The 'Dawn' Effect

I have been a 'morning person' from times I can remember...I used to be waking up much earlier than any member of my clan including my parents...even during holidays or weekends I can't sleep more than 7'o clock! That has always been the case...and the thing I like about this ingrained habit of mine is that it comes with a a bundle of advantages, few of which are -

1. You feel real fresh and rejuvenated when you wake up early and take in a whiff of unpolluted air first thing in the morning. This is to be felt...so go ahead and try, in order to believe.
   
2. Secondly you get to orient your mind in a peaceful environ with the help of meditation or just by communing with nature, before entering into chaotic day to day life. The effect can be felt as the day goes by...you still get to be active when people start showing signs of fatigue.
   
3. Next you get to be real productive in the truest sense of the word as you start earlier than others. I always say to myself "Miles to go before I sleep" whenever I wake up or hit the bed...so much to do in so less time, so waking up gives you that edge over others definitely.
4. There is one major plus to waking up early is also that your brain is sharper and ready to receive the best you can send to it...the brahma muhurt period is supposedly very auspicious and conducive to study your favourite subjects...this can be a boon to the student community!
   
5. Last but not least it lets you chase your passions like singing or dancing or painting as in my case thereby providing a finer aspect of living a fulfilled life.

So go ahead, catch your z's early and see the benefits for yourself...!

Sleepless in South...

Moving to South is an eventuality that awaits me given the nature of my aspirations and the environment that I long to have for myself and my family apart from the fact that I hail from TamilNadu...but I have come to realize that it comes with a price attached to it as well...

One such recent trip has confirmed that part of the bargain would be to get up early, like it or not...what came in as a blessing during my school days is not so much welcome to me suddenly! My mom promptly used to keep an alarm at 3 and wake us (myself and my brother) up during the pre-exam and exam days, give us a cuppa of steaming chai and let us study...even though I am a morning person, that was way too much and I used to doze off nicely but for the sudden checks that my sadist brother used to have on me opening my study stealthily to see if I am awake and studying...later by 4 am, I used to get the steady company of the loudspeakers with all top singers crooning to their favorite Gods and Goddesses based on the time of the year...

But now, when you are a working professional, you are so used to sleeping late and waking late, and I for one, want to sleep atleast till 6 so that I can function normally without any irritation the next day. But come to reality and you find that there are so many people ready to blare the loudspeaker first thing at 5 am in the morning and assure you are sleep deprived...I was in the hotel room and sat up right hearing the sudden increase of decibel :). First came MS with her divine recitation of Suprabhatam followed by Mahishasuramardini stotram by Sulamangalam sisters, then Unnikrishnan's Bharathiyar renditions...While this was happening, there were several other noises in the backdrop that finally got submerged in the hum of city life, and by then it was 6.20 and I knew I cannot go back and sleep like a baby :(

In spite of the Supreme Court giving strict orders on noise pollution, banning usage of loudspeakers between 10-6, no one seem to take this seriously here! After all, rules are meant to be broken!

This is a hard truth that set in me but assuming I want to do something worthy in my life, making use of that additional hour can be a boon...so here I am welcoming the sounds and shlokas in my life to make me 'what I am meant to be...!'

Quotations Freak...!

It's a strange realization that dawned on me when my colleague pointed out the number of quotes I have surrounded myself at work yesterday....there it was...open for everyone to see; on my mini whiteboard - some scribble on a quote from Aristotle, one from Kabir from the bluish gray HelpAge India Calendar, a motivational tabletop calendar, a green-calendar with tips to go green, Dilberts quotes, and a screen saver too with quotes! Quotes everywhere...

Jeez, why I do surround myself with so many quotes? Have I turned into a sort of 'Quotations Freak'? Even if that's the case, what's wrong? Come to think of it, it all started with my optimistic notion that 'World is Good' despite of all things that one hear or sees or reads. Not all is lost...so when you are surrounded with workplace negativity and the negativity from hearing unwanted news around you, one would need a constant source to renew one's energy...and probably that was what I was aiming for unconsciously ...by helping myself with an ample serving of quotations...

It is so nice to start a conversation over a quote...it happens all the time with me, much to by surprise or even embarrassment (though it is not!) almost every other day someone stops by, cares to read what I have written and then comments on it whether I like it or not, and more often I have found that they smile at it and our conversation ends on a positive note. One day much to my astonishment, a colleague said that he reads drops by my cubicle everyday to read the quotations I write and to get a little dose of motivation! Wow...now that was unexpected, given the fact I he is not one of the best guys to hang out with given is sharp sarcasm levels the moment he opens his mouth...this is simply an example of what profound impact a written word can do to anyone...so I am happy that by doing these mindless yet mindful stuff of being a QF, I am helping myself and also others, albeit inadvertently.

So before signing-off, let me give you a dose of QOMD (Quotation of Maha’s Day) from my stable...

"Successful and Unsuccessful people do not vary greatly in their abilities..They vary in their desires to reach their potential."

