Nothing but reading

What I really love doing on my spare time is reading. I like reading just about anything that catches my fancy at the moment. Currently I am hooked on books written by Stephen King. He is an exceptionally good writer, since he has an ability to bring words alive. You tend to get submerged in the story and it seems like you are actually part of the story itself. Once I start reading, it becomes simply difficult to put the books down. Some of the novels which I still like till this day are: Skeleton Crew, Different Seasons, Pet Cemetery, Salem’s Lot, Everything’s Eventual. The Dark Tower series are simply riveting. He has managed to keep the story thread line intact and alive thru so many volumes. It’s simply incredible. Just recently I picked up a novel by him called “Duma Key”. This novel is simply riveting. It’s a must read novel. He started thinking in this direction after his 1999 roadside accident that permanently altered his way of thinking about life. The most disturbing source of fear in his books comes from the gradual fading of health and sanity.
Even after all these years, he can still have the ability to scare the wits out of you. If you haven’t read it yet, I won’t reveal the story line to you. If you have then you’ll probably agree with me.

Aging - George Carlin

I got this forward through a good friend who is not only on this site but also Facebook. I would like to thank her for sending this really fantastic article as it made me realise how true it is as we tend to forget the little things in life. We tend to take everything for granted and forget to enjoy each and every day as it comes along. I think the underlying message at least what I derived from it was that we should enjoy and cherish each day as it comes along without needlessly rushing blindly through the day. Yes...do stop and smell the flowers and admire the wonders that life offers to us each and every day. I hope you all enjoy this article as much as I did. Thanks for stopping by.
George Carlin on aging


George Carlin's Views on Aging

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.



'How old are you?' 'I'm four and a half!' You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.



You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.



'How old are you?' 'I'm gonna be 16!' You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life! You become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. YOU BECOME 21. YESSSS!!!



But then you turn 30. Ooooh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?



You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa! Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50 and your dreams are gone.



But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!



So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.



You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!



You get into your 80's and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; 'I Was JUST92.'



Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. 'I'm 100 and a half!'

May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!



HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay 'them.'

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever, even ham radio. Never let the brain idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love , whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.


9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.


10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.


AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:


Life is not measured by the number of


breaths we take, but by the moments that Take your breath away.



In Memory of George Carlin!

Todays Critic

So, one day as I was zooming down the net, I saw a site which had a lot of great posts. My car came to a screeching halt and I went in for a closer inspection. When I finally arrived at the site, I realized that this is one site which everyone was talking about. You see, a lot of people are talking about Critics Today.

This blogger seems to write really good interesting articles on so many different topics that one never gets bored. There is such a wide variety of posts and I was impressed by the quality and the amount of information contained in each and every posts. The author has good writing skills and is able in great detail about the chosen topic. This neat site which I found extremely useful and fully entertaining and I liked it so much that I have visited the site numerous times and discovered some information which I was not aware of before. The site is set up in such a manner that it easily navigable with really simple yet pleasing colors. It contains a wide variety of information that one is always finds something useful for their daily life.

The best part is that it is written in such an easy manner that just about anyone can comprehend it with ease. Time just flew by and I lost track of how many articles I must have read. Some were fantastic and others were good. Overall, the authors writing skills are good and I enjoyed most of his articles. It is one of those must visit sites. Give it a try and you won’t regret it.

Rdiscover life by disconnecting

I guess I really haven't been around here much. For a change my mind is as blank as a clean slate and the words are not rushing out of my mind to get read. Things are mighty quiet here also with not too many people posting on a regular basis. For a change, I was able to visit some of my other sites and I have become a Facebook addict for now.

There are so many applications that are really stupid and boring and yet a few have managed to get me so addicted that I want to come back for more. One of them is Farm Town where I discovered the farmer which had been hidden inside me. I suddenly found out that I like to make things grow....at least in the digital world. When Twitter and Facebook went down awhile back, I was finally able to disconnect from the net and rediscover the real world. I guess we never realize how much time and space these electronic gadgets/ the net take from our daily life until we become disconnected from it and forced back into the world of living. I really don't have much of a choice myself since alot of my work involves using the net.

