Who is responsible for Road Accidents

A proposal for a law is underway that a senior citizens of the country above a cut off age of 72 years will not be issued driving license. The step has been taken presumably to reduce road accidents.
So there are people who seriously think that old people are responsible for road accidents to a great extent. But what do all other citizens of the country think- Who is responsible for the road accidents in India?
· Is it not the teenager or youngster in early 20s, whose only ambition on road is to break his own record with regards to the timing taken to reach the destination.

Random

I like the sound of the word random. This word has a unique identity of its own as its identity is not dependent on any precedent.

Recently when I had to spend an hour in a waiting zone, I started fiddling with my mobile, that is when I came across these random shots taken in the past one year.

 

Monkeys making merry on the roadside. They still enjoy anywhere, anytime while we humans have... evolved.

	The rose speaks silently of love, in a language known only to the heart.
    

Anti-fashion diary of a corporate professional

There is something I can never come to terms with - Why do men have it so easy when it comes to dressing up when women have to spend endless hours for the same?

No hair straightening, no curls, minimal cosmetics, their clothes are much easier to select, and shoes too. And to make things worse, they have numerous pockets in their attire, they don't need to block their hands with purse or a mobile phone or burden their shoulders with a bag. Not much effort is usually required by them in terms of grooming, when compared with women.

Of late, men are also showing eagerness to ride the beauty bandwagon and are embracing new beauty treatments and going in for manscaping, but that trend has not caught up much outside entertainment industry.

Women in the fashion and entertainment fields keep adopting new fashion trends. And the ones leading a corporate life with hardly any time at their disposal get stuck in this trap. Not because of any compulsion, but owing to the fact that there is  more than just a bit of fashionista in everyone, which raises its hood every now and then asking for fulfilment. 

The end result makes it really interesting.  More the effort spent, more is the discomfort; as if the sole aim for putting in so much effort was discomfort.

Giving the impression of being comfortable with self-induced discomfort increases the hotness quotient, I guess.

The Intangibles

Intangibles are what make life complete. Yet I find myself running after tangibles, as necessary evils in this world. I sometimes feel the sole purpose of tangibles is to keep us away from the bliss we can experience from the Intangibles.  Life keeps testing our committment to the intangibles.

Work manages to give us a routine. And hence gives a reason to  think of ways to break the routine, which in turn gives enjoyment. My only complain with routine is that it takes far too many hours which hardly leaves any time to connect with the intangibles in my daily life. 

A dimensionally opposite fact is that in order to derive pleasure from intangibles, one should have satisfactory level of tangibles in life.

My facebook jungle

This is what facebook has become of late. This was not where it started from...

It started with a group of friends bored from Orkut wanting to discover another meeting place.
Slowly everyone seemed to be on Facebook - Colleagues, relatives - the kind of species that were not found on any social networking site earlier , started creeping into my Facebook account.

My timeline/newsfeed now has totally new type of posts - a joke every few minutes, old film songs from youtube, quotes the kind usually found on greeting cards, to name just a few. And few among these new friends, like to recollect their old memories by posting black n white snaps of their get-togethers - nice but only for them who are involved.
In other words, my timeline is completely hijacked by these new inhabitants and while checking my account, I can almost always hear the chorus from the song "I'm always on facebook..." dedicated to my new friends.

Few kiddos who happen to be relatives wanted to create a family tree, showing me as a relation. Family tree - on facebook? Why on earth would I want to do that?

Then there are those colleagues, with whom conversation had never gone beyond the work at hand, suddenly want to make a peep into my social networking account.

And what are you supposed to do when a barely acquainted friend of a contact pokes you. Should you poke right back? What would that imply?

Earlier, social networking in the virtual world, used to be a getaway from routine, mainly for connnecting with friends in different parts of the world. And what I came here for just gets lost within all the clutter.

Facebook has come up with categorization of friends and customization of news feed and must say that's a brilliant step taken by Team Facebook, that provides a solution to ignore those so called friends whose posts and opinions barely interest you.

Yes, it still has all the elements it started off with -- updates from friends, their opinions, pics, ... but all that now needs to be located among the so called weeds in the jungle.

Bombay Collage

The book-marked experience!

Of late, there have been many discussions around a shift in book reading trend from paper books towards electronic media. The ease and comfort of carrying electronic media around with us is a definite plus, yet, it differs largely on experience front when compared with paper books. For one, the reader is deprived of the smell of unread book when reading from a soft copy.

There's another thing which I got reminded of when I picked up a partially read book and discovered a bookmark inside. No, I do not mean the bookmark in the web browser, to which we are more accustomed to nowdays. I am talking about the real thing, the tangible bookmark which in this case was encrusted with dried rose petals and leaves.Sometimes, a sophisticated luxury item is not able to please as much as something trivial like a bookmark.

The shift towards electronic media seems inevitable. Yet, we may be leaving behind the joy of gifting bookmarks to friends, with beautiful friendship quotes inscribed on them, or metallic gold plated bookmarks gifted on special days. These bookmarks elevate book-reading experience just by their presence in a book, and sighting them in a book at a later time is delightful,  like receiving a surprise bonus.

 

Mobile Phones and Driving

I often see cars wavering on the roads of Delhi. It is easy to judge that the driver must be holding a mobile phone engaged in an engrossing conversation.

Once in a while they get caught by the traffic police. However a mere fine does not deter them from taking calls again using their handsets while driving.

