Be humble, Be honest

I have been lucky to have met few top level executives during my career. I learned a very good thing from them.
And that is to be "humble". Being humble was one of the reasons they were at those position. They did not have a sense of competition or comparison. They reached that level by the humbleness of their presence.
Being humble matters a lot, everyone will look up to you if you are humble. Your presence will make a difference wherever you go.
It is actually very easy to be humble and I bet you meet excellent people as you are down to earth.
This also allows you to stay on track, you do not get in to a superiority complex. There is a thin line between being confident and having a superiority complex.
Being humble keeps you away from crossing this line and you will always be treated with great deal of respect. Your presence will be accepted at every level.
I have personal experiences of spending time with CEOs and COOs who make you feel so comfortable. They have uncanny ability to bring best out of everyone.
I love being humble because it makes life very simple, removes a great deal of struggle from your life. People around you see possibilities instead of threat in you.
Having said the above, you must believe in having a self worth. The idea is to have the right balance and do not go to any extreme.
For example, if you are software developer and you solved an issue which entire was trying to solve for few days, there is nothing wrong in treating that as self worth. While being aware that it does not make you any superior to others. It should rather give you a sense of satisfaction and you should gladly accept the praise from the team.
9 out of 10 times, being humble will also allow you to be honest. Both have a deep connection. The only difference is honest has a degree of honesty in it ;)
To sum it up, the way to success when you have the basics like talent, attitude right, being humble is the way to grow above and beyond.

Relationships

You meet so many people in life, some come and go, some come and stay.
Relationships are a significant part of our lives because that forms a major portion of our time spend in our lives. A good relationship is born out of love and freedom. There has been a personal experience that real relations are made by you and not earned by birth.
Birth gives you relatives and not relationships. Of course you can build good relationship with them.
For me relationship comes with a spark. People say love at first sight, for me it's intuition at first site. It's like "iske saath apna jamne wala hain ;)"
Very recently, I met COO of a big company. He had met several people with some real good talent but he still could not convince him of hiring any of them for the purpose because the spark was missing. This spark is actually his intuition towards the people he met.
Let's jump back to freedom in the relationship. Why is friendship such a good relationship?
Have you ever noticed that probability of a friend feeling bad about anything is the lowest?
The main reason is because there is freedom in friendship. It's one of the most beautiful relationships.
Even within friends, I have noticed some are close to heart even though they are physically distant and we hardly meet in person. When you meet them even after year or so, you get talking as if you meet him daily. These are your real friends and they won't feel bad if you haven't called them in a while ;) (yeah but you should be in touch, it means a great deal in life).
The true relationship has freedom, more the freedom, better the relationship.
Less the expectation better the relationship.
"Go on and earn good relationship, it will make you very rich in life."

For my love thy movies - Trilogy

This is a submission for the Reel-life Bloggers contest www.wogma.com and http://reviewgang.com/
An action packed thrill of 3 movies
1) Luck By chance -

I am vary of seeing movies as I am very critical of the same ;)
But thanks to swati (my wife), I sometimes end up seeing a few of them.
I promise you that you will be confused by the end of this review and so you will go and watch the movie ;)

Its always my tendency to take some good things of a movie and learn from it.
The best thing about this movie was that it was relatively a casual movie and thus light.
The shots are taken in normal day to day lanes and homes so that brings some reality.
Everyone would agree that they see a new star in Farhan Akhtar.
But this movie by far was konkana sen's movie (ok, as a guy, I will always be biased ;)).
Her subtle expressions are the highlights of the movie.
The subtle comedy of the movie is awesome.
Like there is something about poems whereby everyone can interpret in its own way, the same applies to the movie too. One can view it from many different view points.
So here is luck by chance from my 4 eyes (2 normal and 2 with a lot of power glass ;)) -
Luck by chance is about creating destiny vs living the destiny. It also shows that you can get lucky by chance but that will most likely not sustain.
I always believe you have to go and knock at the oppurtunity, if you believe is oppurtunity knocking at your door, most likely you will miss it.
So here is a movie in which luck by chance, one gets lucky but other one gets luckier as she learns to live life as it is!
Farhan Akhtar believes in creating destiny (kismet bantee nahee, bananee padti hain). Only wishing means nothing to him.
So the guy creates oppurtunity, walks through it. Leaving behind her girl friend Konkana.
All this happens luck by chance.
It is almost as if Konkana's luck is replaced by Farhan's luck.
Although for a brief period, she is upset but she thanks him for the things she learned from him and then lives in that fashion. Now she is on to creating opportunities but in much more subtle and resilient way.
What is the difference? Now, she continues to enjoy things she is doing. She is no longer waiting for the chance she may get in "future".
So luck by chance a struggling movie actress who lived every moment based on the future role, turns to her present life and starts loving what she is doing everyday. And this she learnt from her lost love.
In turn her lost love Farhan turns lucky by chance but looses all good people in his life.
It poses a very good question. What is more important? Living every moment as it is or longing for something to achieve in future.
Rather both and strike a balance.
Few lines from the poem "IF" summarizes it very well -
If you can dream and not make dreams your master.
If you can think and not make thoughts your aim.
If you can meet with Triumph and disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same.
;)

