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Written on Sunday, November 04, 2007 by Rohan Koshy

Love isn't Blind, it just needs glasses.
The ups and downs, the rights and wrongs,
The Gut wrenching lows followed by the euphoric highs,
Love is Love for all it's reasons
The One thats really makes it stick,
Is that end, after all that's said and done
It's all worth it.

Crawl.Walk.Run.Fly.Crash.

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Written on Monday, September 17, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


Are you tired? Stressed and stretched ? I didn't realise that everyone has managed to catch this very same boat. Fatigue is simply the no 1 reason why people feel so damn pissed with life.24 Hours are just not enough anymore are they? You have to be superhuman, and basically in six places at the same time. Better give it everything at work so that you don't get a reputation of a slacker. Just remember to get off work early enough so that you can go and meet your friends for dinner before you go off to party with some OTHER friends. Just remember to be everything to everyone. Just remember to forget about what you really want.

One of the reasons we're so tired is that we absolutely HAVE to have an opinion about everyone. I'm starting to realise how much of a strain this ends up being. Try to recognise a situation when you sit at the food court. You see many of the same faces everyday. Every time you see someone you make a thousand perceptions? Is he/she better looking. is he/she a good dresser, is he/she noticing me, and if so am i happy about that?. Now think of the strain when you do it for 200 people EVERYDAY.

Competition is something that really tires you out. Everyone knows that. The problem of competition isn't as simple as it seems but it has an underlying Genesis in the generation of "will". This generation has been taught you can achieve anything if you try hard enough. "Will" has replaced "faith" which was the buzzword of the last generation. The whole problem with "will" is that it makes a mockery of your intelligence and your emotions. Now I'm not saying that we shouldn't try hard enough but the problem is that when your told you can achieve anything you want like this your likely to try so hard that you can never rest peacefully.You work harder and harder and harder because your "will" will win in the end. It's something like this. Take your axe. Spend every second of your life sharpening the hell out of it and then keep chopping off trees.
At the end of all the hacking and chopping you'll realise that your in the WRONG forest. So what's happening is that you have all this super-intensive daily routines which are meant to achieve all your goals. Ill give you a perfect example of this super intensiveness : Work hard, Party harder. The know-it all , do-it all generation. Competition creates a sense of urgency , a feeling that makes you tense every second of the day when your not working. Your muscles are tense and your Will is so strong that your trying to achieve it all at whatever the cost. Fortunately our bodies and minds are not meant to function that way. That's why you can't keep to so many time tables. Eventually you fall off the competition bandwagon. The problem is that people start feeling worse because EVERYONE else is WINNING. So your losing. Win or Lose.This produces frayed nerves, intense will , broken dreams and shattered happiness. This is the religion of success that everyone follows now.Basically this religion demands that half way down the birth canal you better put on your Nike shoes and your Ipod and get ready to RUN.As fast you can, even if you don't know where your going.
So it's time to change the religion.
Use your head. Do what makes you happy and don't escape reality.

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Written on Friday, August 31, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


Life is Beautiful. God Bless.

Breaking Point

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Written on Monday, August 20, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


Crossroads and Certainty. That's what we all wish for. When you come to a point where a major decision you wish you had the certainty so that what you need to do is so clear that's it's not really even a choice.We've all come to these points quite a few times in the recent past. In college the cushion of security allows us to not worry about ourselves and just enjoy ourselves. In the real world, and i mean the real world is not in college, your out in the open,There are no visible rules, there is very little fairness and the non-linearity is absolute. In the past year i have had major breaking points.

The beauty of a breaking point is that it's always unexpected, a point where a decision made or NOT made can have massive consequences. If you believe there are no second chances at these points, then the weight of these decisions becomes apparent to you.I find that in life, you cant go back and do things again to make them right. I wish i had realised this in college. I guess it's called experience.

Recently i watched roger federer playing in the wimbledon finals going for a record equalling 5th title.Rafael nadal was actually playing better than him and i thought he was going to beat him.I realised that for federer it was maybe the biggest breaking point so far. At the end of the 4th set, nadal had all the momentum and all the pace.If it continued then federer would lose and with it would go the chance of equalling the record and more importantly having the chance to surpass.The only man in history.This is a breaking point. If you don't do the right thing here, there's no second chance.EVER.He came through.Wrote his place in history.With the speed of life we run at, every second counts.

Unfortunately for the last one year i have seen that the significance of these points are lost to some. If you use the same thought process for these decisions as the one you use to choose your toothpaste, you'll wonder why "fate" has smacked you in the face.Quantum levels jumps in your life occur only sometimes, but when they do, there's no going back.Do u stay in a job or quit. Do u continue in a relationship despite the hurt just holding on to your faith. Do you get into one hoping it all works out?.Where do you go from here?Inside. That's where we go for help.The internal compass.That's the guide that's unique to each one of us.I think somewhere deep down each one of us realises that only we can make decisions for ourselves. We've started to realise that if you're not sure of of where to go, you're truly lost and time is running at an awesome pace and there's almost no way to go back.I'm now averse to taking advice from people because i realise that only i know truly what i want.We go inside. Breaking point to quantum leap.

The age of talk

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Written on Tuesday, August 07, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


Who are the real producers in the world? Who are the ones who drive the world? Who are the individuals who are pulling all of us forward? Answer : -The one’s who work and don’t talk to much. However they’re not in ‘ fashion’ today. Oh no they aren’t what WE want anymore.
These days how you say it and who you say it to are really more important than What you’re saying. So what we have now is an age where you have a few pulling many. The age where there are more pretenders than producers.

Recently I sat in on a soft skills session at work. Soft skills are the skills that you develop so that you can communicate more EFFECTIVELY. Ironically I found that many, no, most of the people there already knew all the ‘flash’ words that you’re supposed to know. ‘Active listening’, assertiveness and all that jazz. However the real change I saw in people at the end of that session was practically zero. In what was one really funny scene, a guy who has no patience and never listens to anyone and is so hard headed and set in his ways went on to talk about active listening. After listening to the hypocrisy I observed that he promptly went on boss over everyone else and did absolutely zero ‘active listening’ and proceeded to ruin the whole exercise.

