It's just one of those 'not so great' days when am wondering why is happiness always relative?! You wait for something for a long time, you get it; you are happy, but the next moment you are not, coz you have just compared yourself with others....may not be consciously, but it happens and then that happiness suddenly becomes elusive....

Happiness doesnt seem to lie in what you get or have but in whether or not you have more or less than others...sigh! 'Being content with what you have' seem like just words of wisdom many a times...far beyond putting into practice...

Competition is good, healthy....but the more one learns not to compare...the better it is...I realize!

It's been ages since I wrote something here. I have been getting mails from many people asking if I am ok and why I have not updated anything here. Well..it is nice to know that there are people who actually read what I post :) It has never so happened that I've lost interest in writing coz it gives me a lot of joy and I myself was surprised to see that every time I opened this blog to write something, there was a complete lack of enthusiasm & interest, in addition to having a crazily hectic work life... Hope I find some time to update this space more often...

I've been watching this Ad which is an aircel initiative, about Save the Tiger campaign. I absolutely love it. The very first time I saw it, it touched my heart. Definitely does it's part to raise the social awareness & hopefully influence people to raise their voices and do something for the cause! I don't know what I can do about it but as the Ad says 'spread the message'....here I am, posting the video :)

I was checking my Google Analytics account for this blog today, after a really long time and I was surprised to see the statistics! Never realized that there were so many people who visited this blog regularly to read the ramblings that I write :) Yet, there are very few who leave comments....it was interesting to see the number of people who are curious to know what's happening in my life....coz there are a lot of specific searches for these keywords "pratima+jayaram+ blog+ ISB+bangalore" and so on..

This month (Jan) seems to have the max number of visits (though I hardly posted anything..)

Visits - 1,050 from 46 countries
Page views - 2,280
Visitors - 620 absolute unique visitors
New Visits - 60%
Direct Traffic - 11 %
Referrals - 72%

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hmmm...

India sings Phir Mile Sur..

There is probably no Indian who wouldn't have heard of Mile sur mera tumhara. Most of us grew up listening to it on Doordarshan. It brings back the childhood memories. I vaguely remember starting to watch this on DD when I was 7-8 yrs old and knew the entire song, with lines in all languages (I still do). Released in 1988, this video about national integration which was pretty much like a national anthem and brings out a medley of the country's languages and diversity, is definitely a legend....

But the question is, can we recreate the legend? Well, you can surely try but probably cannot! The new contemporary version - Phir Mile Sur premiered today on TV on the account of Republic Day. Zoom TV has been airing nothing but this since morning and I've watched it a zillion time already... It was a good thought and effort by Vodafone/Times Group and it is no doubt beautiful. The setting, screenplay, direction are truly brilliant. It presents India in its true glory but according to me, it failed to create the magic. First of all, the song/video is way toooo long (16mins) and seems like a drag. It doesn't sound all that melodius like before, coz of a too many additions. And above all, it's supposed to be a national integration video, so what are SO MANY bollywood stars doing in there?!!! Most of them look very superficial, especially Ash and Deepika Padukone. To me, the best part of the video was that of AR Rahman, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy and Amitabh Bachchan...I feel more diversity in the artists chosen would have looked better.

Phir Mile Sur is no doubt good, but Mile Sur Mera Tumhara still remains immortal for the impact it created on the nation....old is gold..

Here is the Part 1 of the video...and full video is available HERE

Books...I love thee!

I saw this Cadbury Celebrations Ad for Raksha Bandhan which has been playing on TV for quite a while. But yesterday I noticed something more in it. This kid gives his sister a gift for Rakhi and she asks him what it is....he says "Book" and the sister makes a sad face and then opens the box to find chocolates and is very thrilled about it....

