Easy to make and …..break!

At the wake of yet another New Year, I’ve decided to make some resolutions! I, like most people, have this habit of making resolutions at the onset of every year and like most people, I invariably break them by the end of the year. I should admit that not a single one of my resolutions has stood the test of time till now! :

If I remember right, I fell into this habit of making New Year resolutions when I was in class IV.The cousin who inculcated this ‘priceless’ habit in me, had come down to spend the Christmas hols with us, that year. He is elder to me by 2 years and has been the all time favorite (among all my cousins) with my parents. He used to be a lively lad, and never stopped asking questions to my Dad. He had questions to ask about everything that he set eyes on. I, of course, had no choice but to tag along and listen to what my Father had to say- although I had not the faintest intention of knowing how our car worked (as long as it worked and we could go out on Sundays) or how dogs see at night (in any case I was scared of dogs and would never dare to go near one at night. So it would never see me anyways!…or so I thought).

He was due to leave in a day or two and I was definitely pleased with the idea because I would again have my Parent’s attention all to myself. That morning, I saw him sitting at the edge of the couch, with a tiny book and a pen, scribbling something busily. He had a very serious look on his face .His spectacles had slid down his nose and was barely clinging on. He didn’t seem to mind that very much and was immersed in his work. He wore a neat white T-shirt and a pair of shorts (As a matter of fact, my cloths were seldom white, because none of them managed to retain the original color in spite of my Mother's devoted effort to help them stay clean and white )He reminded me of Dilton (the geek among the Archies) I went closer and peered into his little note book, and I’m sure you’ve guessed by now that he was jotting down his resolutions for the coming year. That’s when I decided to start making resolutions myself. In spite of all the jealousy that’s natural among children of that age, I guess I admired him for the way he religiously kept track of details and went about figuring out things.

I wonder what my cousin would make of this blog if he happens to read it :D….!By the way, coming to the crux of the issue, my set of resolutions for this year has a difference. I’m sure u didn’t expect me to let out any of my resolutions, but, I’ve decided to take you into the private realm of my mind and show you the resolution that’s right on top of the list.

NO MORE NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS IF I CANNOT STICK TO THE FOLLOWING RESOLUTIONS THIS YEAR!

I only hope I’ll stick to this one…..

Can you unscramble a scrambled egg?

‘Tsunami’ is a word that I’ve never heard of until last Sunday. Had some one asked me what I think this word means, assuming that whatever happened last Sunday never really happened, I would definitely have attributed it to the name of a ‘school gal’ toon in some series that is shown on Animax. I’m no quiz wiz, but I’m sure most people in India (for that matter, even in most parts of the world) have never heard of this word ever. Today, the tiniest among the tiny tots in the neighborhood knows what it means and can give you his/her own version of its meaning!

Talking about tiny tots and Animax…. I can never really forget my childhood days. There have been wonderful times, there have been sunny days when there were so many friends around to play with, there have been fights with friends, heart breaks and disappointments and there have been lonely, gloomy days as well. Whatever the case was, one thing that never changed was (and thankfully still is) the reassuring presence of my Parents. They’ve witnessed every single happening in my life, the trials and the tribulations of adolescence, the glories and the defeats of early adult hood (till date). They’ve always stood by and done their best to put me and keep me going on the right track.

Yesterday was just another day until I got back home and found a New Year card waiting for me. It was from my Parents. It definitely lit up my face with a smile. I read what it had to say (…a very simple and plain card it was), dropped it on the table and sat down in front of the television with a plate of rasam rice in my hand. The television gave sufficient food for thought but, at the end of it all, I completely lost my appetite. There was a lot of news on the state of affairs. It was evident that relief operations were happening in full swing.

