, how can I help you?

me: Good Afternoon. I need some info... some information on filing my tax returns.
on the fone: Sure Madam. I need some details before to help you. Can I know your name?
me: I am Aarthi

on the fone: Your father's name Mam?
me: Muralidharan

on the fone: Your PAN number?
me: AG........

on the fone: Your date of birth?
me: 20/7/xxxx

on the fone: Thank you for giving the details. How can I help you madam?
(Here comes the funny part of the conversation)
me: Can you tell me my name... I mean my first name, surname and last name?
(I was laughing at myself after asking this question...How can I ask such a thing!!)

on the fone: Sure Ma'm.
me: Thank you, can you tell me my father's first name, last name?
on the fone: Here you go madam....
me: Thank you so much.

on the fone: Is there anything else I can help you with?
me: Nope, thank you.

Imagine calling up someone who does not know you and asking them your name and your father's name. How much more weirder can it get??

Well, that's what the income tax dept is expecting us to do. I was filing my returns online and I could not get past the registration page with every possible combination of my name for the first name last name.

My God!! Who ever introduced this concept of first, middle, last, sur names????

At least I am happy, my name has only 1 word.. imagine the fate of those who have too many words in their names... heeheee.. I pity PV...

My weirdest conversation ever!!!

BTW, if you have not filed your returns yet, you can do it online on the incometax website. It is pretty easy if you know your name right :-)

Birthday Bash

I had a superb birthday eve this year. Basically everyone decided to be very nice nice to me and asked me to buy anything I wanted. I quickly grabbed the opportunity and bought so many things...

2 watches (I almost selected the third one too, then from deep in me there rose some pity for PV who was buying the 2 for me, so decided to get the third one later). Now, I have atleast 5 watches in my collection.

Lots n lots of clothes - Oh man!! there is some 'upto 50%' discount in every other shop. So got a good deal in most of the places.

American diamond studded earrings - Mom surprised me with a cute ear ring.

Roller skates - I used to feel so J of those kids who used to skate their way on the roads. Pv fulfilled my long time wish to have my own skates and zoom on the roads. Now, I will wear them and make the kutti gundu girl on my road feel J. Heheheee.... Ok ok ..for that I first gotto learn skating.

A lovely b'day cake - creamy choclatey..yummie.. I jus loved it.

Apple palgoa - Mom's innovative sweet recepie for my b'day. She started making apple rabdi and the milk got spoilt in between. Instantly she changed her plans and make apple palgoa.. It tasted really good.

cute b'day card from aunty n uncle. Aunty was too pro-active knowing my laziness she bought me a salwar stitched the last time she came here :)

With all this, I was all set for my birthday to have lots of fun. Finally, I fell sick that morning and had to take a day off. But I din't miss the fun at home. Happily slept, saw 'While you were sleeping'. In the evening we went out for dinner.

Totally it was an eventful birthday!!

Let's clean Bengaluru in ONE day!!

Does that sound impossible?? It may, but it is worth a try.

We have been complaining of the dirty roads, garbage strewn all over, plastic covers flying around and what not. This time, lets take it on ourselves to change the place we live.

Check this out -- Clean Bengaluru

Aindian is an NGO which is a group of people who are committed towards a clean Bangalore. They are organizing a clean-up drive in the city on August 15th 2009.

There are multiple ways by which one can take part -
1. Volunteer for the clean-up drive
2. Tell your friends, colleagues and ask them to participate
3. Find some sponsorship for this event
4. Spread the message - Blog/facebook/twitter/orkut ...

Each of us together can make a huge difference.

Come, be the change you want to see!!

The Mayonnaise Jar

I was reading a forward some time back and liked it way it explained the priorities of life. Here it is for you to read.

When things in your life seem, almost too much to handle,
When 24 Hours in a day is not enough,
Remember the mayonnaise jar and 2 cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class
And had some items in front of him.
When the class began, wordlessly,
He picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar
and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students, if the jar was full.
They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured
them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
The pebbles rolled into the open Areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.
Of course, the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a
unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and
poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively
filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor, as the laughter subsided,
'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.
The golf balls are the important things - family,
children, health, Friends, and Favorite passions -
Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, Your life
would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, house, and car.

The sand is everything else --The small stuff.

'If you put the sand into the jar first,' He continued,
'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
The same goes for life.

If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff,
You will never have room for the things that are important to you.

So...

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play With your children.
Take time to get medical checkups.
Take your partner out to dinner.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

'Take care of the golf balls first --
The things that really matter.
Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee
represented.

The professor smiled.
'I'm glad you asked'.

It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem,
there's always room for a couple of cups of coffee with a friend.'