2) ZNMD -


It is saturday morning, been a long time saw any movie so here was my chance. Looked up the theatre and time, off we want for the movie. High expectations from 3 rocking stars and good punch in the name.
Friendship is one relationship which I feel is the most real one since my childhood and I am sure for most of us it is the same. "Dil Chahta hain" was hit for this very reason.
Some friends where ever they may be are friends for ever.
ZNMD was about 3 friends and their promise to have journey of a life time with 3 selected destinations with 3 activities they can choose and all 3 of them must do it.
We all know Hrithik is crowd puller. But the star of this movie was some one else, it was Abhay Deol for me and Farhan Akhtar for my Swati.
The movie showed Hrithik to be a money minter with almost no life, well, eye opener for many of us that forget living life in the crazy world of making money. Farhan is a moldable die, he fits almost any role given to him. By far awesome. The star of the movie was Abhay with his classic looks.
The beautiful Katrina was meaningful too with a very simple message of "live life, Queen size". The little bit of zen about "the moment that matters" comes out very cleanly in Katrina's role as a deep sea diver.
Let's switch to the location, Amazing locations with deep sea diving, lot of greener pastures, unseen empty roads and awesome car. The movie is a visual treat apart from being a passionate story too.
The most exciting thing about the movie was the "fear factor". Each of us have different fears - fear of height, fear of water, fear of animals, fear of death (by far the deadliest ;)).
In Matrix 1 - Neo is told "Let it all go Neo, fear, doubts and disbelief". And here you have it - story of 3 friends on a journey to "letting it all go"
If you miss the movie, you are missing a great lesson for yourself, so go watch it NOW!

Matrix 1 - "You have to let is all go Neo - Fear, Doubts, Disbelief"

I must admit, I did not move beyond matrix 1 as I am still digesting matrix 1.
I had watched it during my college days and let it go as an action movie which by far matrix is NOT.
Matrix is about so many things not some particular thing. There are so many perspectives to this movie that this review will short fall of it so you will have to see the movie to get your own perspective.
If you even blink your eye, you lost a lesson from the movie, that's how quick the movie is made. There are sharp turns all through out the movie.
In short, its a about "Neo" who has the instinct that "something is wrong with the world" and how he is guided by his mentor to become "real him" by the thoughts and the mind.
There are amazing fight sequence with excellent dialogue. The simulated fight between neo and morpheus is the sequence to rewind and watch, rewind and watch.
So if you want to know "how deep the rabit hole goes", if you think "it's the mind which makes it real", if you want to "load anything you like" and if you think "when you are ready, you won't have to" go on unload yourself and watch this movie. I am sure "once is not enough" or rather "first time watch is just the beginning".
Enjoy the movie!

Some Quotes or Thoughts or whatever you choose to call it

Good blessings from the universe
There is pain deep within
Time heals
Crying is just an expression as laughing
We are by default biased.
Things can go wrong, how to react is up to you.
Your life is output of your choices, actions and decisions. All 3 are equally important.
A good student always gets good teacher. Sometimes that teacher is life
Experience is the key, actions is actually using the key to unlock
Dare to dream when you are awake
I always imagine myself standing with my car in my shorts relaxing and thinking what next?
You only realise later that the precious time was wasted
Quotes are somebody's state of mind at some point.
Give love, it's the best way to feel good about yourself.

