I believe, therefore I am

This is the email sent by Spike, who is an office assistant. His only responsibility is to collect mails from the mail office and distribute it to the staff across all departments. I've seen him come around every morning and doing his job with a smile most times. But what struck me hard was this email. Anyone can bring about a change, all it takes is the WILL to steer!

Here it is -

"

Hi everyone,

Over the last 6 months, I have endeavoured to streamline the mail system in place here and have tried to make sure that all unwanted junk is sent as return to sender/ remove from mailing lists so as to cut down on the amounts of unwanted pieces of paper circulating around.

Can I ask everyone for some help?

If you have any junk mail that you do not wish to receive on a regular basis can I ask that instead of just ripping it up and binning it that you leave this in an appropriate place for collection by me so that I can have it removed from the companies mailing lists.

If we all start to do this then you will receive less unwanted junk, there will be less rubbish accumulated therefore requiring less work for cleaning staff and also saving resources. We may even save a tree or two over the years as well !


Many thanks for your help in this matter,

"

Here're my two cents ..

To the readers of this blog,

* Do not print emails, documents or articles unless absolutely necessary.

* Please carry a green shopping bag with you and avoid the plastic bags at the grocery store as far as possible.

You never know the impact these two little acts of yours might have!

Wanted to record my feeling after I got out of that 4 hour drill called viva on the 3rd September, but it took my 4 days to recoup and now i can't remember much to record. But yeah, for records sake " Am officially Chitra Balakrishna, PhD ". Woah! what a journey that was of 3 years 9 months!
Nothing could have changed me to the extent I have changed temperamentally, attitudinally and even physically ( talking about the salt n pepper hair) but for the PhD experience.
Well, I can finally say .. I did it and I did it my way !

"Any piece of knowledge I acquire today has a value at this moment exactly proportional
to my skill to deal with it. Tomorrow, when I know more,I recall that piece of knowledge
and use it better."

-Mark Van Doren



" Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want!"

-Dr. Randy Pausch

"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods;
There is a rapture on the lonely shore;
There is society where none intrudes;
By the deep sea and music in its roar
I love not man the less, But Nature more .. "
--Lord Byron

These are the lines with which the movie "Into the Wild" begins, These lines struck a deep chord within me and forced me down the memory lane. Will write about the movie some other time or may be not but its one of the best movies of recent times.

I was some 12 or 13 years old , when I used be an active trekker/hiker. We were a group of 10 who went on a one day trek to a small rocky hillock, a place called kabbal durga. During the course of our trek .. the group spread thin and wide, I happened to be the first to get across the cliff to the peak, there were absolutely no humans around, there was this strange quiet, could see the world below , green patches , blue lake , some birds around.. I stretched on one of the rocks and looked up the sky, simply reveling in that ambience for about 15 minutes before i was joined by a friend who had made it to the top. I never experienced that sort of blissfull happiness ever after that .. .. This movie took me straight back to those 15 minutes ..

Its a shame that I haven't gone on a trek in almost 8 or 9 years now, have been so busy making a living ! heck.
Well, a promise to myself today ..will surely trek the welsh valleys this summer.

Brave are those, who can listen to their antar-aatma (inner self =~ conscience) and are able to act accordingly.

But, what if your conscience contradicts your faith, your belief system?

" The land of my fathers is dear unto me.
Old land where the minstrels are honoured and free "

This is an incident i had to record many months ago, am doing it now before it got out of my memory. It was last summer when I lived in a flat about 20 minutes by walk from my office. I pass by this long residential stretch on my way to office, it has houses on either side of the road. It was one of those mornings ..., I was walking rather fast as nothing had worked as per plan that morning. I had woken up late, neither could I prepare a decent breakfast, nor could I pack lunch and I was hurrying to get to a meeting scheduled at 11.30. It was about 10 past 11 while I was passing through that lane. I saw no one on that entire stretch as i entered that lane, just then i saw an old man step out of his door on the far end of that street and he was turning his head in both directions as if he was looking out for someone.It dint bother me as I was rushing to make it to the meeting on time, constantly looking at my watch. As I was nearing the old man , i could see him give me a smile and wait for me to get closer. Last thing I wanted was him to stop me as i knew i really had no time. Nothing else had gone as per my wish that morning, how could this!?. The old man stopped me and asked to look at his watch and read out the time for him. He said he had misplaced his glasses and was unable to read the dial on his watch. I read the time as quarter past 11 and he said "oh! I thought I had overslept , and felt as if it was well past mid-day , It is indeed a bright morning and thanked me with a pleasant smile. And that smile and the conversation kind of brought me back to ground, It slowed my steps and eased my tension. The morning which i had considered as a bad one until that moment turned into a special morning. Every time I pass by that road, I expect the Old man outside his door with a smile. I don't see him often but then I cherish the times I do.