Alternate solution for meetings

"If you pull me into meetings all day, when do you except me to work?..."
Does this sound familiar to you? Have you been saying this for a while now.. I find myself repeating these words many times.

6 out of 10 times, I have always felt that meetings are/were such a waste of time as people did not have an agenda to begin with, some people don't share information for what-so-ever reasons, the information shared is irrelevant to some folks present, no conclusions reached at the end and most of all there is no consistent way to track the action items. These meetings end up being such waste of time and money for the company.

One of my colleagues just forwarded me an article which talks has an alternate solution for meetings. I am sure you would have heard of "Yammer" which the 'Twitter for enterprise'. I liked the article and thought I would share it with you all. This does not promise to delete all the meetings from your calendar but if practised well, we can cut down atleast 50% of them.

Here is the link to the article - My microsharing success story . Its a nice one, don't miss it.

I am all game to try out Yammer if I can avoid some useless meetings.

What a way to code!!

Listening to A.R.Rehman songs on my "ipod" ear fones with a chocolate bar half inside my mouth and the other half waiting to be munched and coding... I love this!!! I am in love with my work if all these accessories are there with me everytime I work :-)

Can't believe, y'day I was cribbing and boring myself to death in office and see today, what a change!! Moral of the story - Let me be free, let me listen to music and the most important give me more and more chocolates. Mommie..plesae don't hear the last part and blame me for all the cavities. That reminds me of the Himalaya's tooth paste add - 'If you want to eat like a child, brush like an adult' :-)

So boring

Wednesday 1:13pm
I am getting bored to the core... No mood to work today as I managed to complete 75% of my work yesterday. After moving to the new team, I almost forgot what it means to browse. In the last 5 years of my work, I always made sure that I spent 30 - 45 minutes post lunch in reading something that is not work related. Now, its almost like work work and work... No enthu around. People are so silent glued to their monitors as if something is going to fall from there and they have to catch it. I know I know.. its all signs of boredom...
Let me quickly turn on my music player and get hold of my ear phones. Guess that will get me going.

Run for Ashwini

The Sunfeast Bangalore 10K run is happening in Bangalore on May31st. Yeppie...its coming again!! I am all game to run the 5.7kms, it was so much fun last 2 times.

Like the last 2 times, this time too I am running for the cause of 'educating under-privileged children' supported by Ashwini Charitable Trust fondly known as ACT.

I've been volunteering for ACT for more than 4 years now. It has been a truly wonderful experience for me being with those children, see them grow and come out in flying colors.

ACT is participating in the run for
1. Creating awareness amongst people about the cause
2. Raising funds to pay the children's fee for the coming academic year (2009-2010)

Today, ACT supports around 100 children of age groups varying from 3 years to 18 years. The estimated cost of educating these kids is around Rs.10Lakhs for the coming year.

If any of you think you can help these children by sponsoring for their education, please please let me know. We need support from everyone to accomplish the mission.

I have no doubts on the capabilities of these children - the proof of the pudding came yesterday when we heard 2 of our children made jobs by themselves without any recommendation in big firms.

The table below will give you an idea of how much it costs to educate a child for one year.

Let me know if you would like to sponsor a child. If you are interested to Run for Ashwini, go ahead and get registered. I promise you, its going to be fun and a more satisfying experience as you help spread the message.

All contributions are eligible for tax exemption under section 80G

For more details on the Run for Ashwini campaign - check the blog

Netru illada matram ennadu?

All long when she wanted to breathe, her neck was almost strangled. Now when she is about to be let free, there is so much breathlessness in her.

Though she sees the fresh air gushing in front about to enter her nostrils, there is this weird feeling. Her heart seems to have suddenly stopped craving for the breath.

She has got used to the absence of freshness that makes her heart feel she can do away with it in the coming days.
The mind sends signals to her heart asking it not to sink in the sea of comfort where she has been sailing so long. It tells her to get out of it and inhale the fresh air - For all the struggle was just for that!!!

...Idu daan Vaazhkai enbada??

For those of you don't understand tamil the title of the post meant 'What's the change that was not there yesterday?' and the last line meant 'Is this what life is about?'

Tour de Chickmagaluru

Another weekend, another trip. Last weekend we had been to the Srirangapatna, Rangantithu bird sanctuary, mysore. It was a great day visiting places of different genres.

This weekend we are planning to hit the coffee country of Karnataka - No its not coorg, it is Chickmagaluru where coffee was first cultivated in India. Our plan is to stay there for 2 days - visit Kemmanagudu, hebbe falls one day and Sringeri, hornadu, kalsa the other day.

