I'm the best

Feels so good saying it out loud and actually believing it!
Actually one can be best, it depends on how we're looking at it. If the universe of reference is narrowed down, one can be best easily. Say you're a doctor and all of a sudden at a gathering, a doctor is needed and you're the only doctor there, what then? Of course, you're the best person to help! Ok if no doctor is there, what then? What if you've done a basic course on first aid, you're the best person to help. Even if you know nothing about medicine or helping a patient, if you even take an initiative like making the person feel comfortable, calling an ambulance, you're the best person at that time because you have taken that initiative to improve the situation and help someone.
You don't have to be the best in the world to be the best, you get opportunity everyday to be the best, to make someone's life better, to make this world a better place.

Traffic in Mind

I stand at the divider every morning for at least 5 minutes before I am able to break through the heavy traffic flow between me and my office. Traffic doesn't allow me to reach my destination. It delays me, it raises my stress levels and maybe even harm me when I try to cut through without enough room for myself to walk on to the other side safely.

While I sit at my desk in office, my mind feels like that road outside being run over by umpteen thoughts of various shapes, sizes, color etc. racing at various speeds. In fact even while commuting in auto to office or while having food in office catetaria or at home, basically when I'm not working or reading something, my mind is filled with these thoughts coming from and running around in every direction. And the directions seem infinite. Amidst all this, my mind feels clogged and unable to think, remember and make good decisions. Its like this traffic doesn't allow me to look clearly to the other side (the problem or situation), brings out my emotions when I try to cross it and delays my progress.

Sometimes in serious situations, I scold myself, focus on the gaps between this traffic of thoughts, i.e., the road (gaps of silence between every thought) and create a wider gap for myself. When this gap is wide enough, I'll run across. With practice I'll gain greater understanding of life and better control of my mind and emotions, and very soon I'm sure I'll be able to stop this traffic at will and casually walk by. And with the newly gained perpetual peace of mind, I'll live a happier and more fulfiling life.

How to make office life less boring!

Why is office life boring? - Simple, you do the same thing over and over again! But I do get better at it, and if I like doing that thing, and I attain success at a regular basis, why should I get bored?
Because you're doing the same thing every day !!

I propose a new model for professional life, and this model can actually work in today's world where many people are multi-talented and some are even following this model, thereby making their office or work life less boring and more exciting.

And the idea is... to have more than one job! In fact, I take this a step further... no moonlighting please, but more than one job during the daytime.

Take my case: I've been trained to be a software engineer and I have some research experience, so I can play two different roles in a company. Moreover, I also write fairly well, so I could also participate in being a Technical Writer. I have been attending Toastmaster's meetings so in few months time I could also be considered to become an Evangelist. The idea here is that one can don many caps being in the same company.

Two important things to keep in mind:
1. Each employee must be given a very small chunk of the project (because instead of 10 hours they'd spend some 4 hours on that project), which means there has to be a person who must understand the project on the whole and can suitably divide the project to different employees so that their work can be easily integrated later. This person will only have the work of dividing the project and assigning it to others. He may then participate in other work, like some managerial aspects or be an Evangelist for a while.

2. The sense of urgency must go. In fact, less work hours for an employee on a particular project would mean more employees, so just before the deadline, all the employees could be asked to work few hours more to help the project launch successfully!

The payroll maintenance would become difficult in this situation but its worth it because an employee would gain different kind of experience, which means the company will have multi-talented employees who are ready to take up any role in the company, if the need be! This will make their life exciting and company's work easier, except the payroll part! Please note that an employee could have fixed salary or could have salary based on number of hours worked.

The latter case will also give the employee an option of working elsewhere for rest of the day. Commutation has to be worked out but if the two (or more) places are nearby, then the day can be divided into number of hours to be spent at each place.

Such a lifestyle can ensure less monotonicity in life which means a person will also be willing to work on weekends, and instead of lots of money from one job, will get some money from more than one job. Moreover, each person would be versatile, multi-talented and, lets be honest, productivity will enhance this way!

