13 Jan The Last One - 3

Many of you might already know what is special about today (referring to the Date) and the next two days. But just to be sure we are on the same page below are some links giving some info about the festivals Bhogi Sankranthi and Kanuma celebrated in Andhra Pradesh and many other states of India.

The day preceding Pongal is called Bhogi when people discard old things and focus on new belongings. The disposal of derelict things is similar to Holika in North India. The people assemble at dawn in Tamil Nadu to light a bonfire to discard old used possessions. The house is cleaned, painted and decorated to give a festive look. In villages, the horns of oxen and buffaloes are painted in colors and people celebrate it in a grand way as most of them would have their harvest ready or even would have made money out of the harvests.

--from Wikipedia--Full Link Here

Pongal is the only festival of Hindu that follows a solar calendar and is celebrated on the fourteenth of January every year. Pongal has astronomical significance: it marks the beginning of Uttarayana, the Sun's movement northward for a six month period. In Hinduism, Uttarayana is considered auspicious, as opposed to Dakshinaayana, or the southern movement of the sun. All important events are scheduled during this period. Makara Sankranthi refers to the event of the Sun entering the zodiac sign of Makara or Capricorn. 

--from--http://www.pongalfestival.org/what-is-pongal.html

Third day i.e. the day after Pongal/Sankranthi is celebrated as Kanuma. According to mythology, on this day Lord Krishna saved the local people of Gokula who came to his rescue after there was a huge flood in the village. It is said that Lord Indra—the deity of rains flooded the village out of anger and rage. Lord Krishna picked up the Govardhan hill with his little finger and gave shelter to all the villagers in danger. Seeing this, lord Indra realized his mistake and withdrew the heavy rains from Gokula

--from--http://www.prokerala.com/festivals/kanuma.php

I said I would be talking about good and bad or at least something like that , as far as I remember. But since that doesn't have much to do with these festivals. I will change my topic. To me the festival of Bogi had always been lot of fun because of the bonfire that is put up early in the morning. In the bonfire people put twigs, cowdung cakes, wood from old furniture etc. The whole idea is to discard less used old things so that there is scope/space for new more useful things. And that is where all this connects to me at this time when I am writing these LastOnes. I have realised there are these things in me which I didn't used to do earlier but now I have got habituated to. These things are no harm as such but I think In the second One I talked a lot about change and that is exactly what I need now. I need to change my habits. There are some things which I need to let go. There are some " alterations " I need to do to my attitude. And it looks like it is high time I should do these things.
Well, It is not just about me. I think with time all of us make habits, some of which, we are better without, could be smoking, booz etc. I'm not saying it is a bad habit, I'm just saying that may be at some point you feel that you shouldn't do it anymore. You might also find yourself hanging on to some things in your life, thinking of the same thing over and over, not being able to come out of those thoughts. Reason could be anything, sentimental or just mental. Think about it and may be you can free yourself from it. A friend's advice comes to my mind here. He said "It won't help if you keep thinking or saying that you'll change, you will leave it etc... rather think I've left it, I don't do it anymore, I've Changed!"

Cheers
Aditya

P.S. By the way 13th Jan Bogi, 14th Jan Sankranthi, 15th Jan Kanuma are the festive days 

1 Jan The Last One - 2

52 weeks, 365 days, I am in no mood to calculate and say the number of hours. One Year. Time keeps running. Not a single second does it stop. Ever changing, and that's the only constant thing about it. And that is what keeps it up-to-date, updating itself with every second.

As a kid, for that matter even as a teenager, I always had this one thing in mind 'I won't change' ' no matter what' . Yeah I've been a stubborn fellow all along. My parents have a lot of patience that they actually handle me without getting irritated. (I'm blessed that way and also, somewhat, spoiled) But as I grew up I understood change and that is what I am going to talk about in this post. The second of the Last One of Darling.

"This is the right thing. This is the way to do it. This is how I should be. This is how things should do. This is what I am going to do." These and lots like these were the thoughts in my mind. Until time passed. As I saw more, heard more, felt more, faced more and understood more, my thinking, my ideas , my philosophy, it all changed. I dunno much about what Charles Darwin talked about Survival of the Fittest, but I do understand by experience that in order to survive (or perform, in the context of our competitive world's scenario) one has to adapt to new environments and that requires change. Change of methodologies, change of ideologies, change of mindsets, change of lifestyles. Having said that, I would also mention here that this change is only to be an add on to what you really are inside. When time passes it does not lose its past. 2014 is here only because time passed through 2013 and the years before it. You are what you are because you have been what you have been all this while. If everything is going good then nothing more like it, but if you are not liking the way things are going then it is time you embrace the change that is required.

