Oh my GOD ('Om Namah Shivaya")

Contrary to the paradigm the title creates, I don’t pray God generally. I’m not an atheist either. I’m told and probably I believe there is a super power. Having exposed to Hinduism, I resolved Lord Siva is the most fascinating and deserves the highest degree of reverence as scripted in the stories and serials. I don’t remember, I ever have set myself and went for a temple, but I used to accompany with dad or mom or friends or with my wife, that too once in a year or so. I have always enjoyed the reverent atmosphere, clean and homely girls, etc during the visits. When others pray, I simply thank God for the splendid and superb life, I got. At some really difficult times (very rarely, may be once in 4 or 5 years), a kind of resolution appears from the depth of my soul, to pray God. When I do so, I do it in solitude, in serenity, with sincerity and it lasts for about 30 seconds.

On Mappillai azhaippu (the ritual on the eve of my wedding), my dad brought a ceremonial crown and proudly fitted on my head. Suddenly, the grandma of bride appeared in the scene and grabbed the crown from my head. A big argument opened up between the bride side and groom side. I was witnessing and just before me, the insane and sheer chauvinism of the crowd had let them speak some unnecessary dialogues leading to a declaration from one of the elderly to cancel the wedding. I stepped in and announced to calm down, nullified the declaration of the elderly, justifying with the statement “We are writing a history by canceling a wedding on the basis of a cap worn by the groom, If so, somebody else will start canceling on the basis of vests and briefs too”

The sixth sense was brought in by some key personnel and the wedding rituals continued. Just at the thali kattum stage (the defining moment of wedding), I saw the face of the bride in close. She was crying and literally crying. She used to have a natural smiling face on both the times I met her before wedding. I calmly enquired her and she stammeringly replied that she is not interested in the wedding. That was a shock of my life. 200 relatives and 50 friends whom I ever know and I ever cared about are going to witness the cancellation of my wedding, rather, the rejection of the groom by this bride. For a moment I was stolen by the thoughts of consequences.

I took a public permission and took her alone to a room and discussed. What I could arrive at is “The rustic behavior of my parents during the Cap - Ego fight and few more prejudices” has compelled her to take this decision. Now the problem is simpler, much simpler to be a lover of some body else or anything that is beyond my control to resolve. I displayed my talent to convince her and succeeded. SOMEHOW, I got married.

My first night started with a blank note from my beautiful wife – “I need to speak”. She laid down some series of conditions – thrusting on her liberty to live on her style. I behaved gentle till I understood (at 2:00 AM) that her behavior is an emotional, involuntary reaction due to the nervousness and panic of being with a stranger (may be notorious) ready to screw her up. I slowly unbuttoned my shirt and gently moved my fingers over her exposed hips in between her blouse and the light green colour saree. She gave up to the seduction and the kamasutra took over the scene.
Just after 5 hours, we packed and got ready for the journey to Thiruvannamalai, the place where my mom and dad resides, about 12 hours in the van during normal times. But due to the historical down pour during the last week in this part of world, the roads are damaged and might take 15 to 18 hours to reach the destination. Incidentally, today is “the day of Karthigai Deepam”, that thiruvannamalai is infamous for. It is one of the most reverent and fascinating ritual for Hindu tamilians. Not less than a tenth of a million people gather and opt for Girivalam (14 KM walk around the temple and the hill, as seen in the picture) in that small town to celebrate the function. It is an once in a year affair.
The bizarre thoughts of the day before, were going through my mind. As the van started, the kids started playing. My wife’s brother along with some of the aunts settled in the last seat. I was in the middle seat along with my wife adequately adorned with a kg of gold, silently seated by my side near the window. The look in her face somehow made me to understand, “U cheat, How the hell had u managed to seduce me yesterday….” My parents were just sitting opposite to us, and the mood was fun. As usual, I amazed the people around with my jokes and pranks. As the time pass by, slowly the crowd started to doze off. My wife for the first time, rested on my shoulders with her six senses. I smiled and slowly started a conversation (kadalai) with her.
Even at 20, she was childish, innocent, a kind of sensitive but of kind and understanding nature. I liked and admired the diversity of her nature. Moreover, she is really cute and beautiful.

