Rolling stone gathers no moss

Does the old proverb, "Rolling stone gathers no moss" fit anywhere in the current software industry? Stone apparently refers to the software engineer. And moss refers to either "the experience" or "the remunerations" one gets from the industry. And it is obvious that each would imply a different meaning.....

Its just a thought that came across my mind while reading a book. I leave the conclusion to the judgement of the readers.... :)

ALAN COHEN says and I quote, "It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.".

My Wallet !!!

Opened my wallet
only to see its photo holder Empty!
With a profound sigh
Slid it back to my back pocket.
Oblivious of the reason
For opening the wallet.

Days passed by; Months Passed by
So did Summers and winters

Opened my wallet
only to see her photo after she has long gone.
With a profound sigh
Slid it back to my back pocket.
Oblivious of the reason
For opening the wallet.

Days passed by; Months passed by
So did Summers and Winters

Opened my wallet
Only to see the corners threadbare and torn
With a profound sigh
Emptied it and dumped around the corner.
oblivious of the reason
For opening the wallet.

Sparrows

March 20th was declared as "World House Sparrow Day". It was then that I realized I haven't seen a house sparrow for a long long time. Are we going to witness the extinction of yet another creation of The Almighty?

I don't intend to write anything on how the plight of the sparrows have changed over the years. But i would definitely wish people to ponder about this issue. Its true that "Survival of the fittest" is how the nature works. But don't we have any obligations to our fellow creatures? Do we have the right to sabotage their habitat?

As most of my childhood was in the rural backdrop, every morning i used to hear chirrups of the sparrows; soothing at times and sometimes annoying. The fence around my house had lot of creepers growing on them and they used to hop from one twig to another.

I still remember the day when I held a sparrow for the fist time. One of the sparrows got itself tangled in the creeper and there were distress calls all around. I then got it out of that. I caressed it for some time and then let it go. My childhood instincts wanted to keep that bird for myself. But mom said it wouldn't survive and finally i had to give in.

They used to quench their thirst from the water dripping from the garden pipe. And take bath in the puddles of muddy water formed by the rains. By twilight they used to flock on the bars of the TV antenna as if they are gossiping. And later they vanish and I used to wonder where they sleep at night. By morning they are back garrulously chirping and hopping from one twig to another.

As I look at the endless concrete jungle from my balcony I helplessly wonder what is it that I could do for these little birds?

Ever Thine.. Ever Mine.. Ever Ours..

"Ever Thine. Ever Mine. Ever Ours."

An excerpt from the famous love letters of Beethoven. And it means, he is ever hers as she is ever his and they are ever one. So very beautifully said. These letters were recovered after the death of Beethoven.

I don't recollect when was the last time I had written a letter, let alone a love letter; which to the best of my knowledge I haven't ever. The thought about letters is not only overwhelmingly nostalgic but thought provoking.

I still remember the days when I used to eagerly wait for the letters from my dad with the small paragraphs meant for me and my brother, the letters that i used to write in cursive style flaunting my calligraphy skills and the postcards that i used to send to my friends.

I wonder whether the generations to come would ever experience the joy of writing letters or receiving them from the khaki clad postman. Less efficient and crude ways should always pave way for more efficient ways nevertheless we shouldn't be forgetting them. The day when we will start celebrating "World letters day" doesn't look far-fetched.


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Summer Rain

Sun shows its fury forming mirages all around. The terrain gets parched and dusty. Suddenly the azure sky turns dark and heavy downpour follows. The redolence of parched earth absorbing water fills the air. Every drop of water that falls on the concrete walls gets evaporated. Birds perch on to every available shade trying to evade the huge rain drops. Petals of the drooping flowers on getting moistened pop up. Rain water from the roof tops converge to form small streams and meander through the space available between the plants in the garden.

However all this doesn’t last long. The blue sky comes back, as if the sun has chased away the dark clouds. The streams that were once flowing ferociously die out. Birds come out the shades chirruping merrily. By now the rain has washed away all the dust on the leaves. Everything around us looks green giving a mystic pleasure to our eyes. Crystalline rain drops drip from the leaf tips and flower petals. The droplets on the tip of the grass shine like diamonds spread on a green velvet. A beautiful rainbow appears across the blue sky amidst the white clouds.