Well... for me, it would have definitely been the other way round! A good book is one of the nicest gifts that I could get (I do love perfumes and flowers too ;-) )... I'd treasure it more than anything, 'coz I am extremely possessive about the books I own. I hate getting them dirty, having folds or mishandling them while reading and I *always* use bookmarks. I hate it when people fold the pages to mark their readings! That's one of the reasons why all my books look brand new even after I've read them multiple times. I love keeping hard copies of my favorite books...I love the smell and feel of it! I might sound a bit cynical but I find it hard to lend my collection of favorite books unless I know that the recipent will handle it with care...

It's sad to see these days how the passion for reading has reduced and television, video games and other sources of entertainement have taken over. To me, a book would still be the first choice whenever I have time to spare. Leave me in a book store, and I'd forget the whole world around. It can be quite unnerving to someone who accompanies me coz I can spend hours browsing through the books and still be left un-satiated...

Sitting in a coffee shop, in a book store with a good book and a hot cup of green tea is like a perfect afternoon for me....... Ah! my life would be so incomplete without books!

A movie and the book...

Watched 3 idiots today.....I had read Five Point Someone (FPS) by Chetan Bhagat years back and had loved it. This was one book which I had thought would make a base for an entertaining movie. When I heard that 3 idiots was based on FPS, I was quite eager to watch it but I read a lot of reviews since its release last week which say that the director claims the movie plot is just 5% of the book...So today I started the movie with an expectation to see something new and more than just FPS. I was quite suprised to see almost 70% of the movie adapted from the novel and the sad part is that there has been no credit given to Chetan Bhagat anywhere.

I quickly visited his blog and found this post and this one as well. I still remember the book quite well coz I've read it twice...the characters, settings, drama, emotions, love story, everything is the same and a lot of scenes like Raju's (Alok) suicide, Rancho (Ryan) helping Raju's father and his family, Raju moving out the group, Rancho falling in love with Pia -the professor's daughter, stealing papers from the professor's office, Pia's brother committing suicide and she hiding it from her father till the end, the ragging scene at the beginning of the movie...and I can list a lot more...which are straight from the novel..

Agreed that Hirani has a great sense of humor and he has added his own flavor & twist to the plot and adapted from FPS quite well. The catchline "All is well" does make it sound like another Munnabhai movie with a social message. Everything about the movie is good, it's well made, entertaining and has the right amount of comedy and emotions...I am not undermining the authenticity. But the point is, the movie is not just 5% of the book...its much more than that and the fact that the director/producer is not giving the due credit to the author is quite un-ethical, unmerciful and shameless!! If I were the writer, I would have screamed at the top of my voice saying its my story! Bollywood churns out a lot of movies which are "inspired" from different things and the least they could do is give the due credits to the sources...

Watch the movie and then read the book..am sure anyone can see a whole lot of similarities...

On a different note, I loved Aamir's performance. Though he is 44 and playing a 22 year old college kid, he gets away with it and totally fits in! Sharman Joshi, no doubt was perfect for his role though Madhavan did seem a bit out of place...Whatever the quirks, 'All is well' in the end and the movie is definitely worth a watch!

Calvin n Hobbes

I've been trying hard to pen down my thoughts here for the last 2 hours but I was just not able to articulate what I feel...it just ended up frustrating me more and I turned to my favorite CnH collection to give me a break and ...I find this line in one of the strips which just seemed perfect!

"We're so busy watching out for what's just ahead of us that we don't take time to enjoy where we are"



They say.. "Stop and smell the roses" ... that's exactly what I need to do now

Sometimes CnH seems to be more than just cartoon strips....it gives you such a good perspective on life in the most simple way

Vacation blues

Well, here I am, back from my week long holiday...it's been 4 days but I still seem to be lingering in that mood with little or no interest in getting back to my normal routine. With all the planning and anticipation of the trip and the trip itself getting over, there is a sudden drop in the excitement and a strong feeling of nostalgia which has left me longing for more.....making it really hard for me to get back to reality & the pre-vacation routines.

I miss that city, the partying, the food, the people....the sight, smell and sounds... and every moment of my time spent there! This was one of those vacations which was so "perfect" that I sometimes fear none of the future ones might even come close to it...