This is the feature of times we live in. We know all the words. Be open, be positive, think out of the box, I think therefore I am. Those are just a few of the lines that spew from the mouths from just everyone. In the age of Internet and non-existent information borders everyone knows everything. It’s so sad to observe that all they are are words now. Nothing else. Maybe that’s why I almost cant watch anything on TV anymore. I prefer to watch all the fiction programming than the shows which are interviews with your film and sports stars. Take the case with music. I mean at some point you have to get bored with all those rappers who think they’re the best thing since sliced bread. You have money and you have 15 girls and huge mansions. We get it. But every song is about their ‘Bling’. You DON’T have class. I like rap but I don’t like most of those rappers. Even modern rock is all about rock bands crying about how they didn’t get love from their parents and how their girlfriends cheated on them and how their god’s greatest gift to us. That’s why you gotta love the old bands like Floyd and dire straits.

Marketing is absolutely the best example of all this. All flash and cash. Marketing is so far away from reality that it can get you to dream that you can become someone who looks like brad Pitt and think like Einstein. Every ad ends with the guy using the product and getting not one , but usually two girls to like him. Fantastic. Focus on everything that will not make you good at what you do.
When you go to a mall, do you ever get the feeling that everybody looks the same now? I mean we all wear the same clothes. Because everyone is wearing what’s ‘in’ this season, ironically they ALL look the same.

Even when i read blogs you notice people using poetic language to describe some very plain vanilla incidence. So a simple post turns into some sort of Shakespearean sonnet describing everything about the weather, the stars , the trees, birds and pollution levels of the place where the incident happened. It's all so wordy.

In the past, you were known by what you did not what you said. Then of course people got bored of it because there was no flash, no panache, no hype marketing behind it. It was not good to ‘look’ at. So now everyone is great at the presentation, the face.
But look under the surface and you’ll notice that the principles have not changed. The ones who produce, the ones who do, the ones who are working away not talking are the ones driving us forward. These are the ones I have to respect the most. Ironically these are the people who get paid the most. And most people wonder why. This is why the roger federers, sachin tendulkars and steven speilbergs of the world earn astronomical amounts.

I must admit that I belong to wrong side of this equation. For the longest time I used to love the people who could talk well and talk a lot. So I was like that too. All fart and no shit :P. But now I find an increasing affinity to the ones that don’t talk so much, the ones that don’t crib so much (everyone cribs a little, that’s OK ) but just are focused. These are the Go-to people. The ones who you talk to when you need to get something done. Always busy, they just have no time to waste. Especially at work I notice that in a team of 20 there will be 3 or 4 people who are relied upon all the time while the rest are just managing to get by. I like the technical people now, because they run things, they don’t talk. They actually walk the talk.

This is the age where how well you talk and how well you present yourself is of utmost importance. How you say it is now more important than what you say. The age of presentation. The age of Talk.

Friction

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Written on Monday, July 30, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


Today was a frustrating day. You get these days where everything seems like a struggle. The sort of days where doing anything seems to take all your energy from you. I started to realise that this sort of friction is something that we just don't expect to have in our lives. You're basically hard wired to function so that what you really expect is that things will go to plan. This ofcourse is a fallacy, one i think most everyone including me struggles to accept in their lives. I mean this really is how we progress.

Nothing really goes to plan. You're always making adjustments to your plans. As someone once said "Planning is invaluable, but plans are useless". I agree with that statement. I don't know why but for us, the struggle with which we get things done is the norm of life, not the exception. Yet we continue all our lives to expect that things will pan out smoothly

Planning an evening with friends is an experience in frustration .So is getting all the paperwork in order for any sorta admission. It's like everything takes work. But we are forever struggling with inertia. The inertia that forms a dull thud in the back of your mind, saying that dont work so damn hard, sleep for ten minutes more, there is time before you need to leave.

I find it really funny that we seem to be continously fighting the urge to just rest, to sit and relax. Now everytime your mind says to chill, you have to fight it and say no!. This i hope doesnt continue for the rest of my life because maybe that's what self mastery is all about.

Life is an obstacle race. There are absolutely no straight, paved roads. It's filled with u-turns and potholes. Come to think of it, all human progress is like that. Two steps forward, one step back. You get a nelson mandela, and you get a world war too. Our progress is written in blood, over and over again. We cant follow the brain, we actually follow our hearts. We acknowledge this but never admit to the extent of it's truth. This is ironically part of the source of progress and the friction inhibiting it.

Life isn't perfect. NOT.EVER. This is just how it is. There's never enough time in a day, you never really feel comfortable with your body, you don't like the your level of competence. There's always a better job, always a way to earn more money, someone who looks better than you better clothes, bigger car, a better life.
STOP.

Mortality

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Written on Friday, July 27, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


It's happened again. Just like that i've lost someone. You were here and now your gone. You will be missed my friend. Rest in Peace :((

Global Culture

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Written on Friday, July 20, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


We truly are the luckiest generation of Indians so far. I mean there are no boundaries and no limits to what we can do now. The geographies have all faded. The world truly is flat ( and no I'm not saying it because it's the slogan at my workplace)

The other day i happened to eavesdrop on a very lovely conversation on the way the changes in the world have now impacted the Indian culture. The guy basically was saying that Indian culture has now been degraded because of the influence of the effects of globalization.

