Category: Random thoughts

Random thoughts

On By Indu PatikkalIn Random thoughtsLeave a comment
There is a an urge to write something.. anything, that would display my state of mind. But how would one write down a confused state of mind, where everything is so unsure. The book I just put down was inspiring enough – The Lucky One another one of Nicholas Sparks. It was good, but it wasn’t the kind of romance that suits me or leaves me with a fell-good-feeling when I close the book. Nights in Rodanthe by the same author didn’t deprive me of the feeling.

Why is it that people write? Because they are good at writing or they got good grades in the English courses during their academic years? No, its much deeper than that, its the need to vent out once feelings, emotions and everything beyond. I figure that authors are imaginative people. This maybe a commonly known fact. But imagination leads to writing, there is no doubt. You imagine yourself in a situation and further imagine your actions and the actions of people around you.

I just finished writing my fourth short story – Illusions of a dream. When I put the last full stop, I felt like all the words had been flushed out of my mind. I felt completely deviod of words, ideas, thoughts, imagination. But still there is an urge to write. Wonder when, wonder what… The main character of my next story will be Rishabh Acharya.

The movie I watched two days ago, has ushered in a new wave of energy – 3 idiots. The song “Saari umr hum mar mar ke jee liye, ek pal tho ab humen jeene do. Give me some sunshine, give me some rain, give me another chance, I wanna grow up once again”, is so much like my poem “Yesterday or tomorrow”. Just celebrated Christmas with friends and family. Everyone exchanged gifts, wish we could do it all over again.
Again, there is an urge to write something, this time it about a person who has said very little, and I would like to grow up once again to hear all those unspoken words.

Holiday season..

On By Indu PatikkalIn Random thoughts2 Comments
Another holiday approaches, with its earnest need to rejuvenate everyone. To give people the time to bask in the beauty of nature; travel to yonder lands. What is it about travel that fascinates people? Is it the visual pleasure of seeing the unseen, or is it the personal satisfaction that Yes! I made this trip. It definitely cannot be the packing and unpacking, wonder if there is anybody in this world who loves to pack and unpack. For some, it could be the journey to the destination, with familiar people whose tastes and perceptions match at least to a certain extent. There is definitely something that fascinates about traveling to everyone who travels; otherwise the travel industry wouldn’t be an industry. Oh I missed the planning part. Laying out what to do, when, where and accomplishing those milestones could also be one’s trigger for travel. Most people prefer traveling to known destinations with unknown plans. Just take off and be what you want to be, do what you want to do, oblivious to all the knowns of the equation. Thrill!! Adventure!! Mysterious!! Travel definitely unfolds a rejuvenated mind bringing you back to where you left to pick up the burdens you let down momentarily.
Another holiday season approaches, lest there are no plans to unknown destinations, familiar faces now seek the wild on their own, probably common perceptions have fallen off the cliff on one of the earlier journeys. Wishing them well and hoping that their journey brings them joy is all that there is left to do. Loneliness is solitude’s greatest blessing and curse. Sitting by the window, looking out at the gloomy sky, slowly snow begins to engulf the land in its white blanket.. And another holiday season passes by!

The birth of a story..

On By Indu PatikkalIn Random thoughtsLeave a comment
A story is an imagination. The author first imagines a few characters, their circumstances, situations, surroundings. Then he paints a picture of the characters surroundings. He establishes relationships between these characters. But the gist of the imagination is one essential question – what if “THIS” happened in these character’s life’s? Then what would happen next and next and so on. A chain of events is built, and the story starts developing. After a certain period of time, the author thinks, well thats enough. Either he’s too tired, or genuinely thinks its time to end the story. He builds the climax in his mind. After jotting down the last few words, he puts a full stop. There ends the story. There ends the imagination, until he is inspired again to imagine.
Many a times we think, if our life could follow the path of a story. An imagination. But wishes are wishes. Life has its own plan. The only invisible thing on earth – the plan of life. Everything else doesnt exist. You never know where the turns are, stop signs are, which way, nothing. A journey to an unknown destination, via an unknown path, is life, very real, very known.
Thought provokers have said, enjoy what you have, glad with what you have, find happiness in them. But what if you cannot? What if you yearn for the imaginary things? Thats when you become an author or lose out on the opportunity called ‘life’.