My mom told me a few weeks back, i.e. after shutdown when I returned to Gurgaon from home. As a school going child when I used to get summer holidays and I used to go to my native place along with my parents; after every such trip there used to be some change in me. I used to become more matured or something like that. I was very young then. Don't even remember what kind of a change it was. But it felt good when I heard it from mom. Change is not to be afraid of. May be the word is a little misleading. By change, it is the seventh habit of Covey I'm referring to. He says Sharpen the Axe. I'm just putting it in different words. Update yourself with things around you. Learn from the environment around you. Change yourself to adjust to the situation so that you survive, so that you perform well at this moment and cherish this memory at a later stage.

While saying all this I have been thinking, about the possibility of this whole idea being misunderstood, misinterpreted or mistaken. What if someone thinks that I am supporting an idea that changing into an unfair person is the solution to an unfair world around him/her, (or something like that,) and that's where comes Good and Bad. What are they? Are they absolute of relative? Do they even exist? an insight into my thoughts about them is what is going to be my next article on the day of Bogi, a festival celebrated in the southern states of India. (celebrated as Lohri in the northern states).

Cheers
Aditya

25 Dec The Last One

With my "internal energy" fluctuating a lot these days and my spirit playing a hide and seek with me (i.e. being high at one point and low the very next moment) writing a complete article is something I rarely do. Though I started again with a thought that I can manage at least one in a month (and maintained that for three months), there was a break last month. In fact, the previous entry was on October 31st, late in the night. And now, I really wonder if I can continue blogging under this name of Darling.

Just like I thought this blog never got over on the night I started typing it. It has almost been a month and I couldn't squeeze in the time to get back to it.
And I had left it here yesterday night and in a few lines I am gonna leave it unfinished tonight as well. But at least now I know where this is going. The next few posts, precisely 6 including this one, will be mostly revolving around me as I say a good bye to this Darling.

I thought for a bit about the 'The End' for this blog and decided against the initial idea of this article being the last entry (and that was the reason for the name) that I would write 6 articles including this. That would make the total number of articles 54 (summation of the digits = 9, a number I really like; coincidence is 54 is 9 times 6, and I noticed this only now; I know... I go gaga over numbers. Maths is like a Darling !). These articles would mostly be put up with dates of festivals (like this one bears the date of Christmas Day) and the last of these would be published on (with a 'duh') 14th of Feb. After all it is gonna be for Darling so if not Romantic I will try to make it Dramatic. May be I will talk about my love life. Hahaha... I can be such a show off !!!

Now then. Before you conclude that I have gone crazy and out of my mind, I'll put a stop to this entry here.
Oh!! I managed to finish it today itself (JustForYourInfo it is 25th of Jan 2014). So there it goes. First of the six to come. The Last ONEs.

Thank you all who have read my blog, appreciated it and suggested and encouraged me to keep going. Thank you so much :-) Hope you will like these last six :-)


Cheers
Aditya
P.S. Next one on New Year's Eve 
oh yeah... Happy New Year all of you. Wish you a happy joyous cheerful year ahead :-)

31 Oct A random fancy thought

I parked my bike on the corner where the smaller road joined the main road; went to the ice cream seller on the other side of the road and bought myself a kwality walls cone; came back and sat on the bike. I wasnt facing the road. I didnt want to. I didn't feel like looking at vehicles rushing by, didn't want to look at the busy lives of the people. I silently took a bite of the cone. A couple were walking a little far away. A girl and a guy, thirty plus or minus. The wind was pleasant and I let my thoughts go along with it.

I will get married some day. Me and my better half with may be a kid or two, living in a comfortable home in the countryside. A two wheeler for a long casual ride. A four wheeler to go shopping to the nearby city. A few math problems to be explained to the kids. Like the Gult Group says... Eat Love Pray. Simple life with a caring wife. Haaaaahhhh *sigh* . I called myself back from the dreamland. The ice cream was over. I had to get back home. I told myself that I am nowhere near to such a life; then kicked off bike's engine and started driving.

I wonder what is the cause of this detachment from life, for some unknown reason I don't like the pace or the ways in which I see the world around me going. Bored of the things I have been seeing over the recent past, I wonder what I'll finally do. It is so funny but nowadays I get a feeling I can't socialise... Whatever be the case... I like that glimpse of the future I imagined a few hours ago.

I have been writing this blog for the last two days. All the while searching inside myself for someone or something which could remind me of what I used to be like and what I wanted to be, to set for myself a better path to walk. A walk that could be cherished... A walk that could be remembered to bring a smile on to a face. Lets see which other turns life has to take...

5 Sept No Theme No Topic, It's only about me

This one is going to get a little personal. I am dying. Every other day I do things which sometimes make me ponder 'What am I doing! What have I become!'. Whether I say I was better seven years back or I give reasons for being disturbed for a long stretch of time, the fact remains that I have been failing myself. There were so many things that I had taken up, call them projects, challenges or targets; there were things which were professional in nature as well as those of personal importance and as I look back I see I have failed almost every single time. I have always wanted to be a man of my word and yet all I have done is just talk, never fulfilled any of those words. Those seven years that I talk about, I have always told myself that I shall do this, try that, achieve this, work on that, but have never been committed to myself, never met a deadline, whether it be a freelance work or a report generation at office.