Sometimes, the clients insist that I visit their place as they are unable to visit my place and this is not really a pleasant experience as the city gets thrown into total chaos during rush hours. I prefer using the public transport whenever possible rather than using my own vehicle even though it's not one of the best and gets really irritating at times. The roads are finally emptied out and some out drivable by 12:00 in the afternoon and after 8:00 PM in the night. There is usually some type of construction going on some road while others either too narrow for the heavy traffic or there is some obstruction on the road and municipality have a real lazy attitude about removing it. The only roads which are fantastically maintained are the VVIP area roads or in front of a few government offices. The roads sometimes get worse after the monsoons as some of the roads are made of inferior quality material while others which have been made using good quality material and proper methods used continue to weather the rains and our harsh summers without showing any damage.
The entertainment quotient was somewhat lacking and I finally managed to catch up on the missed movies and the mall excursions where it seems like the young people still manage to act as goofy as before. I usually prefer to watch the movies at home but the I prefer to go to the malls as they manage to give a more pleasant shopping, etc experience than the usual regular ma and pops store which are so prevalent here. The mall culture has been here in Lucknow for a few years and it offers a better shopping experience. The malls do have air conditioning and its own backup power supply which makes it a must visit place during our unbearable summer and humid monsoon months when the cities erratic power supply makes our life a bit difficult. There simply are not enough power plants and the demand keeps on rising. It seems like none of previous state and central government had the foresight to allocate funds to the infrastructure on a timely manner and making sure that the execution of the project is not delayed due to some reason.

Being disconnected from the net sometimes gives me an opportunity to catch up on other things in life. It gives me a chance to reconnect with others and rediscover that they are still running around like headless chickens just to earn a few extra bucks. Other times I just love to talk with others and catch up with the current happenings in their life. Anyway, it seems like this post has gotten a bit lengthy and hopefully I haven't bored you at all. I wanted to drop by to let you all know that once I get bored/stressed and burned out with the real life...I'll be right back

How much free will do we really have?

We are all given something called Free Will/Choice by God. How we utilise it is up to us. by using our Free Will we end up making various kind of decisions in life....some good, some bad and others which are simply horrible. In the end of the day, life is basically just a sum of our choices and we should come to term with it so that we end up with a less troubled and comlicated life. When we finally do meet God at the end of our journey, I honestly do believe that he/she will judge us not by our high or low points but what the end result was. We basically end up getting a mixed bag when starting out in life and we simply have to deal with the daily events to the best of our ability. Free Will comes into play when we come at crossroads in our journey through life.

Finally, at the end of our journey we realise that the only thing permanent is our soul/spirit. The physical form which we are so attached to is only for this plane of existance and we get our just rewards according to our actions in our present life. Some believe in reincarnation where we either get punished or rewarded in our next life or our present life is due to our actions in our previous life.

Time to unwind

Whenever possible I like to make some free time especially during the weekends for some serious rest and relaxation. It’s really not possible for me to get some R&R during the weekdays as my work schedule is just too hectic unless I plan it out a few days in advance. I guess everyone has their own way in which they unwind and not everyone uses the same method. The most commonly used methods which I use to relax during my free time are: Reading, music, movies, surfing the net, etc.
Reading is one of my favorite past times since childhood. During my younger days, it used to be fantasy books. My fascination for Elves, Trolls, Dwarves, Dragons, Hobbits, etc have continued to fascinate me till these days. One of my favorite books during my childhood was the Hobbit series which I still like till today. Later on I moved on to science fiction/horror genre. The writers whose books/novels which I was constantly reading and fascinated by during this period were Mario Puzo (The Godfather & The Godfather Returns), Douglas Adams (The Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy), Most Stephen King novels (Cujo, Salems Lot, Everything Eventual, The Dark Tower series, Duma Key, Skeleton Crew), Ray Bradbury (Farenheit 451,Martian Chronicles), Clive Barker (Cabal, The Great & Secret Show, The Essential Clive Barker, The books Of Blood series), etc. These days it’s just about anything that catches my eye. At one time, I had a really large book collection. I had to trim it down to manageable level once my bedroom started filling up and the books started piling up in the hallway. It really saddened me to see a lot of these books go but it seemed like there was no other choice. Reading still is one of my favorite past times today as it has the ability to transport me to another world where my imagination can run wild.

