The Ride

To compensate for working remotely, i go to my office once in a week. I stay there with my friend for a night and start my next working day early in morning, so that i could leave for home early in evening. These two days in my weekly schedule are the most arduous ones, if not necessarily the most productive ones. I try to keep the schedule same every week, but sometimes i need to chalk out the alternate days depending upon holidays, vacations or my wife's work schedule.

I read somewhere that "Predictability is good", and this post has somehow reinstated my belief in it. On the usual weekdays, i try to keep Tuesday and Wednesday for my office visit and i try not to reschedule it for minor reasons. The hard part is always getting up early on Tuesday so that i could reach office before 9:15am. Once all set to leave, things get easier once i hit the road for next 150 minutes of journey. I would prefer skipping the first half because most of it goes into getting out of city and its traffic, which can engulf you on the bad days. While the other half resembles a roller-coaster ride where you enjoy the scenic beauty and are often lost into day-dreaming which gets disturbed by the rare moment of a passing car. At that moment, i forget about all the hurries and hassles in world. If i could, i would just keep driving on that straight endless road surrounded with the scenic green pasture fields. If i had time, i would keep staring at the cattle grazing in those green fields. But these moments are often perturbed by the ringing of my phone. Most of the times i would be in office before 9:30am if not stuck in a bad traffic.

While driving to work in morning

This concludes the initial phase of my work week, which i would say is a hard one, but sometimes can be succeeded by even more tougher phases work permitting. Let's keep the rest for the next post...

The priceless list

Somethings are priceless. Their importance in your life is as precious as it was a decade ago. Though they're not with you all the time, but you cherish the good old times in your leisure talks. Some like-

A long talk with an old friend after a gap of 2-3 years, and finding that nothing has changed between you two. The topics have changed, your priorities have changed; but you're still the same person at heart what you were ten years ago.

Reading through the pages of an old book which was your all-time favorite in college. Flipping through those old brown pages make you realize that not much in this world has changed. Somethings are still the same, only for the good reasons.

Enjoying a chilly evening at your home which makes you nostalgic and brings back the memories of your own home where you've spent a better part of your life. And suddenly you remember even the tinniest of details of your childhood. Running through those green pastures of grass with your lovely siblings, you never realized when childhood came and passed away; leaving you with those beautiful and priceless memories..

TWO TALES OF NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

One never came out in limelight and kept working steadily and silently towards curbing the child exploitation. He gave up his teaching career to stand against this menace in a totally dysfunctional system, and yet media never appreciated his efforts ever. (And if they ever did, it went unnoticed midst the cricket and movies headlines).

And one was the talk of the town after surviving the militant attack. She was the on the cover of Time's magazine, awarded honorary Canadian citizenship and among '100 most influential people in world'. She traveled the entire globe as UN's ambassador spreading their message while staying in Birmingham next to Queen's palace.

One chose himself to become the mascot to make the lives of thousands of children safer and better working directly at grassroots; while other inspiring thousands from Birmingham palace by becoming the spokesperson of UN.

The part of life called "Being married"

Yes, you read it correct. This part of my life is called "Being married". After been known to each other for more than half a decade, we tied the sacred knot on July 1st in India. Just like any other couple before getting married, we had our fair share of moments of mild fights and awkward silences. The long distance (around 12,000 kms), which could have played a nasty role in taking us apart, couldn't even erode a fraction of the trust we had on each other. 

It's been almost three months now since I've entered this new phase of life. The day she arrived in US for the first time, i understood what responsibility actually means. Studying hard to get good grades, complying with the norms of society or not being dependent on anyone usually go hand-in-hand with terms like responsibility. But this word got a new meaning when i first came to pick you up at Orlando airport. Coming to terms with the changes my life would undergo from that very moment, had made me feel nervous. I had made this conscious decision of marrying you not in haste. I was the happiest man to see you at airport while your eyes were still wandering across the huge hall, but deep down my conscience was questioning my belief whether i can take care of you or not. My conscience wanted me to say aloud that i'll keep my promise to stand by you, no matter how adverse the times would be. Yet my feeble heart was making attempts to soothe my perturbed mind with reassurances about which perhaps no one was confident of. 

