Monday Blues

Do you suffer from Monday Blues? This is perhaps one of those things that separates me from the "crowd". I look forward to Mondays.

During my school days, I looked forward to saturdays like every other kid but times were different then, during those days I used to live at home. Now, I live away from home, with some friends. Taking forward the lethargic and laid back attitude of college life, I lose every weekend morning to sleep, and then laze around in the afternoons only to have the night time left which I spend watching some TV shows or chatting on facebook. The point I'm trying to make here is, a good, early start of the day is essential! And I get that on weekdays when I have to wake up by 9 AM to go to office. I sip a cup of coffee and get by the day. That way I also end up sleeping pretty early, by around 1ish AM at night.
Another reason I look forward to mondays is because I get to meet people at office. My colleagues and seniors are really cool and we have great working environment. On weekends I only get to meet people during regular Madhapur Toastmasters meeting or other toastmaster's clubs meeting. Other than that, I'm pretty much with myself only. Although I do enjoy watching TV shows at my flatmate's PC which has really cool LCD screen while at the apartment, its watching the TV shows that I've been trying to give up for quite sometime now. And when alone, well, if I have electricity and access to the internet, facebook and online streaming of TV shows becomes the obvious choice. Else, I get lost in my thoughts, make stories in my mind that later I feel too lazy to type out.
I love mondays, it gets me back to office where I learn many new things about SQL server and database systems, and it gives me a sense of purpose in my life. Although the AC sometimes blocks my nose, I think its a small price to pay for all the returns everyday and at the end of every month.

Happy Diwali everyone

Diwali, the festival of lights, the symbol of good over evil. Diwali has always been my favorite festival among all the festivals I know. The house gets cleaned and one wears good/new clothes. The house, the colony, the whole country lights up! I used to eagerly but patiently wait for the Diwali Pooja to get over so that I could start the ceremony of bursting crackers! Within an hour, some guests might come over, and it was even better if they had kids and even more better if they were my friends. But crackers bursting was the most fun. The adult males sometimes smiled, sometimes laughed as we attempted the rockets and bigger bombs! We were Army kids and so Diwali crackers should be kid's play, even for us.

My Diwali crackers bursting days started early in my childhood. I started with sparkles, and dreaded holding a lighted phuljhadi. The sparks just jumped out of it and fell on my arm, freaking me out! I got used to it and I knew that if I can handle phuljhadi, I can handle any firecracker! So I lighted/bursted them all, except the rockets because I heard all kinds of bad stories about it, especially the one that the bottle used to launch the rocket might get tilted and rocket might land in someone neighbor's house! But lighting a bomb and throwing it away, using a candle or agarbatti, I was slowly becoming a pro! And then the inevitable happened... the 10th standard Board Exams. Since 10th Standard, I didn't burst crackers. I somehow lost interest and even today I don't. I'm not being environment friendly, its just that it doesn't make sense to me anymore!

Fast forward to the present. I am typing this post on my laptop. I lit two candles at God's corner, at a corner of our apartment, and prayed (i.e., wished for many things). I also lit few candles in the verandah. My Diwali preparations done! Also, I cleaned my room! And as I sit here I hear some crackers bursting. But the intensity has reduced. Have the crackers reduced or people actually celebrating the festival have reduced? I'd like to believe the former is true. We already light up the whole country with diyas and candles, as for the sound effects, lets use modern technology to simulate cracker's noise and have a pollution free Diwali!

Happy Diwali Everyone. :)

My career plan: Be a superhero

After watching Captain America (2011) movie, I finally understood what I want to be. I want to be a superhero! In fact I do have some skillsets required to be a superhero. I am short in height, like Peter Parker (Spiderman), or Logan (Wolverine) or Steve Rogers (Captain America). I like helping people but only when they ask for help. I am good at keeping a low profile and making excuses about my sudden absence at the most critical times (Superman, Batman, Spiderman). And I love watching superhero movies and reading their comic books.