Spawny Thoughts of the Web

Well it has been more than a year now since I blogged...Why did I want to start blogging in the first place? To express my feelings, pent up opinions, or to please the world and update them on my thoughts and whereabouts..? It is pretty much the former, the latter can be a bonus attached to it...but I think you can enjoy blogging only so long as you do it for yourself...in this period of 1 year and 2 months, facebook and twitter has emerged and I am trying to catch up with the fascinating way to interact with same people, in the same language for almost same reasons in a different site...sounds weird but weird things have started to be the norms of society in large...we accept anything that is being hyped, without even stopping to think if we need them in the first place...you are tweeting, so do I, because everyone wants to do, everyone things it is hep, everyone wants to be followed?...to those, whose privacy is a holy affair, these sites - especially twitter can pose hazards...and lets not forget another point here...you may have fan following you but you gotto be also "politically correct" to tweet...if not anything! One wrong timed or wrong worded message, you are going to get yourself into a controversy for God knows how many days! And mind you such things have a knack to undo the holier past too! We have seen too many incidents in the recent times of celebrities and politicians being drawn into dirty mud for the same reasons...

Nonetheless, to make things easier for me to connect with my contacts, who are losing patience, I have updated my profile in linkedin and created a new facebook account...but I am determined not to be tempted to chat or post unless I am OK with it in terms of time and space...until then, I am not going to get bogged down due to the fascinations of the web...I surely can't do blogging or surfing at the cost of having the house under fire...I suppose no one should...It is time we realize the priorities and try to balance life and enjoy everything to the fullest...Yippie....

Memories of my Grandma

My dear Patti ( paternal grandma) passed away today evening after almost 6 years of being bedridden at the ripe age of 95. She was a pillar to the entire clan, commanding respect for who she was, rather than what she was. She has produced 200 odd clan members through her 11 children and had seen 4 generations in her life. She has seen her grand-daughter's grand-daughter...she also managed to outlive her husband (my Thatha) by 23 years...but it is a sad state that in the last decade of her life, her sons were really bowling her from one place to another creating chaos in otherwise what would have been a smooth living...she had gone to live with her sons in Mumbai, Chennai, Coimbatore etc...now that her chapter is closed, thankfully and much to everyone's relief, this nasty exchange has come to a grinding halt. Apart from having some good memories of her during my childhood, the one I would always hold dear to heart is her presence in my wedding and her blessings she bestowed on me and my husband. It meant a lot to me and made my day! Later sometime in 2005 when I last saw her, she was not so feeling well but did pose for a photo shot with me, my hubby and my dad in Hyderabad. I think I've imbibed a lot of qualities from her that time only can test me to show as a proof...All she had was a meagre pension that she got from the Government with which she could hardly buy her medicines but her sons who were financially well off always carried on the show so well that she did what she wanted to in her lifetime and made everyone serve her. She was a classic example of a person who could command respect sans money power. Relatives across the world came to seek her advice and suggestions as she was the most elderly of the family. All said and done, I have a slight regret that I couldn't show my daughter to her before her time was out...Hope she blesses us from above and guides us in the right path for generations to come. May her soul rest in peace. OM!

"Peas vs Pills" workshop in Bangalore

My doc friend Dr. Nandita Shah is conducting a workshop on Naturopathy...if you are interested please attend the same. More details below -
Day/Venue/Time - Saturday 27 September 2008 at the Alliance Française de Bangalore from 9am to 5pm.

Coverage -
1. Health, disease and the scope of medicines.
2. What is the healthiest diet for our species? Understanding our anatomy, physiology and real nutritional needs.
3. Why the foods we are eating today cause disease.
4. Results of diet change.
5. The relation between diet and stress.
6. The relation between diet and our environment.
7. How to manage making the transition without missing the foods we are used to.
8. How to handle social situations.

Workshop fee: 1750 Rs. (1500 Rs. per person for couples / families).
Register by 12 September to avail of the early bird fee of 1500 Rs. (1200 Rs. per person for couples / families).
This includes breakfast, lunch, a snack and workshop materials.
For more information and to register for the workshop, contact info@sharan-india.org
Tel. 99864 78000.

Shallow Relations? Not for me...

Does a sun sign truly define a person? Are we not a product of our environment and upbringing as well apart from other parameters? I am thinking all these because recently my cousin who visited me was telling how his girl friend being born in the same sun sign as mine had shallow relationships...and he was surprised when I said that I strongly believe having only deep and meaningful relations. Is it just him or is it a tendency for the newgen to typecast someone into something because they belong to a particular sign...? While it could be true that being under the same sign may give you certain set of basic characteristics, it would and can not make you a replica of other person belonging to the same sign. Afterall, we are people hailing from diverse regions brought up in diverse climes and hence we are bound to have diverse tastes. It would be senseless to compare an Arian hailing from South India to an Arian hailing from say Russia or Mexico...What could be similar would be that they may both tend to be adventurous or say have a drive to start something unique etc. and that's about it. Making weird comparisons would actually harm the relationship as you approach the person with preconceived notions. Right?