I don't completely disagree with that statement, but i think a bigger issue now presents itself. Global culture. This word i think captures it now. We no longer live in a time where our cultures are distinct.
That may have been ten or fifteen years ago but not anymore.
The cultures are now blurred and a little indistinct. That's not to say that they have lost their originality, because that's the selling point isn't it? That's what's attracts the people from other cultures to us and us to them

Global culture really means that we now have a culture that's cannot just be defined just as pure Indian culture. It's a bit more than that.We're listening to global music.
The same music that debuts around the world is what we listen to. The fashion industry here is in tune with the rest of the world.We're listening to our ipod's, wearing our Nike's and listening to Greenday. This by the way is not american culture.
It's global. What happens in England, brazil or russia influences us just as much now.
We're implementing various Japanese technologies, using things like KAIZEN in our companies. My sister is learning Japanese and i know many people who already know Japanese.
Culture is spread very effectively through language and so we're imbibing all this culture from all around.

The Indian influence is now being felt everywhere. Hindi is everywhere. Bollywood is in the mainstream news all the time and expanding more and more. Yoga is in every country and every organisation now. And our culture spreads through these mediums to all the globe.

The cultures are now diffused. That's sounds good to me. Things like having faith in god, understanding and respecting people are now being mixed with the west's innovation driving, risk- tasking, easy going, partying culture. Add to it the far east's continuous improvement, zen culture and the like.
I haven't even mentioned the cultures from England and from south America and the middle east.

I am who i am. Global Citizen.

Strength and Dignity

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Written on Wednesday, July 04, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


Captain (Dr.) Rajshree Gupta, Army Medical Corps (AMC), salutes the tricolour-draped coffin of her husband, Major Vivek Gupta of the 2nd Rajputana Rifles, who died fighting the enemies at kargil.

Thats how to handle what life throws at you with strength and dignity

What i've learnt in one year

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Written on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 by Rohan Koshy

1. Figure out where your wanna go in life. Fast.Dont wait.
Frustration will grow if the actions you take are not coherent with the dreams you hold on to

2. People are different.
While that seems like a self-evident truth the impact of it is not visible until you actually live away from from home. Even though i'm not far away from home i now realise that not everyone is like me. There are fundamental differences in the way people think, act and in the things they believe. People from pune are not similar to people from other cities. Same goes for people from chennai and bangalore. This causes you to ironically be aware of what you like and what you want.I imagine this effect must be magnified for those not living in India now.

3. Life gets complicated after college.
Things arent simple any more. Why that is i'm not sure, but i'm sure it is so

4. Don't Trust people with everything you have until you've actually seen them go through a hard time or have been through one with them
I used to trust completely before, but unfortunately now i reserve my complete trust for only a select few. When the tough times come, people wilt, strong relationships shatter, and people choose to walk away rather than grit their teeth and get through it. Everyone really does seem to be in it only for themselves

5. Life isn't fair at all
What you deserve really is not too much bother to anyone else. Simply because they're busy wanting what they want. So you have to ask for what you want, and you have to grab for it.

6. The only exams you have to give are the ones you CHOOSE to give
While that should have been the norm from the start, now you only go the way you want to go. Nobody is forcing you to do anything with your life. Ironically it forces you to ask what you want and then go for it. I imagine thats how the system should have been designed in the first place.

7. Life is difficult but rewarding because your standing on the shoulders of giants.
Will explain when i write the next post.

8. Just because the coffee is free doesnt mean you have to drink tons of it. :-)

9. A vehicle is an absloute must!

10.The bed that you sleep on must be comfortable. Absolutely.

11. You CAN make extremely good friends even if you dont share common interests.

12. Many People in IT companies really have nothing to do except crib. And forward mails :P

13. When things fall apart they do so spectacularly.Life goes on. Run with it. Roll with the puches. Tomorrow is another day.

What the Heck

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Written on Thursday, June 28, 2007 by Rohan Koshy

I recieved this mail recently... It's been circulating around all the IT companies for a while now.
Have a read

I would like to express my transition from real freedom to assumed freedom. I am here talking about my transition from my college to the booming IT industry. I would like to pour my one year experience of the so called glamorous and fun filled IT industry.
We used to wander those spacious heat filled open grounds and dirty class rooms with just 50Rs. in pocket and plan the whole week with that budget. But now we wander along the well cleaned, fully air-conditioned corridors with about five to six credit cards in our pocket planning where to swipe the cards. Credit cards eagerly waiting to eat next month's salary. I can't believe that it was just one year before that the 50Rs. seemed to be lacks now, lacks seems to be nothing.
College canteen, Tea shops were the favorite hot spots where we spent hours together, having a hearty chat with our buddies forgetting the whole world. But now Cafe Day, Quickies, Baristas have taken those places. What a coffee cost 2.5Rs last year has now gone up to 50Rs a cup.
Those precious days where we used to laugh for nothing, while chatting or while playing or even when you fail in your paper because you have got 30 marks for a empty paper. But now you rarely smile except the smile for the forward you just received or the smile to your PM to impress him.
Hate ness and Ego were the words you haven't heard in those days. You smash or hit your friend for some reason and the next moment you walk along him with hands on his shoulders. But now you doesn't like the guy sitting beside you because he's getting a salary 10k greater that you or he's always being appreciated by your PM. True friends are hard to find here
In college if some one is talking badly about your college you can find your blood boiling inside even though you don't like your principal. But here loyalty is the lost word, whenever someone is talking badly about your company you join them to criticize your company. You join the company with the resignation day in the mind, is this loyalty. Don't mind I have also planned my resignation date.
You have seen the late nights only on the eve of the exam, where you rely on your friend to wake him/ her at night 1 or 2. And how can we forget those last minute tensions in exam, you remember that only just before entering the exam you find that you have forgotten to revise a important question that your friend suggested that it will surely appear on this exam. You rush back and flip those Xeroxed pages with tension. But today you work at least 2 days a week till 1 or 2 in the night to deliver something to your unknown client who is at US or UK. You are aimlessly typing at the useless word document that your PM asked you to finish with his tailor made smile. Loads of tension with calls from home, with your eye lids eager to kiss each other and you promise them to allow it a little later, cursing Bill Gates for inventing MSWord.
Writing all these to celebrate my first anniversary at this field. It seems I have been in my own desert where I have realized that I am moving from the warmth ness of the Oasis to chase a mirage. A mirage that promises a lot of thing, but still its just a mirage. When I turn back I can find thousands chasing that mirage with a ID card around their neck. I wish all the best for them.


