Showing Love

First time ever, I'm blogging something that is not my own idea/creation. However I felt so compelled to do so because it was so heart warming !

Do watch this video by clicking the link below.

>>  To a Child, Love is Spelled T-I-M-E (click on this link)
This video is copyrighted to Bronze Brow Publishing & Simple Truths

Of Value? or Of Success?

“Try not to become a man of success rather try to become a man of value.” –Albert Einstein

Everyone wants to be successful. Very true.

But what is success? Whom do you consider successful ?

What "SUCCESS" means to you is largely determined by the society and the media's influence on you. You might feel that a person who owns a three bed-roomed mansion, a BMW car and all the other luxuries of life, earning 2 lakh/month as the most successful person. Or you might consider that a person who is popularized by the media and famous all around the globe as successful. A top rated-popstar. A CEO of a successful company. A top notch computer programmer. Whatever!

What about a high school chemistry teacher in a small town? - Are you kidding?
The society by large would consider that person as "middle class" or probably a little more than middle class if his salary is good or if he has good ancestral property.

Now let me introduce to you, Mr. Vishwakumar. To those who don't know about him, he's a Chemistry teacher in a private school (Petit Seminaire) in Pondicherry. He was my teacher.

He is a simple person. He teaches Chemistry at school. He also teaches Chemistry and Physics in the evenings at his house for very nominal fees. Now what is great about him???
Well, ask anyone! Anyone inside Petit Seminaire School, any past pupil of that school, any parent of the student who studied under him, any other teacher in the town of Pondicherry, or even many others living in Pondicherry. People will unanimously tell you that he is one of the best teachers. People respect him for who he is. His passion for teaching, his care for his students and the power of encouragement and motivation he has, his humility, his dedication makes him so popular and dear among his students.

Was he successful? - I don't know. It depends on what you consider successful. He does not own a Ferrari.
Was he of valve?  - YES !!!
How do I say so? He's a brilliant person. If he'd chosen to be (say) a computer programmer** (just an example), earned millions and lived his way, many would have been deprived of a wonderful teacher.

Now what do we learn here:
- Many people are not satisfied with their profession. They feel unsuccessful in this competitive world. (like a doctor working in a rural centre compared to a doctor working in a corporate hospital). How successful you are doesn't matter when compared how valuable you are.

-A man of value will live in the hearts of people even after his death. A successful person's money will be looted after his death. (I don't mean you shouldn't be successful. In fact, you should. But the priority you have decides your life principles)

To conclude: “Try not to become a man of success rather try to become a man of value.” –Albert Einstein

** I never say that a computer engineer can't be a man of value. It was just an example. You can be a man of value in whichever profession you are, whichever part of the world you live in...etc.

Cure someone ! Get cured !!

One disease which resolves when you try to cure someone else with the same disease. See the pics below.

When in company !

 At times of loneliness !

When nothings changes...

Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat. 
Mother Teresa 

I'll be happy & less lonely if you share this or leave a comment below !

Barfi! - Not a review!

I am not a movie reviewer. I am not a movie critic. I not any of the actor's fan-boy.
(Well, if your internal voicing system came up with "Well, who the hell are you then?", I'm just a blogger @ blogger.com :)

Normally I don't take any initiative to watch a movie. My friends usually call me and book tickets for me. I just go with them. First time ever, slept just one hour after a grueling night shift @ JIPMER, caught a bus to Chennai, watched Barfi! at the Sangam Cinemas and  returned back to Pondy on the same day.
No idea why I did that but I never thought this trip would end up a little life enriching!

The movie Barfi is about how three young people learn that love can neither be defined nor contained by society's norms of normal and abnormal. That was beautifully portrayed using excellent acting talent with minimal dialogues, beautiful screenplay, amazing cinematography & a heart touching storyline.

Bounce back !
Barfi, a deaf mute, lost his mother at birth. You can imagine what a tragic life it would be. In spite of all his negatives, Barfi is always colourful with a smile. You might say this is fiction!!! Wait a minute! There were times when he got totally dejected and lost his temper. He wanted to yell but even a little sound he could never make (like when Shruthi betrayed his love or when Jhilmil kept following him like mad). What did he do? He rapidly came back to his senses put a smile on everyone's face. 