Besides, who needs a vacation when so much would be going on in life?

Future is gonna be better than the present

I'm a passive being, lazy by nature. Hence, since my childhood I've capitalized on my observational skills and limited my active involvement. My observational skills grew with me, but without proper experience, active involvement, all one ends up having are assumptions, some work well, many don't. One of the assumption, though based on similar observations I made over many occasions, isn't reliable but has been immensely useful to me.
I never realized I had been following this one rule all my life till now: "Future is gonna be better than the present". Patience came easy to me, and with all that pessimist exterior to dissipate my fear, I always felt optimist within, but the best  part is that it was quite encouraging that there are no limits to imagination and dreams.
As a kid I used to fear many things, like deep water, heights, being on a speeding vehicle, eating curd, syringes, ghosts, strangers, being on a stage etc. But none of the grown ups I knew had any of my fear, which made me assume that as one grows up, things get better, that one becomes stronger and overcomes such fears. So, my fears didn't bother me much and with time, I grew over most of them!


We all want to believe that future is gonna be better than the present, but sometimes even the wisest person has doubts. One looks forward to holidays, exciting projects, meeting someone one likes but probably not a monotonous or highly stressful lifestyle with almost no interest in one's work or vocation, or turmoil relationship. Sometimes getting up for school used to be difficult and I'm sure for most of us getting up for work everyday is quite an effort. Future can't always be better than the present, but the thought itself can be powerful enough to make it happen. Starting the day with a happy thought, a strong resolution to make things better or experiencing something new, a perpetual willingness to welcome tomorrow into ones life will make every day a life experience.

I have always had this image in my mind, of myself when I'd be an adult. Sure I'm not quite like my imaginary future self as of now, which can only mean one thing, that there's still room for growth. And when you dream of better life, better self, your inclination moves you towards that future.

We need space

Yesterday night while walking to my room, I realized that I was the only one moving. The trees (even the leaves were still), the shrubs, the street, the street lights, everything was still. Later while walking across the area outside the canteen, I saw empty chairs and tables, and knew that somebody must have been sitting there till few hours ago. It came to my mind that places empty at night are occupied at some time during the day, and vice versa.

We people need space to live, to move around, to get together and spend time together. Same is the case with animals. As humans, we have specific place for specific purpose and it makes things convenient and easy to live.
Imagine living like a tree, stuck at one place, everything you need is supplied to you but you can't move, in fact you don't have to move because there is no reason to move! This is different from being captured in a cage because the person/animal/bird in a cage does move around in the enclosed space available.
Sometimes huge space is liked as in case of a big bungalow, but the same is detested in case one has to walk some distance to do some work or get some work done. Little space such as my room works great for me, except for doing exercises.

Many animals mark their territories, be it for hunting or living. We do the same, we have a fixed residence, a definite route to workplace and back, few other places one visits etc. Different kind of spaces mean different to us. For me, being in open space like a football field after a long time feels liberating, being in a closed space like one's room feels comforting.

Genghis Khan raided and plundered many lands and their wealth. The notion has always been that once the land is captured, anything on it belongs to the conqueror. The interesting thing here is that a person can keep his land or his property on the land that may belong to someone else only by paying something in return for his ownership!

"How much land does a man require" by Leo Tolstoy, a must read in this context.