I feel really sick reading these sorta mails. This is my response to that

1. You used to roam around with 50 bucks and you were happy. Now you have six credit cards and your not. Your blaming your job for that. It's called growing up. Get over it. And i dont have six credit cards. I dont even have one. No one asked you to get a credit card and if you got one, the try purchasing the brains to use it as well.

2. You had tea for 2.5 rs but it costs 50 at barista? So what . Go eat where you want. Nobody told you to go to barista just because you work in IT. It's called consumer choice.

3. You smiled once. You don't now. Awww.. your life is sad. If your job makes you so sad then quit. Everyone loved getting through exams by studying at the last minute. Unfortunately it works ONLY in college. So get over it.

4. Company gossip.... jesus.

5. You loved doing work only for one night in a semester. Now because you have to work more than once in a week you're complaining. In the real world people have to give it everything everyday to succeed, because if you dont then someone else WILL.
BALLS i hate this crap. Blame everyone else for your life..... culture

Accurate and thankfully not Realistic

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Written on Wednesday, June 20, 2007 by Rohan Koshy




Don't let your enthusiasm wane, a virtue as valuable as it is necessary; work, have aspirations, and shoot always for the moon... there where only the CHAMPIONS tread.
Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish

The winds that shaped my life

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Written on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


This list by no means complete or exhaustive but for now these are few things i can remember.I think ill add to it as time rolls on


* The Death of two loved ones(2 years apart)
In death, life becomes clear. The sudden death of a loved one (twice) has shaken me beyond belief. The fragility of life has dawned upon me. It makes me cling to the ones i love with all i have now.It truly has changed my life.


* Love and pain
The first relationship is always a roller coaster. It sure was with me. Simultaneously being the most beautiful thing to happen to me and one of the most painful, it was an exquisite mix of emotions for 18 months.I have never learnt more than through the terrible pain and incredible joy of those days.

*Unrequited Love
The Second time.Mature Love this time. Unrequited. wow it hurt.

*Google
Knowledge is power. Google is power. At your fingertips.

*My Splendor (Technically my friend's bike)
Ill never forget that motorcycle. The freedom. The feeling. I love it . Eternally indebted to my best friend.

*Running
My heart pounding and thoughts overflowing. Rhythmic motion and Motionless at the same time. May be the best thing about myself I've discovered.

*The matrix
My favourite movie of all time. Smart filmmaking. I'm a fanatic.

*Books.
No not the stuff i learnt in school.The books i read out of self interest. Any page can change your thoughts for ever. Happens to me every second book i read.

*Coldplay
Favourite Band. Just awesome. The music that fixes my mood whenever i need to. That's powerful music.

*The Beepers.
Most people have 1 best friend . I have a whole gang. I consider myself lucky. Really lucky.Also included are my 2 best friends in Melbourne

*Getting 55 p.c marks in 6th semester.
Life will teach you the same lesson over and over again until you learn it. You can't move on to the next lesson until you've mastered the one you're presently taking.It taught me to get rid of the excuses.
*Manchester United and Real Madrid
My teams. i can see why guys would rather watch this than hang around with chicks sometimes. :-). No ..wait a tick.... even the chicks enjoy it now :)...!!

*Orkut and Yahoo messenger.
All my friendships have strengthened through these portals. One special friendship has started through orkut. I'm grateful.Whether my friends are in Pune, Australia or in the USA, they re never far away.

*My family.
Funny to say that my family has changed my life. It's the same for everybody i guess, but even so....a totally cool and relaxed family is a rarity nowadays.

*Living away from parents.
It's a lot of fun. It also gives you a new sense of respect for your parents. You realise what a pain the a** you can be to them sometimes. They don't even say anything.:). But seriously living with 3 other guys is just fun.

*Computer Games
Maybe the most time consuming activity in my life, I've gotten countless hours of enjoyment from games like Diablo2, starcraft, warcraft, Quake 3 (DM17!!), Unreal, half-life, Grand theft auto, Deus Ex, Splinter Cell, NFS and Half- life. Consider me a Gamer 4 life .

We've Got OUR TITLE BACK!

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Written on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


9 TIMES BABY!!!!

Necessity Sabki Maa Hoti Hai.

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Written on Monday, May 21, 2007 by Rohan Koshy

My post bachelorism received a good response. So i thought I'd try and write a few more instances which showcase the apathy with which bachelors live sometimes .The perfect day was this last Saturday.It all started on Friday night when me and my roommate decided to go watch spider man-3 once and for all. We hadn't gotten tickets for the last two weeks and decided to be "Proactive" and do something about it. So we decided that come hell or high water we would watch the web-slinger on the big screen.So we go to sleep on Friday pretty proud of ourselves because of the fact that we actually made a decision.We would leave the house at 12 noon( in Chennai heat no less) and catch a 2.30 show hopefully.

Well Saturday morning came and we got up at 9.30 cos it got too hot to sleep. Now for the first time since we moved to Chennai me and my roommate decided that we'd go for a haircut just after we got up. We've NEVER ( i mean that) taken a decision that fast. We get up and realise that there is NO electricity. The heat has already started to irritate us now and having no fan is making me sweat like i was working at a blast furnace.Undeterred by the bad start to the day, me and friend go off and get a haircut . We're back home at 11 now and 1 hour to go.We decide to have a bath. There's only one problem. There's no water in the overhead tank!. Oh crap. Even so, all we have to do is switch on the motor which pumps water to the tank. But there's no God damn ELECTRICITY!!... so now we've both had a haircut and we're getting that feeling which you get just after you get a haircut and before having a bath. YUCK.Plus we're sweating in the heat... Now I'm really ticked off not to mention itchy.. it's 11.30.