We were just 25 minutes from the destination (which is full by pilgrims). The time was already 11:00 PM and it was completely dark outside. The van was traveling through a rustic meagerly thared road with a lake on the left side and arid thorny forest on the other side. As the roads were bumpy, the speed of the van was limited in the range of 10 to 45 kmph. Suddenly we felt a strong jerk in the vehicle along with an uncommon sound, like something had hit the van hardly. The jerk continued and the driver stopped the vehicle in another 2 minutes. As he checked out the vehicle, he found the shaft connecting the rear wheels got bent / broken by a big stone in the middle road. It was a narrow escape, as the speed of the vehicle was just 20 kmph. Had it been at a higher speed, the vehicle could have toppled down, putting us in great trouble. All of us got down from the vehicle.

We were 10 adults and 2 children, four of us were Gents – the driver, me, my father and my brother-in-law. There was no network in any of our cell phones. The driver managed to call out for another van from thiruvannamalai, from the public telephone booth on a road side motel, 15 minutes from there by walk. It was already 40 minutes in the completely dark uninhabited ambience, and we were standing on the road side. My mom and all ladies started panicking because of 1. Any thief or mob will know that this newly married couple will definitely have lot of gold. 2. There are well adorned good looking ladies standing at midnight in an uninhabited place, which on itself carries enormous amount of risk. 3. In an hour or so, the infamous “Karthigai deepam” festival will be over and a huge crowd will come against us and we will be lost in the crowd. Some might even make use of the crowd and rob something from us…

My mom lost control and started blabbering and blaming on the fate, the decision to choose this van, the late start, and then the marriage itself…. I stood cool, patient, and waiting for the next van to come. In another 10 minutes (though, It seemed like hours…), the next van came.
The driver and the children transferred all the things to the rescue van. The first choice to enter the rescue van was given to my wife and to be followed by me. As she entered the van, I could sense the van tilting on the lateral side. I was about to leave her fingers, just when the van tilted on the back side by around one feet. I immediately caught hold of her hand and pulled her back, as the van further slid in to the muddy banks of the lake. The driver checked it up, and resolved that the van is now stuck deep in to the mud and will require hours of work to make it move. He agreed his mistake to stop on the wet bank of the lake.

Oh, this was a big blow, and unexpected. The rescue van needs rescue now. We gents unsuccessfully, tried hard for another 10 minutes to get the vehicle out of the mud. For the first time now, I felt the temper. My mom and other ladies started crying in the midst of the uninhabited road. The children were frightened. My dad and my brother-in-law were speechless and nervous. They suggested lot of ideas for the way out, just to conclude themselves that these ideas were stupid. My wife is silent, watching every body without response, but had tightly held my hand from the side. I felt proud for a moment as she had chosen to be with me, and trusted me instead of her own elder brother. I had won her trust against her own brother in just one day acquaintance, that too, a strange one.

I understood that, it’s my time to act upon. Being the strongest and the sanest person of the crowd available there, I spoke out with a plan for the first time. I split the crowd into two groups. The group one comprises of me, my wife, my elderly father and my mother. Rest of the ladies and children (10 – 15 yrs old) is with my brother in law and the driver as another group. Fortunately, a late bus stopped by and the first group got in (with the jewels). We reached home safely and the second group followed us with the goods by another rescue van that I have arranged, after about 50 minutes.


I think my wife is pleased enough and has become intimate throwing out her mental shutters from there on. But yet the story is not complete.

Next day, my mom told us to go for a movie along with another couple (my cousins). She wanted us to relax. The theater is approx a 40 minutes drive from my home. We hired a taxi. As somebody has scripted earlier, the taxi stopped in between, putting as again in trouble. After reaching home, I got seriously concerned. What’s happening? From the eve of my marriage to till now, I’m facing natural hindrances from all sides. And tonight, I got to take my wife and parents to Lucknow, that means a 5 hours travel to Chennai airport by taxi, then to fly for 2 hr 40 minutes to Delhi airport, then a taxi to Delhi railway station and a 8 hour journey in train to Lucknow.

I approached my maternal Uncle for some advice. He is not so educated. He is a business man, but a revered person by the whole town. He lives his noble principles and has been the most successful in the family. I respected him from my childhood, and still I do. He silently listened the completely course and asked some questions. He wanted to check, whether I have missed any hindu ritual, that is to performed during marriage. He believes that every ritual in the marriage ceremony has a sense and bypassing or omitting any ritual may cause troubles like this in life. As I listed out in sequence, he pointed out that my trip to “Kuladeiva koil” (“The temple of family God”) got omitted. Actually, due to lack of time ( It takes 2 hours to go and 2 hours to come from the temple through a bumpy, rustic road.), I myself had cancelled the trip two days before the wedding itself, even after the repeated insistence from the in-laws. As I told him that, with solidarity, he confirmed that is the cause for all the troubles.