After almost 2 weeks of the strong feeling in the gut, I am very close to figuring out what it is all about! My brain seems to be registering it now, whereas my subsconscious mind seemed to know it much before...hmmm..

One of the readers of this blog (you know who u are :-) ) who has also learnt pranic healing, dropped me a mail reading my previous post, reminding me that there are different energy/astral layers through which the thoughts cross before they actually enter the physical body and the brain can comprehend it. That info was helpful to me, coz I practiced the meditations taught in Arhatic Yoga which actually helped me calm down and become more aware of the "thoughts" or "events" associated with the gut feel. I could still be wrong... but I *think* I fairly know what it is! Only time can confirm...

On a different note, I am eagerly looking forward for the 8 day long vacation starting next week. It's been ages since I actually took off for so long and I am glad I am going on a long break...which I badly needed...

More when am back next month.......

It's been 4-5 days now...there has been a strange funny feeling in the pit of my stomach. It's a weird and queasy feeling in the gut which one would get when anxious.... like just before an interview or an exam or maybe in anticipation of a good/bad news. I know its not based on a conscious thought, coz everything around me seems perfectly fine, normal, happy and peaceful. It's that strange "gut-feel" which you experience when your brain actually hasn't registered something yet but your subconscious mind is aware of it coz it's said that our subsconscious mind functions ten times faster than our conscious mind and it can pick up signals which our conscious mind has still not processed.. I am just unable to put a finger on what's causing this and it has been bothering me quite a lot....

I am pretty sure it's not just a random feeling...I really want to know what it is... I probably know it already, but waiting for my brain to register!

First Look: Lux catch me

I caught this new Lux Ad featuring the Bachchan couple - Aishwary and Abhishek, for the first time on TV yesterday. Reportedly the couple has been paid 25 crores for this commercial! Hmmm..I feel, more than the product, concept, music or whatever for that matter... it's the presence of the duo together for the first time on small screen which is going to increase the recall value of the brand... coz when people see it, they are not seeing just another couple, its Ash & Abhi...and am sure that's the whole intention of the advertisement too..

It's been playing quite a lot and I actually loved the music and used to watch it everytime just for the song ..... was very suprised to find out today that the music has been composed by my all time fav Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy... ah! no wonder I loved it ! ;-) Their music has a very unique touch which can't go unnoticed...

In pursuit of happiness...

This is one of those random thoughts I had when I found a few hours of idle time amidst my otherwise busy schedule...those few moments which are spent contemplating on life and such...

All of us have dreams/aspirations/goals in life, small or big, doesn't matter. We visualize, plan, prioritize, chase and strive hard to achieve those *objects of desire* or fulfill those dreams. I've been there, done that too. But I have noticed that whenever I reach a goal or acquire that *object of desire*, it never makes me as happy and thrilled as I had thought it would, when I started off. In short, it doesn't live up to the initial fantasies. It really makes me wonder why?! It cannot be becoz I dont want to be at that stage anymore or I dont like that *object of desire*, coz I would have put in days, months & sometimes years of effort behind it... Then, is it becoz my priorities changed during the course? I guess not, coz then I would have not pursued the goal or chased my *object of desire* till the end! So what else could it be??

I do realize that as human beings, we are never content with what we get. We always aspire for more. It's like someone wanting to buy a house all his life and when he actually does, he'll wish he owned a bigger house or a house by the sea side. What's the guarantee that the same feeling wont pop up again? There's no limit to being satiatiated....

After much contemplation, analysis, thought & discussions, one answer did satisfy me to an extent. It's always the "pursuit" which is more exciting than the "attainment" itself. "Wanting" seems to be a much stronger emotion than "Having".... the happiness actually lies in the pursuit itself and not the end point or the goal ". So when you actually attain it, you wonder Now What?! Of course there is a short period of excitement when we attain the goal, I dont deny. But very soon we are back to picking on the next goal and sailing on the same boat, striving hard all over again...