So I spent my whole Sunday (i.e., yesterday) and devised a detailed set of steps I need to follow to embrace my destiny (career) as a full time superhero!

1. My Superpowers: I'll need something/someone radioactive enough to bite (Spiderman) or hit me (Hulk, DareDevil). So I need to be in US for something like this to happen. That's why I have started preparing to switch job to another company in which I'll get to stay for few months onsite immediately on my joining (I'm ready to settle for less pay for quick onsite opportunity). So if you know of such an opportunity, do let me know. BTW, I'm a software engineer, in case you haven't already figured out.

2. My Love: I'll need to make an exhaustive list of all the girls I've ever had crush on, since school days till today, starting with friends, then acquaintances, then almost strangers. After that I'll have to start meeting them, in the order written in the list because I've observed that once a person becomes a superhero, even if the girl is unaware of it, she'll somehow show more interest in that guy.

3. My Sacrifice: I'll have to lose someone very close to me that should make me swear to eradicate evil and crimes. This will be the hardest of all and quite tricky. But we all make sacrifices for our career. So I've decided, I'll remove one of my closest friends from my facebook friends list. Will pick a chit to decide the name.

4. My uniform: This is what will define me and put me into the character. I love wearing ties (like Doctor Who), so ties are mandatory. I also want to have a cape (Superman, Batman). Rest could be anything but within the limits of decency and should be socially acceptable as I'll be running around and fighting crimes during daytime also.

5. My online presence: Interested volunteers please write your e-mail id in the comments and I may get back to you in case required. This will be voluntary work, no compensation will be given. But c'mon, its the experience that counts! You'd be like my sidekick, a superhero's sidekick! You can include that in your resume and add me as one of your references.

I don't need to tell you where to find me in case you need me... Facebook of course! Just post your request on my wall and I'll get back to you whenever I or my sidekick friend checks Facebook the next time! I shall regularly tweet my activities so that the criminals fear me (sadly only the educated ones with access to internet!) and my friends, the common people feel safe.

So if you find someone running on the streets like a madman wearing a torn shirt and holding his bermudas, then that would be the criminal I'd be chasing.

Clock!

I like to look at seconds passing away one by one, the tick tock of the wall/desk clock or the changing digits of a digital watch. It is like stopping and watching the time move.
I sometimes stare at the second's needle, or 'hand' as it is generally called, and see if it points exactly to the designated marks on the clock meant for each second. Sometimes it goes out of sync but within the complete round it catches up and becomes in sync with the marks again.
The hour, minute needle are called hands of a clock maybe because their position indicate values of hour and minute of the day. They remind me of traffic policeman showing proper directions to the traffic flow. The hour and minute hand can be like human hands, thick & short means slower and thin & long means faster. The very thin & long seconds hand can work like a tail, always wagging.
The common design of a clock has the hands which move in a circular fashion through the numbers 1 to 12 that have been arranged in a circle. In fact many people can tell the time by just looking at the position of the hands even if the numbers were removed, which is what some clock makers exploit to come up with innovative and stylish designs.
As a kid I couldn't understand why we kept those pointy needles moving in circles with numbers from 1 to 12 arranged in a circle, on walls and on the dressing table. I did know it is useful and shows time but it was only after my father taught me that one has to multiply every number by 5 to get the minutes, I understood how to look at a clock. In those days I like digital watch/clock better only because I didn't have to do the multiplication with 5 but I think in few months time I got accustomed with the clock with hands as well.
The numbers in a clock are arranged in a circle, so every hand crosses every number many times, i.e., same time happens everyday or twice a day. Metaphorically speaking, time always returns. It moves in circles, hence it feels like it's giving us second chances. Maybe it is because earth rotates on its axis which is a circular motion, so day and night cycle happens.

P.S. - Even a stopped clock/watch shows correct time twice a day, one can't do anything about that time, but still one can claim its not completely useless!