Music is another one of my hobbies which really helps me to relax and unwind after a long, hard and sometimes very stressful days especially when I am totally exhausted and I want to just sit there and unwind. Music is not just something I listen to every so often but it is a passion for me. Just like my reading habit, my music preferences have changed over a period of time. I think I started listening to anything that was playing on the radio and I don’t think I had any favorite one. The Top 40/Top 100 music seemed to be popular during the 80’s period. One radio station or another used to have at least one segment dedicated to it. Sometime during the early 1980’s one of my high school buddies introduced me to hard rock/metal music genre and there was no turning back for me. I think I started out listening to Jimmy Hendrix, ZZ Top, Eric Clapton, Doors, etc and over a period of time I discovered other groups which I discovered suited my music tastes. The only thing which has remained constant is my dislike for country music. Nothing personal but I simply cannot bear to listen to it for some reason. I distinctly remember that when I was growing up and if I needed to head off to head off to some distant part of Ohio, I sometimes used to run into certain areas/pockets where the radio stations used to play only country music. In these cases, I used to frantically such for any other station even if it was a Top 40 one.

Movies have been one of my favorite past times for a really long time and I guess this particular category is the only one which has more or less remained constant over many decades. I have always liked the action, science fiction, horror. The only book/movie craze which I couldn’t understand and didn’t like very much was the Harry Potter series. Everyone it seems had gone overboard on this character and the Potter craze it seems has fizzled out as quickly as it had started. The earliest movies which I remember watching were: Gone with the Wind, Godfather, Splash and Pretty Women. In the years that passed by I watched many movies since I am a movie buff. The ones which I still like to this day are: Beetle Juice, Omen series, The Godfather series, Aliens/Matrix/Terminator series, Indiana Jones series, and the Back to the Future series. The movies which I have seen recently are: X-Men Origins Wolverine, Terminator 4 Salvation, Punisher - War Zone, Batman Begins, and Batman- The Dark Knight. All the movies which I have watched recently were really well made and action packed but I do feel that the Wolverine and the Batman series have deviated from the original character story line a bit. This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy them but the movie makers should have followed the original comic character story line more closely in order to give a more true depiction. I especially like to watch the movies during the weekends when I have a few hours to spare. Sometimes I like to go back to my movie collection and watch something from the 80’s era if something worthwhile is not coming on one of the movie channel or no new movie releases have been announced.

Surfing the net it seems helps me to divert my mind from the daily grind since it is a great entertainment device if used correctly. It not only helps me to interact with my buddies who are spread out through the world but also keeps me up to date on the news front. I guess the net is the only true interactive medium where one can get what they what and in a way they want it. All one needs to know is how to use the search engine and know what to look for. I especially like visiting YouTube to watch video of my favorite groups or watch movie trailers of movies which are about to be released. But most of the time I am found on sites like Multiply and Facebook where I am either posting something or playing a really addictive games and this helps me to destress myself.

How does one go choosing friends?

Over the course of time and after much thought, I have realized that I did not really choose wisely most of my friends and that's why I lost many of them long time ago. If I could bring back the hands of time I would be more picky and maybe choose a friend who shares the similar interests as I have, who is honest to goodness no matter how much truth hurts, and who will be there no matter what for me.

I say the best way to get a friend is just simply to be a friend to others. A lot of people feel the need to be accepted and that is just natural. I don't discriminate when it comes to friendship and always marvel at how easy it is to make friends with both genders, man or woman and in both offline and online mode. I really like meeting new people and like to make friends wherever I go. I just like to treat others in the way that I like to be treated. Sometimes it is hard to make friends if you don't know where to look. But if one is patient enough, you realize that after a while there are those that come to you even when you are not actively looking to make new friendship. I suppose there are two types of friends when one thinks about it. I consider the fact that some people will come to you and befriend you or you just need to put yourself out there for people to see and make yourself available. Good friends are sometimes hard to find but when you find a special person then the friendship could last a life time. There is an unconditional type of feeling when you find the right person to share your time with.