Damage can't be undone

This is my belief that damage done can't be reversed or undone. Crying over spilled milk is useless.
Imagine an event E with two actors, A and B. A did some damage to B. Sometime later in the timeline, B decides to payback and does some damage to A to feel better. Now, damage done by A to B can never be same as damage done by B to A because of different circumstances. "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
Forgiveness doesn't help either. People take advantage of such attitude. Striking back is definitely better strategy but then, its as good as useless once the damage is done...! We try to find a solution, a way around it, but it stays, it always stays even if the wounds are healed, the pain is gone...
Some bad damage had been done to Maoists, i.e., tribals living in naxalbari and other regions by the government officials. Now, who cares for tribals? Do you? But then sudden switch from being indifferent to hating those people... is that really justified? We read some news one day and conclude the people or organization doing the damage are the bad ones.
The case of Maoists is not the same as terrorists (based on religion). Terrorists are blind, Maoists are victim of circumstances and they're fighting back now, making other innocent people victim of circumstances like them. This makes punishing Maoists inevitable but doesn't justify hating them. They're following a very fundamental law of nature: response to stimuli.
Any animal scares me at first because I can't talk to it or make sign languages to establish some kind of communication. The hosts, in case of a dog, always told me, "he doesn't bite, just stroke him, or let him sniff around and he'll leave." Well, why would the dog do anything to me unless I, or some other human have done some damage to the dog? I've heard similar stories about snakes, and perhaps this applies to every living species.
The series of killings from either side must be stopped asap. If not, more people would be subjected to, what I'd call, series of unfortunate events.

Path of my life

One of my dulla friends (B.Tech + MS by research dual degree program student at IIIT-Hyd) told me about a year ago that the fifth year in college will help us think and plan our life ahead and I think I might have finally decided on what to do with my life !! I'm really excited!
Yes, first and foremost, I'll take all the efforts humanly possible to get enough work done towards MS, get the degree and get out. The uncertainty usually starts then.
Do a job to earn livelihood? Yes, for next one and a half year. Then appear for CAT, get into IIM-A, get a degree in MBA, specialization in Marketing. No, its not the pay package, the knowledge/skills I'd learn, perhaps, but there's one more very good thing about a B-school. Network of alumni and batchmates, perhaps.
I'll then work for a year using the skills learnt in the B-school. I'll then appear for civil services exam, become an IAS officer and serve my country for 10 years.
This would be the end of phase 1.
I'd save enough money and go to Hollywood, become a voice-over artist, work in some sitcoms, and perhaps become a scriptwriter in the process. With fame and money, I'll return to my motherland, and join a medical college, study MBBS, become MD, DM and serve in a village for few years. I hope I have covered all the sought after degree programs in India!
This would be the end of phase 2.
By this time I should have turned 65. I'll then start my own company.
Oh, I forgot about LAW. :( I'll read law whenever I'll get time in the last 40 years.
Finally I'll settle down in my hometown and write an autobiography, which would be a bestseller, making me the best selling author. Hence I'll fulfill my childhood dream!
I missed out on song writing, music composing, cooking, martial arts... life's so short. :'(
And I might also apply to Guinness Book of World Records.

The "don't" decision

At every moment, we reject many possibilities to select one. Our mind processes a lot of information and based on experience, decides on the next thing to do, or next step to take. Before making a decision, however small, we think of all the possibilities that would arise if we 'do' and possibilities that would arise if we 'don't'. Finally we 'do' the thing.

Have you not been a bit curious to know what would happen or how things would be different if you 'did' the 'don't' instead of the 'do'? Owing to personal bad experience or other's stories or facts, we tend to arrive at the safest or most profitable 'do'.

I have the tendency to think of various possibilities if I had done the 'don't'. Most of the time and most of the possibilities are false, mainly because of my presumptions which are, most of the times, incorrect. I have read this or heard this from some source that infinite parallel universes exist and each universe is created because of each decision we make. Our universe is made of all the 'do' decisions. Other universes might be made of either some 'do' and 'don't' decisions or all the 'don't' decisions. By not doing the 'don't', we reject being in that other parallel universe created by that 'don't' decision. Can too much brooding over the consequences of 'don't' make me jump to that universe and back, as in give me some superpower to jump between universes !!

I once read a book from the series, "Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys, Be a detective mystery stories" in which the reader could either choose to read Nancy Drew's part or Hardy Boys' part of the investigation. Because I didn't want to miss any of the investigations, I kept tabs (my fingers, and later few bookmarks) at each of those pages where I had to decide between Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys. After reaching a dead end or end of the investigation, I backtracked and read the other stories. It was similar to traversing all the nodes of a tree (the data structure in computer science) in preorder fashion.