Polo, the mint with a hole

I love polo. I still remember the ad which shows minty air being blown through the hole in a piece of Polo. Mint always helps to refresh and improve one's breath. Sometimes I've popped a polo into my mouth instead of brushing my teeth!
Because of my decent polo consumption, my parents thought I really like polo. I do but whenever I went home on vacation from college, my parents took care to get me a pack with around 24 polo packs. I mean, I loved having polo everyday to class, pop one or two after lunch and dinner. But when I ran out of my polo supply I felt something missing in my life. I missed popping a polo or two in my mouth after a meal.
So, after that when the next time I got the big pack of polos, I didn't feel like having them but had to finish them. The good thing was, I started sharing polo because I had lost interest in it. Others always smiled and accept a polo or two. I can safely say polo has been one of the reasons that has made me realize the happiness one gets by sharing one's stuff with others!

P.S. - Polo is best in its original mint flavor. I tried orange and paan flavor, they sucked !!

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.

Funny SMSs

The thing about funny SMSs is, there are too many of them.

My sister, since last one month (using unlimited SMS scheme), has been sending me all the funny SMSs in the world. And they are good. Believe me, even the lame, pathetic PJs are good. I've requested my sister a few times to stop sending me those SMSs but she says she has limited memory on her mobile so wants me to store them. And I keep all those SMSs now on my mobile.

Every morning I wake up with the sound of her incoming SMS buzzing in my mobile, even before the alarm I set in my mobile could ring. My day starts with reading her SMSs. I read her SMSs on my way to bathroom, on my way to breakfast, on my way to lab... and before I sleep. Its interesting to note at this point that because of all the lovely funny SMSs pouring in, I don't feel like watching sitcom episodes anymore.

Traffic generated by my sister's SMS is so very much that advertisements and various vodafone schemes SMSs now seems to come so very rarely. Moreover any personal SMS amidst these funny SMSs sometimes feels really good, a fresh breath of relief.

Funny SMSs, either circulated or created by teenagers does show their innovation intellect. Its amazing, really. And most of the times the topic is, "exams". Exams bother them a lot! Its a part of being a teenager... later one stops making jokes of exams because its not funny anymore!

The point where it isn't funny anymore is, when you get a serious SMS or SMS with a moral in it, and you expect it to make you laugh and you may even laugh, as a reflex and then realize that you were not supposed to laugh! Now, that's funny!!

P.S. - Thank you sis, for sending such funny SMSs. Please take some time out for other things in life as well. :-)
P.S. - After SMSs, gtalk/facebook/twitter status updates is where people showcase their creativity! :D

Happy Holi

Holi has following salient features:

1. Everybody looks quite the same, i.e., easily unrecognizable.

2. You can play with water, colors, mud etc. and others would be happy about it, unlike those toddler days.

3. You could deface/dirty anyone and that person won't really mind!

(bura naa maano, holi hai OR Don't mind, its Holi)

and many more...

For all my btech years, I happily avoided Holi celebrations in IIIT-H campus. But today when Ninja and Shashank came to take me for Holi celebrations, I couldn't really refuse. This would be my last year in college, my last holi as a college student so I decided to celebrate it for once. And it was fun. I now wonder how much fun it would have been if I had celebrated it with all my batchmates during the last four years. But, as they say, better late than never.

Shashank had asked me to prepare for the worst, i.e., wear an old t-shirt and that vest may not be worn. I changed into the t-shirt of the felicity my batch organized. And my dear juniors and friends tore my t-shirt, and then the vest I wore inside it. But it was fun getting one's t-shirt ripped and torn off. I felt more into the mood of Holi after that!

The mud party wasn't as bad as I had imagined. Nitin, Shashank, Abhinav and others put me in the puddle of mud water, then put mud and water on me, rolled me over the mud. With the mud party, I had officially celebrated my first Holi in IIIT-H!

I did avoid dipping into the tumbler of colorful dirty water, and used the hose pipe for direct water supply from a big water reservoir.

Just a passing thought: Holi and Halloween are similar in some ways... they sound similar, in Halloween people wear costumes and mask their face, in Holi people wear color on their clothes and mask their face with colors. Also, people are generally unrecognizable in both.