The best analogy here could be climbing a mountain. You trek all the way up for many hours to get a glimpse of that beautiful view from the peak. But the time spent there is just a few minutes....The excitement and joy is more in the journey to and from the peak...

So in short, attaining a goal or the *object of desire* is not an end by itself.... it's the journey that matters and is more enjoyable ; pursuit is where the happiness lies...

IndiRank

Indiblogger is a community of Indian blogs; a site which maintains a database of blogs in the Indian blogosphere. So it's a good platform to gain more visibility for your blog, connect with fellow-bloggers and also find some of the best blogs around. My blog has been a part of this directory for quite a while now (more than a year).. I logged in today after ages to check the stats and was quite suprised to see what turned out below...

1. IndiRank 73/100 !
2. Google Page Rank - 3 !! (What is page rank?)
3. Frequency of Posting - Very Good

Kahi door jab din dhal jaaye.....

I was stuck in a crazy traffic while driving back from work today and was held up on the road for quite a while. It can sometimes frustrate the heck out of you, especially if you havent slept the previous night and studied the whole day and given a 2 hr exam in addition to a stressful day at work... My car doesn't have a music system, so that leaves me with very few options at such situations! I was just gazing through the window and it was just that time of sunset and I found this very pretty sight and cursed myself for having forgotten my cam. Anyways....got whatever I could with my mobile, but disappointed that the pattern it formed in the sky couldn't be captured (image above). There's very little that a 3.2mega pixel cam without a zoom can do :)

There is something about watching the sunset that I really like.. it's such an indescribable feeling...very relaxing and extremely soothing! Watching it across the sea or atop a hill would give me the best feeling ever!!

How I met your mother..

I recently started watching this sitcom and surprisingly have been quite addicted to it so far; 2 seasons,45 episodes in 3 days (currently watching season 3)......that's how interesting it got!

Honestly, in my opinion it's nothing very different or classy. It's like any usual laugh-track-with-romance-filled-show that you can think of.... but again, this recipe is what makes it click I guess! I've enjoyed watching FRIENDS, SCRUBS and SEINFELD a lot and though 'How I met your mother' doesn't fall in the same league, it does come pretty close..

The first episode starts off sometime in the future (like the year 2030 or so) with Ted Mosby (the architect) narrating the story to his son & daughter of how he met their mother. I think the 5th season is getting aired currently and till now who actually the 'mother' is, is not revealed. So, that's one concept that keeps the suspense on and the show going...Am not sure how far they can actually keep this concept going. Am curious to watch :) I absolutely love the character of Barney....a very interesting and super cool guy, who is the main attraction in the sitcom; he surely does manage to tickle that funny bone a lot!

Definitely worth a watch...it's one of the new funniest sitcoms of this season..

I have a lot more shows lined up to watch...

- One Tree Hill

- 24

- Lost

- Boston Legal

that's quite a lot to keep me busy for months! :)

Featured!

On a gloomy monday, it was a pleasant surprise to know that my previous post on Wake up Sid won a spotlight on the Sulekha Movies website and was selected by the Sulekha Team as their "Featured Review" for the movie!! :-)

It's strange that small things like these brighten your day to a great extent!

You can find the link to the featured review here

Wake up Sid!

A must watch, preferably in the theater!

I don't have to think much on giving a 5 star rating for this movie. I've been waiting to catch this movie since the time I saw the promos in August; so am glad that I watched it today

I dont know where to start my review - acting, screenplay, music, direction, dialogues...I loved every part of it. It's a mainstream bollywood movie, nothing extraordinary nor is it off beat yet it strikes refreshingly different. The entire movie is shot in Mumbai...You can smell the freshness in it, just like those rain drops in the first showers of the Mumbai monsoons shown in the movie. You can feel the love for the city, which every Mumbaiker holds dearly in his heart. Debutant director Ayaan Mukherjee has done an awesome job with his screenplay, casting and direction! The dialogues are very simple and in a casual conversation style which you can well relate to and you will be ready to emotionally invest through out the movie. Well, am sure you got my point by now... you walk out of the theater "feeling good"..