Its like the game in which a person has to choose between two or more doors. The person decides on one door, and other doors are shown as to what he lost by not choosing the other doors. In life, the other doors are never opened. We make a decision, we enter that one door and can never walk back. Later we're again faced by some number of doors, out of which we select one door and walk in, never to walk back.

The first time you meet someone

"One never gets a second chance to make the first impression."
Till a few years ago I used to believe that my first impressions are rarely good. I've stopped bothering about my first impression and the burden now entirely lies on the other person to think of my first impression as a pleasant one or a weird one.
To get over a one month long writer's block, today I decided to write about my friends, starting from the moment and the reason we met. That made me realize the importance of that first moment when you meet someone, especially when he/she becomes an integral part of your life, and in some ways changes/defines your life.
Perhaps its in human nature, a part of nature's law itself, that one remembers the start, some peak points and the end (if reached). And in all that, for me, the start or the first time is the most important.
A simple activity will show you the importance of the first time you meet someone. This is an experiment that may make you feel sad. If you've lost someone in your family/friends group or if you haven't met any of your family member/friend for a very long time and are not likely to meet him/her in near future, did you not, for once, think of the first time you had met that person. The feeling of nostalgia takes over and you recall the first time you met that person and the reason your lives met, the first laugh you shared, the first awkward moment you had, the first thing you did together or some other incident that cemented your relation at the level to where it was when you last met that person. This works for close acquaintances, and pets as well.
Its like walking on a road, alone or with that person, then halting and looking back at the first point on the road when you met that person.

Kabir Das ji once said, "Meet everyone with a smile on your face, you never know which one turns out to be God."
He was right. Just that the way I see it, God in this case would be the person who becomes an integral part of your life and changes it for good. Hence, "Meet everyone with a smile on your face, you never know which one turns out to become an integral part (or love) of your life."

Appreciation

Remember the moment from Munnabhai MBBS when Munna (Sanjay Dutt) gives a jaadu ki jhappi to the janitor of the hospital to thank him for all the sincere work he did everyday?

These days I'm reading How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. The second chapter talks about appreciating people for their good work and efforts. A few days ago, while reading that part of the chapter, I heard the cleaners cleaning the floor of my corridor. I opened the door and looked out. A cleaner went by and asked, "Kaisa hai? (how is it?)" indicating the floor.

I responded, "Accha hai, accha hai. (Its good, its good)"
I realized that instead of him asking for appreciation, I should have given him and others the appreciation they deserve.

We meet people in the following profession on a regular basis: Barber, tailor, cobbler, sweeper, garbageman, milkman etc. We pay them, they give us service and that is where it all ends. Imagine walking up and down a market place and not being able to locate a barber, a tailor, or a cobbler when you need them the most!

What I believe is that because people in such professions don't earn much, we tend to overlook their contribution to our society, to us. We forget how important they are. Let me be honest here, same treatment is given to a compounder against a doctor, a salesman against an MBA graduate, a mechanic against an engineer, a teacher against a professor. Every person is important, so is their work.

Before joining college, I had the pleasure of service from an Army jawaan (soldier) assigned to my father to run errands and do odd jobs. I have always been thankful for their help (we have a better name for them, helper), but never appreciated them which means myself being grateful has no significance if I can't convey it!

We must, therefore, appreciate our colleagues for the hard work and time, appreciate our parents for all they've done for us, appreciate a performer who, even for a moment, entertained us, appreciate ourselves for doing something new, something different and/or something useful, and finally appreciate God/Nature for the goodness that lies within us.

P.S. 1 - Presence of people doing odd jobs, "small" work etc. in our lives are like vitamins and minerals for the human body.

P.S. 2 - Try cleaning, stitching, hair-cutting, running errands and such tasks. Its fun!

P.S. 3 - Like Teacher's day, father's day, mother's day, children's day, valentine's day... one should have a day to appreciate the contribution of those whose presence may not be felt but absence certainly hurts!