What really touched my heart was the look on the eyes of the children who have lost their Parents (one or both of them) to the killer waves. There were so many tidbits of news. There was one on how a baby girl, born blind, has lost her mother to this catastrophe. It was good to learn that several people have offered to get her vision back for her by funding for the surgery. There was the case of a two young boys who have both lost their parents and were together at the relief camp. There was a case of a grandmother and her grand children being alive and together. In this case, the Parents were both missing.

When I was a little girl, my Mom used to take my kid Bro’ and me to a garden near the post office every evening. It used to be a sweet little place. It had some plants with yellow flowers (dunno what flowers they were, but they were yellow and never had any fragrance), butterflies and dragonflies flying about and a tank with a lot of fungus at the bottom. The tank always amused my Bro and me the most because it had ‘green water’. My Mom used to sit on a wooden bench, most often the one at the right most corner, reading a book, while the two of us used to play about. I would want to carry all my dolls with me to that garden ‘cos I would think they may be lonely without me and every evening my Mom used to patiently talk me out of the idea. I remember the times when I used to trouble my Mother endlessly asking for dresses to be stitched for my dolls. Thanks to my Dad my collection of dolls used to keep growing every month or so (to my Mother’s dismay). This is just a tiny fragment from the tastefully woven, large fabric of my childhood memories and it is safely and strongly written into my very soul.

There have been very testing times when I had almost completely lost all the confidence I had in myself. My parents were there to induce it back in me. There have also been numerous occasions when I had been a trifle too over confident. Then again, they were there to point out that this might lead to my downfall. They have always given me a strong sense of security. I’ve always had this feeling that I have something to fall back on and this gives me the confidence to step up, explore and grow! Every human being deserves to experience this.

Children who have a healthy and happy childhood definitely grow into more confident, friendly and most often law abiding adults.

Nature can be as unpredictable as it is beautiful. This time, it has chosen to cruelly rip some young souls off the childhood that they rightfully deserve.

Its heartening to see the number of people who are more than willing to extend a helping hand to the Tsunami victims. It’s a strong sign that humanity hasn’t lost all its goodness and gone stale altogether, although its flavor has altered with time. Lets do our best for these children although we can never provide the childhood that they would have had, had their parents been alive- we can never really unscramble a scrambled egg!…can we? :(

Gazing into a crystal ball!

What makes the future so interesting, amusing and scary all at the same time?

Yes. You said it (if not aloud, at least you thought of it)…it’s the uncertainty factor associated with it.

There are times when I’ve wished that I could predict what’s in store. Had there been a book, which magically produced on its pages, the list of all that the future holds for us, and had there been a test to see if the human kind can hold back the desire to take a peep into it, then, there are many instances in my life when I would have failed miserably.

How do you think it would be if the future were an open book? It might not be that great after all! It could be good, if it’s alterable, but who wouldn’t want everything to go the ‘right’ way for them? This ‘right’ way may not be the right way for others and it may not be the righteous way either. Ultimately, the whole idea of ‘Justice’ in the process of rewarding the deserving will be lost!

All the same, I cannot help desiring for something of this sort when I see the mammoth destruction that the whole of South Asia has faced in the early hours of a Black Sunday owing to an earthquake and some tsunami waves, the byproduct of the quake.

Now that a disaster has struck, I definitely expect a forwarded mail on this, stating that this too was predicted by Nostradamus, from some source with some cryptic passage (the prediction) and a ‘decryption’ text (the mapping to this situation).

As per the prophecies of Nostradamus

(If you wanna know where I picked this from->Nostradamus:Prophecies ),

Continents as you know them now will cease to exist or changedramatically. (I. p52) All the central part of your continent as youknow it will be [spared]. Continents all over the earth will beaffected. The water mass as we know it now will cover a greaterpercentage of the earth. Continents that are connected will be split,divided by water that were not divided by water before. There willnot be any country that is not affected. A large portion of Asia willbe covered with water. Africa will have a channel cutting through it,a new strait. (I. p56)

I don’t have the faintest idea if Nostradamus really predicted this…but I find this very interesting! One can’t help noticing that all the predictions that were made (if they really were) come to light only in the wake of the corresponding catastrophe (corresponding to that prediction, I mean). Sounds fishy doesn’t it??

