Interrogation

She - What?????? Are you writing a book???

Me - Yes.

She  - (Thinking)

She - Are you sure you want to do that?

Me - Yes. I think so.

She - (Thinking)

She - With the kind of blog that you have, are you sure, you will be able to write a book?

Me - Yes. I think so.

She - (Thinking)

She - Do you have a plot in mind?

Me - Yes. I do.

She - (Thinking)

She - The language with a tamil mix which you use in your blog, cannot be used in a book. Do you know that?

Me - Well...I have done a bit of reading and i have figured out how to include that style of writing in my book.

She - (Thinking)

She - How can you publish by the end of this year?

Me - Its next year...not this year.

She - Oh...yeah..i saw that...sorry, i thought it is this year...

She - (Thinking)

She - I am shocked! (looks shocked too)

She - (Thinking)

She - How will you find a publisher?

Me - I am working on it. Not sure at this point. But, will have to make it happen.

She - (Thinking)

She - Tell me something. What if it doesn't sell well?

Me - I am writing because i enjoy it...so, i don't really think it will affect me if it doesn't do well in the market.

She - (Thinking)

She  - What if people do not like it?

Me - What if people like it?

She - You know what?

Me - What?

She - Wow!!!! I am amazed at your courage and I realize that all it takes is the courage to do something. Rest everything will follow.

Me - (Thinking)

Me - I think so!!!!

Kaliyugam – whatever it means!

Yesterday, on my way to the grocery shop, I witnessed this minor accident where one Swift-y hit one Bike-y and the bike got struck under the Swift’s bumper.

 The bike-y tried hard for 2-3 minutes to take his bike out from its “hayyo paavam” position…finally succeeded in pulling it out in full working condition.

 Our Swift-y gentleman was sitting inside the car all this while and after confirming that the bike is out without any damage…he got out of the car in a “what the hell did you do to my bumper” expression and directly looked at the car bumper and then at the bike-y asked him ”don’t you have eyes”????

 Then the 2 gentlemen kept competing on “who blames the other best?”….the rest is history.

 You may be thinking…what is new in this situation? There is nothing new! – Well, that’s exactly my worry!

 The other day, after going through one whole page of news on child molest, gang rape, bank robbery, hit and run…I heard my grandmother mumbling “Kaliyugam! alladhakki enna chollaradhu”? (Translation – “Kaliyugam! What else can I say?”)

 Before checking his car bumper, the swift-y is not even looking at the bike-y to check whether he is ok.

His car is more valuable than a human life. Now the question is “What if the mistake was on Bike-y’s part?” – of course!, there are 2 sides to every coin. And I don’t know the other side as I didn’t see it.

 But, the question here is not about who is right and who is wrong.

The question is, how much does a human life value to you? When the world is going gaga about sustainability, go green, global warming etc etc….the basic itself is getting destabilized.

 To me, kaliyugam is not about just bad happenings all around. It is the gradual fear which is gripping human mind!

 A bike-y is scared to give lift to a pedestrian, a lady is scared to travel alone at night, a parent is worried about the kid when they are not around…there is a fear in everyone…and its gradually spreading.

 Probably this swift-y pretended to be more concerned about his car than the bike-y because he feared that he would be asked money if he pretended to be a caring human being!

 That’s the irony….The belief that if you are good, you will be deceived and be taken advantage of!

 Be strong, be bold, be courageous to face kaliyugam….but, try to be human as well!

Thousand faces...Thank you!

Completed the first milestone of 1000 pageviews! Thank you everyone for visiting my blog!

Happy reading!

After effect!

The characters and incidents in this narration are purely fictitious and any resemblence to you or any of you is purely incidental.


Revathi Krishnan, the city's renowned Psychiatrist looked at her watch. Its 7.00 PM . She checked her appointment diary. One more appointment to go...the last one for the day.

She checked the available details of the next patient.
Name - Avantika Hariharan
Age - 25
Profession - Software engineer
Marital status - Single

Mostly - a break up issue...or parents divorce issue...or inferiority complex/inhibition issue. Revathi thought to herself.

She called for Avantika.

Avantika entered the room.

Appearance - Not breathtakingly beautiful.But,definitely cute, stylish. Large expressive eyes. Wheatish complexion. Good features.

First impression - Looks smart. No apparent physical reason which can lead to inferiority complex. Revathi continued her thoughts.

Avantika took her seat.

Revathi flaunted her warm smile and asked: "So, tell me something about yourself."

Avantika - "I am Avantika. My parents are working.I have an elder brother and sister. Mine is one of the most respected families in my village. After completing my B.Tech, i joined Excellence IT organization as Software Engineer. I always thought i have got everything i want in my life and I was very happy with my life."

Revathi - "So, what is the issue?"

Avantika - "Now,I am very unhappy with my life.I think, my life sucks. I think, all my friends and the people around me are having a much better life (well, i don't think they deserve it!). And i think, i deserve better things in life. I have not visited any foreign countries till date. I have not met any celebrities. I have not received any awards for my performance at office. I have not yet met Mr.Right.I don't have any talents - i don't dance, I don't sing, I don't have interest in Photography. I don't own anything which i can flaunt.I think, my life is terrible...horrible."