I wish the Sun God shows some mercy on us where we are there. I have been wanting to visit Chickmagaluru for long time now. Now, its all coming true. There is just one more thing to do - book our tickets to chickmagaluru for tonight :-)

Looking forward to the weekend

I am looking forward to this long weekend.
PP is coming here, am gonna meet her after 2 long years!!! Hope to spend some gud time together and meet many friends. I am planning to cook lunch for PP - delicious gift from a sweet cute friend :-) [or punishment for missing 2 important weddings in her life]. What it would turn out to be will be decided post lunch :P
Couple of friends have booked for a day's koothu (fun) in a resort and the best part is I have to ride all the 30kms on my Pleasure with PP behind... As they say, why should boys have all the fun??
And then aunty n uncle are cumng home on sunday, looking forward to that.

So many things happening in one weekend... Hope to have gud fun.

Time is flying

Time is flying as fast as it can and I am trying to catch up with every moment. So many things to do, so much time and so much much laziness too ...

I have been planning to write a post since long time and I don't need to complete the sentence now... Just got too many things on top of my mind that they evaporate quickly in the heat of the summer making me oblivious to them till they condense and pour as heavy showers in the night when I am too tired to move my limbs to do anything about them.

I am falling in love with Bangalore again and again for its wonderful weather. How I wish the rains followed the GST (Gelf Standard Time) (thanks to Chandu for coining GST, I really liked it) so that it rains after we get back home from work. It is such a mess to drive in the rain when the roads are flooded with water and the car guy next to you splashes it on your not-so-often-washed bike. Anyways, its much much better than the scorching heat that does not let you sleep in the night. Okay!! I know I know...I can hear you... Bangalore heat is not heat at all... God salute to those who bare the heat in places like Kothagudem. For all I realize that I have withstood worser temperatures on both sides of the scale in Pilani. Times when we had to cover the entire face just leaving 2 holes for the eyes to see the road.. times when we were blinded by fog and could not see what's ahead ..Yep, those were times of the past. Now, I am used to the chill breeze of Bengalooru and my body screams to the scroching heat.

Oops.. from where to where.. I wanted to write about something else and ended up analyzing my reactions to the heat and the rain. This is exactly what happens to me, I start with something and end up some where else... Anyways, coming to the point (what's the point??)... Yea!! My list of ever-to-be done things...

1. Write a post which I am doing
2. Write a post on RunForAshwini blog specifying more details on sponsoring a child.
Hey!! If you have not seen this blog, please go and check it out.
I am planning (and planning) to write a separate post to cover this topic.
3. Start reading the book of this month for my OT challenge.
With all enthu I bought the book 'Train to Pakistan' spending close to half a grand (huh!!!) and have not gotten my hands over it yet!! Days are running.. got only 5 more days in this month...
BTW, I have found the book for the next month - 'Love in the Times of Cholera'. Thanks to Goli for suggesting that.
4. Next month is going to be fun with uncle and aunty. It would be good if Shravs n Bunny join. That means, pv n me gotto finalize a place for the trip. If it is damn diffi for "us" to find a place for dinner (the other day we drove from HalliMane in Malleswaram to Bobs in Jeevan Bhima Nagar not being able to find even one suitable place for dinner - Why?? That needs the space of a post for itself.. so I will write about it sometime later. We finally ended up having puchka's, sandwich and juice for dinner), I don't need to say about the rest. But, we shal together come to some conclusion atleast the day before the travel... So no worries.
5. Put clothes for wash - Hurrah!!! I did that, but one more round pending.. Pv says its my favorite job.
6. Have to buy Shabo's wedding gift - She got married Nov last year and I am yet to gift her.
7. Mom is coming tomorrow which means I gotto clean the house and make it look neat atleast on the first glance. It is impossible for me to achieve her cleanliness goals, still gotto do something.
8. Pin-up board - this was part of my new year resolution that I would list down the places I have visited in the year and the ones I want to visit on the pin-up board. Neither did the visiting happen nor did the pin-up board stay up :-) Pv n me put all our efforts n knowledge of physics, chemistry, math and bio too to fix it on the wall and let it stay but the board was too adamant and always want to fall. This time, its gonna be a hang-or-throw situation. If its not gonna work this time, I am gonna throw it off and buy a ready made pin-up board :-)

By now, I realize that the rest of the things have already evaporated and will come back as part of the evening showers. I shall complete these now.

If you are still reading, my thanks to you. In all probability, you might have seen some part of you in the above lines, I am happy to see you too sailing in the same sea if not the same boat :-)

All in all, this week seems to be a pretty satisfying one, I completed my own 'windows task manager' like application @ work, did somethings towards a change in project, managed the house when mom was not there (my huge success item.. well!! 1 more day to go), had been a good girl as always. Full Stop, no comments expected on the last line.

Break the silence

For those (??) who have been checking this place for a new post, I will soon come up with one!!!