Episode 6: Fortune teller reside in my hands

When I start to hate the world that brought me here
I keep wondering whether my life is to shatter
When the eyes witness the miseries and cries
The heart is heavy and is at complete loss

When I start to love the world that I live in
I see every petal of my flower woven
When I see the smiles of little ones
I feel delighted like the cherries on the plums

Day by day I feel I am no more loved
I drag my memories to know where I flawed
I work hard, think good for all
No sweets and no friends to call

A heart to love, a rose to keep safe
Fortunate I am to have it both
Fame, name, family, love and cafe
Blossoms of spring is on its path

Ups and downs, the cliff is rugged and dusty
If it were to be a plateau there was no beauty
Lefts and rights, puzzles come in bundle
If it were to be simple there was no riddle

I start to hate or I start to love,
I start to feel hated or I start to feel loved,
Whichever curve that it bends
Fortune teller reside in my hands.

Episode 5: Parallel universe!

I mean, its so difficult to keep training my brain with US dollars, AU dollars, euros, rupee, pounds every time I travel. If I was given a power in this world to make a revolutionary change I would make ONE currency for the world, really, who on earth wants to express their math skills of currency conversion every time.

What if I was given power to do some 5 crazy changes in this world. I even love this fictitious thought of it.

1.    I belong to this world, why should I draw boundaries and call it my continent, my country, my state, my city and my town. Birds don't do it when they migrate, why should I? I start to talk in terms of latitude and longitude. If there are aliens we would anyways be telling, "by the way I'm from earth where are you from?"

2.    Nobody gets to buy a land, because land should be used only for growing vegetables and wildlife to have their home. And we all start to live in space I.e. flying houses or sky suspended home. Imagine we all have flying cars to travel back home that is sky scraper in literal way.

3.    A metal has more value than life in the world today. Gold should become a metal having no value in eras to come. Gold, steel, platinum, silver, lead, carbon should mean same at the end of the day. If someone says "I have a diamond studded platinum tap in my bathroom", it should just mean personalized style and not rich.

4.    Some carnivorous animals which died thousands of years ago are killing other animals even today, in the form of oil and gas. Flying cars, utility and entertainment appliances should work on star power (solar is one among them) and air fuel.

5.    Crime is to be read as cruelty raised institution for money and entertainment (sex in particular). Let us minus the wealth of everyone i.e. each of us start at zero. So nobody has anything to loot or steal from others. Aim is to make sure all of us have healthy meal (physical source to survive), a role to share ( knowledge, resource like medical, transportation).

      Path to save from harassment! Design a gadget embedded (smart phone / bio sensors in the body) which senses a brain signal from the person in traumatized state ex. Situations like rape, domestic violence. This signal is sent to the closest 100 or N devices choosing men and women in a smart algorithm and lead them towards the "to-be" victim (an attempt to NOT have victims and then punish the b******ds, rather red handed catch of the attempt). At-least the fear of embarrassment would stop this wild sinful act of human. 

What would be your crazy change?

Episode 4: Would you come scuba diving this vacation???

When I grew up in this world, it was already filled with the filth of money, materials, competition and the dirtiest side of humankind. The world was suppose to end twice in the journey of my "this" life. However you and I have survived both.

That day, I was in the sea and sailing on a boat.

The black soil and water on the shore wasn't a good sight for a beach holiday. I'd already started to get sea sick. I put myself on the wooden couch of the boat. I wasn't too happy about the sun shining that kept my eyes closed under the dark glasses I wore. I felt like a lost soul in the fish bowl. There was money, iPod, pantaloons, laptop, chewing gum, camera, job, gold, exotic vacations, vodka, jeans, almonds and dates in this life. And, what else was I looking for?

My life seemed like someone else's chicken soup. I don't eat chicken and someone else is having my soup.