I'm hungry too. So we decide to have something to eat so that if we're stuffing our faces we won't be cribbing so much. There's no milk, no bread and no damn BUTTER. i mean Come on! really. All the planets have really aligned today. We're really lazy i know but do we deserve such a magnitude of punishment?? :P. Damn you Murphy and damn your laws too.It's 12 now.

We decide to have lunch. We use a 20 litre can of water that we buy for 25 bucks for drinking purposes. We realise that today there's almost no water left.(of course there's no water TODAY) So we ask the guy who helps us to get another one. He says there are NO cans left. This pushes my mental state from "Ticked off" to " Really Pissed off". In case you can't keep up with all the tragedies till now, here's a recap :- we're itchy cos of the haircut, sweaty because apparently the Electricity board wants to show us what the stone ages were like, we're hungry because we're lazy and we have no water to either EAT OR BATHE. The best part is that if we hadn't had a haircut I'd have just gone for the movie without having a damn bath. But now i can't do that. So much for being PROACTIVE :P

My room mate decides that he'll make some Dal. But in keeping with the theme for the day we don't have enough water to actually make the Dal or any rice. We're almost going mental at this point. Suddenly a light bulb glows above my head and i realise we have 3 eggs in the fridge. Oh yeah. My roommate proceeds to make the omlette look like a masala dosa but who gives a crap. We eat like cavemen eating for the first time. We don't even have enough water to wash our hands properly.Then like the light at the end of the tunnel our helper guy shows up with a Can of Water!! oh yeah i almost decide to give him another 10 bucks. Yeah well almost. So now we have water to drink so we drink a lot just in case we wont' get any later. You never know ...the way this day is going.

When the options run out, everyone comes up with solutions. That's what happened. Now we've at least taken care of our food and drinking water situation partially. But we cant get to the movie till we have a damn bath. It's 2 now. We can still catch the show at 4 if we leave now. For the first time in my life i haven't had a bath even FOUR hours after a haircut.So i come up with a solution Einstein would be proud of (hehe). We buy ANOTHER CAN OF WATER FOR 25 BUCKS SO WE CAN BATHE WITH THE WATER!! How creative is that??? I swear we couldn't believe we're paying 25 bucks for a bath. But NECESSITY SABKI MAA HOTI HAI.So we did. I take the sanitized, triple purified( or whatever) water and fill one "balti" full so i can have a bath. I've never had a bath with such "pavitra pani" but now i feel as fresh as i can ever feel.I Check on my roommate and he's taken our creativity one step further. I had commented in the morning that freezer had so much ice formed that we couldn't put any bottles in it.So he decided CHIP OFF ALL THE ICE AND PUT IN THE BUCKET SO HE CAN HAVE A COLD WATER BATH.!!!That way even the freezer is clear or ice!. Damn. That really was something to see.So we were ecstatic. We went to see the movie. I didn't like it at all.. The review is maybe the next post.

Anyways that was really the day... i don't really know how to even end this.

The Lack of Discipline

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Written on Monday, May 14, 2007 by Rohan Koshy

Over the last 2 years i have managed (somehow) to lose about 12 kgs of weight doing regular exercise..I have also managed to keep it off for the last six months not having exercised at all. While I'm not close to my ideal weight and still plump I'm pretty fit. A few friends have asked how i lost weight. They commented saying that "You have a lot of discipline".

The word discipline has got me thinking a lot. Over the years the word discipline has been battered into our brains by every adult figure that we know. The word suggests that you become adept at doing all those things (on time) that you actually don't want to do. I think of myself as lazy and indisciplined to the core. This is why when friends tell me that i have "discipline" i laugh straight back at them. I feel discipline (as it is perceived now) is an ugly word. Achievement has precious little to do with discipline and a lot to do with enthusiasm. I never go running or to the gym because i want to but because i LIKE to. That's it. That's all. That's the only reason. I don't get up and force myself to go. I look forward to it. Some people call that discipline. I call it following your heart. I'm not going trekking everyday to lose weight because i don't enjoy it as much as i do running.

This extends to all the areas of life i guess. The ones who study a lot may seem to have discipline but really they are doing what they WANT to do. It's not that they don't want to party away their lives, but that they want to do something and achieve something MORE than they want to party all the time. Ironically the only place u have to force yourself to do something is at school or college where your forced to learn some irrelevant subjects :-)

The thing is when some friends ask me what sort of exercise they should do to lose weight i tell them to do something they like. Play badminton or basketball or something. Sounds simple and it is. If someone doesn't like the gym why do they persist in going? You only end up quitting and feeling worse. I'm not really an achiever but I'm blessed to have some very ambitious and hard working friends. As i look at them i realise that they re good at those things which NATURALLY appeal to them. That's it. They all have off days but what gets them back doing it is just the fact that if they don't do it they can't live with themselves.
So i guess if u don't LIKE it, don't do it.

Bachelorism

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Written on Saturday, May 05, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


Ahh yes i feared that someday my present living conditions would reach the those shambolic levels of laziness that i would find it really funny to write about it. I live with three other bachelors. Maybe that's enough information for anyone. In case you don't read the rest of this post you can be comforted in the knowledge that all the cliches about bachelors that you've heard are all absolutely true. All those who are intent on wasting their life's moments can read on.

Hmmm where does one start. I think ill start with the fact that the house in a 2BHK row house with a multiple level terrace. The terrace allows for very relaxing beer drinking sessions on Saturday evenings. Usually these nights entail four bachelors venting their frustrations at generally everything that goes on in their life. That's the good news. Now comes the bad news. Well we can't start the bad news without a special mention to the ants and the dead cockroaches that inhabit our home. They live amongst us and enjoy a very nice comfortable stay while we pay their rent. The water we drink very often has ants (and their families) taking a nice swim
to save themselves from the heat. Dead cockroach wings can be found in many places since we kill the cockroaches and the ants eat everything leaving the wings. In essence we have a symbiotic relationship with them.

