definition of life

There as six billion Gods and six billion definitions of life out there at this moment! Although, I like all the different Gods I come across.. like the Baby God (Krishna, Little Christ), the youthful God out to get rid of evil (Rama, Guru Gobind Singh), the kind, loving, saintly God (Christ, Guru Nanak, Sai Baba), the enlightened recluse (Buddha), the angry God (Zeus), the innocent God (Shiva) - I am not sure if I like that angry God guy - I mean why would God be angry! He has all the control buttons. He can make shit happen like he wants to. I think just to make the game funner, he left the Love button control, out-of-even-his-control. I think he may regret it some days. But you know even he wants the free-will kind of love from us! So he may be a little human too.

I wonder what is God's definition of life!

Calvin shares his idea with Hobbes - "Life is like topography, Hobbes. There are summits of happiness and success, flat stretches of boring routine, and valleys of frustration and failure." 

I think life has a different definition everyday but eventually it all boils down to the need to be happy and the desire to be loved! 

5 Mistakes Everyone Should Make

Loved this list; some of the points resonated some of my previous posts - especially, don't be afraid to take risks and embarrass yourself!

1. Totally embarrass yourself. 
2. Ruffle people's feathers. 
3. Follow trends blindly. 
4. Be willing to fail - do something you love. 
5. Carelessly put yourself at risk. 

Direct link: http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/life/5-mistakes-everyone-should-make-2391721/

Lehrein . . .

I know, I know, this is a sad song! 

When I posted it on Facebook, I really did not get the sad part of it. IDK. I don't pay attention to all the details. So after the queries of "are you part of the sad-people club?" started to flow in, I wondered ... hmmm! Am I? Why do I like this song? Anyways - my introspection apart, this is a beautiful song: fabulous instruments playing, gorgeous composition, beautiful voice, and yeah the lyrics - they sound like words straight from the heart! 


Check out the violin at the beginning of the song!!! 

Kya Kahun Kyun Yeh Dil Udaas Hai
Ab Koi Door Hai Na Paas Hai
Choo Le Jo Dil Woh Baatein Ab Kahan
Woh Din Kahan Raatein Ab Kahan
Jo Bhi Dhakhal Hai Ab Khawab Sa
Ab Dil Mera Hai Betaab Sa
Saari Kaliyan Murja Gayi
Rang Unke Yaadon Mein Beh Gaye
Saare Gharaande Reet Ke
Lehrein Aayi, Lehron Mein Beh Gayi, Beh Gaye ... 

Dreams!

How do you perceive your dreams?

Does remembering your dream when you wake up, have an effect on your day? Does a happy dream make you smile for the rest of the day? 

The interpretation of dreams is split between spirituality and science.  The first thing that comes to mind when you think of interpreting dreams is the Fruedian Psychoanalysis Theory, which is essentially that your dreams are a reflection of your subconscious. The eastern schools of thoughts believe otherwise; per them, dreams are symbolic hints of what the superpower is trying to tell you – it’s a guidance mechanism.

I am sure that there is something to Sigmund Freud’s theories but to me dreams have always been symbolic directions from that unknown force. I have always faced all my fears and hurt through my dreams – which has been plenty in the recent past! Subsequently, I have had many dreams…

 One of the dreams that has been on my mind for a few days now is very symbolic – I can’t really make out what it is about! In my dream, I was alone in a poorly lit, large, rectangular room with hardly any walls – it was all doors. I was closing the doors frantically but each time I closed one, another would open. Each door had a different view from it when I looked out.

This dream keeps on reminding me of that old adage, “when one door closes, God opens another one!” The recent events in my life have been something along the lines of “doors reopening” – maybe with slightly different scenery.

Per the Sikh philosophy, this world is an illusion, like a dream, … and if that is true, then we must be God’s dream. If all this is occurring in God’s mind, no dream is any less inconsequential as what we call the reality.

