“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.” - Alfred D. Souza

A simple story

A farmer was in need of a plow due to the fact that his was broken. He decided to walk a few miles to his neighbors property. On the way, he thought to himself, ‘ What if he won’t lend it to me? What if he won’t trust me with it? What if it’s not working properly? What if he mocks me for borrowing?’ This kind of thinking accompanied him on his journey. When he finally got to the neighbors house, he knocked on the door and when the neighbor farmer opened the door, the man said, “You can shove your plow up your ass! I didn’t want to borrow it anyway.”

A few quotes I like

-There is a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go.

-Make it a point to do something every day that you don't want to do. This is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.

-Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that faith is his twin brother.

-Freedom is of the mind. The body, is always a slave.

-All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.

-In the game of life, it's a good idea to have a few early losses, which relieves you of the pressure of trying to maintain an undefeated season.

-Live every day as if it were your last, because one of these days you will be right.

-If you can't see the bright side of life, polish the dull side.

-The only cure for grief is action.

-Spiteful words can hurt your feelings but silence breaks your heart.

-Regrets cannot change fate.

-We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment.

-Worry is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it doesn't get you anywhere.

-There is luxury in self-reproach. When we blame ourselves we feel that no one else has the right to blame us.

-A sentimentalist is simply one who desires to have the luxury of an emotion without paying for it.

-The passion of hatred is so long lived and so obstinate a malady that the surest sign of death in a sick person is their desire for reconciliation.

-The best way to destroy an enemy is to make him a friend.

-To most of us the real life is the life we do not lead.

-To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.

Opportunity

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”
- Thomas Alva Edison

“It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.”

 “If you wait for opportunities to occur, you will be one of the crowd.”

 

Love and poetry

The warmth of the shining star,

The calm of a mountain pond,

The sweet of the flowers belly,

and the fragrance of the morning dew,

With love in my bosom, my life,

is as beautiful, as it is new!


Love. Makes poets out of many and drunkards out of many many. :)

As much as I have read and seen, I can say this with authority that love generates more pain and agony than happiness and satisfaction. Period. But we can't stop loving can we?

Also it's actually strange that most people like remembering that pain and revelling in it. You don't poke the thorn back into your leg just to relive that pain and relish it, do you?

Yet, here we are, in a world where people love the failures in love....and the poetry that follows.

Many would argue that the poetry would never happen if not for the failure. Fair point. and also that the poetry gives an expression to the un-spoken feelings. Fair point again. But the poetry in love is far sweeter than out of it.

God - The concept

God is a very interesting topic and I should say, an unending and an arguably impossible topic to bring people to a consensus on.

But there are some important points related to the concept:

1. First up, God is a powerful thing/being to which/whom you can turn to when you can't control something.
In olden times(really olden times) the king was either a God or a messenger of God...for reasons which were part of the above statement. God is a concept, and can be applied to living things as well as non-living things. Hence the innumerable number of Gods in the world.

2. Every religion needs money and power.(in the human world)
How will you build temples, mosques, churches without it? You donate to the temple to keep your faith alive in this world full of people and powers who want to suppress your faith and impose theirs on you. History has numerous examples of powerless faiths being wiped out and converted to powerful ones. Even in this advanced age(really?), this is a big fear of a large number of people around the world. Even in India there are multiple tribal faiths which are facing being wiped out because of conversions. So your God needs money and offerings. The priest/father/mullah will tell you this in one way or the other.


3. Every religion needs proofs of God's miracles. Without those proofs the religion cannot withstand the questioning of another religion. The proofs could be an epic like Ramayana, or the Quran or Bible, or architectural, like buildings or natural formations(hills, caves, lakes etc) with a believable story about the origins of the proof. It could also be an event marked in history. like the eruption of a dormant volcano, death of a tyrant who might have targeted people of a particular faith.

4. Every religion needs to show an incentive to the follower to believe in it. This is the reason why every religion markets that a true believer in its faith has a great afterlife and a non-believer has hell waiting for him. It can be understood as a) follower acquisition(incentive, heaven etc) and then, b) follower retention.(fear of going to hell, if you do not believe).