I replied, even If so, I don’t have time right now to go to the temple from here. I have to cancel lot of tickets, I have to cancel lot of programs and I don’t have leave from my office. Right now, I don’t have any choice, rather than to move ahead for Lucknow. My uncle offered me a solution. He told me to take a yellow cloth and tie a One Rupee coin inside it. He told me to pray god from the heart, promise to him that I will visit the temple in my next visit to home town and keep the coin in the pooja room in the house near the paths of the shrine. I obediently followed his advice (as that was a very easy solution) but I was not sure whether that will work or not. I’m also not sure that I am praying for what? A fear of something may happen as something has happened in the past………

We set for the journey. My uncle reminded me to keep the promise given to the God during my next visit to home town. I responded affirmatively, and headed to the airport.


To our surprise, one of my classmates, received us in the Delhi airport with a Mahindra Scorpia (SUV), treated us with a good Brunch at Saravana Bhavan in connaught place and dropped us in the station. The train was in time and we reached lucknow on time. There was a huge crowd (my friends and office colleagues) awaiting for us in the station, to receive the newly married couple and we safely reached home, smoothly ever in my life, for such a long trip.

How to lie, cheat and steal your way to the top

When I was walking around the Crossword, I purposely skipped this book, that was lying in front. Initially I thought, this is not my kind of book. The title itself is against my core values. I don’t remember ever I’ve uttered lie for making fortune or taken a planned revenge or cheat anybody. But just as I was making an exit from the store, I decided to have a glimpse of the book. Not for applying but to understand the extend to which other’s can go for. As I see through the pages, I made the payment too.
The reason is hard to explain but, being in a corporate, this kind of literature cannot be ignored.
Rather, it creates the paradigm shift, that was due for a long time now. The principles stated in the book applies to every corporate and gives answers for lot of weird things happening in and around corporates including the notorious behaviour of your boss.

You may not have to apply cheap tactics proposed in this book but understanding the principles do. It guides you to behave appropriately when situation arises. It guides you to alter some of your habits (invisible enemies of yourself). Most of the literature is not about your moral change but about behaviour and attitude change, which you may choose to make. But understanding them itself will make leaps in your corporate growth.
Perhaps, you have seen ur collegues getting promoted around, some getting higher increements than u, U might have tried ur best to impress ur boss, but still u might feel that u r standing at the centre of a crossing at midnight and u r not sure which road u have to choose and whatever roads u have tried has not given the right direction.
Here comes the light house which clearly illuminates the path u need to take to the top.

If you are in corporate, I strongly recommend you to read this book. Your growth gets insured.

P.S. The style of writing is literally a fun to read.

The Marathan Century

Since the starting of my blog two months ago, 100 people have seen my profile as of today (as counted by blogger.com). I think this call for a celebration.

Thannnnnnnk you .