One must realize that people at times come into other peoples life unannounced and leave in the same manner. Between these two points, some peoples relationship click and they become friend and have a blast of a time. Out of these friends, there are a few gems of relationships which like I said above do last whole life time. It is extremely hard to find friends as it is and truly good ones next to impossible. One should hang on to the ones which we have and yet remember to give each friendship the elbow room to grow and flourish. A friendship is like a tree. Water it and add proper nourishment and it will give you life long protection. For a friendship to last, compatibility plays a big role in friendship also.

How do you handle certain situations?

Life is full of trial and turbulance. It is never easy for anyone and every one of us has gone through many crises through out our life. Whether we suceed or fail in a certain situation depends on our perspective and our mental make up. Sometimes we end up succeeding in overcoming our problems and at other times we end up admitting defeat, throw our hands up in the air and saying I give up. It might be because each one of us have been ingrained with a certain types of attitude and mind set when it comes to dealing with certain types of situations. Some tend to give up the moment they see an unmanageable problem looming ahead while others dig in and find an appropriate solution.

I really do believe that almost every person who actually gave up trying to solve difficult situations in life always ended up in failure in life. A person is truly a winner if he or she never gives up in life and chases down each dream he has cherished in order to make it come true one day. Or else he will always have at the back of his mind the thoughts that would not allow him to be at peace with himself and he would be regretting his decision of refusing to get back up, stand tall and face every certain challenge ahead of him in a bold and assertive manner!! People who have the never say die attitude and are able to maintain this attitude in their life usually end up doing better in life than others.


Give it a little thought and tell me: Do you agree that falling down is not defeat and that the person who refuses to get back up and try again, is the one who has actually lost the battle? Have you ever tried doing something in life that you actually ended in giving up and not trying again to change what is not possible? Or have you slogged it out until you got yourself out of the mess?

Michael Jackson - The great entertainer

I won't speak ill of this man even though he was a bit strange odd ball one. He did very strange things in the last 15 to 20 years which kept me wondering "Why?” I must admit a bit hesitantly that I did grow up listening to his music and at one time I liked some of his songs before I moved on from this particular music genre to my current fav one which is now metal. Hopefully, my metal friends won't notice this post and start ribbing me about my choices of music in the past. I guess this is my so called skeleton in the closet. lol. What's yours?

Seriously, looking back he did manage to influence the music industry alot and changed the music industry's perspective of the world. When he started out he was very talented and seemed really dedicated to his field but it seems like he got side tracked at some point in time. One thing which I do remember was that the Thriller was the biggest selling album at that time and was the high point of his musical career and the Black or White album was also worth listening to.

Due to the later actions done by him, I kind of lost the respect I held for him and started wondering what would make a man do these things. Even though he was one of the great entertainers of this era, I think there was too much time and space which was devoted in the media to his death. I sometimes wonder if other big entertainer will be given the same treatment as this one when they finally pass into the other side. He had always been in the limelight for one reason or other ranging from cosmetic ones to the baby dangling from the hotel room railing and the media went crazy when they found out.

On an ending note, I hope wherever he is at this time he is content, happy and his mind has been put to ease from his troubled past. He did manage to entertain us and gave us something worthwhile to listen to on radio or watch on television when we turned these things on. Hopefully people remember that he has family members which are getting over this loss and hopefully people will remember this and respect their privacy when they need it the most.

Reading is my favourite pastime

What I really love doing on my spare time is reading. I like reading just about anything that catches my fancy at the moment. Currently I am hooked on books written by Stephen King. He is an exceptionally good writer, since he has an ability to bring words alive. You tend to get submerged in the story and it seems like you are actually part of the story itself. Once I start reading, it becomes simply difficult to put the books down. Some of the novels which I still like till this day are: Skeleton Crew, Different Seasons, Pet Cemetery, Salem’s Lot, Everything’s Eventual. The Dark Tower series are simply riveting. He has managed to keep the story thread line intact and alive thru so many volumes. It’s simply incredible. Just recently I picked up a novel by him called “Duma Key”. This novel is simply riveting. It’s a must read novel. He started thinking in this direction after his 1999 roadside accident that permanently altered his way of thinking about life. The most disturbing source of fear in his books comes from the gradual fading of health and sanity.
Even after all these years, he can still have the ability to scare the wits out of you. If you haven’t read it yet, I won’t reveal the story line to you. If you have then you’ll probably agree with me.