National Anthem

Isn't it a little upsetting or annoying to stand in attention before every movie in a multiplex for the National Anthem? Well, you may not but then you certainly don't want scorns from others in the hall. It does upset me till before the National Anthem tune is played, but while it plays, I feel like a school kid again, standing with pride, singing the anthem. What changed? Nothing. Because National Anthem would work, even after everything else fails.
During my younger days, while standing in the morning assembly I used to look around sometimes and see every person standing still in attention and singing the National Anthem. It amused me, and amazed me at the same time.
I doubt if anyone really understands the National Anthem. But well, who cares? It works, and if something works, we Indians generally don't bother finding the reason! :D
'Saare Jahaan Se Accha', by Mohammad Iqbal, may not be our National Anthem, but it does bring the same feeling of oneness that warms our hearts.

P.S. - Jana Gana Mana is much more suited as our National Anthem, I feel but can't really decide why... is it because of the content, or the structure, or the "Jaya he jaya he jaya he,
Jaya jaya jaya jaya he!" thing in the end... your ideas are welcome. :) (I feel lazy so didn't read about the possible reason, which I'm sure many have thought about).

Identity

Personally I think an identity is a conflict of two personas, one being the current persona and other being the persona one wants to become. If the two persona be the same, then no conflict arises.

Is it the way one looks, or speaks, is it one's demeanor or one's actions?
Is it all of the characteristics taken together or only few which are more prominent?
Is it the uniqueness of those characteristics or the similarity with some other known person?
I don't know, but maybe that's how it is supposed to be.

"It is not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you", Rachel says to Bruce in Batman Begins. Of course later she realizes that there's more to identity than just actions!

I met a friend after about 8 and a half years and I realized that although she had changed in some aspects, some things about her didn't change, those things which I think defines her.

In Agantuk (The Stranger), a film by Satyajit Ray, the husband is skeptical about the uncle of his wife whom they have never met. Later the uncle himself confronts the husband, who seems to be convinced by looking at the passport about the identity of the uncle. Uncle argues that a passport could be fake as well, so is there a foolproof way of testing/judging a person's identity?

In the Christopher Nolan's directed Batman movies, I found Bruce contradicting himself.
In Batman Begins, Bruce talks about using a symbol as an identity for justice, to correct the situation in Gotham because a person could be bought or destroyed but a symbol couldn't be.
In The Dark Knight, Bruce feels that a person like DA Harvey Dent, a real person would give people hope and make them feel secure, rather than a masked vigilante and his symbol.The only reason that resolves this conflict could be that Joker, who was Batman's rival in The Dark Knight was again, not a person but a symbol, a symbol of joker, which stood for chaos and randomness.

P.S. - Geminis are said to have dual personas, as in they tend to contradict themselves often.

Bathing

Bathing is one of the most vital human ritual and must be done regularly, or on regular basis. Cleansing one's body is very important. Apart from possibility of skin diseases and stinking after a few days, one starts feeling not so good and bathing at once refreshes one's body and mind.
Bathing in summers is fun, but bathing in winters can be a punishment for some (that includes me). Water has inherent quality of a coolant and even warm water can provide relief from cold for only some time.
Bathing should not be a compulsion as much as a fun activity. Many people sing fondly while bathing, and one might even get some useful ideas while bathing (personal experience). Also, since a person is alone while bathing, it could be added to the quality time spent with oneself. :D
Bathing under shower is best, as it requires minimum effort. Bathing under tube well in open is supposed to be exciting, haven't had the pleasure to do so.
Many people start their day with bathing, while some others don't bathe for days (including me). Whatever be the behavior towards bathing, an irregular bather also enjoys bathing.
Bathing is not a compulsory activity and life without bathing isn't much different. But like all the other good habits, bathing helps in maintaining healthy body and mind!