P.S. - Today before Holi celebrations, for the first time I solved some of many clues in crossword puzzle with Sashidhar.

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!

Quarter life crisis

Himanshu told me a lot about our lives in 10th class, especially my weird behavior. I thought I was the only one who remembered my childhood, but clearly he could recall it much more vividly.
During the course of conversation I realized that the reason I acted strange is because my brain can not think straight when I'm uncomfortable, and I was (am still) uncomfortable among people (also called social anxiety).
My strange/weird behavior is surely my response to my discomfort. As a kid, I can now recall holding my schoolbag or water-bottle close to me. I used to keep to myself during lunch breaks unless and until someone came to me and talked to me. I guess many would find that rude, which I realized in time, but all I could do is look at others chat, or play, but couldn't move my legs to walk upto them. I gave up after a few attempts and it became my habit. And till date, walking upto a person (who is not a friend) and starting a conversation is one of my biggest achievements for the day.
Strangely true, it never bothered me when people called me names, because I saw it as an opportunity to interact with them in some way. In college, it bothered me because I never saw myself as a 'scientist', but rather as a slacker and a lazy person. Today I realize that 'scientist' also holds true in my case for some good reason and the people who believe in calling me so have their reasons triggered by some of my strange behavior in response to my discomfort among people.
The interesting part is, I myself don't know when I would feel uncomfortable. I have felt comfortable talking to strangers sometimes, and utterly uncomfortable among a large group of all my friends!
There has always been an image in my mind, an image of a future me, but I have never been able to meet him in mirror. Some pieces of the image are still missing, the vital ones. If I were a teenager I'd have felt that things would be better when I grow up, but they never got better because I gave up after a few shots.
This is the quarter-life crisis I face. The mundane problems like unemployment or low paying job, no girlfriend etc. have lost their significance in my life. All my attempts are now towards completing that image, which would complete me as a person I would like to live.

Relativity

This week I visited my relatives' house and in almost every case, the relative who opened the door (was my aunts in all the cases), I found them staring at me for few seconds, then when I greeted them, they smiled at me and welcomed me. Rest everything went good and I had a great time.

Today I looked at the mirror while brushing my teeth and realized the reason:
I hadn't shaved for 3 weeks!

I am "scientist".

Nicknames, or Petnames... everybody has one, right? They're short, amusing or hilarious at times, and almost everytime called out with a hint of affection and suggests a sense of familiarity.
The origin of Nicknames are the most interesting part, especially if the birth of the nickname was in a friends' circle... one of my batchmates got bald and friends started calling him ganja (bald), one of my friend's surname rhymes closely with DVD, so people call him DVD, which later changed to dude as well!
People often ask me why I was/am called "scientist" by my batchmates. Perhaps because of my style of cracking PJs or some of my unique responses during a group BC (or chat), mixing scientific facts with nuances of our daily lives or perhaps because I got highest marks in the first exam taken in IIIT for UG2K5.
Whatever the reason be, Nicknames or petnames make life interesting and evidently show the level of innovation people can be capable of!
Nicknames or petnames are generally shorter than the name or has a more appealing intonation or meaning, or is amusing! For example, my batchmate and friend Manish Kumar Sharma is called MKS or Mux! My batchmate and friend Mohit was called Muggles (borrowed from Harry Potter Series by JK Rowling) which was later changed to Mugglu by others, and it really suits him, such a cute name! :D

Bowing and Touching Feet

Bowing and touching feet of elders and teachers has been an integral part of Hindu culture. I believe that bowing and touching feet is the greatest gesture of respect one can show. Sadly, I don't feel like bowing and touching feet.
My parents, especially my father often make it a point that I touch feet of elders in our family. And its only for guys to do so, not for daughters, still don't know why! I forget to touch feet because I don't feel like, and prior to meeting the elders, my parents remind me that I have to touch their feet. :D
I have never touched feet of my parents, I don't know why, sometimes I feel guilty about it, other times I feel my parents understand me and I feel grateful about it. I don't have any problem with touching feet but it doesn't come naturally to me.
In a social gathering, I have to remind myself to touch feet of elders of the age of my grandparents, and shake hands with others, else I forget what to do! I become a dud in a social gathering, especially among strangers, and I hate that.
I somehow tend to respect those who touch feet of elders, because its the greatest gesture of respect one can show.
Bowing had been there in other cultures, but bowing and touching feet is a part of Hindu culture and its one of many things I love about Hindu culture!