Beginning of a new year, Am i late by almost 31 days in saying this?? well, it still is Jan 2006 and it is a beginning.A good year 2005, dint end very well though. The motto of the year was basically "When was the last time you did something for the first time?". So, the list goes like ..
1. Tried swimming for the first time , i never knew i'd njoy being in water and so much.
2. Picked up the art of Origami. It is such an escape for a stressed mind.
3. Got my first ever academic publication.
4. Got back to playing Professional Table Tennis after 7 long years( doesn't fit the bill of "first time" .. but the experience of getting back to something you loved and after a looong break fits in well)

5. Tasted Japanese food, one of the sushi bars in cardiff.

6. Actually invested time and money on a holiday. ( holidays all along have been to famous tourist spots, but this one was like spending time with yourself in a cottage by the sea side, not too many people around. will try and make a separate post on this one. One of the best things to have happened in 2005)

hmm cant think of anymore.. when i started the post i thought there were many more to go onto this list .. but .. it stops at 6 :(. Will continue with the same motto for this year too , it seems to be working well for me.

"Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
-Albert Einstien

well, I've gone past another year. And boy!Do i count it?

With the passing of 2004, I've completed 15 months in UK, 15 months away from home,15 months of independent life, 15 months of invaluable learning, 15 months of yearning to get back home,15 months - a mixture of struggle, hard work, anguish, excitement,giving up,striking back.My long term dream of gaining a Masters fulfilled, my career goal has become clear and thankfully God has also given me my first break in this regard.
An obvious change which I can never discount is that -I had never before revered my identity as an Indian, as a Hindu like i did in the last 15 months.

Hmm New year's Eve? I had no plans, Had no mind to join friends who partyed thru the nite. It was not just Tsunami,but it was mixed feelings. Mind was not ready for celebration ; Actually was seeking some stillness. Had no clue what to do? Was having a late lunch at 5PM, I struck a conversation with my friend mona, and dunno how the thread went on to Mahabharata and the character of Bheeshma, What a strategist Lord Krishna was and more.Mona said she had the VCDs of BR Chopra's Mahabharata.No second thoughts, quickly decided to spend the New Year's Eve watching Mahabharata. The very same *ME* who had laughed at the Mahabharata lingo ("arya putra" and all that), made fun of patchy graphic work, poor production and what not was thrilled to watch it now. This time around, I could appreciate the content, the gravity of each character portrayed,how each one of these characters in a way gave answers to so many of my queries. I was down to tears when I saw Bheeshma take his "Akhanda Pratigya"(Vow) of celibacy for the entire life, and that he would never contend for the throne of Hastinapur , instead he would serve all the future kings of Hastinapur just like he served his father Shantanu. What strength of character?
I realized that this great epic, which is such an integral part of our history and tradition,cannot be appreciated fully, as long as I view it in the plane of thought that exists now. The society then was in a different conscious level all together. But, my mind says, I sure will read the entire scripture and make an effort in understanding the jist, sometime in the near future. This is not my new year resolution, its a wish of a new *me*.
Overall a good year, a year that i would remember in the years to come.Wish the coming year brings more and more of new experiences, learning and enlightenment.

I watched this movie julie [ being too curious about the rave reviews it has got!!] ..am not saying it is a very well done movie with great message and all that! But certainly it sparks off a few questions about the whole issue of prostitution and its impact on the society. Recently I read Salman Rushdie quoting "prostitution" is a must for a healthy society! Also read the maximum internet porno traffic is from Pakistan and middle-east [ apparently , both countries have a conservative society]. Hmm so i went on this rage of reading and researching on the origin of prostitution in India. And yeah it really was an educating experience.. I have often read prostitution being quoted as the oldest proffession.[ today, we question prositution being a profession] The exchange of sexual favours for money, prestige, or position has been recorded in epics, mythology, poetry, drama and in all forms of expression that try to convey the nature of relationships between human beings. But there is not much documentation i found on the origin of it! nor could I come to a comprehensive conclusion about its purpose. May be I'll continue my research..not to preach the society about it but to form my own opinion.
Actually ... my mind is also contemplating on the issue of capital punishment [ the whole episode of the Dhanajoy and the related debates ] But am findng it too heavy to record my views and opinions in writing! I'd have preffered to talk my mind out! Wish an audio version of LJ comes up sooon....