I woke up to see the boat coming to a halt as it came close to the island. Sea weeds, poisonous plants, corals and images of wonderful fishes were displayed in the chart shown by the sea expert. I had to put on a skin tight funny outfit over my clothes, a spectacle and a pipe pumping in oxygen from the heavy cylinder residing on my back. There I was, standing at the edge of this boat looking all nervous about the first dive that I had to make. I always wondered why all adventures had to be gone through these "butterflies in my tummy" kind of experience.

The sun was burning the skin out of me, a "hydrophobic me" was scared amidst the water, I looked like a joker and I was seriously rethinking whether this adventure should get into the history of my life. My mind was juggling with all these thoughts while the instructor pushed me and I almost did a fab somersault before landing. In this 'gosh' moment, the pipe which was supposed to be in my mouth flew away, my nostrils were stuffed with the sea and I'd gulped a few tumblers of salt water.

Short time and big blunders, time when I understood the real meaning of accident.

The instructor had taught me that "thumbs up" means all good and "thumbs down" means cut the crap and save me. I had joked that his elaborated instructions wouldn't end in-spite of completing scuba dive. Taking a deep breath, keeping all the instruments intact I went sinking down the deep ocean for the first time in my life. A quick fin act by the legs helped me feel like an angel cuddling the ocean.

Lessons of life never end. If you feel it ended then you are no more alive.

A spectacular view of blue paradise with, corals spread as beautiful as marble flooring was the palace of colourful and divine souls swimming around. My eyes were treated with yellow, blue, white, orange fishes moving in large groups. It looked as if they were all buddies playing some primitive game of their clan. There were some jelly and star fishes clamped to the corals. Maybe someone who scuba dived before me taught them the game of hide and seek ;)

An amazing feeling that moved me was their characters of liveliness, bright, togetherness, sense of belonging and we love you all attitude. I'm sure if I'd decided to join a clan of fish and won their hearts they'd be happy to let me be a part. I'm sure being bubbly would help me in making them feel comfortable. God forsake "bubbly", due to dryness in my throat I had a heavy cough and the bubbles forming from my breath stopped. I again gulped a few more tumblers of water and quickly gave a thumbs down sign (All thanks to the elaborated instruction list). The second encounter of an accident. The well versed instructor pulled out a valve from the jacket and I sensed floating in few seconds.

With all the hurdles apart, the most beautiful adventure that I have ever done is diving. The purest form of life and love survives within. It's calm, welcoming and loveable.

Maybe this is what I was searching and god had given me his answers packed in this wonderful experience of mine.

Would you come scuba diving this vacation?

Episode 3: BookFace

A life without Facebook.

Is there one, I used to wonder and I did have for a few months now. Before I make a comeback to this digital fort, I thought to write about my digital social network less world.

When it was my world!!

app on my phone, the likes for photographs, friends I got to chat with, posts that I commented on, videos shared, events piled up, frens wedding and congratulation posts, vacation information, game requests, xxx wants to add your birthday in calendar.... the list goes on.. All of it was given a pause.

While my heart was heavy with emotional stress, give me a break said my brain and I took pleasure in clicking the button to "deactivate my account" in October 2012.

A journey!!

I was on a travel to two new countries on my list, Czech Republic and France. Meeting international friends is always fun. There is so much to learn about culture, monuments, art  forms, economy, cocktails, food, flowers and families. I like short travels coz you get to hear so many stories in a great package. I was also fortunate to take part in a workshop called "energy audit".

Are we conscious on how we spend our energy an entire day was the topic of this four hour workshop. A human mind is created to work in rhythmic patterns, but we believe in computers and computing. "how can I afford to lose 30 mins, I'll skip my lunch", "I can't wake up so early, will surely go gymming tomorrow", "spiritual thinking, am I that old",we have enormous excuses to not focus on the way we spend our energy. I wanted to immediately kill my addiction to digital Social network which I did, coz I felt my mind was processing too much data of which not all was necessary. So I went shopping in Prague, visited the castle, went on a ferry ride, walked the city, worked through my projects, made presentations, travelled to France, cooked food, drank some wine while my friends back home felt I was washed away from the digital world.

