Wise thoughts shared by a senior in our office

This excerpt reveals a university commencement address several years ago, Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises, who spoke of the relation of work to one's other commitments. Strive for balance in your life with work, family, health, friends and spirit.

Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them - Work, Family, Health, Friends, and Spirit -and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that Work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - Family, Health, Friends, and Spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.

How?

• Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself to others. It is because we are different that each of us is special.

• Don't set your goals by what other people deem important. Only you know what is best for you.

• Don't take for granted the things closest to your heart. Cling to them as you would your life, for without them, life is meaningless.

• Don't let your life slip through your fingers by living in the past or for the future. By living your life one day at a time, you live ALL the days of your life.

• Don't give up when you still have something to give. Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying.

• Don't be afraid to admit that you are less than perfect. It is this fragile thread that binds us to each other.

• Don't be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave.

• Don't shut love out of your life by saying it's impossible to find. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings.

• Don't run through life so fast that you forget, not only where you've been, but also where you are going. Don't forget that a person's greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated.

• Don't be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you always carry easily.

• Don't use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved.

Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way. Yesterday is History, Tomorrow is a Mystery, and Today is a gift. That's why we call it The Present.

Some good articles on Time Management !

http://sbinfocanada.about.com/cs/timemanagement/a/timemgttips.htm
http://www.time-management-guide.com/time-management-tips.html
http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/timemanagement/a/getmoretime.htm
http://www.timethoughts.com/time-management.htm

ManiRathnam's interpretation of Raamayan !

Raavan is Mani Rathnam’s interpretation of the Indian epic Raamayan. A thought provoking idea which has been narrated by Mani Rathnam, makes you think about the boundaries & the differences between what’s Good & what’s Evil.

As the story goes along, you start sympathizing with Raavan’s character, though he is initially shown as a symbol of the evil Demon Raavan. The grey shades of the so called Good Rama’s character starts to seem like the Evil one !This is realized through the character Aishwarya plays that of Sita.

Mani Rathnam has used his creative license to tell convey his thoughts in a radically out of the box plot line.

Good aspects of the film are its stunning scenic visuals shot by Santosh Sivan in Kerala, Ooty & some of the forest areas in India. They are definitely a treat to viewers eyes.

Aishwarya looks stunning as ever before & Abhishek renders a brilliant performance supported by the ensemble cast cvomprising of Vikram, Priyamani, Govinda, Ravi Kishen & Nikhil.

Music & background score by AR Rahman is the biggest asset of this Mani Rathnam film. I loved the song rendered by the almighty Rahman towards the rolling credits of the film. Sad that this song is not available on the Audio CD of the film.

Behne De, Beera & Ranjha Ranjha are some of the good numbers from Raavan’s album. I was disappointed that the song Ranjha Ranjha was not shown in the film completely & is used only in parts.

I am not sure if the plot line of the film will go down well or will even be well understood by the mass audience of India. But I am sure the Mani Rathnam’s all time fans like me will surely head towards the theatres to experience Mani Rathnam’s new film.

As I head back watching the film Raavan, & switched on the TV, reports were coming in that the film had not opened really well at many places. But its definitely worth a watch for the Mani Rathnam’s fans !

Here’s a peak at some of the best visuals from Raavan which I think is unfortunately edited out from the film

http://www.youtube.com/user/RaavanTheFilm#p/u/10/I1WIny6Z-Kc

Disappointing Mysore trip (Dec09)

I had been to Mysore this year end (Dec 09). I have been a regular visitor of Mysore every year end with family. Its a pleasure to drive on the 4 track highway from Bangalore to Mysore & vice versa.

Although the journey was pleasurable, this time I was utterly disappointed with the heavy crowd that had gathered already in Mysore. Looking at the Zoo, there was not even an ounce of space to keep your foot step near it... due to such heavy crowd gathering, most of which consisted of school kids in hoards coming in Vans/buses.

Thought of visiting the KRS dam, but the traffic jam was so dis-heartening that after traveling 10 kms with 4 kms remaining, I had to return back to Mysore from KRS due to heavy traffic situation.

Heavy crowd & traffic has really brought down the joy of spending time in Mysore city. It discouraged me from visiting any more nearby places in Mysore too like Nanjangud & Balmuri falls.

Visit to Chamundi hills was my only bet but there too I had to resort to pray only outside the temple again due to heavy crowd in Chamundi temple predominantly consisting of school kids.

The Dasara Exhibition, Planet X & Food street visits were the only saving grace of my trip including the joyful time that I spent there at home with my cousins & family.