P.S. - It is said in Hindu Culture that if someone touches your feet, you are obliged to bless that person! So beware, don't let anyone whom you don't wish to bless, touch your feet. :D Something of this sort happened in Mahabharata, but I can't seem to recall what!

My First Mobile Phone

is no more with me. I had to give it to my mother because she wanted a sturdy model, rather than an expensive and frilly one. Owing to my long time laziness, I didn't buy another mobile phone and now I am mobile phone less.
After my mother left, I missed my phone terribly. I missed the vibration it emanated while it rang, followed by the ring-tone which was self-designed. I missed rotating it between my thumb and middle finger, I missed calling anyone anytime of the day. It was always there with me and for me. It was quite efficient, even at low battery power, or in switched off state, it rung its alarm so that I wake up. It was my first mobile... Nokia 1100... efficient and sturdy.
But, now without a mobile phone, I do like it for some other reasons! I am not disturbed by the useless automatic calls with synthetic voice on the other side, I don't get useless SMSs, I don't get call from anywhere! :D It is I who can call others, so I am in control as to whom I would talk to!
Now I do have to buy a new mobile phone... my SIM card is getting bored! Any suggestions?!
Oh yes, I would like to have a camera (atleast 2 Megapixel), sturdy (i.e., water resistant and could withstand shock like hitting the concrete floor from bed or chair and surviving), FM and MP3 player not really compulsary, budget Rs. 5000/-

Pencil and Pen

When in 5th class I got my first pen to write, I was quite excited.
Looking at elders writing with pen made me wonder as to why kids have to write with pencil. A pencil felt kind of inferior in front of and in comparison to a pen. When asked, my mother replied as if she had an answer already prepared, "Anything written with a pencil can be rubbed off with an eraser", and she wrote something, then rubbed it with an eraser, "but something written with a pen can't be. You're learning to write and your handwriting is neither neat, nor stable.
My first pen was a fountain pen. Filling ink in a fountain ink pen was fun, I like(d) Chinese fountain pens. The older I grew, the less I felt the need to write with a pencil, as it had been replaced with a pen. All my daily writing work was now done in pen.
I wondered why did I had to write with a fountain ink pen and not ball-point pen, to which my mother replied, "to get a better grip on your handwriting." Later I tested ball point pen and realized that she was telling the truth. I felt like I could write faster with it but couldn't get a good grip.
At present I use Cello Technotip and it works best for me. I also tried Parker ballpoint and ink pens but didn't really like them much.
After writing for ballpoint pens for some years, writing once in a while with a fountain ink pen feels good, takes me back to those days in 5th class.
Pencil didn't leave my life completely. I used it to make drawings in subjects like biology, and underline in textbooks. I started appreciating pencil since my 9th class because I had lost the luxury of erasing the contents of my writing. Ink erasers are available, yes, and I have used the 'nondust' one, but they work best on ink pen writing and I use ballpoint pens. Besides they don't erase as neatly as a pencil mark can be erased.
Now you may argue in defense of pen that it can write on skin and pencil can't, and I might argue in defense of pencil that one can write keeping pencil upside down, but that can't happen while using a pen!
Well, in conclusion, I use both the pen and the pencil and their combination provides me with a fine range of services.