Revathi - "I understand...life can be very difficult, at times. Since, when did this start? What was that life turning incident which affected you so much? Feel free to be frank, honest. Open up."

Avantika - "Since the day............. i............................ signed up in Facebook!!"

Change Management - HWD!!!

All of us go through change. For some, it is easier to manage it. For others, they take time. The question is not - which is right and which is wrong. But.......!!! Well, why don't we come back to this point later?

So...to drive my point..let me introduce Gowry to you.

Gowry has always been a chirpy,bubbling with energy and take life as it comes type. She was brought up by her working mother who is equally bindass. She has witnessed her parents broken marriage. But, that has never affected her outlook towards life as it taught her to count her blessings whenever she goes through a difficult phase in life.

She hates to judge and be judged. She believes nobody is perfect. So is she. She looks at every phase and incident of her life as a learning. For her, world and life is much larger than doing the chorus all the time inside the four walls of the house. She doesn't believe in destiny. Hence, she does'nt fit in the typical "go with the flow" stereo type woman who gets arrested in the expectation trap. She is a dreamer. She enjoys all the small things in life. She never compares herself with others as she thinks, everyone is unique. She has never felt "jealous" about anyone.
And tries to keep her smile all the time.

And her biggest dream is to make a positive difference to atleast a few people apart from her family. Hence, she works on realizing this dream whenever possible.

In her 30 years of revolving around the sun, she has not wasted her life by just transforming oxygen to carbondioxide. But, balanced the ups and downs of life pretty well and realized many of her dreams in her own way - family, career, work on social cause, continue her talent showcase in music,learnt cooking, cleans the house (to an extent!) etc etc.

But, then she realizes...people who are not just tresspassers, but, who travel with her in this journey have never travelled in the same path that she has travelled always. They seek her to change her path and take their path. So, the point here is....

Does she need to change her path completely? Is it possible to mix their path and her path?

Now...coming back to our unfinished question.

Is Change Management about managing change in the means and ways you are comfortable in managing it? OR Changing yourself completely to manage the change because that is what is expected of you?

To all the women out there - this Gowry is you and me!

Happy Women's day! Celebrate womenhood! :) :) :)

A Celestial proposal - Inspired by the sight of the moon and just one star in the sky. what if that moon falls in love with that star?

“But…why me? There are thousands of stars just like me! Better than me!...So, why me?”

This tiny twinkling star asked the Moon as they were alone, up there in the sky.

So, the Moon replied:

I know that you are the star,
Let thousands of others be…
I don’t care what they are,
As,in my heart…far they are.

I like the way, you give way for others,
I like your smiling face that glows,
I like those unspoken words in your eyes,
I like the sky, with just both of us.

You are my shine,
You are my confidence,
For you I stand bright,
For you I spread the light.

I search for you when the sun shines,
I rise on the hope, that you are fine,
I ask myself – what makes me live? what makes me die?
I know, for sure – its just you and your love for me dear!

So, here I am,
With a promise to hold your hand
Till the apocalypse takes us apart…

Will you marry me?

Hide and Sing

Sometimes, we come across some situations which are captured fully in our memories...we remember the smell, the flavor, the feeling, the breeze, the touch....so many aspects of such experiences will live forever in our memories....

Had one such beautiful experience recently....

I was travelling back to Bangalore with my 2 yr old boy, after visiting my in laws.It was a night long journey.We settled down in the lower deck of the sleeper bus as it started..

My son was lying near the window and i was lying beside him.

A subtle, but cool breeze was touching us.The sky was clear...with some passing clouds.We could see one bright star on the sky which stood out among all the counterparts...

I started singing the age old rhyme as a full fledged action song - "twinkle twinkle little star...."" my son joined me.we repeated the performance thrice....

Bored of our lousy rhythm and tune...that bright star hid behind the clouds...

My son suddenly asked in a sad tone - "Staaar enga pochu?" (translation - where did the star go?)

In a motherly intention to see him happy (& of course hoping that the cloud will pass)...i said "That star wants you to sing...it will come back only if you sing alone..."

So, my little toddler started in full style...with a concerned voice but with a lot of hope...
"tinggle, tinggle, lettle staaaar,
ho i wandr..wha you are...(sighhhh)
aap abuv the worl so high
like a diamon in the skaaii"...

WOW! The star showed up!

He giggled and said..."star vandhuchuu...." (means - star has come)

Star decided to play the hide and seek again....

My little fellow looked at me...totally upset now! I said - "That star loved ur song...so it wants you to sing again...."

He repeated the rhyme in a sincere voice.....

Star popped up!

He started laughing loudly and with non-stop giggle he said...."Pratyu paadi...star vandhuchuuu...vvvaaawww!!!" - (means - Pratyu (his name) sang and Star came! wow!)

I joined him in his victory of bringing the star out from the clouds by singing the eternal star rhyme!

As i said....this experience is locked in my memory...and am going to treasure this forever - that cool breeze, the sight of that star, the sound of the bus horn...above all...my boy's ecstatic giggle and his assuring voice which conveyed his belief that he made the star pop out of the clouds :)

Must say - a beautiful, nostalgic experience!