On every window and door we find that cobwebs have found a comfortable home, one they know will never be disturbed. Even the bedsheets that now serve as curtains have learnt to live with the cobwebs. Dust and dirt are everywhere, most notably changing the colour of the fan to what maybe now an indescribable colour. I'm not sure what the fan colour was originally.

The TV lies on the floor in a pocket of dust which of course will never be cleaned because we only clean dirt which is directly in line of sight. The washing machine has a unique position right next to the kitchen sink. So the same water that we use to wash our 'bartans' is the same that washes our clothes. The water after washing proceeds to directly flood our veranda. This has had a unique effect that plants i.e. weeds have started to grow right in the middle of the veranda thanks to the detergent rich output from the washing machine.

The switchboard for one the bedrooms lies out of it's socket exposing wires to anyone who doesn't like his life anymore ( i just sweeped of four ants off the computer table..). I've failed to mention that clothes lie everywhere since that is the only way we can keep track of where they are. So now my pants lie right next to my books for easy access. All the shaving equipment lies right on top of the fridge. I did buy a bulb (in January) because my bathroom light was out. I haven't fixed it yet...so i just have a bath in the dark at night. Next to my bed lies a bottle of water which was filled the last time when my old roommate moved out in November. I'm still not lazy enough to drink that water though.One of the bathrooms is dirty as hell. Thank god i use the one that's pretty clean.

Beer bottles lie in most areas of the house particularly on the roof. The only thing outnumbering it are the number of milk bottles. No wait the plastic bags and associated kachra outnumbers that too... We try to shove the all of it under the stairs...unsuccessfully of course...
Well that's as much that can really be said about home sweet home. Thank god nobody visits.

Soul

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Written on Sunday, April 29, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


I can't believe that your gone.... i can't believe that life can end just like that. With no warning and no goodbyes. I'm stunned and frustrated. Life is so fragile. I remember the road to your house and how i played there. I remember all the good times you gave me. The Influence that you are to me. How much you meant to so many ...Thanks for being the person that you were. You will be missed. Forever. Rest in Peace :-(

Achievement Vs Experience

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Written on Thursday, March 29, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


Reading a book opens your mind. Since each book is a reflection of the thoughts of the author each book represents a window into the mind of a great person.

I'm working at my first job and and on the bad days you start to wonder why you're doing it. This is where the conflict between experience and achievement comes in.
As students we all want to achieve great things. We hold the belief that the ideas we are having are the ones that will change the world. Having read about great thinkers and visionaries reinforces that belief. When you get to working you start to realise that the time you spend away from work is very important i.e the your personal life.

This usually is the precursor to the thoughts that are the reason for this post. In the age of hyper achievement how much do you want to achieve and how much do you want to experience in life. Now in no way am i saying you can't have both at the same time but these two are usually at least semi-exclusive. I realise that judging by achievement makes the world a not so happy place. We love the Bill gates and the Micheal Jordans but we also adore those that spend their life travelling and seeing the world. You love it when you win on your own strength but you also love it when you just sit on the sidelines and shout yourself to a sore throat supporting your favourite team.

Living away from home and away from friends and family allows for a "sunlight through a lens" type focus towards your work but doesn't allow you to experience life the way you might otherwise. These of course are thoughts that are fleeting yet each time they leave a small footprint in your head. These footprints get deeper with each "thought instance" until they have a constant presence of your mind. Of course I'm presenting only the negatives but not the the numerous positives like personal growth, new friends and experiencing a cultural richness that is different from your own

The last paragraph was digressing from the topic i realise but it was a practical example of Achievement V Experience. i guess if i can hazard an answer it would be that you have to know yourself well enough to know what trade off your willing to give. In the end it's all about your happiness. One of my roommates has very little desire to spend his life in high pressure jobs (even if they pay a lot). While some time ago, i would have perceived this lack of ambition as disgusting , now I'm at peace with it. He's happy and maybe that's all that matters. He'd rather experience the bliss of a happy family life with holidays and time spent travelling rather then spend nights awake achieving and earning. And i don't blame him.
So make up your mind as to what brings you happiness because not all of us will change the world.

So you can be smart as hell or just stick your tongue out at the whole seriousness of life

The loss of innocence

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Written on Tuesday, March 13, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


Don't we just wish people were more innocent. Isn't it always running in our heads that everyone seems to have an agenda nowadays

When we were growing up i'm sure we wondered how older people could get so cold and apatheic towards things
I'm starting to realise that maybe it's neccesary.
I know a person that's so pure of heart that in this day and age it's unbeliavable.
The genuineness of that person really made me wonder how hard and apathetic i had become. No malice, no underlying agenda, no fake politeness
Just genuineness through and through. This person really has a heart of gold.
"The physical form of gandhigiri i used to tease" :p

Yet the world insists on teaching terrible lessons to them.
My friend's life was set and happily chugging along till once again life took one hell of a wrong turn
If you can't trust the one you love the most then who's left to trust? Fair weather love is what i'll term it now
When things get tough why do they dissapear? Why? I cannot bear to see people throw away the good things in life just because life starts to get tough
When life gets tough they JUST let go? Fight tooth and nail dammit!

Honestly i've never felt so frustrated in a long time. When a person so genuine and so nice gets dealt cards like this i start to wonder how much innocence you can really have
I believe life will teach you hard lessons over and over again until you get frustrated and do something i.e. Change
But this time i really felt it shouldn't happen. After a major tragedy in the past my friend didn't deserve this.
Why be innocent and naive and nice when even if you are you going to get screwed anyways.
Still my friend remains genuine and nice and caring. Unbelieavable
I get these forwards which say that you oughta love like you've never been hurt. I believe in that honestly because recently i've seen relationships break beacause one person in the relationship gave less than 100% in the fear that they may get hurt.
Less than 100% is not near even close enough. But now i just don't know. My friend gives a 110% and gets hurt so bad that i think even i would find it near impossible to recover.
Maybe we shouldn't be so innocent. Maybe we should look out for ourselves, balls to the everyone else
Maybe.
God knows :-(