Scare of Swine Flu

Today I started respecting life and dreading the thought of dying. I can now understand the fear people in Pune and in other cities live in. I was scared when I realized I might have swine flu.
It all started with a shiver. I felt it at 2 am I think. Maybe it was the sudden drop in temperature due to slight change of weather, but the thought that a shiver might be a symptom brought scary thoughts in my mind, getting admitted in a hospital, friend and family visiting me while I lay on the hospital (death, I felt so) bed. I even starting writing my will, i.e., to whom should I give passwords of which account on the internet. I realized I had to do a lot in life, my dreams crumbling to dust when I realized I would die soon. I met few of my friends whom I thought might be interested in the ideas I had in mind and the ones I have documented.
Another thought that crossed my mind was that I won't be allowed to eat in mess and I'd have to survive on biscuits and other packed food products... I would be kept in isolation during last days of my life...
I was so scared I didn't leave the bed to go for breakfast, lest I may shiver if I let go of the bedsheet I had wrapped around myself. Finally at 9:45 am I got up and did some exercise, felt good but weak. Lately I've been feeling sore in my throat.
The thought still lingers in my mind... do I have Swine Flu?
Time is too short and life too uncertain... the thought of a possibility of death scared me and still scares me. And with every news about deaths, be it of one person, concerns me deeply, for I have felt what it feels at the dawn of death.
I talked to my family and friends in Pune yesterday. Did the disease transmit through phone lines? Can it?
Would chatting on gtalk transmit the disease?

P.S. - Watching myself on deathbed suffering from Swine flu, I wondered which is more dreadful... being a victim of a terrorist attack or a deadly disease? I would go for the former one.

Zodiac Signs

Today I tried an application in facebook regarding All about Zodiac Personalities and Characteristics and I got the following results:

Dear Abhishek Sainani, below are All About Zodiac Characteristics and Personality for Zodiac Sign Gemini:

Gemini Characteristics and Profile
Gemini go everywhere together, hand-in-hand, symbolizing your dual nature. Our world comes in pairs: good and evil, male and female, in and out, yin and yang -- and you Geminis are living proof. Some might say Gemini are an entanglement of paradoxes, but the truth is that Gemini have an easy acceptance of opposites.

Element: Air
With active minds and a good command of language, the air signs are the natural born communicators. They can be light and breezy as the breath of spring, but their words can also carry the power of a gale force wind.

Third House: Communication
The Third House symbolizes all aspects of communication -- and most communication happens within our immediate environment. Therefore this is also the house of our surrounding.

Key Planet: Mercury
As the key planet of Gemini, Mercury is restless and changeable. It drives us to talk and to listen, but not necessarily to action.

Gemini Greatest Strength:
Your curiosity about a variety of interests

Gemini Possible Weakness:
Distracting yourself from what is most important

Interestingly enough, everything written in this is true for me, or is it that I'm just thinking that its true because its about my Zodiac Sign, Gemini?!
Well, certainly there's more to me and this is about all the Geminis in general. But if a group of people sharing same zodiac sign exhibit some common traits, what about inheritance and information coded in genes? A libran mother and a scorpion father give birth to a gemini son, then would he have qualities of a libran, a scorpion because of inheritance and a gemini due to his birthdate?!
Genetics has been well studied, so no dispute on that but seriously, does the date of one's birth really affect one's personality? Or is it also the mating date of the parents that also counts?
I see astrology and related studies as science which can be worked out to give accurate results, the only problem currently being that, I think, we don't take into consideration all the parameters. Once the time comes when we learn about all the required parameters, then only birth date and birth place would be enough to predict someone's future... something that always fascinates me...