First Trip to Leh Ladakh can be very inspiring, so take the plunge!

The most challenging trip so far in various sense - emotional, health, group tour, temperament. There is always a learning when things are tough. There is a saying "when going gets tough, the tough gets going" and that's what we learned and stuck to.
1) The first tough thing emotional - Our beloved grand mother was hospitalized with doctors given up hope 2 days before our trip. We all loved her very much as she was the most modern granny of these times (yes, she can discuss cricket and politics both if you had like ;)) One of the things I will remember is the food, if she made anything that had to be delicious, even if she only added salt to a thing. Because of the intention she had that everyone should enjoy what she made. (I do take pride in it too, anything I cook turns out good, but I hardly cook). The truth of the moment was that nobody was able to decide and everyone was waiting for each other some of them wanting to go and some of them wanting to cancel. Eventually, most of us agreed that we should go and she had told each of us when we met while she was alright but hospitalized was "take care of each other on the trip". Well, that showed her true spirit. So we decided 2 of them staying back to take care of rituals and rest of us to take the train to Delhi. I believe it was the right thing to do. I learned when something is known and inevitable, accept it very gracefully and pray for the highest and best.
2) The 2nd milestone - After a tough call to leave for the trip, the next road block was right ahead of us. The train to Jammu from Delhi was full of unreserved people in reserved compartment, so much so that we cannot even board the train. And I created a blunder by not boarding from the side I was supposed which had only ladies. On our end, we managed to throw in the luggage. On other end, ladies managed to throw the luggage near the toilet. I must admit we created one more blunder (the ladies side of it), the ladies lost their cool on the crowd which was already irritated but still trying to help considering they were all ladies. The story on our end was different, we stayed cool but the irritated crowd pounced on us for the amount of luggage we were carrying in the train. Slowly things started to settle, we removed people who where on our seats. Some were nice to tell us that let the next station come otherwise we won't be able to get in our luggage. We listened to them and they listened to us. Things settled more but I still saw some of us were shouting instead of requesting on the first go itself. My view is that when things go wrong one thing to understand is that even if other person is wrong he is equally frustated, so request him first before shouting. If he does not budge you should go up to police too, but always start politely as your first thought should be that he will agree as you are right. After almost 1-2 hrs of all the fight and everything, we got to sleep.
I learned "this too will pass, learn to smile on bad circumstances". One practical learning is research your travel well before booking.
3) This one is actually humorous - One of us stamped on someone's foot and said sorry. That lady literally went mad. Her husband told her very coolely - "I will take you to a doctor as soon as we got down, shouting is not going to reduce your pain". But in the end we were conversing with them so felt good about it. I learned you can improve the situation, choice is yours.
4) Now the roads are blocked - The roads to srinagar were blocked due to weather and amarnath yatra. There are some practical learnings here. Find out about any public events on your route and take a quick decision to change your route. We spend entire day in Jammu and lost a day in such a crucial trip.
5) We are on our way to Manali - After a lot of waiting at 3:00am we started off at around 7:00 for Manali. Again a lot of time wasted just making decision and fights among drivers. Excitement was ON again at least for me as we will be soon at our first destination. The route was long and tiring and we reached at around 10:00pm or later. The hotel was decent. I learned that it helps to be patient or life will frustate you easily and many times ;)
6) The fun begins - So the trip to Solang valley was fun for everyone. Paragliding for the first time from a hill top was very good experience of shedding your fears. I did it on purpose as I was afraid. If you are afraid, do it, till when will you live in that fear? But it turned out dar ke age jeet hain, once up in the air, it felt amazing. It's an experience so word will fall short of describing it.
7) Food is frustating for everyone now - I think for me this was one of the bad things of the trip. The food had so many highs and lows that it was depressing at times. If I had to change one thing in the trip, this would be the one thing I would change. The cook and the guide had no ideas of our expectation from the food. I learned you need to plan better and have your daily items ready in excel sheet emailed to the provider before hand and ensure he has each and every ingredient required for it. Though in hills only 70% of your planning will work but still huge scope of improvement here.
8) The highlight of the trip "trip to Sarchu and the stay" - This was by far the most difficult part of our entire trip. We got stuck at rohtang for 4-5 hrs due to mud slide. I learned one thing on the way "Learn to live along - Independent". In such circumstances, you support others come what may. You need to be very strong for the same. And you need to be to gather. That is exactly what we did.
Then came Zing zing bar - This is a tough one for both vehicle and you to cross. But it was fun, first the vehicles crossed. We clapped as one after other our vehicles crossed the difficult path with flowing water at good force. Then it was our turn. This was probably the first time I did not look back, something took over me and I went without help with Swati, crossed it fearlessly. It was unlike me, but I learned circumstances can make you strong too and that don't think but act ;)
I loved when 2 of the younger brothers prepared Electral powder in warm water and served everyone in spite of severe cold. I think we again made one mistake of stretching our dinner to late night. Many of us paid a heavy price for the same next day I guess. I had my past learnings and used good trick of drinking 1 litre+ warm water and get rid of all acid through vomitting by choice and I was all well then. As we left from Sarchu, things started to look better. I learned "Be tough and don't give up".
9) The food got better at pang - We all enjoyed the food at bang with garam rotis being served to us. Some of us chose to rest as well (A well deserved one).