Connect The Dots

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Written on Monday, March 05, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


Destiny is a funny word.
Long ago i was completely into the concept. Everything is written in stone and there's nothing you can do but act out your role
Sometime ago the idea then started to become repulsive. WTF? Destiny can kiss my lovely behind (:P). My life and my skill and my talent and MY Destiny.
Recently a friend told me a theory of destiny as a way of keeping score.
This seems like the middle ground between the depressing "Your destiny is already written" and the "I live my own life, I'm the supreme being of the universe"
Basically it says where you are right now is what you get when you take your dreams and minus all the effort u've put in...If they're equal then you are living your dream
If you effort is less then some parts of your life fall out of the dream life circle. And if your effort is more than your dreams require them to be then you can't dream enough and that's extremely sad
As of now i believe that destiny is part of your life that you do not have complete control over. What i mean is that you cannot control your life fully. There are certain circumstances that affect your environment or were already part of your environment.
Of course i don't mean this in the depressing thought that some may perceive it
I say this because you can observe that not everybody is meant to be famous or meant to be beautiful or meant to be really smart
You cannot decide that by the end of your life you will have more money than bill gates. For that to happen requires a lot more than just hard work. It requires a bit of luck.
That doesn't mean luck is going to make you famous. You’re not going to get famous sitting on your behind and waiting for luck to smack you in the face.

Every generation has heroes; every generation has those who will be beautiful and those who will be super-rich. A part of that has to be because of the destiny that you can't control
As far as i think destiny writes itself in only a few select moments in your life and the rest are for making the journey happier and easier for you
The saying "When you pick up one end of the stick you also pick up the other" actually describes this closely
When you make a major decision in your life you write your own destiny
When you decide to take up a certain job over others you write your own destiny and then you also have to "pick up the other end of the stick" i.e. the consequences of your decision
Almost everyone has felt this at some point. When you've decided to end a relationship you've known that one decision can affect your life for a lot longer
I think that's why many people will say that you very rarely get second chances. The same situation can never arise again. If you've broken up and got back together things are never the same,(it may be better btw)
When have one shot, you have to take it.


Funnily, we've arrived at the point where we've realized that we shape destiny through our own decisions (and NO other reason) and yet are not completely in control
The story of a journey is analogous to what I’ve said above. When u start a journey you make a decision to go left or right and that decision decides your destiny
You can of course choose which road you want to take, but once you have you can't decide how long the road may be ( more importantly.. you can't foresee the people who'll touch your life)
It’s like connecting dots. In the picture you can see the grand canvas but you have to connect all of the dots exactly to make reality and your dream the same. You're standing on a dot and you can decide which dot to connect to next but you have no control on maybe how long that line will be(or how colourful that line turns out)
Like in sports, some moments shape the rest of the game, so life is shaped in only a few select moments

Destiny is maybe too mysterious a word. I like the quote in the matrix reloaded that goes "Even the wisest cannot see the consequences of their choices". Maybe that's what destiny is. The ripple is created when you make a decision and the full consequences of the ripple can't be seen because you can't see the ocean in totality.
That's what probably makes it so much fun...You never know.
SO there's only one thing we can do. Do what makes you really happy and the consequences of the decisions towards that path are not up to you
We may become famous, or we may not, but all that we can do is that which makes us happy
So the advice that I’ve gotten is that when you find the one you love, hang on tooth and nail, when you find the work that you enjoy, do it.(not for free of course)

On a separate note this post allows me to salute all those people who have become successes without becoming famous. Maybe they didn't connect the dot which would have made them famous but nevertheless they are out there.
The technicians behind the movies, the pit crews in the races, the queer scientists who I’ll never know about, the trainers behind the athletes, the women that form the foundation of men's success(and vice-versa),
The programmers writing all that code that i may be the only one to find useful,
So for all those who work hard but don't get recognition that they may deserve, I salute you

What’s astrology got to do with it

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Written on Thursday, February 15, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


Astrology: - honored by some, reviled by others and for many (like me) puzzling. Basically I sometimes wonder how much is true of astrology. Generally all the really smart people and those who read a lot and have a lot of inner drive hate the word. They can’t believe that a person can believe in the nonsense of astrology.
To be honest i really don’t know what to make of astrology. Astrology plays no part in my life and it probably will not play a par t in the future, but to me it falls somewhere between superstition and science.

The thing is that almost everyone you ask will say that they don’t care about astrology, but many conversations have snippets which go similar to the following “he’s an aries so sometimes he can hot-headed” or something. Many people even go as far as saying “I’m moody because I’m scorpio” or ‘u know he’s a Gemini so he’s has a dual personality”. Now forget about what you think about astrology. The fact is that many people DO actually show traits depending on “where the sun was” when they were born. That’s fact. Phrases such as “she’s a typical Taurus” are commonplace.( many very smart people say it). Does it mean that they are stupid in believing all this or are they just speaking about reality as they see it. It’s a combination of both if you ask me.

The fact is that most people born in the same month (ignoring that sun signs change on 21st or whatever) exhibit certain similar characteristics. I once thought that maybe long ago our ancestors realized that people born in the same period of thirty days( say june 21st to july 20th) exhibit the same characteristics. Maybe they noticed that there are twelve types like this and then since in those days the sun and the stars were given as an explanation for most things they decided that in those thirty days the sun was in the “particular part of the sky” and that must be the reason for the similar characteristics. Now we say that BECAUSE the sun is that part of the sky the people born in that time have similar characteristics. So initially a theory was created which explained the reality and now the STORY explains the reality