A very wise old lady had once said to me, “Jasleen – where do you think dreams come from? Do you really think they are a mere imagination of a sleeping brain…” I think – it may be our foray into that parallel universe because why does our subconscious construct absolutely new and irrelevant places in our dreams. It must all exist somewhere in a different illusion, a different plane.

email, fax, pigeon, telepathy or call on my BB ...

My Blackberry Affair! It started about two and half years back. That one summer afternoon I decided to stop by the local AT&T store to see if I can play with a few gadgets and collect some thinking fodder about which would be a suitable accessory.  My main criterion was a comfortable qwerty keypad for convenient texting. My girlfriend had a Palm (who is now an iPhone convert) and she swore by it! I went in to look at the Palm. As a memory refresher – the Palm on display was the model that spelled their doom! For a smartphone novice like me, even I was not impressed. The keys were so small! As I turned around, the Customer Svc. Rep. led me to the new Blackberry Curve which was also on sale! I love on-sale products.  As soon as I held the curvy-curve in my palm, the romance had begun. It was love at first sight. I walked out with one that day! I have had the same phone ever since in spite of the accidents poor thing has had to endure: It has been dropped in the ocean water (yes, it survived after serious remedies were exercised with lots of TLC). It has also been stolen – but it would not cheat and hence it came back to me although with lifelong scars (aka. Scratches).

But considering it is two and a half years old - which is like a 100 in phone-years, it has been dropping hints about a possible retirement.  So I was back in my local AT&T store to check out the new, very fancy gadgets. They have come a long way even for my Curve. For obvious reasons, I am biased towards the new Torch in spite of the not-so-good reviews. I have always loved sliders – a Blackberry Slider is like finding a perfect phone!

However, right now the epicenter of the cell-phone- game is the iPhone. Leaving the Palms and the Blackberries far behind in the game, this power-packed or apps-packed gadget is a must have. I would say a good 90% of my friends swear by its functionality but we all know that it is a ‘status symbol’.  Meanwhile, to sell me on it, I constantly have had friends demonstrate such a variety of apps on this thing that I can’t say that I was not swayed the iPhone way.

A week or two back, I played with the iPhone 4 and could not deny that it has all the frills and thrills but for some reason, that Torch continued to pull me towards it! I thought what the heck, let me get this iPhone 4 and join the masses. Now I can say fortunately, they did not have it in stock!!! Wow – that popular! That was kind of a turn-off. I don’t know, I like a touch of uniqueness to all my accessories! I am going to have this thing in my purse for a few years! I walked in the gym that night and first thing I saw was a couple of kids pull out their iPhones. That’s it, I don’t want an iPhone – it has bit of a “trite” characteristic associated with its persona! I came so close to "cheating" but I sincerely believe that, that day that iPhone stock being depleted was divine intervention. God sent me a signal! I must stay true to my love. I will continue my love affair with the Blackberry. I will soon pick up my Torch!

Besides, seems like the over-played iPhone is loosing ground with a set of customers who steer clear of triteness in their accessories – the winner is… nope not the Blackberry; the Androids! It’s the attack of the Droids!

Oh here is another self-confessed Blackberry-addicts, who has one of the most heartwarming stories to tell! Read away and smile . . .

Shekhar Kapur’s The Blackberry Addict, Part 2: The Story of Lattoo

“You should be accepting credit cards” I said. “No one carries cash anymore you know, get one of those machines that waiters have?”
The young boy grinned widely. Smiling benignly at my perfectly impossible request. Probably has never seen the inside of a restaurant that takes credit cards.
“How much does it cost ?” I asked pointing at one of the five ‘original’ Blackberry car chargers he was holding up. I am one of those that regularly charge my Blackberry last thing before I sleep, but often forget to turn ‘on’ the main power switch. Don’t you get confused between the US and India, where off is on, and on is off ?

Continue reading the rest of the story here:http://shekharkapur.com/blog/2010/08/a-blackberry-addict-discovers-even-more-grassroots-enterprise-in-india-the-story-of-lattoo/comment-page-1/#comment-18690

Quote: 9-22-2010

That’s the trouble with you sad-city types: 

a place has to be miserable and dull as ditchwater before you believe it’s real.