These three months had taught me a great deal of things and experiences. The most important would be the mistake which i committed by thinking of this relationship as a responsibility. More often than not, life will give you an opportunity to correct the mistakes. Writing more about it will only expand this post, because there is no better way to experience it than to live it yourself. I hope you shall excuse my prolonged disappearance considering the changes my life has undergone in these past months. But relationships never hinder the path your life always wanted to sail into, rather brings a fresh meaning to your goals. Then be it your professional career or a silly post which you scribble once in a while..

Life's learning

Being here on this planet earth for more than two decades has taught me something about life. I looked back and realized i was running a rat race. It felt i had to prove to the entire world that i'm worthy of your attention and time. Individuality and being 'myself' were mere words used by me to flaunt the self esteem or confidence. The words like patience and steadiness were meant only for oldies. Success was a goal for which i was ready to sacrifice all i possessed.

Never knew when these changes started settling in my mind. The rat race becomes a race with my own expectations and short-term goals. The contentment of fulfilling these small goals is what brings happiness to my life. The entire world is not worthy of my attention and time, only a few of them deserve the bonding. Individuality makes more sense to me now. I try to be 'myself' because that is what i'm best at. Failure doesn't disturb me much, because i understand i can't be good at all things. But at the same time, it gives me the experience of one more thing which i tried. Patience teaches me never to stop doing what i feel i'm best at, and one day i'll achieve it for sure. Success won't come on that particular day when my dreams would be accomplished, it's the path of perseverance on which i steadied myself all day and night to achieve my goals.

All in all, i feel i'm a happier person and these learnings of life will take me ahead in life as well.

Saturday night musings

Through the same window posted in my previous post, i keep staring at the burning lamp pole at night. It's raining outside, making it look even more clear and beautiful than ever. The wet drops lying on road makes a swooshing sound whenever a car passes through the pole.  The beaming lights of car makes those rain drops on the road look ever more beautiful.

Such moments make me feel as if life is all about enjoying these moments unhurriedly. Lying on my bed and looking through the window makes me think over again and again, " Is that how i should spend my life?' I'm not in a hurry to sleep early. I don't have an office to attend tomorrow, I've the leisure to feel the serenity of this nature for a while. That's how life must be spent. While looking down at the road, i might feel sleepy. Once in a while a passing car wakes me up by splashing the water droplets from its running wheels. Till then i can have the liberty to witness this beauty with my tired eyes still looking for something among those scattered droplets.

Sigh of relief

It's been a hectic week so far. Planning of moving out to another apartment has led to many sleepless nights, and today i'm done with shifting all my stuff. While leaving my apartment, the feeling was never so pleasant. I wish someone would come and tell me that i can stay here for one more month or so.

Removing the clock from wall, or emptying out the kitchen shelves; every moment was making me weak from inside. You never want to see the empty shelves or cupboards which you've filled with your stuff, buying one at a time from mall and placing them at their appropriate place in your house. It makes you realize the value of those small hanging spoons which you thought were of no use, but removing them from the wall was never an easy task.

That's the essence of life. You possess nothing forever in life, your possessions keep changing with every tick of clock. It's been more than 24 hours now, since i've moved here. The only relief amidst all this chaos and emotional setback is the beautiful window in my new room. I keep staring through the window at the moving cars on the road. One goes by, and the next keep coming..

Mere 90 days

Another risk ahead, another challenge ready to be taken upon. It's time to move from the apartment where i've some spent some good 20 months in the company of my friends and parents. The feeling although is not a pleasant one, yet i don't want to see it as an effort in disdain for next couple of months.

Moving into an apartment with another guy is making me nervous already. I'm not used to staying with anyone for last couple of years, and certainly can't take it anymore. Perhaps would be a good experiment before trying it again with a person for the rest of my life. I keep convincing myself about this temporary fix for just three months, but again compromising for the routine stuff is not my cup of tea.

Three months to go. Yes, it's just 90 days. This too shall pass..