5. Every religion needs highly confident/intelligent marketing manager(s) to propagate the faith and convince new members to join in.Mullahs, Fathers, Nuns, priests come under this category. 

If I decide to start a new religion, I need to take care of points 3, 4 and 5 very well. Point 2 will follow and point 1 can be proved for my God through the judicious use of point 2 and 3.

From an atheist's point of view all major religions have followed these rules very well. He believes there is no truth in the claims of these religions because he can always point out one or the other flaws that cannot be completely explained by them.
 An inquisitive true believer asks questions too, but only within the purview of the religion he follows. For questions that do not have clear enough answers he supposes that he is not "deserving" enough to "get" the answer, and hence approaches the religious manuscripts or the preachers/gurus/mullahs/fathers. 
If the religion is very well developed/framed, most of these un-answerable questions will dissolve into God, someone who can do anything and everything and should not be questioned.

Even with this outlook of religion, faith and God, I still follow a particular religion and its practices. Why?
Because religion is not just about God. It's about how to live my life without thinking too much about the whys of this world. The world is here to experience and engage it and not to keep thinking why.
 Yeah.

And frankly, who cares about the God?

Online Indian Passport application procedure

Due to my extensive experience with the passport authorities in the recent past, I have become somewhat of a passport process expert and the best thing an expert can do is share his knowledge. :)
So here I am.
Now the passport application procedure has become totally online and ONLY online. You cannot walk into the passport office and apply, unless you are applying for a diplomatic passport or a really emergency case like death of a relative etc.
Lets cut to the chase now.
Before you start reading below, if you already have a good idea about the process and just want to clear something check out the answers to questions in the comments below or the official FAQs- http://www.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/online/faqServicesAvailable.
Okay? Lets go ahead.
This is what you should do.
First Register and login here:
http://www.passportindia.gov.in/AppOnlineProject/welcomeLink
Registration needs an email and your date of birth that's all.

1. Download the passport application pdf. 
2. Fill it and Save it.( pretty simple).
3. If that does not generate a validated xml file for you, then just export the pdf to xml, open this xml file in notepad and change the “Not valid” value to “Valid” near the bottom of the file.
4. Upload this xml file to the site. No need to upload any documents.(in fact you can’t!). You can upload many applications with the same login(For eg- your and your wife’s)
5. Then just book an appointment using the manage appointment link (you can book up to 10 days in advance, meaning you’ll probably get an appointment for the next week.). For each application you’ll have to book a separate appointment. The apps are distributed into 45 min time slots starting at 9:30 and ending with the 3:30-4:15 slot. Closed on sat and sun.
6. On the day of the appointment,

• Take a printout of the appointment letter(No need to take printouts of passport application)
• Take an address proof(No IT return statements)
• Take an ID proof.
• If married, take the marriage certificate…and a copy of that. No combined affidavit or anything. That’s all.
• Take an ECR proof(10th certificate)(Degree certificate isn’t accepted. Strange, but true.)
• Take the required amount of cash.
• Be there on time. (Reporting time) Don’t be there early; you’ll have to wait unnecessarily. In fact you could be there just at the time of your appointment and you’ll be fine too, but why risk it?
• If not under tatkal scheme you are good to get it done with what I told above. For a tatkal, get an Annexure F(signed by the competent authority(check list on site) on their official letterhead and also a Xerox of their photo id signed by them. Also get an annexure I and notarise it. Get some more cash. 
• This is all you need for a new passport. For a renewal, get the copies as well as originals of your previous passports, front and back pages will do. (Also ECNR page if there’s anything there)
• If you need any modification in existing passport details, repeat the same process as for a renewal. You will need to get an address proof. The passport itself is an ID proof.

    7. Once inside the PSK you'll have a 4 stage processing before you are let out of the premises. At each stage you'll be given token numbres and you'll wait for your number to be announced. The PSKs are all centrally AC, so it ain't so bad.