P.S. - Swimming doesn't count as bathing
P.S. - Dipping in holy waters polluted over the years might have reverse bathing effect. :D

Curiosity

Curiosity takes the better of everyone of us at some point of time in life. It took the better of Eve when she ate the apple.
Sometimes, and almost all of us must have observed this, while sitting in an organized group for a purpose, be it for listening to someone talk or sing or play, or maybe at mess during a meal, a voice/noise is heard from a certain direction and almost everyone turns towards that direction to see what happened... a few times I tried not to turn and look and felt uncomfortable, as if I was opposing my natural instincts.
Sometimes in movies I see a character, alone, walking in a dark alley or a corridor with a lantern, or a candle or a weapon maybe, looking for something/someone or following a noise/voice and I wonder, why does he/she have to be so inquisitive about it, he/she would definitely die, the ghost/killer would kill him/her too. Ghosts do use this technique of making sounds or voices to isolate a person and scare them in a lonely place and perhaps kill him/her in the process. :D
Curiosity made Newton wonder why the apple falls down, Galileo/Copernicus about the planetary motions, and Einstein about the nature of light. Curiosity propels progress, retains interest, and make life less boring, even if it means death in the process.
Getting attracted by sounds, light or other form of senses is a basic instinct found in almost all living species. Its a response to stimuli and but natural. Besides, one does discover wonderful things in the process. Moreover, being curious and asking questions is a part of growing. Nature teaches us some things before birth and other things are left for us to discover.

Non-sink spitters

Ewww... I hate them, no I loathe them, whichever is more intense, actually both !!
Imagine walking on the street, a moderately crowded one and suddenly you see a spurt of red spit out of the mouth of a person about to walk past you, and a red blotch on the street where you might have kept your next step.
I have, and I am really delighted and relieved to say this, never been a casualty under these circumstances. But I fear that someday, I or the spitter might decide to increase pace of walking, then... anyways, the spitters on a locomotive, mostly on a bike scare me more because their spit might fly in an undecided direction...
Use a sink, or toilet. Spitting in a dustbin is also disgusting.
I understand there's a need to spit, once in a while but as far as I can remember, the spitters I have seen casually spit on road while walking, as if spitting was like any other activity for them. No wonder Indian roads remain defaced.
At least think of those poor who sleep beside the road at night, think of the workers who clean the road and the pavements, think of that disgusting feeling you create in every onlooker's mind.
God is watching you non-sink spitters... and I'm sure He also doesn't like this behavior. :D

P.S. - Paan is the main reason for people to spit... have sweet paan, why to have tobacco paan and spit later! Get high on other drugs or smoke it instead! :P

Suicide

Suicide is a sin, so is the popular belief. We hold in contempt the idea of ending one's own life and look down upon the suicide attempters.

Talking to my friend tonight made me realize the depth of the shallowness of our beliefs. We assume that God doesn't allow one to end one's life, but how do we know for sure that it's not God himself who suggests the idea of a suicide. What if God himself induces this idea in a person's mind that he/she has to end his/her life, instead of God designing a plan of death for that person!

Its nothing wrong to end one's life if no hope is left in life. Of course there would be many who would say, where there's life there's hope, and some might only feel, whatever, or who cares! Only few who really care to put oneself in that person's position and understand that the decision to kill oneself is often not an extreme one but the only option left. It is not easy to build one's life all over again, so why not just end it instead of the slumber existence!

The only problem I have with the suicide attempters is that it is often the case that they're running away from one's responsibilities. Shouldering responsibility is never easy but if you're the only one who can do it or is supposed to do it, then you must do it. Suicide should not even be considered in such a case. Hence, for me suicide is not cowardice, running away from one's responsibilities is.

Often in computer science before deleting a node, the presence of in-links are checked and if none present, only the the node is allowed to be deleted. Same is the case with database systems where a value can be deleted only if it doesn't violate any constraints! Hence in one's life, if there's neither ambitions/dreams nor responsibilities, one can safely end one's life rather than living for no reason at all. Of course if you live and look for a reason, there are plenty of reasons to life.

So, instead of kissing death, hug life deeply and hold onto it if there's a reason to, else you may let go.

P.S. - Even Bhishma Pitamaha (in Mahabharata) committed suicide, although many won't agree on it.

I came, I saw, ...

I came, I saw, I squinted... darn, I had forgotten my specs.

I came, I saw, I screwed up. (by my dear friend Asrar)

I came, I saw and I forgot why I was there in the first place.