In a day’s time everything slips back to the original state. Dust accumulates on the leaves, land becomes parched. Flowers droop under the scorching sun. Chirruping of the birds sound like a melancholy strain.

Some people are like this short burst of summer rain. They come into our lives out of nowhere; and make our life merrier and joyful. And then just disappear into nowhere leaving back some memories.

When the unexpected happened !!!

"A thing long expected takes the form of the unexpected when at last it comes" - Mark Twain

So very true, isn't it. Something that we always longed to have when finally becomes true it looks so very unexpected. We nurture ourselves in such a way that when we know that what we wish to have in life is difficult to achieve, we make ourselves believe that we dont wish such a thing.

One fine day out of the blue our wish becomes true. We then start day dreaming, forgeting the very fact that it was something that we never expected to happen. We start building a hypothetical life around the wish. It grows and keeps on growing like cobwebs. Finally it becomes so enormously big that we never come out of that.

God then plays the cruel joke. Everything that we built around the wish starts falling apart. We are back to square one.

Then there would be questions that keep haunting us. What is it that we have done wrong ? Is it that we stopped being pragmatic or is that our efforts weren't sincere enough to make the dreams become true. Who is to be blamed here? A tough call indeed.

That day.. This day...

Today as I completed yet another successful run of 6km on tread mill, I got this thought of writing a blog on how this success story transpired.

Thanks to my sedentary job, it didn't take much time for me to become corpulent and I started to look like an obelisk. My waist size was increasing in geometric progression. One might say it is how you recognize a software engineer, but i strongly disagree. There is a large percentage of people who inspite of the sedentary nature of their jobs, do hit the gym or jog around parks and keep themselves fit.

Irony in this was that I too used to hit the gym, but my gluttonous appetite never let me get my weight under control. Every time a new movie of John Abraham was released, my sporadic exercise regime used to become much more systematic. But thankfully most of his movies had a brief stint at the box office and my exercise regime would slip back to once in a blue moon event. Every daybreak starts with a search for an excuse to skip the gym. It used to vary from genuine reasons like rain or work to weird reasons like not finding a matching t-shirt for tracks or vice versa.

It was during one of those days, that the company where i was working organized a 10km marathon. I was very eager to participate in the marathon. I started practicing for it. My decision to participate in the marathon was received with a lot of bantering at office. In spite of all that, I participated in the marathon. I completed it with great difficulty; most of the time walking and running for short spans. However it was a riveting experience and I enjoyed it to the fullest.

In the meantime I changed my company; with this change a lot of other things changed. After around three months in the new company, I decided to buy a cycle to commute to office. The new office was around 12 km. Even this decision was received by my friends with a lot of bantering. Many of them commented that this would be a fantasy for a week and then cycle would be yet another piece of junk. But this thought got engraved quite boldly on some part of my brain. Every time I felt like giving up cycling, the sarcastic remarks and bantering i am going to receive from my friends kept me going.

I started to do some cardio at office gym after cycling. This regime started to show off some results. Soon i got obsessed with cycling and cardio exercises. Yet another motivation to keep me going was the endurance levels of some of my colleagues who come to office gym. I see them running for 30 mins in a single stretch which motivated me to do the same. In a span of two months i too was able to run on treadmill for 30 minutes in a single stretch.

Though after doing all this, there wasn't a noticeable change in my appearance. It was then that i decided to abstain from food. I started eating sparingly and gave up my craving for ice creams, pizzas and soft drinks. Bingo, I started losing weight rapidly. People started to notice the change and my waist size was decreasing in geometric progression. I was getting applauses all around, it then became a responsibility to maintain the good work I had done.

Losing 16 kilos in a span of three months is indeed an achievement. With every ounce i lose, my desire to get thinner and leaner got more intense. I started to go on long runs on Sundays, which spans around 22kms altogether. In addition to that I also started practicing fasting on Mondays which has a more prominent religious connotation and inspiration from one of my best friends.

So dear friends, shred off the sluggishness, eat healthy and be healthy.....