The story is probably a one-liner and predictable yet you cant complain! When the movie goes deeper, you dont need words to describe the story. The more I watched Sid (Ranbir) and Aisha (Konkona), the more I wanted to know them better. The 'nice'ities of their relationship is well depicted; the screen time is shared well to show how their friendship develops, how they grow fond of each other etc..

One striking part of the movie was the acting. Ranbir turned out to be a total surprise package. I really disliked him as an actor till I saw this one! I was awestruck. He just spellbinds you with his acting, making a flesh and blood character out of Sid; so natural, so effortless and very impressive, I must say! He is well complemented by Konkona. There is truly no doubt about her acting skills, she is as good as ever! The casting is quite unusual with a lot of new faces playing important roles, and they totally fit in...

Last but not the least, the trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy create magic with their music again. I loved all the songs...but the title song and "Iktara" are extremely catchy and lovable...it definitely adds to the whole movie experience.


You can draw comparisons to Dil Chahta Hai at quite a few parts, but heck, so what?! Similarities always exist but this one still maintains its own identity at the end...


A very competent effort by a first time director and the movie definitely has its heart in the right place...

Whos Among Us..

I found this pretty cool site (stat tool) Whos.Amung.Us which tracks the visitor statistics of your blog. I use both Google Analytics and Feed Burner for my blogs which obviously are quite detailed and exhaustive but the best part I liked about this site is the tracking of visitors "hour wise".
So it gives u a widget (scroll down the right bar of my blog) that displays the number of users currently viewing your webpage and clicking on that takes you to their site where you get a detailed report of the users online per hour, a map pinpointing the location of the users down to their city, and a monthly statistics report.

To top it all, u dont even need to register to use all these features, it starts tracking right from the moment you link it to your blog......its free and simple! :)

"Every event has a purpose and every setback its lesson. I have realized that failure whether of the personal, professional or even spiritual kind is essential to personal expansion. It brings inner growth and a whole host of pyschic rewards. Never regret your past, rather embrace it as the teacher that it is".

- The Monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma

[Click here to read my review]

Om Mani Padme Hum...

All of us have heard of the mantra "Om" which is considered as the universal sound, made of 3 basic sounds A, U, M.... Each sound creates a different vibration; so it is used to cleanse the mind and body and its one of the most powerful sounds to meditate on. I've noticed that just playing the Om chanting in my room it has a very calming and cleansing effect...

That being said, not many of us would have heard of "Om Mani Padme Hum" (Hail the jewel in the lotus). It is derived from Sanskrit and the originations are traced back to Buddhism and associated with Dalai Lama. I read a couple of books by Thich Nhat Hanh a few months back and that's when I had come across these words but never bothered to find out more. Yesterday a friend of mine told me the meaning of this and I immediately read up more about its benefits and also found a link to the chanting in Youtube....

Just listening to it for 10 mins had such an amazing effect! It's incredibly peaceful & calming and the tune used is so soothing that it takes just a few mins to relax your mind and body... It's purpose is to generate positive, peaceful vibrations and mainly vibrations of compassion.

OM (Ohm) - symbolizes the pure noble body, speech and mind
MANI (Ma Nee) - the jewel, symbolizes factors of method, compassion and love, the altruistic intention to become enlightened
PADME (Peh-d-May) - means lotus and symbolizes wisdom. Growing out of mud, but not being stained by mud, lotus indicates the quality of wisdom, which keeps you out of contradiction.
HUM (Hum) - means inseparability; symbolizing purity & can be achieved by the unity of method and wisdom

More details here if you are interested:
Wiki Link

Meaning and Pronunciation

Now I play it in a loop even when I am browsing, reading a book or sometimes just in the background and the whole atmosphere feels rejuvenated and peaceful... Try it, to experience it! You can even meditate on this by just closing your eyes and listening to it and focusing on the words or reciting it yourself....

There are different versions, but I liked this the best...