I came, I saw and it was beautiful.

I came, I saw and it wasn't what I was looking for.

I came, I saw and I was hypnotized.

I came, I saw, I slept.

I came, I saw, I left, I came back, I saw, it was still there.

Birthday

My friend on her birthday last month got, what she calls, the best surprise party ever. She said she felt like a princess, and that her birthday means a lot to her. I'm sure one's birthday means a lot to everyone, because it does remind us of the day we came into existence. One's birthday also does mean a lot to one's family, friends, and maybe to some acquaintances, colleagues etc. Everyone related to the birthday person gather together to celebrate the day when the birthday person came into existence.
Now, a person, as skeptical as me would wonder, doesn't every next birthday makes a person a year older. Isn't it moving closer to death, having one year less to live?!
Birthday is all about optimism. From the age of 1, the older one gets, the broader one's life's horizons become. With every passing year, a person increments in his/her mind his/her age, he/she becomes more intelligent, mature, stronger, faster until the last days of youth, but becomes wiser with his/her every next birthday. Infancy, childhood, pre-teen, teenage, adulthood... as if with every next birthday, a person enters a new life, armed with previous experience and thrill to explore life ahead.

But certainly, birthday is the only individual festival that many celebrate. We celebrate birthdays of Mahatma Gandhi and few other famous historic figures, some mythological figures like Jesus Christ, Mohammad Prophet, Shri Krishna etc. and birthday of one's nation as well, called Independence day. Birthdays themselves give us so many holidays!

In conclusion, its birthday not bir-day, as sung by many while singing the famous birthday song. So, take a break, enjoy and have a ball on your birthday... and others... psst, don't forget to throw a great surprise party, filled with love and companionship.

P.S. - While blowing candles, why is one not supposed to speak his/her wish loud?
Because if one says it loud, others would know. :) It is supposed to be a secret.
P.S. - If I could somehow skip my birthday, i.e., jump over to the next day (a time travel thing), then would I not grow a year older, because its only on birthday that a person grows a year older, isn't it? :D Oops... forgot, it doesn't happen really... :( (people born on 29th Feb!)

Mosquitoes - The sleep inhibitors

About our very dear companions from old times, mosquitoes, if there's anything that concerns me, perhaps more than being a malaria patient, is getting disturbed in my sleep.
Imagine watching a beautiful dream, and the verge of something incredible, you feel a bitter sting that pulls you away from the dream and into reality as drowsy yourself, only to discover a mosquito sucking your blood. Calling names and abusing won't help, so saving one's energy and efforts to plan and get rid of these sleep destroyers would be a better thing to do.
Mosquitoes have always been there and humans haven't been able to get rid of these vectors. Since the dawn of my life, I've noticed mosquitoes come out of their hideouts/abode during power cuts, or during late evening/night. Other times, they don't seem to exist at all. Hence, their work time coincides with our rest and sleep time. This is what makes their presence a serious problem for us.
Good Knight, All-Out etc. fail during power-cut. Tortoise, Mortein mosquito coils save the night, but their presence is more unhealthy than the former.
Mosquitoes are most vulnerable while sucking out blood or just after that when they start with a slow flight. So, be vigilant and attack, crush it. You might see your own blood flowing out from the mosquito.

P.S. - Mosquitoes are quite like vampires, only that they suck blood from anywhere, and are seldom instantly fatal.
P.S. - Would training mosquitoes to suck out human blood for blood donation camps work out?
P.S. - For each person there exists or existed one mosquito sharing the same blood. :D

The View Point

The view down below from a certain height looks so overwhelmingly magnificent that I once wondered why, and thought of three possible reasons.
First is that everything looks so small, which usually doesn't look small and isn't so small.
Second is that so many things can be seen at the same time that the large area suddenly becomes smaller.
Third is that it may make some interesting patterns, especially when seen as bird's eye view which is generally possible while sitting in an airplane.
Does seeing things which are usually bigger than us, as smaller make us unknowingly feel superior, or is it that such a view is not seen by us very often?