Reality strikes in!! Hard!!

After the much enjoyed working hard trip I came home and then the jittery feeling started to haunt me. Every 2 hours I felt like typing "www.socialnetwork.com" on my browser and activate my account. I wanted to know what was happening and this is precisely the UVP of it, people like to know what's happening in others life.

Battling your own wish to sway the other way is by far the worst feeling in closet. Searching a new home is never a bottom line, searching a new life is. Digital Social network less life isn't something new, but to have one after the experience is a reinvention and it isn't that bad at all.

Time, energy, focus, books, hobbies, love and friends, I got them all....After a week or so, my brain had faded the memories of social network.

Some nice moments further!!

I started reading a lot of books ranging from fiction to autobiography, management to history, romance to political thrillers. I downloaded music apps on iPad and did self learning on playing keyboard. I can play some nice tunes like pink panther, Roja, tumse milke, Teri meri, bade achhe lagte hain, arare arare now. I did vocal recordings of a lot of songs. Tuned myself towards social responsibility. I started to watch movies in theatres. I did research on Hindu scriptures to understand the hidden truths of the preaching and its connection to science and mathematics. I got insights on topics like business model creations. I went on a vacation to coorg. I spent good amount of time with friends and family. There were nice times of cafe discussions. I have oil paints in my bag, time to try a canvas.

So,

I took time to call up and meet my friends to have a nice chat rather than writing a post on their wall or like a photo of them. I took time to cook desserts with mom in my kitchen and it was much fun than growing a farm on computer. I could hold hands of my loved ones and there is so much of warmth in it than just leaving a text message for them. I could write a series of my short stories and this is so overwhelming an experience than just killing time in refreshing the list of posts on my wall. I did make new friends, at the parlour, coffee shop, nilgiris, office, bus stop, schools, events, during journey, international travel. I have understood and now strongly believe, physical presence of a person has much higher influence and energy than virtual.

Anyways, Life is good this or that way, it turns great when you love whatever you do. My life, I love it.. How about you?

Episode 2: Morning Raga..

What are you saying??

A lot of us keep complaining that we don't have time for ourselves. However the most joyous moments of life is actually not when you have time for yourself but, when you have time for those who love you the most.. fRienDs..

A Story for you..

I keep myself with tight schedules in the week days.. Learning, working, learning, working.. The pedal keeps cycling.. With a lot of efforts made, I still couldn't make it for the dinner with my buddies last week.. On a not so good saturday we tried the plan again.. Just doesn't work the way we thought..

I kept complaining to her that I feel all our fRienDs have turned out to be the CEOs.. They just don't have time to meet up their buddies.. made sad faces, threw some tantrums, rolled out heavy dialogues.. Also in our chat, I mentioned how bored I am, meeting fRienDs at restaurants for lunch, dinner.. Told her that next time we meet, its got to be different.. Gave her some crazy ideas like cubbon park, lalbagh, parade grounds.. She quietly listened to what I spoke and said " I second your opinion".. Little did I know what was running through her mind.. my mistake.. I've known her craziness for years now..

<Clueless morning>

Had a heavy sleep that night.. The clueless morning unwinds a crazy dosage of happiness..
@7am I see my fRienD standing next to my bed. I opened my eyes wide open to confirm I wasn't dreaming.. She kept her eyes wide opened, coz for the first time I hadn't hit her for waking me up that early ;-) I was confused, happy, clueless seeing her.. Two of my fRienDs (Kanchan and Bhargav) had planned this "early morning bonaza" for the rest of us..