Check out these links..Pretty interesting!

Nostradamus:FAQs
Nostradamus:Biography

Predications and speculation on their validity apart, something definitely needs to be done to ensure that we are not so ill prepared to meet the next of Nature’s challenges of this kind, if and when it occurs. I intend to probe into this in the days to come…but, right now, I probably should get myself a crystal ball from the flea market and try my hand at crystal gazing!! :)

Terrorizing tremors:

Daydreaming is an enjoyable ‘art’ that need not be learnt and can definitely be practiced by anybody effortlessly (provided you have the time for it!). Am quite a daydreamer myself. It’s highly entertaining to simulate some situation in your mind and to make yourself go through it. Although daydreaming has it’s own problems (if you are wondering what they are, ask some daydreamer you know!!), it cannot be denied that it’s enjoyable to indulge in!

I had been to the Marina beach last Sunday evening and was gazing at the sea, munching a roasted American sweet corn. Don’t make any mistakes…this corn is from Salem and not from the USA as its name misleadingly implies. ‘American sweet Corn’ is a branding done by some of the beach side marketing strategists.

Its always is fun to just look around at all the people and activities on the beach. The baji walas (If you haven’t tasted the bajis on the beaches of Chennai, then you’ve missed something important in life…yummy!!!) with their stalls, decorated with chili curtains, the tiny Mary-go-rounds for kids, the key chain vendors with their key chains emitting a dull blue glow in the darkness, everything adds color to the place (I now think about these with the fondness that comes naturally for pleasant things that have been lost forever. There will soon be a new set of people out there, of course!)

I started wondering what would happen if some creature like Godzilla happened to just pop its head out of the sea suddenly and start chasing the whole lot of people on the beach. I was trying to figure out the various ways in which each of these people would try and safe guard themselves (not that there are many ways…running for your life is the best bet!). It was soon time to leave and the Godzilla daydream was lost in the grinding routine of the following week.

Woke up at 8.30 yesterday morning. It was a typical lazy, sunny Sunday morning until the television was switched on. I didn’t feel any tremors. Nobody at home or in the neighborhood did. All the same, it truly was scary to watch and hear the stuff that was told on TV. Can you imagine? There are people who were completely in harmony with life until they or their loved ones got washed away into the sea on this ill-fated Sunday!

Just close your eyes and visualize the sea coming towards you, engulfing you and taking you in with all its might. There have been un-suspecting, health conscience people out jogging/walking. There have been friends meeting up and playing on the beach. There have been fishermen and women. There have been people who lived on the shores and ran some stalls in the evenings, perhaps. These people may not have been entirely happy with life (very few of us are for that matter), but each would definitely have had some plans for the rest of yesterday (at least), leave alone the plans they might have had for the rest of their lives. Worse still, Can you imagine someone dear to you just vanishing from your life one fine morning? It’s just too much of a shock to take (I think).

Many ‘Thanks’ to the Godzilla named ‘Tsunamis ‘!! The following is an interesting site that provides info’ on earthquakes with some animations. Do check it out! http://www.pbs.org/wnet/savageearth/earthquakes/

It even provides info on the Waves of destruction-Tsunamis!! Here is an extract

Depending on the geometry of the seafloor warping that first generated the waves, tsunami attacks can take different forms. In certain cases, the sea can seem at first to draw a breath and empty harbors, leaving fish flopping on the mud. This sometimes draws the curious to the shoreline and to their deaths, since the withdrawing of the sea is inevitably followed by the arrival of the crest of a tsunami wave. Tsunamis also flood in suddenly without warning. Tsunami waves usually don't curve over and break, like Hawaiian surf waves. Survivors of tsunami attacks describe them as dark "walls" of water. Impelled by the mass of water behind them, the waves bulldoze onto the shore and inundate the coast, snapping trees like twigs, toppling stone walls and lighthouses, and smashing houses and buildings into kindling.