The best part of the crazy theory above is that it does nothing to change the fact. “Libra” people DO have similar characteristics. Maybe there is truth to some of it.
When you split a molecule you get atoms .When u split an atom you get sub-atomic particles. When you split them you get sub-sub-atomic particles. But recent research seems to say that on further splitting that you don’t get more particles but instead you realize that it’s all just a huge energy field all around and the matter that we see is just extremely concentrated parts of it. We know that humans get Vitamin D (I think its D) from the sun basically meaning that the energy transmitted by the sun into this field has a definite effect on us. Now it MIGHT be that if the sun is in a “particular part of the sky” when you’re born it transmits energy to you that affects the way you are. The problem here of course is that we have no SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE to support the theory and so (rightly) it is regarded with extreme skepticism. You can’t believe every crazy theory that comes up. But it may be possible. This brings up the very funny (and ironic) situation that IF it’s ever proved true that it’ll become scientific fact. The scientists will say that extensive research has proved it while the astrologists will say that they knew it was true for hundreds of years. Both sides are right and are actually on the same side and are still fighting. That would be really fun to see!!! It would be like coming back ten thousand years where scientific research proves what we already know from the start of time. Imagine how differently you’d look at the process of “Kundli-matching” before marriage

Of course I must add that either way nobody can use astrology as they’re main reason for success(or lack thereof).Neither can u say “I’m moody BECAUSE I’m scorpio”So there you have it. Another crazy idea which may just be a waste of web space. Go ahead. Call me Crazy :-)

The oxymoron of making sense

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Written on Sunday, February 11, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


Life is pretty shitty sometimes, that's clear. Sometimes you just start wonndering what the hell went wrong.Everything falls apart and jus lies there in peices, the broken mirror lies shattered on the floor and and you find yourself staring at thousands of timy images that form in those millions of pieces each one representing a little part of what used to be.
This is a critical moment in life , one where opinions are formed and decisions made that will get very hard to erase. This is the point in life where making sense makes no sense...the time where your head tries to rationalize everything it hears and your heart refuses to see it and also gets pissed off at all the "correct" reasons it sees

It' s happened to me and a couple of friends i know.
When things fall apart you decide once and for all never to be so stupid and trust your heart...From now on your head will rule and your heart will obey. So you become harder and stronger and now more ready to take on the cruel world outside

The problem with making sense here is taking the risk of emotionally alienating yourself from everthing that you face. I've felt and been through it and it's an "emotionally-deaf" time that does not help.The fact is that the head should be a servant to the heart but not a slave..(but a servant none the less)

We learn from our mistakes, but what if you learnt wrong. Youll make a different mistake, a worse one but that's the risk you run.
SO Run the risks, and when you get hurt and life shatters into a million pieces, dust yourself and be determined to make some of the same mistakes again...because what may look like a mistake may be just ONE bad experience...like steve jobs said "stay stupid"...

My theory For Everything and Nothing

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Written on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 by Rohan Koshy


Over the years you start to make conclusions about the world that help you to get better at what you're doing, give you insight on what you're not and generally help you grow up
I share some of my theories.....

My theory for everything and nothing

1. People are more afraid of success than they are of failure

All your life you’ve been told to fit in. Join the clubs…Get the friends…Well that’s all fine…but when it comes to success it’s a hindering quality to have. Success usually means that someone is exceptional and many are average. That’s what most people fear. Not that they’re average but that they’re exceptional.

Q: - “Can u pass that exam?”

Ans:- “Probably not. Most everyone fails it” (why I should I pass it since everyone else is probably like me. Most of the time I’ve been like everyone else)

2. Independent thinking is very rare

No one takes the effort to think anymore do they? WHY? WHY? That question is what we should be asking rather than looking for the answers. The thinking prevalent is that since everyone is doing it, it probably makes sense and I shouldn’t waste my time thinking about it. When you start to ask why?..... most of the walls break down and you begin to see that many existing systems are totally inefficient..

Like Einsein said:- “Every new achievement requires a break from the existing system of thought”( I think that’s what he said)

The biggest impact may be in business…Everyone thought that 9 to 5 was the best timing to work…now the fact is that flexible timings are the most productive….so someone mustn’t have accepted his 9 to 5 timing blindly

3. The School System is half complete

So u know how electrons work, how the human body works, how the universe and god knows what else works…The premise is that it’ll help u to get a better job and earn more money. They taught you how to earn your money…but they never taught you how to keep it…there's very little taught about how to save your money and how to invest…I finished 16 years of education not knowing what inflation is? When I saw that ad in which it says that a world tour costs 1 lac now but will cost 20 lacs in 20 years(partly because of inflation ) I realized why financial planning is so difficult….. it can be argued that commerce students learn all this….But even arts and science students earn money and grapple with all these issues…let’s face it….money is usually the biggest issue of anyone’s life….unless you’re a royal family heir you’re gonna have money issues. So teach me how to keep my money. It’s as important as how to make it.

All women are beautiful.

The Saree is the most beautiful dress a lady can wear. The salwar kameez comes second

The Human race is trying to unlearn most of what it’s learnt throughout it’s history

This is more true now…

  1. The human body is super efficient . We knew this centuries ago. The human body is naturally thin…People have it the other way round.They think all food is meant to nourish the body the right way. That’s because everyone has it so it must be logical correct. So now we need diets and professionals to tell us what our body and mind already knows…when you too much or too little your body sends you signals. We’re naturally thin….You have to treat your body ABnormally to make it go the other way round
  2. Almost all the buzz words now are ironically the wisdom which we had years ago which we destroyed but not thinking for ourselves. “Think differently” and “Think outside the box” are ironically telling you to think for yourself like you were meant to IN THE FIRST PLACE. “Break the rules” is another one which tells you not to follow those rules which don’t seem logically correct to your intellect. So now we use the “Catch Phrases” which are old wisdom…We’re trying to go backwards. ”Break free”, “Unbelong” , “Let go” are all like this

Some other things I’ve noticed that are really petty

a.It’s never a question of I.Q in most situations…it’s usually a problem of not spending enough TIME trying to understand the problem

b.No matter how you put your earphones in ur bag or pocket when u finish listening the next time you pull them out they’ll be a twisted tangled mess…(is there a murphy’s law for this!!?? )

So there you have it...My two cents...The two or three people who read this blog :-) can post a comment i hope....