Value people. Especially the ones who value you.
We don't realize the value of someone unless we lose them. It may then be that God deliberately brings minor break ups or tragedy into some of our lives so that we realize our blunted affect and move on with more passion.

Seek higher help!
Whenever some difficult decision was due, Barfi would do something strange. He was probably asking for a sign. He would bring down a lamp post and see if it would hit a bottle he kept in front of it. If it, then he would boldly do ahead with what he had in his mind.

Unexpressed love is worse than Hatred !
Love is not an emotion to be stored in the heart. Of what use it is to have a swollen up heart full of love which is not expressed. And to express it, you don't need words. Love is a verb and what you do matters. From expressing his love to caring for the one he loved, Barfi was full of action.

A good friend makes the life's hard journey bearable.
We couldn't notice Barfi's disability because of two reasons. One was his cheerfulness and presence of mind. The other was his friend's constant support. To write a love letter or a ransom note, his friends put their share.

Choices!
Day to day, me make so many choices either knowingly or unknowingly. But there are some important choices that we need to be very careful about;  made wrongly, it could lead to a life of regrets. Shruthi was way too quick to make a choice which she regretted her whole life. (Ironically she saw her mother regretting a very similar bad choice). It is very important to note that though we can do something later to partly reverse the changes, the consequences can never be fully reverted back.

Disability is a disability when you call it so.
As I said earlier, it was hard to realize that Barfi or Jhilmil was disabled. They never focused on it. I felt they were living their lives one day at a time, enjoying their journey of life.

Awww...My Cutie Pie

Attention girls, boys, ladies, gentlemen, oldies, tiny tots, pet doggies, kitty cats, cows, goats, little birds, butterflies, dragon flies,  spiders, ants, houseflies, millipedes and everything else nice....

If you are cute & I spot you, I'll shoot you :))

Top 10 reasons Why You should Marry a Photographer

This is just a fun post. I found many photography blogs with list of reasons on why one should date a photographer. So I thought of creating my own list.
Below are some of my ideas.

Top 10 reasons why you should Marry a Photographer!
(in no particular order)

1. You get to visit the most scenic places. Your vacations never go in vain.
2. You always look great in your photos because a photographer can make anything/anyone look beautiful!
3. You'll rediscover a new life. You'll start getting inspired by sunrises and sunsets. You'll enjoy the birds chirping over tree tops. You'll see a new beauty in the blooming flowers, in silent lakes, on a peaceful star studded night, etc.
4. A photographer appreciates your beauty much better.
5. The photographer knows to how to focus and where to focus. So you will always be in his focus.
6. The photographer is a geek. He's a techno guy. You'll always have first hand expert help.
7. All your life's memorable moments will be captured and kept to cherish.
8. A photographer is an interesting person. He has much things to share and your life is never boring.
9. Your profile picture in Facebook will look great.
10. You'll save money in hiring professional photographers.

Fun as a Final Year (True Love @ the cafe)

From my diary (random incident):

Tomorrow is my Pediatric Nephrology test. Haven't read anything till now (5.30pm already). But I did listen well during the lectures and I'm a little confident that I can finish reading for the test(over confidence, probably). But there's sure a fear gripping my troubled trembling mind. 

Whenever I have such a fear of failing miserably, I try to search for company. I dial Sakthi's number. By sheer luck, his mobile is reachable! (usually it's switched off because it's left uncharged!). He tells me that he's yet to start reading too. I feel overjoyed :-)
Neither of us have the habit of taking notes in the class. So we usually borrow some girl's notes, take xerox of it and use it as our reading material. (A very heart felt thanks to those girls who helped us!). This time, Sakthi has already got the notes from Pushkey. So Sakthi & me decide to read together all night for the test. We start at around 7 pm and keep reading (sincerely) (mostly out of fear!!)

10:00 pm - We've finished more than 40% of the syllabus !

12:30 am - We've finished almost 70% of the syllabus !