Timezones…

On By Indu PatikkalIn Random thoughtsLeave a comment

I am too tried to write, just back from my trip to Arizona, but writing does that thing to me, clears my mind, like rebooting my system for fresh thoughts. I just arrived at Indianapolis airport, waiting from my brother to arrive. His flight doesn’t arrive until 11.23pm local time. When my airplane touched down, I opened my cell phone and the question “Convert to local time zone?” stared at me. Its 11.03pm in Indianapolis, 10.03pm the place I was a few hours ago, having lunch from a chinese gourmet express at Minneapolis airport, yet its only 8.03pm at the place I woke up this morning, Phoenix. I just lost and gained 3 hrs of life. Strange as it may seem, we walk the same planet, we breathe the same air, but we read time differently. I am a little confused if I should be eating dinner, or going to bed, because its so late. How practically, easy it would have been, if we all looked at our clocks, no matter what our demographics were, and could say the time is now 11pm. We could spare our brain of the constant mathematics of adding and subtracting hours and further think, if the person we need to connect to, would be awake or sleeping. But, who am I to question the laws of nature and the rules derived by its people? Instead I continue to bear the weight of these calculations, that I constantly make every hour.
Time has had its own versions of definitions and interpretations. Some people say, time is a healer, some say time waits for none, time is what the clock tells you and so on. I would not be able to capture everything here, but let me tell you what I think of time, or atleast I used to believe. Time is now… this moment… this breath. Live it well, and the way you choose. But, in my journey of life’s myriad ways, I have come to learn, that many a times, time is not ours. We are led by people, and time for the most part is theirs, and we tend to follow, without much control over our actions. Then time, is not mine. But at the bottom of my heart, I belive in ‘sieze the moment’, if its gone, it gone forever, never to return.
I have been on so many time zones in these past few years, the one I cherish close to my heart is Pacific time, the times when I was in California. My trip to Arizona, took me back to Pacific Time. When my Delta Airlines Boeing 767 touched down at Phoenix airport, I turned the dials of my inexpensive watch three hours behind. The adrenaline rushed through me and gave me a familiar feeling of being on known grounds. But did that stop me from doing my routine mathematics? No. This time I was subtracting hours, to see what my children were doing back home, or adding many hours to see if my father was awake. Some ghosts never rest!
Now the bottom right of my screen tell me, that I have 15 more minutes of battery power on my laptop. That means its time for me to hit the sack. Oops! My cellphone just rang… My brother just arrived, since he had to stopover at Denver, I juggled with Mountain, Central and Eastern time zones at the same time today. As complicated as it can get !!
I have been meaning to say, “thank you” for your time to read this blog. May you have the time to cherish and live each moment of life to the fullest!!

Din..

On By Indu PatikkalIn Random thoughtsLeave a comment
I turned down the volume of my headset; the noise is disturbing my thoughts. Few people are discussing about a database performance, not to my interest. But the rules of the job are that, I am supposed to listen, understand, and ask questions. But my mind today is drifting away to farther lands. It does not want to do the routine tasks of getting the kids to school, driving 20 miles to work, going through emails that run over a hundred a day. Somehow, the movie websites I visit are failing to capture my curiosity. The news websites are full of election news and polling and how movie stars came out to vote. No, this is not where my mind is today or wants to be.
Do I know where I want to be today? Well, actually no! Are you thinking ‘Women’? Why it is that woman are so confused? I sit because they have too many choices or too many responsibilities? I would pick the latter. We make so many decisions a day, small decisions and the not so small decisions. So there is a lot of room for confusion. After long thinking, my confused mind tells me to take the day off. Drive down the roads of downtown, way past Fall Creek Parkway and to the public library. The rains outside, will lighten my spirit of boredom and refresh the energy in me, like the ground. Old tunes from Bollywood movies choreographed in the rains, will add a touch of romance. Alighting from my car with an air of romance, I would pick up a book of my favorite author and find a place near the window, so that I can watch the rain lash by. Reading the lines would take me back to my footprints that I left in the sand. I would sit back for a few moments, watch the rain and drift back to yester years and smiles. The innocence of youth, brashness of thoughts and freedom to touch the sky. Times, when I would follow my heart and not bother about another soul in this world. Carefree! These thoughts would make me happy one moment and sad the next, almost pushing me to get back to my book listening to the splash of the rain.
Alas! I look at the screen staring at me, and the numbers on bottom right corner have a cruel look. They force me to come back to reality and tell me that I have another two hours to complete the monotonous tasks for the day, before I rush back to all the roles I play, apart from being me.
My fingers are now dialing the next call I need to be on. Again there are noises disturbing my thoughts….

Catching a flight!!

On By Indu PatikkalIn Random thoughts1 Comment
This is something I wrote sometime ago for an editorial in a newsletter.. If you are planning to catch the flight, or have already taken one, you might find this interesting.

Most engineering students who enter the software industry nurture a common dream – to go onsite. From day one, sincere efforts are made to be the best, stand out in the crowd, so that the manager picks him/her as the next candidate for visa processing. Getting your name in the visa applicants list is half the goal achieved. What is it about ‘going onsite’? Is it the 23-hour Boeing airplane ride which one literally sits through or is it merely the feeling that you are in the United States of America, the most powerful nation on the globe?
Going onsite can be compared to a child’s first day at school. Till that day, the child grew up in a cozy, protected atmosphere of his house. Suddenly one day he faces a new environment, a whole new group of people he’s never seen before, a different culture and the rest of the story is how he adapts to this change.There are pros and cons to this location-specific work environment. Onsite means exposure to the client personnel, ready accesses to project documents and of course the symbol before the numbers on your paycheck. Onsite personnel get the opportunity to be involved in the initial phases of the project, which one lacks when at offshore. The ability to represent one’s firm at the client place is a distinction by itself. And there is tremendous opportunity to grow and sharpen your communication skills. A ‘popular’ myth about working onsite is that you get to wear jeans and sneakers to work. No Sir! USsociates embody organizational values even in their attire. Its business casuals all the way.
All said and done, the basis of survival – food, is a problem for many. Either you align yourself to the American fast food groove or mark the nearest Indian grocery store on your local map as a default location.
On the other hand, to live and work in an environment we grew up in gives us a sense of belonging and comfort. The vast sea of technical expertise and guidance at the offshore location is impeccable. Oops! I missed to mention the array of non-technical activities and personal development opportunities that knocks at one’s door, rarely found at onsite. Being in India, equates to being at home, marking your attendance at most of the celebrations in your family – birthdays, weddings anniversaries et al.
So which is better – onsite or offshore? Let us not bother about this argument, because the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence and we will never stop dreaming!
In conclusion, don’t get carried away by your onsite-returned colleague and his paraphernalia, and don’t let your mother’s food hold you back; success is defined by dedication, passion and teamwork.. Not location!