A few of life’s unsolved mysteries

A few thoughts have been floating around my head for some time. These thoughts really didn't take concrete shape until just recently. It seems like there is an unnatural trend among our society to become stick like skinny in order to become fashionable. It's like I can count your bones buddy. No offense meant but these days skinny people really irritate me! Especially when they say surprising things like...'You know sometimes I forget to eat!' .....Now I've forgotten my address, my mother's maiden name and my keys, but I have never forgotten to eat. You have to be a special kind of stupid to forget to eat!

It looks like every time I step on the scale, the numbers on the machine seem to get larger and larger. It's like hey...I was just 130lbs just a few days ago. It must be because the older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are start to become really good friends. Lol. The other point which I just cannot figure out is how a 2-pound box of chocolates can make a person gain 5 lbs.
The other unsolved mystery which I have encountered is: missing clothes. I never really paid much attention to this before, but recently while organizing the drawers I noticed that many of the socks and other items seemed to be missing. When I usually go to the store, I end up buying at least a pair of socks and other basic items and then during the remaining part of the year I am left wondering where did all the socks go or where the other items which I just bought is. For me it extends to clothes also I have no clue where things end up half the time and I am left scratching my head. I really think that the washing machine is eating clothes, socks and underwear... Because no matter how much hunting I do I just can't find everything. I was starting to think that the washing machine monster gets them or is it that in time they turn into wire clothes hangers? The reason I said this was that I noticed that when I go to the cloths locker there is always more wire hangers than the previous visit. These hangers are multiplying like rabbits even though I don’t go to the dry cleaners at all.
So after much searching, I finally gave up, threw my hands up in the air and said “I give up. I can't find them”. Finally, I ask the other family members if they had seen such and such. I am told by one of them to look out our bedroom window. I was really left wondering what they meant. So I went and took a look and there is everything I could not find! Some time back I did laundry and put everything outside on the line to dry instead of using the dryer as it consumes too much electricity and ruins the clothes faster. I hardly ever use the line outside and had forgotten all about it! LOL so if you are missing some clothes take a look out your window. You never know what you'll find. I think the missing clothes mystery is an age old question. I think ever since the washing machines were invented, the people have wondered where their socks and other items have disappeared off to. I have never come across anyone who can answer this question to my complete satisfaction. It truly is a mystery and a funny one at that. People lose so many clothes on a regular basis and it’s really must be aggravating at times. At one time, I was the king of loosing clothes. I don’t know where they’re going is what I usually end up saying. Besides the skinny people, I guess these missing socks are also on the life’s greatest mysteries list I guess. Lol. So, what about you all? What are some of life’s greatest mysteries for you besides "How to set up and use the new version of your favorite site with ease".

Burn that flab away

It seems like I had gained quiet a few unwanted pounds during the course of time. this not only has made me look ungainly but it does not feel good huffing and puffing up and down the stairs when I am forced to use it.

It seems like the weather is turning warmer and warmer with each passing day and with each passing day I thoughts keep turning towards looking good once more again. So, I decided to visit one of the gyms which has opened up in my locality. What also pushed me into this health fitness mode was that quiet a few actors were showing off their six and eight packs and their well toned bodies.

It seems like gyms are opening in every nook and corner of our city. But choosing the right workout place is getting to be a bit of a hassle. So, I went gym hunting and narrowed down my list to just a few. These few from which I will make my final choice from seemed more or less complete than the regular run of the mill variety.

Before I went on my gym hunt, I had a talk with a fitness trainer to inquire about what things I should look for in a proper gym. He told me that one of the main things I should look for is that the fitness center should be divided into different sections. Each section works on a different section and is pretty much unique from the other. The sections which should be present in a complete gym are: Strength section, Cardio, Free weights and Spinning section.

The strength section should have a combo machine which helps to exercise legs, shoulder and chest areas. I wanted proper toned biceps, triceps and give my hamstrings a proper strength workouts. So, a Percher Curl, Prone Leg Curl and Seated Dip are a must for me.

In the Cardio section, I went looking for a treadmill along with the bike combo which I was told is a must. One must devote sometime in this section to burn up those calories and get the heart pumping.

The Free weights section consists of dumbbells, barbells. The Spinning section must have the Swiss Balls. This final part is where the abs comes in where one has to exercise on the Swiss balls, do crunches, leg raises, skipping and stretching.