• The documents check section: This section is like a movie ticket queue. Here the person across the counter will check your documents(originals as well as copies and verify if what you have brought as proofs will actually be accepted. He will send you back or give you a new appointment(mostly for the next day morning) if the proofs do not meet the criteria or are less than required or you have missed something or if there are spelling mistakes in your names or something. This is the elimination stage. You get through this stage, you'll probably get your passport application accepted. After the guy is satisfied that you have all the documents as well as copies necessary, he will print and give you a token number(barcode which you'll use to get through the turnstile and into the next stages of the process. He will also give you back all your documents and copies and put them in an office file for you.
• The identity verification and uploading section: This is where you get to sit in a nice cubicle and talk one to one. Here they'll check your docs once again, take your self attested photocopies and scan and upload them into their database. They'll also take all your finger prints and photo here. Once they are done with this they will ask you to verify if what is in the application is all correct and if you want to change or add anything here. For eg. some street name might be less or wrongly spelt in the application. Once you are okay with it, they'll take the application fees from you and give you a receipt and another token number for the next stage along with your all your documents.
• The Passport official approval: Here you get to see the actual government passport official. He'll mostly see you, check you application, may or may not ask any questions and then stamp an approval on your application. They won't ask you anything unless you have the look of a terrorist or have proofs which are obviously fake. He doesn't have enough time to chat with everyone that comes to him. He will stamp and write an approval on you token from the previous stage and ask you to go to the next stage. 
• Application receipt collection: This is the last stage. Here you collect the receipt which will have your application number which you can track online.
• Exit: These 4 stages will take anywhere from 40 mins to 2.5 hrs depending on the rush and kind of applicants who apply along with you.

NOTE: For documents- Get all the originals, Sign yourself (self-attest) on all the copies.
And there’s a copy machine inside the premises of the PSKs so don’t panic if you don’t have some copy.
Take a pen.
Don’t take a photo.

VERY IMPORTANT:
1. For all the proofs that you take, make absolutely sure that all the names are exactly as in the passport application. They will reject the proof if the names are different or have lesser prefixes or surnames or anything at all. If the names are different, that’s when you might want to look at the affidavits section in the site.
2. The payment you make is tied to the ARN number in the system and not to the login. So be very careful while filling and submitting the form. Any major mistake and you will have to fill a new form, re-apply AND ALSO REPAY to get that mistake corrected. If you still make a mistake, I suggest you try your luck once at the PSK to correct the mistake, because you will lose the money anyway.

EXTRA INFO:
And yeah, for a normal application once you have submitted the application it will take about 1 month for the police officer to come to your house for verification and about 15-20 more days for the passport to reach you. If you aren't seeing any progress you can log an RTI and get what exactly is going on with your application.
For a tatkal application you will get your passport definitely within 7 working days. The police officer will reach you within 3 weeks. Although, you should know this that you cannot leave the country without the police verification report on your passport. So plan accordingly.

Q&A -
If you made a mistake and already paid the fees, all you can do, is pray that the PSK guys accept your change. Otherwise, check point 2 in VERY IMPORTANT again.

That’s all the information you’ll need.
Enjoy your application experience! 

What is love?

The term we call love is applied to so many circumstances that it is difficult to describe it in a single context.
There is a love for all humans(because we are the same species), a love for all animals(because they are also living things, like humans)
a love for all Indians, a love for all people speaking our language,
a love for all people in your family(or not! ) and so on...

Then there is a specific love, targeted at a particular entity(living or non-living)
Love for your mom, dad, siblings.
Love for your BF, GF, Husband, Wife, kids, personalities,
Love for your guitar, for your cricket bat, for your 15 year old diary, for your keyboard and mouse(!!).

Then, there is the love for intangibles.
Love for history, love for science, love for mathematics,
love for laughter, love for God, love for love(!)...

The point is, for each kind of love there are limits you are ready to go to(or break!); in physical, mental, emotional, social, financial, spiritual realms.
Love can happen more than once in each of these fields depending on the limits that your mind is ready to go to, or has already gone to, while loving any of them.
After falling in love with one entity(living/non-living, tangible/intangible), if nothing else seems more important than it for the rest of their lives, that is what people term true love.
It's loss might lead some people into deep melancholy, depression, and ...you know the possibilities.
Some others live contentedly with whatever love they have around them.