Traffic police can practice a little creativity by handing over bluetooth headsets to the culprits and charge them heavily for the same. This may not resolve the problem but likely to help reduce the effect.

5 reasons why I like Delhi Winters

These reasons are the realizations that I get during the winter months in Delhi which I would have missed in a place with mild winters.

Reason5: Winters make me realize the blessing of summer dressing when wearing one layer over another adds to my unease but I still shiver with cold.

Reason4: They make me realize the importance of advent of lip balm and moisturizing lotions when I feel the pain while giving presentations with cracked lips and try hard to hold the marker with dry hands.

Reason3: Whenever I use water geysers, heat convectors and exercise machines, I realize the importance of the gadgets invented with the purpose of providing warmth.

Reason2: When I miss out the turns on the road while driving, due to the winter fogs, I realize the importance of clear skies. The misty windscreen further makes me realize the significance of a clear dry weather.

Reason1: The benevolent warmth of the Sun in the chilly breeze makes me realize
why Sun is worshipped as God in India.

How does one meet an old friend one hasn't talked to in months; a friend with whom one has shared many personal experiences ; a friend who is more of a identity of oneself. How does one start the conversation? By saying " I missed you but couldn't make it to you? or should one simply start off the next conversation as if there was never any gap? Wouldn't that be rude? Various such questions have crossed my mind whenever i have sat down to re-unite with my blog in the past one month. So this is to say i am through with my blog vacation and ready to share some more experiences, feelings with this friend!

Toastmasters

One of the simplest art that could have been acquired by humans is the art to converse. This seems to be the only thing that comes so easily and naturally to us. But lets ponder over this for a while. Does it really come that easily to all of us? In the basic sense - yes. But being an ambitious species, a human being's quest for reaching various milestones in both personal and professional life requires him to do public speaking. There are a lot of other skills in the initial stages which take priority and this communication/ conversation/ public speaking bug bites us a little less unless of course we want to go for a course like MBA. What we fail to notice at this stage is that the goods we are to deliver at our job and in our personal life are not complete without conveying out the right information by the right means. And when we begin to lose out because of lack of communication skills, we realize that it's time to develop this very fundamental skill. All that we need for this is an awareness of our needs and goals, the company of other human beings who can provide constructive feedback, an informal yet structured technique, and a platform to practice the technique.

This is exactly what Toastmasters club has to offer. Toastmasters was started in 1924 in US and now it has nearly 15000 clubs in 90 countries.I've heard Toastmasters has 2 other community clubs as well in Delhi. The maximum number of Toastmasters club in India are Bangalore formed mostly within big IT companies. The reason for starting this club was the research findings that nearly 70-80% of the people have the fear of public speaking. For some who don't have this fear , becoming a Toastmasters might give them that extra edge as far as their communication skillls are concerned. And for someone who wants to overcome the fear of public speaking, it might be a Leap of faith - at least in the initial period. So i'm looking forward to joining this club which is being established within my company premises in Noida.

Welcome note

I was late in welcoming her. She had visited us on New Year and was here to stay. After a fortnight of her being around, i finally got the chance to meet her. People had flocked around her ever since her first visit.
I had seen her earlier a few times from a distance. I would be in the area near my home when she would pass by. Today it was different, when i saw her approaching us. Seeing her closely was a new feeling altogether.
Her gait was swift and steady and she was looking gorgeous, clad in gray with red border. In order to meet her, i had to climb a long flight of stairs. She'll have escalators ready for her visitors soon, i was told.
She was a marvel and her looks were very modern. All those who were present, had a smile on their faces.The smile was because of the realization that she would join them on their journey. Her presence was comforting and was an epitome of neatness.It was in her company that i could see my city from new heights. Now with her around there'll be more such meetings and journeys. A hearty welcome for coming to my area - Delhi Metro !

A programme on CNBC TV 18 invites former KBC winners and helps them to invest the prize money wisely. I think it's called Kaun Rahega Crorepati.

So yesterday there was this couple on this show KRC.
Host to wife: Your husband does not believe in investing in Stock market because of the risk involved. What do you think about investing in stocks?
wife is still thinking when husband speaks up: She likes to take a lot of risk, unlike me.
Wife trying to affirm husband's statement: Yes he is right, i am very risky
=))

The Rat Trap Session

This piece is about an interesting anecdote that happened yesterday . Since we have moved to the new office building, rats have been found with in the office premises courtesy the open area and the pond nearby.

Yesterday a brainstorming session was being held on how to eradicate rats in the sitting area which were wreaking havoc on the network cables in our area despite the gum boards kept for trapping them. Our senior admin staff visited our sitting area to hold a standing meeting for deciding on action points to eradicate rats in this area. The graveness of the situation could be understood as this was the third time the rats had chewed a network cable of one of the systems. The chewing had been done quite creatively, the chewed cable showing like a flower crafted by a skilled artisan.

The system administrator had not faced such a problem in his career. He explained how these rats are so intelligent so as to chew only the data cables which won't harm them. Instead they get enjoyment out of chewing these cables as these cables are slightly charged. He suggested installing the wires which produced a sound that would ward away the rats and thus would help in keeping the area rat proof. In the meantime admin manager was replying to his phone calls saying he was busy catching rats :)

The final outcome was to place gum boards at some strategic locations suitable for rat trap. The success of the meeting is yet to be determined, but the session itself was quite amusing!