Next we ended up at Pavan's home.. It was our luck to find him dozing away at home.. Yeah he wasn't up working.. With Aunty's hot coffee we glued ourselves there for a while chatting about his life.. his job, wifey, gaming,.. Yeah that is pretty much the framework of his stories :-)

It was time we knock Amy's door.. a 25 mins drive which included laughing at the "anjananagar" dude losing his mind and almost crashing his way down, looking at kanchu or rather her driving :-) Amy is the best when sleeping.. Woke her up to hear back "hey kanchu look.. Bomma (Bhargav) is here".. Trying her best to give us a surprise..Healthy moosambi juice gulping in and doordarshan rangoli on tv was perfect to bring the school memories back..

It was 9.30 and Bharath was still clueless.. he was up by the time we reached.. But timed it correctly before he had his morning meal..We the "Unbeatable" wrapped up in Amy's "Beat" and drove down to MTR moments and had the melting masala dosa.. ofcourse with kanchu's taaza tadka stories :) walk on the university roads clicking some snaps here and there gave back the sweet memories of ooty trip in 2008..

This clueless morning raga turned out to be the best one.. "true relations doesn't require your ability or inability.. it only requires your availability".. Thank God!! we still can manage to end up at our fRienDs place without a prior appointment :-)
Just looked up to say thank you and saw the clouds..
It was about to..

bAArishh..
Happy blogging when its raining!!

Successful blogger tip: Create a storyline for your blog.. There is a kid in each of us who wants to hear stories :-)

Episode1: The new beginning

I start to blog again..the comeback I say..

Yeah, I did blog 3 posts in the "Last Season" some 2 years ago ;-) Blogging had ended even before I knew it had started. Initially I decided to start writing in the same xxxx.blogspot.com. Eeeeks.. I really wanted a new beginning.

These "new beginning" episodes come quite a number of times in our lives, just as examples,

- "I have been too lazy these days, I declare that from tomorrow I would get up at 6am and go for jogging everyday . Its gonna be a healthy new beginning in my daily routine". Trust me this "new beginning" is an every week's story for me.
- "Come on I have been coding in the same software the same way for 2 whole years. I am gonna start to think on how to make more business, like the apple way, its going to be the new beginning in my career". Ooops, everyone wants to be an apple these days.. not my fault!!
- "I promise a non alcoholic life from next week. I would give more time for you and the family. It would really be a new beginning of our life..Darling!! On this sunday i'l be back a bit late.. Last JD party". Do you really think that its the last JD party. Ha ha.. Caught you..

Here I am, this is me..narrating the story of my new beginning with bAArish.blogspot.com

Why I chose bAArishh!!

I was searching for some names for my new blogger site and there I go starting to type some favorites like "thunder", "Rainfall", "BlueSafari".. A prompt reply of 'address not available' kept popping. How stupid of me to even try those really common names.

Then I went in for the unconventional way. This time the try was on kannada words like "kanasu", "mungaru", "nadi". OMG!! There are a huge number of kannada bloggers these days. Alas!! all my unconventional thoughts went down the drain.

I decided the word picked next would be my blogger address and it was "baarish". Without much drama I chose to double the "h" in the end to make it available. The double "A" in caps is just a fantasy, by the way my name is Archana Nagaraja, count the A's in it and you'll know it why..

Who am I??

The toughest question to answer, be it an interview or your introduction at a party hall.

For now lets do it this way,

I am just the ordinary woman, going for 8 to 5 job. Sleep + Work = 8 + 8 hours i.e 66.667% of my everyday life. However what I love the most in my life is the rest 33.33%.

I do a bit of reading, playing, music, dance, watching movies/TV, cooking, taking photos, posing for photos, chatting, brisk walking, lazing around, writing here and there.

Thatz like it. Me!!

<<What next>>

Wait.. before starting this new beginning I did google on how to be a successful blogger. I did get a lot of tips which I am going to tell you in the next one..

Now, I know there is another tab of google searching "How to be a successful blogger" in your browser.. or atleast you thought of searching it.. don't lie.. ;-)

bAArishh!!

Happy blogging when its raining!!