—Salman Rushdie, as Blabbermouth, Haroun and the Sea of Stories

Aatma ki shanti ke liye...

... nonsense type ke jokes zaroori hain!

This joke made me crack-up. I even immed it to a few friends who speak Hindi:

Ek aadmi sasural gaya. Uski saasu-maa ney usey saat din tak subah-shaam paalak ki sabzi khilaayi.
Aathvein din poocha, "beta, kya khaoge?"
Damaad bola, "khet dikha do, khud hi char aaonga!"

Lack of Friendships and Longer Working Hours

Desh Kapoor analyzes and differentiates between collegues and friends. He has a set of guidelines to refer to in case we need help differentiating. This is only part of the article; to read the complete piece, follow the link below.

If you are wondering if your colleagues are your "friends" or not, lets ask some questions that may help us:

• If your friend left the company, would you still be in touch with him/her in a year?
• If you have a personal emergency, would you consider asking your friend for help?
• Do you hang out with your friend outside of the office? (Weekday lunches, happy hours and business trips don't count)
• Have you met your friend's significant other? What about his friends outside of office?
• if your friend received the promotion you were banking on, would you be genuinely happy for him/her?
• If you ran into your friend in the store, would you be able to talk to him for 10 minutes without mentioning work?
• Have you seen where your friend lives?
• Do you and your friend have anything in common besides your age and your job?

What was your score? Tough was it? :)

 Direct Link: http://www.drishtikone.com/blog/lack-friendships-and-longer-working-hours

Albuterol Diaries

Super stupid post – my excuse is the lack of oxygen supply to my brain – what is the next door politician’s?

I hate asthma attacks. Well, who doesn't? Although, I am not complaining, this is probably my first one of the whole year and far milder than the last one. I think the worst one was around this time last year while I was driving. Luckily, I was close to a shopping complex so I could pull in the parking lot and contemplate calling emergency help. However, before I could contemplate anything, I think I passed out or fell asleep. I could never tell what happened. I just remember waking up at least an hour and a half later…gathered my entire strength and drove home.

I have often questioned God about this whole asthma ordeal! I mean, if he was going to attach a life long malady, why not something attractive. Asthma is sooo un-cool sounding. Hmmm… well no disease has a sexy ring to it but didn’t Rajesh Khanna manage to make "lymphosarcoma of the intestine" sound so charming in "Anand?" Well – in the movies, the diseases are always fatal with the inflicted character well aware of the approaching fate and dealing with it like super-beings. Oh – I still cry each time I watch "Anand" or "Mili" or "Kal Ho Na Ho" (although - I think Priety Zinta was better off with Saif in the end anyways. And I cried at other places in that movie like when Priety is missing her dad) … well I cry easily watching movies or even reading books… I remember crying at the airport while reading Elie Wiesel’s autobiographical “Night”.

It’s interesting though – the prejudices attached with this illness. Each time one of my desi friend learns of this, they immediately associate it with Jasleen being a typical angrez with her allergies and asthma and for the rest, it is such a desi problem! But I am delighted to say that the fellow sufferers I have known have been from all walks of life and ethnicities. We have a close clique – I mean can you tell if someone just took a hit of albuterol? Okay –its not that hard; the after effects are shaky … like you just drank a dozen cups of coffee…! Not a good feeling but better than feeling like you are drowning…

Okay – looking at my inhaler, I am thinking considering it is an essential part of my accessory bag, I would recommend the manufacturer to come up with some creative skins … you know like the smart-phones! … nice – I am impressed. Inspite of the lack of oxygen in my brain, I have come up with an idea which may be copyrightable.

… ick, I think the Vicodin just kicked in! Good night! 

Quote: 9-20-2010

Not everything that counts, can be counted; 

Not everything that can be counted, counts. 

-Einstein

Yellow Agony: So much to miss

Yellow Agony: So much to miss:
(From Nikhil's Blog)

Its kinda cleshay cliché but heard it today casually somewhere & loved it- life is not how many moments you take your breath. Its how many moments take your breath away.