Whatever said and done, the fact remains that earthquakes cannot be prevented!!

Although ours is not a region prone to seismic activities, this is the second time in the recent past (to the best of my knowledge) that we’ve been badly hit by the tremors.Bygones are bygones. From now on, the best thing to do would be to predict it (if we can) and be prepared. The following link takes you to a page that tells you how you can be prepared.http://earthquake.usgs.gov/faq/prepare.html

Lets just focus on how we can make things better (read ‘safer’) for everybody before there’s another one of these terrorizing tremors that could again leave us all ‘shaken’ in more ways than one!

Knock the stress out of your system before stress knocks you out! :)

This is what happened to me yesterday!!:(

My state last evening :I was completely bogged down and felt like an air pillow pumped up with air to the max and ready to explode any minute. I’m using an air-pillow for an example because a balloon is far too delicate and I definitely do think I’m tougher than that (inflated ego..huh!)

The reason for this state: It definitely wasn’t my day. Everything has been going wrong since morning. I felt sick about everything…the people around, the work, and life on the whole. I started thinking about my College and my Profs’. My Profs’….they suddenly seem to me to be the nicest lot of people under the sun(not so long ago, this wasn’t the way I thought about them although they had their own special place in my mind!).

I had a bad cold and a running nose (which I’m sure you’ll agree, is an extreme test for ones’ patience especially if your mind is processing 100 (other) different threads in parallel). By the end of the day…with all the fire fighting at work, I was certain that my brain is gonna go ahead and get a brain fever or something (forgive me for this erroneous statement on the prospective cause of brain fever, but with all my troubles, this is what I thought yesterday) I had fever (the regular one) and this, I thought, was an indication of the fact that the brain was over worked. I’m sure everybody goes through some days of this sort when you don’t really have the stamina to take up even the normal load of work and stress and you are ‘gifted’ with an extra ‘special’, extra heavy load of both!

Post dinner, I found myself lying between the cozy covers of my mattress reading a book. It was about a Japanese Couple who had decided to separate and yet kept procrastinating the actual separation .I made a mental note that this book would be an excellent specimen to do blogging on. My head felt heavy (partially due to the fever but primarily due to the kind of day I’ve had) I stopped reading and started reflecting on the happenings of the day. I finally fell asleep at about 11pm.

Today has been a very nice day (till now). I’m feeling much better and have been able to handle things better. Everything seems to be brighter than it was yesterday. There’s a lot of work, there’s the same deadline pressure that tags along with any piece of work…but still everything seems to be better.

There’s one very evident and simple fact that dawned on me . Situations don’t change drastically in a day. The People around you don’t get any nicer in a day. It is your own physical and mental state that actually determines the quality of your day.

Do check this link out http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTCS_01.htm
It’s about maintaining a Stress diary. Here is an extract

The idea behind Stress Diaries is that, on a regular basis, you record information about the stresses you are experiencing, so that you can analyse these stresses and then manage them. This is important because often these stresses flit in and out of our minds without getting the attention and focus that they deserve.

It also helps capture and analyze the most common sources of stress in your life, Stress Diaries help you to understand:
The causes of stress in more detail;
The levels of stress at which you operate most efficiently; and
How you react to stress, and whether your reactions are appropriate and useful.
Stress Diaries, therefore, give you the important information that you need to manage stress.

On the whole, if you are an organized person at work and additionally record a stress diary, you would be much better off at handling stress. You could even get to be much more productive because you would know under what levels of stress you perform at your peak. Check this out for some info on stress and managing it http://www.mindtools.com/pages/main/newMN_TCS.htm.

So, I stress on the fact that it’s important to get the stress you experience, out of your system. I better stop ‘stressing’ now…’cos I can really hear you stressing on the point that its high time I stop! ;)