While I was at institutions, School or College, I don't know if it was fear, or prestige or may be interest in a subject which made me learn. Competing was fun. There was discipline amongst people. Everyone was dedicated, at least on the day before exam, we cared highly for each other at least for finishing assignments. That was a small and beautiful world. I guess I should be grateful to my Mother Father and Teachers for that wonderful life. In the first six years of the seven though I wasn't doing any wonders I sure was doing what I wanted to do. I learnt it is not always about performance but also about experience. I did a whole lot of things ranging from falling in love to failing in love. I tried out things which earned me names other than my given name. I made more friends. Lets stop running behind success for a while and I will say I was satisfied with my life. However it has been different in the last one year. I came out into the bigger world, the world that is not enclosed within a building or campus with a playground and classrooms and labs and hangouts. I faced it and I have, kind of, lost it. This place put me into situations where I had to question myself if what I was doing was right or wrong. It put my heart and mind at fight. It slowed me down. I spent my time pondering about past and future while I should have acted in the present. I realised that I rusted.

Apart from the hiccups that this year gave, it also taught me simple yet important things and moulded my attitude towards life and people. I understood that, what people think is right and wrong and how they treat each other is their personal choice. It isn't so good for me to break my head on such things. I found out what keeps me relaxed, what I am interested in and also I somewhat found out what I want. I realised that I was not being my true self, I was not being what I wanted to be. Like the Linkin Park line goes "I tried so hard and got so far but in the end it doesn't even matter".  It is time for abscission and so it shall happen. What changes the time will bring in me and whether I will cope up or not, ONLY TIME WILL TELL

Cheers
Aditya

11 Aug Cheers

Found this day to be very auspicious to get back to my blog, which I hadn't seen in a while thanks to pre-occupancy of my life with a variety of more or less interesting things. What's special about the day is that someone very close is getting married today. The ceremonial wedding would've probably got over by now. The celebrations would obviously be going on. With a delighted heart, praying to the almighty and wishing the couple a very happy married life, I sat to put something in my blog and now I wonder "what should I write about". 

There are these times when life seems so boring and mind is totally detached from work. Or sometimes there are these times when you know you have to work hard to reach your targets but you can't get enough energy out of yourself. There are these times when mind goes astray. I have got stuck many times. There is this turmoil of thoughts, one thought creates another and that connects to one other, simulations of situations keep going on inside that small head. It is times like these when this close one I mentioned earlier and many others like her have helped me. Motivated me when I went low. Inspired me with their words and acts. I still remember how I understood the meaning of the phrase "being committed to something" after it was attribute to this girl. And then there is guy who, for me, is like the benchmark for sincerity, and many other God-level people. They are nothing different from others. No special PhD has been done by them. They are just like the guy/gal next door. They sit with me, eat with me, laugh with me, and randomly at times they leave me stuck with wonder about how awesome they are; about how my life has been and is so much fun with them; about how lucky I am to have such FRIENDS.

Look around you. There are so many such people who have made your life so much fun, may be inspired you to do great things. Treasure them, never lose them. They'll give you energy to move even when you have hit the bottom. But yeah, unless you have informed them before, they wouldn't know that you have to go to office early the next day, so you are on your own to wake up in the morning and so am I. Until next time...

Cheers 

Aditya
P.S. 1. Signing off as 'Cheers' started as a memory of this close one.
2. Though it was on the previous Sunday, every day with friends is special and so Happy Friendship Day.

27 Feb Benign Nine

A short one for the end of short month. 

Deduction of logic, drawing meaning out of the most bizarre things seem interesting to me at times. If you let your mind free, and allow it to think all random possible or impossible reasons for anything that you can think about, then you could come across a couple of amusing things. I am going to share something which I found this way. It is about the number 9. You might have already noticed it before, but in case you haven't, there is this very interesting property of this number. It is about the summation of digits of any given number after adding or multiplying with 9. Notice it yourself right away. Take any number . Add all the digits of that number. Now add the digits in the sum. Keep doing this till you get a single digit as the sum. Now add 9 to the original number and repeat the same process of summing up the digits. You'll find that the final digit is the same. Now take any number and multiply it with 9. The final digit after summation will be 9. 

There is this strange thought which then occurred to my mind. If you can think of Addition '+' or 'plus' as making friends with some one and Multiplication 'x' or 'cross' as fighting or something like war (if I may exaggerate a little). Then you can see 9 has a character of a legend who makes friends with whichever number he is added to (lets the sum remain the same digit as before) and it wins the battle with whichever number it is multiplied (the sum of digits in the product becomes 9). Well this is all just random thinking, someone else could think that 9 multiplied with any number maximises the strength (as the sum of digits in the product will become maximum possible). There is no moral of the story here... But for now there are two things I can say... one. be like a nine be it in making friends or winning battles and two. let your mind go wild !!! ***

Cheers 

Aditya

*** lots of conditions apply  

P.S. Wonder what happens in case of a zero :P !!!