Ain't it cute ? So how many moments took your breath today ? :)

Anyhow I started this post for something else. I came to know a weird fact. 60% of human communication is through body language. 30% is through tone only. Its only rest 10% in words.
How I wonder I am missing 90% of conversations when I am only "communicating" through chatting all the day or 60% when I am on phone.

Really so much to miss!

Update: Thanks to Shretima for pointing out that actually word is not cleshay but cliché. :)

aise hi!

aye hairath-e aashiqui 
     jagaa mat
          pairon se zameen 
          zameen lagaa mat 
     sun mere humdum
hameshaa ishq mein hi jeenaaa....


...this fabulous surge of joy, have not felt this for a while... you know the feeling of light and happy for absolutely no bloody reason! Its that floating feeling - the one you get for a few moments as you jump out of a plane (sky-diving)... that insane quite-ness is absolutely amazing! 


a smile for anyone who chances upon this blog and reads this...hope you get a surge of intoxicating no-reason happiness too ... a perfect split-second or more, when things could not be better ... 


it was such a beautiful dream i woke up to this morning... hope the dream continues as i fall asleep in a few ... 

... when September ends!

Dear Blog –

Summer has come and passed

The innocent can never last

Wake me up when September ends . . .

Oh, but I really did not intend to sleep walk through September. I love fall – September and October in particular…Although the trees are shedding leaves, there is a feeling of satisfaction in this “letting go.”

-----------------------------

A straw that broke the camel’s back – here is the straw that did it for me: this certain someone who I don’t know very well started to disclose a lot about his past, present and intentions to me only for me to be flabbergasted at how much vicious-ness and devious-ness is possible by a human being!  Out of respect for this person’s privacy, I won’t disclose the details however, here is what I said as my final adios – “you are scary; please cease all forms of communications with me. Don’t think of concocting any harmful strategies towards me, you will be sorry you did!” Following that, I received one text which seemed like a feeble effort to salvage the communication which I did not respond back to. However this episode left me absolutely drained of energy. I came home and collapsed on the floor. The negativity was mind-numbing. I could not stop thinking –  am I some sort of a psycho-magnet? …

Meanwhile, I was playing soundboard to another friend who is very dear to me – in listening to him; all the goodness in people was reaffirmed! As he was sorting out his problems and I was giving him advice – he came up with the solution … the age old, “give her/him an ultimatum”. I have always been an anti-ultimatum person. It is almost like blackmail – either my way or the highway. Yuck – so controlling! If the person does not give in, they don’t give in but if they do, you will be left wondering, would they be there if it were not for that ultimatum? That would drive me nuts to know that people were not there because that’s where they really wanted to be! … But this whole ultimatum thing got me thinking – its not about giving others and ultimatum; its about time I gave myself an ultimatum! Yesssss – that’s it! That my answer… I said dude – STOP! So tell me, what do you think; I am going to put myself on a timeline ultimatum! He was a little irritated as he lost the center of the conversation-attention but still supportive. We did a quick outline and brainstorming of the situation and he said, Jasleen – October 1^st is when you STOP!

Reminds me of the 12-step program …

-------------------------------------

But STOP what? I know there is something very wrong with this situation but what is wrong? How did I get here? I used to be such an “I know it all” person. How did I become “I don’t know” person? I thought I had all the answers and now I don’t even have the questions! WTF! There is such a loud conversation going on in my head and I don’t know what its about???

Anyways – I am making the change. First thing – I went through my phone book and deleted a lot of phone numbers which were there as an obligation… Now on to the next step … I have not figured it out yet! But come Oct 1^st things are changing ... definitely !

Hey – thanks for listening J

-j

Quote: September 9, 2010

A diamond is merely a lump of coal that did well under pressure.

-Henry Kissinger

*Thanks to my friend (SSH) for sharing some of the coolest articles/pictures/quotes with me. 

From, "Into My Own"

I do not see why I should e'er turn back,

Or those should not set forth upon my track

To overtake me, who should miss me here

And long to know if still I held them dear.

-"Into My Own" by Robert Frost