Some others, go out in the world and experience the love for all the other things present in this world with an open mind, in the hope that there will be something else which will strike a chord with their mind. That is when they find the 'something else' which seems more important than anything else. Introducing, the second true love. :)and so on...
Now there could be more than 1 true loves at the same time too. But, the limits for them should be a non-contradicting/non-competing set.(For eg. entities in different realms, perfectly drawn boundaries etc etc). This is rarely possible.

All hunky-dory? Not quite.
Now, the problem with humans is, they change; physically, mentally, emotionally, and in all other aspects possible.
Hence the feeling of love, as it applies to different entities the person loves, also changes. It increases or decreases, the limits in the mind regarding these things change, and love itself might lose its importance in one's life(suicidal tendencies!! (alias, love of suicide :P)).
So the definition of love is different for each person and for each context, and what love means for you depends on your mental make up and the circumstances and entities you will encounter in your life.

Strawberry

I found a beautiful yet simple fable to illustrate a lesson.
A monk was being chased by a tiger and ran and ran until he got to the edge of a cliff. With the tiger in pursuit he jumped but instead of crashing to the water he luckily caught a branch. While hanging on to the branch he noticed a small bush of strawberries beside him. With the tiger above him, the water below him and the branch giving out on him the monk ate a strawberry and enjoyed it. The lesson: no matter what's behind you or in front of you always enjoy the strawberry.

Sleep

Was reading a book called "Brain Rules". The author stresses 12 principles based on research and science which he emphatically states will increase the efficiency and capacity of your brain to its maximum potential.
One very important principle is sleep.
For your brain to function well for the day as well as in the long run you need to sleep well. Have a good night's sleep and wake up fresh.
Depriving your brain of sleep over a long period of time will cause irreversible damage to some parts of it. It will kill brain cells and some of your skills along with it. So keep this in mind and learn to sleep well. Do not wake up late to watch movies or TV or to waste time on your computer or even to play games(card games etc).
It is simply put, the absolutely topmost priority for your brain's longevity. Try to imagine yourself unable to process even the simplest of things as early as 50 yrs...that would suck. So sleep well and do that daily.
Sweet dreams!

Simply inspired

What seperates you from the greatest achievers on earth?
Well...a lot of things, maybe. But one thing, and probably the most important of those things is the amount of time which an inspiration stays with you, drives you.
People call this perseverence, patience, and other things. But this is what I call it: inspiration. We do everything in life for something. That something is what becomes inspiration when you try to achieve something.
Great quotes give you inspiration. Your Dad's words, people's achievements, someone's attention :), sometimes even a humiliation gives you inspiration.
Some people start working vigorously when they get that inspiration, some decide to work, some just get inspired and go on with their life as usual or just don't care about it.
You will achieve something only if you are in the first or the third group. The second strategy never works out.
The achievements of the first will then actually depend on how long that inspiration stays with him. It is this quality that differentiates great people from the not-so-great. If you read the biographies of great people, they never forget the events and things in their lives that inspired them, changed them. That is why they become what they are.
The third kind will include people who get inspired by themselves and nothing else. This is another group of people who can achieve great things, though it is very difficult to inspire yourself all the time and especially when the chips are down.
Whatever be your category, self-inspired or externally inspired, how long you can stay inspired is what will decide how much you can achieve.

Some crap -2

Some time pass ones from me…..(inspired by a similar mail)

Socha main Ghar jaaon aaj cycle par,
To kampne lage mere pair thar thar thar thar …

Jaaon kahan bata eh dil..
Jaaon kahan bata eh dil..
Clinton ka First name hai Bill.

Chupke chupke maine use dekha…
Chupke chupke maine use dekha…
Meri favourite actress hamesha rahegi Rekha.. :P