The final two things which were on my mind as I was finalizing my choice were the price factor and whether they had an in house trainer. The right pricing of the gym package is an important consideration when choosing the gym as well having a trainer helping us out in choosing the right exercises and guiding us novices through the exercises.

I was told that there is no fixed time limit as to when a person will achieve their desired perfect abs, but a consistent and hard work will help you to achieve it within 18 to 24 months. Going to the gym and working out on a regular basis might actually help me to achieve my goal. Plus, there will be many other people like me who are just starting out in the exercise regime and I will not feel like an odd man out.

Conceal those imperfections

Have you ever had one of those days when you look in the mirror and you realize that you look so bad that you are hesitant to face the outside world? The truth is that no one looks their best at every moment in their life. Due to this fact sometimes we lose our self confidence in ourselves and our self esteem gets lowered to such extent that we are simply scared to step outside our homes. These imperfections can be due to a variety of factors like accidents or blemishes since birth, acne, scars, moles, redness, rough spots, and many other sorts of blemishes.

In order to hide these imperfections, one can consider using mens cosmetics item called The Men Pen cosmetic concealer stick. This is a product was developed 4 years ago for men to hide blemishes. It is essentially mens makeup. There are 17 different shades and it is made to help guys improve their confidence and to look better. It especially comes in handy during specific times like prom, meetings, clubbing, social gatherings, etc. Can you risk a big event by going there with a really big zit on your face? It comes in 17 different shades so I am sure you can find the right shade for yourself. This stick has helped thousands of men in over 30 countries enhance their image and improve their self-esteem.

If you are having a bad day and are not looking good or maybe you have some imperfection which you would like to hide then consider using The Men Pen. It is an amazing cosmetic concealer stick which can help you to reclaim that lost self confidence or low esteem. After reading all this, you must be thinking that these items are for women only. Why should men use it? If the male actors, models and businessmen can use in their everyday life then why can’t you? One must remember that everyone is entitled to good looks as it enhances your overall outlook in life.

What do you wear for work?

Since I work from home most of the time, I have the freedom to decide what to wear. What I wear really depends on what is available in my closet when I open it in the morning. When I have to go to the branch office for a meeting, then I wear something proper for it. I don't really have a uniform when I am working out from my home office, so for these kinds of days I just put on any kind of t-shirt, jeans, sweat pants and sneakers or even slippers.

At the corporate office there is a dress code and everyone is required to wear formal attire like dress shirts and pants or skirts. Sometimes I also wear a jacket if it’s cold when running off to the office for some meeting. We can wear all sorts of presentable shoes to match with our outfit, except slippers of course. During our hot, sweaty summer months, it becomes extremely unbearable to work in the formal suit and pants outfit unless the person is constantly sitting inside an air conditioned office. I truly HATE having to dress in formal clothes during this time when I am venturing out on office duties since I feel stiflingly hot and uncomfortable, so I choose the casual mode whenever possible.

When working from home or just bumming around the house, casual clothes are the best option to choose. These clothes are the most comfortable and one does not need to worry about color matching the clothe items. No more trying to hunt down the missing tie, socks nor trying to iron that stubborn wrinkle out of the dress shirt. Not every one has the option to work from home which offers greater flexibility in the dress code than regular office duties. So, what kind of clothes do you normally wear during the day? Do you get to choose your daily wear clothing or do you have to follow a dress code?

How much do you believe in being politically correct?

Back in the good old days when I was growing up, people were more or less free to speak their minds and hardly anyone was offended. With the passage of time, peoples attitude have changed drastically and something called political correctness has gained control of our lives.

These days it's like a minefield to be honest since some people can be so sensitive and I really hate all this politically correctness which is in vogue these days. At the end of the day, if you are not a sexist, prejudiced or racist, in any way then I just do not see why you should not be allowed to say what you want. While I was living in USA, I did experience a few racist remarks towards me and I didn’t get offended by it at that time because it was plain to see that the man who was spewing this garbage was a victim of the illegal Mexican infiltration which really did take away a lot of jobs in his area.