12:45 am: We decide to go to Cafe Coffee Day and have a large dose of caffeine so we can finish the rest of the syllabus and do some revision too...!!

1:00 am: We've reached Coffee Day with out notes in our hands. We order our cappuccino. We sit there at the silent lounge and start discussing & revising whatever we'd learnt.

1:15 am: Our tall glasses of coffee are ready! We decide to give our discussion on pediatric nephrology some rest and we start sipping away our coffee.

This is not our coffee. This was shot at a later date!!

As we enjoy our caffeinated drinks, we start gossiping! At first, it's about the new pairs(couples) that have been formed in our batch. We also discuss the broken up relationships. We then turn to tease each other with what we assumed were each other's crushes. 

Then the topic of what "True Love" meant, popped in. Each one of us came with the concept of what we thought was pure and appreciable form of love. We had little disagreements. So we started supporting our viewpoints with quotes and anecdotes. What started as a simple gossip was now a heated debate. The long altercations we were having was thrilling.

2:45 am: The moment we see our watches and say "SHIT"!!

3:00 am: Hurriedly we reach our hostel room.

Sakthi: "Take out the notes, we'll finish the rest 30% and go to sleep"
Me: "Dude, stop kidding. You have the notes, don't you?"

Sakthi & me (at the same time!) : Shit !!! (We had left it @ the Café)!!

I don't remember what happened after that. Probably we blamed each other for leaving the notes at the Café and soon we slept off.

What happened to the test?
We rocked it!! as usual :))

Saw what I never saw !

7th Sept, Friday 7:45 am: Didn't have my morning dose of caffeine! My mother reports that she has run out of coffee powder. I get a little irritated with her for not maintaining stock but then I realize that I too have an equal responsibility as I've grown up now. Today I'll be on night duty. 8pm - 8am next day. So I've today's morning free to take rest and get prepared for burning the midnight oil.

I walk out of my bed. I quickly cleanse my mouth. I open my cupboard. I take out my camera. :-) I've been taking photos in and around my house for the past one month. I feel I've exhausted all possibilities. I feel whatever I shoot would only be a repetition. 

click on pic to enlarge

As I keep moving, I come across a plant with many pale-ugly-red coloured flowers on it. We have this plant for a long time now. And I never found the flowers attractive and I've never captured them in a photograph. Today since there're no birds chirping on tree tops, no dogs wagging their tails and following me nor any rose in full bloom, I decide to take a picture of the pale-ugly-red-coloured flower.

click on pic to enlarge

But what I see in the viewfinder of my camera amazes me. For the first time ever, I see something beautiful on this plant. There is an yellow star inside the not-so-very-good looking flower. And around that yellow star, the petal bends formed a beautiful pentagon with yellowish white spot at the corners.




Never in my life have I stopped to notice this. Never. If not today, I would have never ever!

This kept me thinking for a while. **Synaptic sparks **
I just saw a beautiful yellow star within something which I considered insignificant!

So what have I learn't from today morning's photo session?

There will be people around you whom you consider irritating, annoying or even bad. But those impressions might be a result of judgement based on a blurred view. By focusing on their positives, your interpersonal relationship with them improves and this further brings out the best in them.

Are you Facebook addicted?

Just because someone uses Facebook too much doesn't mean that he/she is addicted. Get the concept right. Addiction, as for anything else, has a characteristic withdrawal reaction. What I mean is that a person who is addicted to Facebook will feel uncomfortable/irritated/depressed if he/she is forcefully denied access to Facebook.

There are people who post two status updates a day. The like and comment on all the posts. But force them to stop Facebook, they'll shift to some other activity. They are communicative, creative, enthusiastic and energetic. Their Facebook activity is just a reflection of these characteristics. 

There are other people who never update their status. Rarely do they like or comment. They don't come online either. But deny them access to Facebook and their hands start itching. 

So how to check if you are addicted?

Abstain from Facebook for 5 days. Check how many times you get the impulse to check for Facebook notifications. If the urge comes >5 times/day, you are addicted.

P.S. I did my 120 hour facebook abstinence test few months back and found I'm not addicted :)