Images in mind

Our thoughts run as images in mind, I think. Because whenever I try to read my thoughts, all I can see are random images. These images are those constructed by my mind based on previous images I've seen in my life till now. I listen to music, and I can feel an array of images running in my mind. While listening to rock music, I see myself either holding the guitar and strumming it hard, or singing while holding the mike... sometimes I see myself standing at the rocks at sea shore, and strumming the guitar while a wave of water rises high in the air behind me.
I love saxophone music, Kenny G especially. Listening to saxophone makes me see myself in a club, dimly lit, with a date, and ballroom dancing or simply enjoying the moment.
Rock music gives me flashes of speeding on fast bikes, martial arts kick ass fighting, teleportation, sometimes looking down from a tall building, sometimes breaking a glass glass in my hands... lots of images...
While reading a novel, I see blur images of characters, places, situations, sometimes emotional expressions as well. I feel standing among them, looking at them while conveniently invisible to them. Sometimes I look at other characters through the eyes of one particular character.
Dreams are only array of images running in fast motion. All I can remember when I wake up after sleep are only few images, using which I sometimes rebuilt the possible plot of my dream.
While watching movies, however, I don't see any images in my mind, rather I store the images I see in movies and these images later, perhaps, run in my mind while doing other things, especially listening to music.
But what if, that is what my friend says, the brain has some chemical reactions, which it does, and our mind sees them as images! :D

spectrophobia

Ghosts scare. That's their job description. And some people like to feel that scare. I am not one of them. But I did watch horror TV shows and horror movies and enjoyed them. But left alone at some place, especially at night scared the hell out of me. I didn't move from where I sat and kept on wishing that someone may come so that I feel safe. Eventually someone did come and when I saw that someone (be it my parents, or the helper) coming, for a fraction of a second this thought crossed my mind that the person walking towards me was not real but a ghost in disguise, and that this ghost uses this disguise to reach near me and scare me efficiently.
Loneliness is said to scare humans the most. Ghost also attack/scare when a person is alone. Now a days I can survive alone, but sometimes those visions of ghosts seen on TV/movies in my childhood, or imagined by listening to stories or reading stories, pop in my mind during late lonely night, especially when I walk alone to the urinal. I used to feel, and once in a while still feel that some ghostly figure follows me, ready to attack/scare or even hurt. As a grown up, I can fight that feeling, ignore it, make it feel feeble in presence of other thoughts, but as a kid it scared me a lot.
Ghostbusters was an interesting concept, but do ghosts really exist? Or are those stories about Peepal tree and eerie noises at night merely one's fear due to guilt and ignorance?
Somebody I was talking to said that being scared during day when alone makes more sense because during day one can see everything around us. What do you think?!

Childhood Dreams

Do you still remember your childhood dreams, or have you been too occupied in your efforts to gain success in the real world?
I hardly bother about what happens in the real world, maybe that's why I still vaguely remember those days when I did want to become a lot of things, and amuse myself over it.
Randy Pausch talked about his Childhood Dreams and how he got to fulfill them, in his Last Lecture.
I think the first thing I wanted to be, was an astronaut. This might have been the direct consequence of watching TV and TV shows like I Dream of Jeannie.
Next I wanted to be a detective... Sherlock Holmes I guess influenced me!
Next was to be a scientist, not knowing how "mind blowing" subject science is.
Once I also had this urge to try voice-over for a character in an animated motion picture, especially after watching Mrs. Doubtfire in which Robin Williams's job is giving voice to a cartoon character. I actually started mimicking voices, and making faces and weird noises, but its only a pass-time now, couldn't materialize.
But, something that I always had at the back of my mind was to write stories, beautiful stories, loved by everyone, simple yet subtle and strong at theme, stories about possible and impossible things that may happen in life.
I wrote few pages for a "novel" in 6th class, found it silly when I read it in 8th class and threw it.
I extended a story in 9th class, which was an exercise at the back of the book but wasn't discussed in class, but I think I wrote it well...
Now a days I do try to write stories, but many times I fail to bring out the effect which leaves me unsatisfied and the story incomplete!
I've been trained to be an engineer, something I never thought I'd ever be, but I am. I am not sad about it, just amused and happy for some reasons.
But more than anything else, I'd like to write some beautiful stories... because beautiful things last forever!
P.S. - Recently too I had change of plans, I wanted to be a diagnosis specialist after watching House M.D., wanted to be a mentalist after watching Mentalist and later wanted to be a lawyer after watching Boston Legal.