Usually I don’t get all worked up and offended by certain jokes since these are really just jokes and don’t mean any real harm at times. If certain people go out of their way to be malicious about somebody, then that is really unfair and the people at whom these jibes are aimed at are justified in getting offended. But if you are just joking with people about certain things or want to get something off your chest then I just simply do not see why you should not be allowed to do it.

If you to ask me for my honest and unbiased opinion on this subject, I would probably say that all this political correctness has gone simply too far. I am all for proper rules/ regulation and I am 100% against all types of bullying and discrimination but I can't help thinking that it has swung the wrong way and if you happen to say something which might offend anyone, you end up being heavily punished or even worst still sued for a slip of the tongue or just for speaking your mind. If someone is such a little coward and has their feelings hurt over a harmless comment then they should grow a backbone and learn not to be so easily offended.

In the end of the day, one comes to realize that these days the situation is really fluid. When you can freely speak your mind and when you have to hold your tongue really depends on the situation which you are confronted with. If I am amongst friends or people with whom I am comfortable with, I would speak out freely about whatever is on my mind knowing that we all think more or less on the same lines. If there are strangers or people whom I do not know well enough, I refrain from making any comments which might be taken the wrong way. I have learned the hard way that sometimes it is better to err on the safe side.

How old is your oldest friendship?

Time is a strange creature indeed. It flows by and we never realize how much time has flown by till many years have passed away. The mirrors confront us with images of own self but now with a few extra wrinkles and many new strands of grey hair. With the passage of time, many changes happen in the person life.

Many things in my own life have changed. I made many friends and travelled afar and back again. Through this journey in life I guess the only thing that has remained constant for me is the friendship of a few friends for almost 25 years. I have known a few friends from way back from my high school days. Some of the others I picked up along the way. Most of my friendship started due to some common interest and some were strong enough to weather the test of time. We stuck together because we never intruded into each others lives I guess and each one of us gave the other enough freedom and independence to grow within the friendship. It was a good time way back then I guess. We had tons of fun and didn’t have too many responsibilities as compared to now. Time flew by and we all went our ways. Yet, when we finally reconnected after many decades it seemed like hardly any time had passed by.

It feels really great to have a long-lasting friendship like that this which has gone through a few tough times and know that we still keep in regular contact like we did when we first met each other. We had our arguments and bad times and we have always managed to pull through. I guess that's a true friendship. Even though we are not able to keep regular contact with each other due to the great distance and the mind boggling time difference which separates us, we still consider ourselves good friends. I guess each one of you here have gone through something similar at some point in life and some of you must still be friends with buddies with whom this friendship bond goes long back. So, how long is your oldest friendship?

What scared you the most as a kid?

I remember while I was growing up, I was always scared of one thing or another. The first thing I remembered being terrified of was crossing a wooden bridge. I was very sure that there was a monster hidden underneath ready to grab me and start chomping on my leg like you would chomp on a chicken leg. I always used to walk to the side of the bridge and peek underneath to make sure that nothing was hiding underneath before crossing.

As I grew a bit older, the monsters shifted their hiding place from under the bridge to my basement and at times the closet in my room. Sometimes, I swore something was hiding under the bed just waiting till the lights were turned off and then crawl out and I’ll turn into a midnight snack. I used to check and double check under the bed, then the closet before going to sleep. I really dread going down to the basement as I was quiet sure that there was something hiding under the stairs. I was always terrified of the dark when I was a little kid. I always preferred to have a light on and every little noise would scare me.

I guess I watched just too much television and always thought that something was out to get me. It really influenced my mind to such a great extent that I actually believed the scary stuff which was shown on TV. As I grew older, these terrors gradually faded into oblivion as I realized that the movie/book monsters only existed in these mediums and the only true real monsters of this world were the mean, demented humans.

Relationships - How much control do we have?

We all have some sort of relationships with our fellow travelers in life. These people can be one or more of the following: our parents, brother, sister, husband or wife, etc. Some of these relationships are predetermined and we have no control over them while others we can choose. Relationships are so complex and so full of variables that no one is really happy and satisfied.

If someone was to ask me to list out a few of the good and bad points in a relationship, it would be difficult just to state just a few. After a little thought I narrowed them down to the following.

The things which I like in a relationship would be:

• You have someone to love and cherish and you feel the same about them.