regards,

Urz Luv"ly

Razigan

Long Lasting Happiness

The doctor was listening, "Sir, I am having an impatient stomach since last 3 days. I have taken some tablets from the local chemist yesterday, but to only have an abeyance. Now, the diarrhea has aggravated along with vomiting." I have discussed this situation with my mom over phone. She told me the combination is deadly and should immediately contact a good doctor in town. The doctor enquired about my medical history, and prescribed few tablets for 3 days. One of the tablets (the tiny and round blue one) was first of the kind, I have seen. It has to be kept beneath ur tongue and let the tablet dissolve in the mouth. That tablet was magical, and immediately stopped my vomiting sensation.
Though the corrective action is taken but finding out the root cause and implementing an appropriate preventive action is necessary (the QA instinct). I was slightly above 24 years then. The last time I met a doctor was at 16, when I had my leg fractured in a football match.
Let me detail the past (Teen age 13 - 19)
I had the ball in control and was about to make a shot with my right leg towards the goal post. Just then, Rajamurugan (the best player in the school then), brought his leg daringly between the ball and my leg. My tibia (the long bone from the knee to ankle) at full swing hit his tibia and both of us fell down. He was crying in pain. I also had a severe pain in my bone, but it was not so severe to cry. I was internally happy. I got up, and went upto him, cheered him up. In another two steps, OOPS!! my pain in leg was becoming unbearable and I slowly stumbled in ground. I couldn't even move my legs. When I tried moving, the pain was deadly. Rajamurugan along with four more students carried me to the nearest vaithiyar (Doctor who practices ayurveda). The vaithiyar confirmed the hairline fracture in the bone and applied a plaster constructed by bamboo sticks, cloths, flour and egg white. He had told me to take bed rest for 15 days and come back to him.
The same night when I was in deep sleep on the bed, my younger brother (by 5 YEARS) accidentally fell on my legs fracturing my leg further. We rushed to the orthopedic surgeon as the pain was unbearable. The X-Ray confirmed fracture showing an inch gap between the broken pieces of tibia. He applied plaster of Paris on my legs. I was on bed for almost 20 days. The doctor after checkup commented, this is one of the fastest cure especially after the double fracture.
I didn't remember any other appointment with doctors (apart from the dentist visit once). I used to get cold once in a year or two, for which my mom's medication was good enough. The small cuts and wounds generated while playing in the field used to disappear in a day's time without any medication. In the medical examination conducted for my first job, all the values of the diagnostic tests were at the mean of the recommended specifications. Such a kind of health and power of immunity I had. I used to feel proud about my health when my classmates, college mates, colleague fall sick.
But, I realized this is the case with most sportsmen. (Don't count injuriphile Tendulkar in this.) I was playing football, cricket, table tennis, volleyball and badminton at an average of four hours per day throughout my entire teenage. My mom is a health freak and always served nutritious food. My weight was 64 Kg, through out the last 3 years of my college. All put together, I had a physic that was flexible, healthy and can make even a conservative girl stare at my chest. Having a good and admirable physic in itself is a wonderful feeling, and it lets you do all activities of your life in ease. It makes your life enjoyable unless you complicate it with anything else.

Post teen age
When I started my career(at 21), my weight increased by one Kg approx. every month. The engineering degree had fetched me a white collar job. Handful of money at the start of every month, gave me the freedom to enjoy everything in the world. I imbibe 2 bottles of beer every weekend and whenever I was excessively happy or excessively sad. I don't cook as I felt boring to do. Especially, I hate the washing utensil part. I had my breakfast and lunch in the office canteen, and had my dinner at hotels and restaurants. I relished the kebabs and biryanis. Lucknow had an array of hotels which served delicious mughlai cuisine, for which I had become a gourmet. In winters, I switched over to whiskey and rum. I smoke 5 to 7 cigarettes a day. But when I drink, I have 4 more. Though I was a bachelor, my extrovert attitude always kept me with lot of people around. I was happy enjoying the life.

I gained 12 Kgs in the first 15 months of my career and thereafter it stabilized. My body put up excess fat, which made me restrictive. After the visit to doctor for diarrhea and vomiting, it had become a routine to meet the doctor every now and then for various reasons. In the medical examination conducted in the recent job switch (7 years from the first one), the doctor certified not fit for the job. My cholesterol levels were alarming (330). X-ray showed problems. Every parameter in the diagnostic tests were no way near to normal. I'm undergoing treatment for my Sinus trouble. My hair started falling and looking older than my age (28). All put together, I'm a Sick Man now.

I was wondering, Does God Started thinking that “This fellow had enjoyed too much in his life. Let him suffer from now on".
Because, there was nobody else responsible for this change in my health condition (A fantastic physic at 21 and a good for nothing physic at 28). I haven't purposely did anything to ruin my health other than living a free and enjoyable life. But the question is, "Will your health become abnormal, If you enjoy your life?”

Being a gourmand, I hate putting restrictions to my food. I hate taking medicines (It lowers my self confidence, always reminding that I'm a sick fellow). I hate doing exercises. I would like to play but not the boring exercises. At desperate times, I tried doing the exercises to reduce my weight. I was successful in reducing 3 to 4 kgs in a week by doing exercise.
But the weight regained in the following week, when I stopped the exercise. At one patch of life, when my weight had reached 81Kg, I decided to go for 4 weeks rigorous gym program (with my logical calculation - 3 to 4 Kg in one week means 16 kg in a month). But that was a stupid calculation. My weight reduced in the first week by 4 kg, but it remained there for next three weeks. And the weight as usual regained in the following week, when the gym program was over.