On the whole it was a disappointiong trip to Mysore compared to my last few visits to this Heritage capital of Karnataka.

Check out some of the pics of my trip.

My fave Hollywood OST Videos

James Bond Collection

1. Die Another Day - Feat by Madonna

2. Tomorrow Never Dies - Sheryl Crow (Music Video)

Original Movie title song sequence

3. World is Not Enough - Feat by Garbage

4. Golden Eye - Tina Turner

My fave tracks from other Languages

1. Nee Shwasa naa (Telugu)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEQhtEQub3E&feature=related

A curious case of Forgery - Dont let this happen to you !!

This is one of the unfortunate incidents that I heard this year which has happened to my neighbour.

Its a case of cheating, forgery & a well known bank not being able to detect this forgery.

My neighbour is one of the newly arrived from Maharashtra & comes around as a friendly, good natured person. He newly joined a company here in Bangalore & got his salary account opened from a "well known bank".

After a few months, he decided to visit his hometown, It was after coming back that he was surprised that his salary account showed a decline of Rs. 20,000/- mysteriously !!!

He rushed to his bank to find out how this has happened. He was told that a person named ""so & so" whom he has never heard of, in his whole life had taken away hard cash of Rs. 20,000/- using a bearer cheque which was duly signed by his signature !!!

My neighbour was petrified to look at the signature as it was an exact match of his own signature. The only difference being that it was glaring to one's eyes that the signature was not a confidently signed one as the curves in the signature seem to have been slowly penned.

My neighbour questioned the bank about this signature saying that it does not match his signature as his signature contains confident curve strokes on the cheque.

Also the handwriting on the cheque was also questionable which had closely matched with my neighbour's handwriting.

Ny neighbour explained the bank that he had never issued any cheque to this "so & so" person whom he had never known in his whole lifetime !!!

He asked the bank if they asked him to produce any photo identity proof before honouring the bearer cheque. The bank did ask for a photo id proof & he had produced his Driving License !!!

Now all my neighbour has is a xerox copy of the alleged cheat's DL. My neighbour has lost hopes of getting back his money as he has lost trust in either the bank or even the police. On the contrary he is scared that the police might trap him into unnecessary issues for which he does not have time to spend on......

All I can say is that please be careful about your cheque books & dont let it get into the hands of unknown persons. Be very careful when you are handing over cheques to other parties or banks or for any kind of bill payments.

My fave list of Hindi Retro Remixes

Hindi Retro Remixes
-------------------------
1. Mera Babu Chail Chabila
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF8WjDE796k

2. Chadti Jawani Teri Chaal Mastani
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4Y7xtrjW68

3. Haan yeh vaada raha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS_3oixTD84

4. Mere Naseeb Main Tu hai ke Nahi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yu1zKd-jnfY&feature=related

Original Indipop
------------------

1. Shaan - Tanha Dil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22TxTJm6KIg&feature=related

2. Suchitra - Dole Dole
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ly1wlH9qOds

3. Kamaal Khan - Suno To diwana dil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwZSaJK8pCI&feature=related

4. Lucky Ali - O Sanam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFWjpYbLTjc&feature=related

Original Evergreen Hindi Retro Songs
----------------------------------------
1. Tera saath hai kitna pyaara
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OW71I4z_LMk

2. Har kisiko nahi milta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3YTBozxlm8

3. So gaya Yeh Jahaan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uXjLohRTDs&feature=related

4. Aankhon main base ho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyFO5CFxByE

Some of the best Punjabi Pop Hits

---------------------------------------

1. Gori Naal Ishq Mitha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAVh7AAfJWM

ಮುಂಗಾರು ಮಳೆ - Celebrating 2000 views to my Review on Mouthshut.com

http://www.mouthshut.com/review/Mungaaru_Male-125464-1.html

Bangalore - Shaken but not scared...

One of the saddest days in the history of Bangalore. July 25th, 2008.
Nine serial low intensity bomb blasts rocking the Garden city !!

The news came like a bolt from the blue around 1:30 pm. My brother calls me up & says.. "hey.. dont you know what has happened.. there are serial blasts hapeening in & around Madivala checkpost". At first I thought, he is fooling around with me. I asked "Is it a joke or something??"
Then realized that the unthinkable did happen. It continued to happen till 2:30 pm at various other places in the city & one around 5:30pm. Thew news spread like a wild fire in a few minutes once the first few blasts occured.

I was in the office when I got this news ! I was quite shaken up by hearing such a news.