• A person is always there supporting you and encouraging you through everything and vice versa.

• You have someone to hold on to, laugh and cry with and share all your dreams together.

• The close friendship in which both of you are comfortable.

• Never being lonely as you have someone to talk to.



The things which I consider as negative points in a relationship are:


• The headache of having to explain myself with every detail every so often.


• Having to clean up after this grown up constantly makes a mess.

• Having occasional arguments about nonsensical items. (Sometimes more than others).

• Not always having some private time you need to yourself just to relax and think.

• The bad habits which your friend/partner just cannot get rid off.

• Sometimes there is not enough trust between the two people and at other times there is a feeling of being trapped in a suffocating relationship.

Everything is bound to occur in a relationship and there is a lesson or message attached to everything and we have to learn that message. Only then I guess we can grow in a relationship and prosper. I guess it is really about what you want in life & relationship. It is also about how to go about things the right way and not getting all worked up about all the small, petty stuff I mention above and things should go smoothly. Every person should give the other some space to grow…some “elbow” room and some private time. How would you go around deciding what you want in life? How much control do you have? What are your likes and dislikes?

Are you a spender or saver?

Money is one thing which is extremely difficult to earn and it is one of the first things to disappear in most situations. It is a bit difficult at times to slot oneself into one particular category, since our tendencies to be either a saver or spender changes every so often over a period of time. Looking at my spending pattern over the last decade or so, I guess I would probably categorize myself as saver rather than a spender since I usually the term spender usually connotes using money to buy things all the time that are not really needed in order to lead a normal life decently.

There were times when I had to spend my hard earned money on a lot of different items during a short time frame. However, this spending activity when it can be classified as an investment either in purchasing/renovating a property or putting money into a business venture does not cancel out the category which I have slotted myself into. These activities I consider an investment where I expect to earn much more than what I have invested in return. Other times, it is for absolutely necessary items like a new fridge (yes it does have a door handle minus dirty smudge marks Danni…lol), an air conditioner (another harsh summer is upon us), a new car – Tata Nano (my old beat up car is just not worth the trouble anymore), few more ceiling fans, etc.

I learned the hard way that having money in times of need and emergency are important because we will never know what will happen next. One should save a certain percentage of your monthly earning and invest it in some safe investment avenue like government bonds, etc so that in case of an emergency I have something to fall back on. Especially in the times of recession it is more important to have decent amount of money stashed away. Not many people will come forward to help you out financially even if they belong in the extended family.

Being a responsible adult, a person should know what to buy and when not to buy. One must learn to purchase only those that are a necessity in life and these habits should be ingrained into the child’s thinking early in life. Never have "live for today, we'll think about tomorrow when tomorrow comes" attitude in life. This will lead to disastrous results. Give it a thought and in the end try to answer the following questions honestly: Will you consider yourself a saver or spender? Which category do you fit in? In which thing do you spend money the most money or where do you manage to save money most?

What’s the first impression you get when you meet total strangers?

It is said that "First Impression is the Last Impression." This may hold true at certain times and at certain situations, but I do not think that it is true at all the time. At times, how total strangers have perceived you may be different from the real you. Often times, how people perceived you is the person that you wanted to be perceived.

At times, initial reactions from others do not usually equate with how they perceive us as a person. It is only when we become more acquainted with them that others will be comfortable letting us know their first impression towards us. Be it the truth or not, often times, you might just want to shrug it off or laugh your heart out to learn that their initial impression on you is far different from your real you. Personally, I get lots of feedback from friends and colleagues telling me that they first thought of me as "Introvert." After they get to know me better, that's the only time that they knew the real me - everything but an introvert! Sometimes people say I should smile more but I tell them…hey that is how I look like. But on the inside I am actually quite happy and really friendly person.

First impression can be really deceiving. I think it might have something to do with our initial reaction when we meet people for the very first time. For example, I am not used to smiling a lot, at least for first time meeting. I am only able to open myself a little more as I become more comfortable talking to people, but not for the first time meeting. Never judge a book by its cover. We simply cannot get an accurate impression just by meeting a person for the first time and that too for a real short time. Always try to be a bit open minded and be ready to change your opinions of a person no matter how charming or not so charming they might have appeared in the first meeting.