Nevertheless, a good health is like water for fish. The fish will only feel the deadly trouble when it is out of water. Till then, the fish takes the water for granted.

So, the million dollar question now is "Will my health become abnormal, if I enjoy my life?” The answer is Yes and No.

I got convinced. It is the lifestyle that matters. It doesn't mean that you should not enjoy the life. What exactly has to be understood is "A happy lifestyle with adequate physical activity and healthy intake will keep you away from all the doctors and as well as let you have a long lasting and sustained happiness and excitement in life."

Consequently, I tried an intelligent make over in my lifestyle.

I switched over to a house that is at 15 minutes walk from the office and I sold my bike (There are some other reasons also).
I have breakfast at home like museli (roasted oats with milk), eggs, sandwiches, biscuits and fruit juices in the morning.

I walk to office with my walkman playing the latest tunes, glancing at the day's outfit of the girls passing by and this has become a habit and pleasure now. I still have my lunch at office. I cook dinner at home for at least 5 days in a week.

I have handpicked some healthy and tasty recipes from my mom and the latest cook books for dinner, which generally does not take more that 10 minutes to cook and does not leave too many utensils to clean. I wonder there is really handful of them and they are tasty too. Purchased a Microwave, which is very handy for loners like me. Logically I should have done this much earlier because, cooking these foods takes less than the time I travel to hotels (definitely you save the time of waifting), and also keeps you healthy at one fifth of the cost . Given the choice of nutritious semi cooked food available at the super markets, cooking the dinner at home is much easier than I thought earlier. Apart from looking at the price, I also started to glance at the cholesterol content and the sugar content while purchasing raw materials for cooking.

Very importantly, I quit whiskey, but have wine and beer.

The makeover is magical. Right now, my cholesterol has come to normal; all other parameters are approaching mean and that too without any medicines.

So let's put the learning together...

1. A makeover in ur life style only can save ur health, thereby let you enjoy the fullest of life.

2. A change in lifestyle does not mean a compromise or hard work or any kind of enforcements.

3. It is just the choosing of right ones from bad ones.


4. Do any physical activity for at least 30 minutes a day that u enjoy. It can be playing with ur kid, or playing sports or just walking staring at the girls.


5. Choose the healthy and tasty ones for eating. (Always choose Oil without cholesterol, have skimmed milk, eat vegetables and fruits, always keep two bottles of good fruit juices in fridge.)

6. If u doesn’t have the habit of cigarette, bear, or hard drinks, it is absolutely fine. Having these bad habits doesn't mean that they enjoy life. Practically, the reverse is more probable.


7. If u have those habits then, adopt the following good news.

8. Contrary to the common myth, beer does not have any cholesterol or even any fat content. Beer like wine is good for health in moderate quantities (One bottle a day). I read in internet that the fattening effect in the body is caused by the extra dishes we have during consumption and the inactivity attained due to the tranquilizing effect of the alcohol. If you are an active person and drink beer with healthy accompaniments, you will not get fat.

9. Quit Whiskey - It has sugar, cholesterol etc, etc.......

10. U can have a bit of rum but that too in very moderate quantities. The moderate amount for you is directly proportional to your physical toil and healthy intake. A man who does lot of physical exercise have lot of room to drink every day and still be healthy.

11. Smoking is generally bad for health. But they too have some positives, if had in moderate quantities (Four filtered cigarette a day, will not cause you any danger till your death. The only problem is to stick with 4 cigarettes which many find it difficult.)
a. Smoking increases the blood circulation to brain momentarily, thereby giving the extra power to brain. Even I had got solutions to many struggling problems while smoking.
b. Smokers become friends faster. If ur boss is smoker, u have lot of merits as a smoker.
c. Smoking (psychologically) increases self esteem when u r alone and depressed (No proof).
d. Last but not the least, you can enjoy the kick the cigarette gives.

12. The points from 7 to 11 are exclusively for males. The girls have less strength to resist these bad habits.


13. Sex is always good for health and mind. Only thing is to use condoms at appropriate times.

14. Avoid sex in teens, as that will lead u avoid the pursuit of noble options available at that point of time. Learn and enjoy all other adventures, pleasures and techniques of life in teans and have sex for post teen age. That makes a lot of difference in you future.




The list is becoming endless....... but they are worth it......... Though the changes look simple, it needs a killer instinct to initiate them. So....... Best of Luck. After all these are the secrets to have long lasting happiness and excitement.