Yeh joke jo maine logon pe feka,
Koi na hansa mar ke thahaka.
Gusse mein aake jo de diya maine ek ko mukka,
Sare logon ne mil ke mujhe jee bhar ke thoka.
Ek bande ne cheekh ke sab ko roka,
Fir kaha ki yaaron break le lete hain, main ho gaya thoda thaka!
Mauka dekh ke main jo wahan se bhaga,
Jaise aa gayi ho mujhme ek PT Usha.
Bhagte hue raste mein tha ek police ka naka,
Pakadne ek mujrim ko, jisne dala tha daka.
Mujhe dekh puliswale ne apna lath feka,
socha ki main hi hun jo bhag raha tha dal ke daka.
Lathi se bachne ke liye main jo bhagte hue jhuka,
mere piche aata hua banda ho gaya hakka-bukka.
chat se maine paas ek auto ko roka,
aur bola " Chal bhai, le chalo mujhe ghar, yehi hai mera mauka"
Ghar panhuch ke kampte kampte maine TV jo ON kiya,
Pehli hi gend pe mar diya sachin ne zabardast chakka.
Fir Sehwag ne mil ke jo Australia ko dhoya,
Aaj ke sare dukh dard main khushi khushi bhool gaya.
Yehi hai apne is kahani ki seekh,
ki har dard ki dawa hai Sachin and sehwag ki crickeeet.

Shukriya... Shukriya....

The attraction of the pencil

For the past few weeks, months even, I've been kind of attracted, absorbed and in fact totally consumed by this unstoppable passion to write cursive handwriting using pencils. Its absolutely addictive and ridiculously enjoyable, and I am unable to focus on my life in any small amount. I've got these wonderful notebooks in the Microsoft campus which look more like diaries than notebooks, and then there are these pen-pencil type pencils which you click at the back to make a litle more lead come out of the front of the pencil and then write with it.
I've always been fascinated by beautiful cursive writing and I have always dreamed of writing those beautiful letters...with my own hand, and as much as I want, whenever I want.
I am trying to make that dream come true. I write all my tasks for the day using that pencil in that beautiful notebook and then write descriptions for each task and then, elaborate on how I am going to go about doing it and go to great lengths, using the most flowy, the most verbose language that I can use, to describe all that is going to be done by me and what I am going to assign the team and God knows what not. I love writing with those pencils so much. My manager sits beside me and I won't blame him if he thinks that I am a freak. More than 50% of my day is spent bent over that notebook. I hope I will be able to write those magically beautiful letters in the same magically beautiful style some day. I think I am going to start writing those olden days snail mails again.
-To beautiful cursive handwriting!

The importance of dreaming

"I still dream -- without dreams, life is flat, you stagnate." -Sachin
Excellent words! One needs to understand the importance of dreams to go forward in life. To be happy, to look forward to every new day with enthusiasm, they are one of the most important ingredients.
Without dreams, there is no passion. Without passion there is no true effort, without effort there is no movement. and without movement, stagnation results. Stagnation in the short term can be viewed as contentedness. But in the longer run, it leads to confusion, frustration and ultimately an unsatisfied life.
So never stop dreaming, and never stop pursuing your dreams.
-Kirthi

Some crap

Why does anyone write a blog?
Why do I write a blog?
Just to say what I want to say and read it myself, and also let others read it and enjoy or know me or just to air some view or just plain write something when I feel like.
You know for loong, I have been concerned with how my current blog might effect my current image and future relations and my own feelings and image of my past self when I see the blogs in the future. Its unnecessarily complicated to think and now it seems truely dishonest if I miss to reflect my correct current thought process. But, I also know that this is not my diary, so it is alright if I don't publish everything I write.

Well, thats all! This episode of "Some crap" ends here.

Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar

It is fitting that the player regarded world over as the best one day player ever scores the first double ton in ODI history.
To be able to do what he has done over the past 20 years is phenomenal, unbelievable and for most people, the definition of unattainable. He has reached the limits of the humanly achievable and now toying with the unthinkables. His records now stand as a city of walls that people can only dream of breaking. It does not seem possible that another man will ever be born who can surpass him in even half the areas he now leads the world in. No matter how much praise you pour on him, it will never really express the feeling that people have for him. That is the greatness of Sachin. On field as well as off-field, he is respected and looked up to. He is a man fit to be called a true Champion of this world. The moment people see him, they find joy in their hearts. He gives them hopes, he gives them cheer. His presence is a panacea for cricket lovers. Tragedy, disease, disability, everything blurs when people watch him play. He is a hero. He is a true genius. He is, deservingly, the man, who people call GOD.