don't be serious, be sincere

something i must learn and assimilate ! ASAP!

I just read about Chetan Bhagats' Speech at Symbi on one of my favorite blogs/groups - Protocols.
I must say... I have learned a lot from that post.
Some of the very important points from that speech >>
"Life is one of those races in nursery school. Where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die."

"About nurturing the spark - don't take life seriously. One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said - don't be serious, be sincere."


"Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It's ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices."

"three things - reasonable goals, balance and not taking it too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration, unfairness and loneliness of purpose."

Thanksgiving break

Gosh!
i 've been so used to the fast-paced life here @gatech...
I have a 4-day thanksgiving holiday... and i absolutely dont know what to do!

seriously ...this happens when u r always pressed for deadlines... be it projects, homework, ur own work ... that if at all u get some free time... u dont know what to do with it! and then>> u waste all the free time being lazy or watching www.ndtv.com Live... for more than 3 hours at a stretch.

with so much to do in the future...its one of those weird situations ...where u have free-time...u can enjoy ... but u are not able to ! just cause of the pending work that u ought to do after the break...and the sheer magnitude of the same.... haunts u ...all da time.
when m i gonna get over this?

My Blog = Links + YouTube??

yeah ... those might be ur feelings when u see most of my posts off late...
they are all about some cool links or some YouTube videos...and NOT about what I feel about something...and NOT about me .... which should be the case - ideally; for someones blog!
hmmmm....
point noted...
but i want my blog to not only work as a reflection of what i feel; but also as a storehouse of all the good things I have come across in my life.
and therefore.... i cannot avoid putting in some more "COOL" links...
hehe ... its just too tempting to post it here...can't help. ;-)

The Story of Stuff

... its really worth the time(its a 20 min video)

Antaragni .... too good ....

Aadhantari

A wonderful composition.... a soothing backdrop of music and a true to the heart voice!
A must-see video; especially for all Indian students in the US.
Hats off to the composer and the narrator! great job..
>>

100 days in the US

So, what did we (me n my roomies) do to celebrate this occasion?. Well, we cooked some Pav Bhaji. As if that wasn't enough, we followed that up with ice-cream.

Its a fact that Life teaches u lessons. Indeed, Very important ones!
What I found interesting is... the observation that it can teach you *many* of them together; that too, in a very small amount of time. This is precisely what has happened with me in the first hundred days here. There have been some wonderful experiences as well as some harsh ones. But going through all that was.. and still is, surely worthwhile!
I have noticed one thing. We all live in some sort of a cocoon. That's where we set up our own world. That's where we feel safe and protected. That's where we think what we are! may-be good.. may-be bad. Many of our skills, our abilities, our behavior are determined by and confined to this cocoon. The real test is whether you are able to be "yourself" outside this cocoon.
Its a matter of time which will really tell you whether you were successful in being "yourself"; but for that.. you need to step out of your world - your self-created, and virtual (non-existent in reality) cocoon. This is really the essence of what I feel being here, as a student. Now whether I succeed being "myself" here or I don't - is a different story. But in just 100 days, I know myself better. Both in terms of my strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, I feel that taking this test is surely one of the best decisions I have made in life.