11) The goodness of Leh Begins - The Plains at such a height is a sight in itself. From sand dunes to colorful mountains, the road has everything you can or cannot imagine. This probably was the closest literal to "Joy is in the journey and not the destination".



12) Leh tour of 2 days - The leh tour is very simple and charming. With very good places to see and just be. Some of us went for rafting which is fun. As I had done it again and wanted to take rest, I skipped it. The market was not much fun other then t-shirts. The hotel in Leh was dissappointing to say the least. A better strategy in future would be to pay more, bargain less but take the best.
13) 3 idiots school but Aamir khan was missing - Time to visit the awesome school the next day. Lot of open spaces and some useful quotes, I am sure the students are lucky. Leh has its own charm. The drivers changed from aggressive to silent as our journey too became more silent.
14) The first sight of pangong lake - Journey was awesome and we were used to the heights now (but this too will pass ;)). The first sight of pangong lake amongst the sandy mountains was amazing view, I almost jumped in the scorpio with 3 others ;)
15) This too will pass- The good time was over. The tent which we had supposedly booked were booked by others before us and there were no tents left. We were on beg, borrow, steal mode now. Convinced the guy to give us 3 tents instead of 6 and he also had one room with 2 beds. It was great, he put extra beds. we all sat and chatted after a long time. The love among the family was over flowing, I could have cried but I decided to fart as that is more fun for everyone ;)
16) The morning visit to pangong and meet the buddhist monk - This guy was amazing, he asked for our introduction, spoke to us himself. I respect him for his simplicity and being so down to earth with everyone. Did some good photography around the lake and was time to go back to Leh and get ready for Nubra.
17) Highest Motorable road here we come - Khardung la and it snowed, cannot get better. We played in the snow although for a brief moment but amazing moment. The hugs felt great to me.
18) Ask thrice before you commit to travel - We wasted atleast 3 hrs going to a place which was not worth it. So always verify before travelling to cover good distance to reach a place.
19) Nubra and Camels here we come - Well this was too much fun, first the camel ride and then sand dunes rolling.
20) Leh to Jammu via Kargil Memorial - Kargil memorial was totally worth it. The length of journey hit us again as 2 days of hard journey. And yes unforgettable zojilla pass which was more scary then paragliding as the road was gliding and there was no parachute ;)
One more practical learning was cover the most distance on previous day and leave minimum to the last day especially in hills.
We chilled out on the way back in the train, enjoyed playing UNO and sleeping.

I loved the trip. It taught me many things, top among those were "this too will pass", "loving unconditionally" and "Being tough"
I would end with one of my favourite quotes "Life is not for waiting for the storm to pass but for dancing in the rain".
Maa - We all love you!

Life is a game, Play it Easy!

New turns in life are amazing. Yesterday was at a party and somehow there was no craving for the food. I begin to wonder - A world without cravings. It would definitely make life worth more living as there would be a sense of freedom. Well, easier said then done in the city life where you need to be worthy enough to live a stupendous life.
I am getting more into my senses, healing the anxiety within me for anything and everything. There is a thin line between enthusiasm and anxiety, isn't it?
I want to be more peaceful and watchful going forward. Not trying to be happy always but just trying to BE irrespective of the circumstances.