Old maybe gold but give the new their due.

"Old is gold" is a quote we all have been listening to from childhood. Our parents, teachers, elders, friends etc. all of them convey to us this same message through a variety of ways. At every stage of our life we are actually made to realise the importance and verasity of this statement. I don't question the statement but in the recent past i realised that its not right to just blindly follow this and do injustice to the "new"- The Present.

"Old times" never come back and I suppose it's just as well. What comes back is a new morning every day in the year, and that's better."

What is new now will be old in a few moments from now...I do agree that the old friends, old memeories and past experiences play a very important role in our lives and remind us of some of the finest moments of our life but have u ever wondered that because we are so overwhelmed by the people in our lives that we create a barrier around us and by choice and just refuse to allow the new people around us to be counted in our list of "great friends"....its really ironical.

I see a lot of people around me including me who choose not to be a part of the present and continue to live with their past glories....what i really don't understand is "How does one define past?" Its something that is very relative...what you experienced a minute back is past this minute! So when you say....New...how do u define it or how do you conclude that this is new? I feel its an on going process each one of us is evolving with time and so is everything around us....I experience a new me every few minutes but does that stop me from liking myself? No..infact i find my self improving everytime...so then why is it that we complain about the new people around us and we do not even try to break the initial ice? Are they not jus as new as you are at that moment? I was discussing this with a friend and this one statement of his totally convinced me about this thought that was troubling me.He said:

"If you bought 22 K gold a few years back does that mean that the 24 K gold available today is of no use or is by any chance less valuable?".....

All i want to convey is that we all need to open up a little to embrace the present and enjoy to the fullest the things that are sent our way. I would conclude with these last lines:

We seem to be going through a period of nostalgia, and everyone seems to think yesterday was better than today. I don't think it was, and I would advise you not to wait ten years before admitting today was great. If you're hung up on nostalgia, pretend today is yesterday and just go out and have one hell of a time.

Finally on a Vacation!!!

I had been longing to go for a vacation after I joined college but it seemed like a distant dream because I was so much overburdened with all the assignments and research papers etc. But finally god did answer my prayers and I got an invitation for a three day trip to Alibagh, a coastal area 180 kms from Pune. So I decided to bunk college for two days and go for the trip.

We had hired our own 25 seater bus and the journey started on 11th August at 8 am. It felt so good to be back with old friends to enjoy a vacation. It was a lovely drive to Alibagh as the vast stretch of land across the road was lush green, the clouds were flying low through the mountains and the serpentine highway was pitch black and endless due to the rains. We halted at Khandala for tea and I just cannot put into words the scenic beauty there. I felt so fresh and full of energy after seeing the beauty around. We then continued with the journey and we didn’t realize when the remaining 4 hours went by while playing anatakshari!

After a long lively journey we reached our destination the Kashid Beach. We were put up in this small and sweet bungalow so with both lodging and dining taken care of and we sure now that we were destined to have a great holiday! The two days that we were there were full of masti, fun and excitement. We spent hours playing volley ball and cricket on the virgin beaches of Alibagh. It seemed that suddenly time had gone back and each one of felt like a kid as none of us had any hang ups or prior commitments or responsibilities for those three days. The fact that there was no network coverage for mobiles was a blessing in disguise for all of us! The evenings were spent playing dumb sharades and memory games, singing and pulling each others legs while wining and dining went along side. Then we used to have this post dinner session that started at mid-night where in half of us used to play cards and the rest used to have brain storming sessions about some of the weirdest and interesting topics…..right from technology to psychology…it was so much fun. Then finally we used to force each other to bed at 4AM!!!

The three things that I enjoyed most and that made my vacation a success are:

The long walks on the beach all alone listening to my favorite music and singing along aloud with no one around me. I felt so light and relieved. Initially while I was walking alone I was upset as the not so good things that were going on in my life flashed in front of me. But as later as time went by I realized that by the time I was walking the last time on the beach before leaving for pune, I was feeling happy, light, re-energized and full of life. I had let out my worries, frustrations and hang- ups through this.

There was this heavenly place that we happened to find out. There was a virgin waterfall something like what I could imagine in my dreams only and had seen in some romantic Hollywood movies! Clear and chilled water flowing through the rocks and the lush green surroundings were a sight that I l never forget in my life time. The place seemed like a different world altogether, so wild yet so serene, so loud yet so calm, so scary yet so beautiful……here are a few pictures of this place but had cameras been able to capture the real beauty….it wouldn’t have been worth it!

And finally what I enjoyed most at last was that I was able to in true sense go for a vacation! It was perfect as it included my friends, a great place to stay, good food, no hang ups, a lot of time for myself, amazing destination, it gave me peace of mind and the same time a chance to get crazy….it gave me a lot of time with friends and last but not the least a long awaited VACATION!!!

So I would recommend all you people to definitely take some time out and treat yourself with a vacation…………it is impossible to put I words the feelings when you are convinced at the end of it that it was all worth it!

Embrace yourself....embrace life....

Have you hugged yourself today?
When was the last time you smiled at yourself?
When was it last that you kissed your reflection in the mirror?
When was it last that you pampered yourself jus because you love yourself and tried to do justice to your existence?
When was the last time that you took time out and spent time with yourself?

Well...how many of us have asked ourselves these questions recently? Well i asked myself these questions today afternoon when i was busy trying to cope up with all my assignments and research papers. I was in a total frustrated frame of mind when a friend gave me a call and as we got talking he told me how he had taken time out from his job and gone on a vacation jus to relax....I realised that i badly needed a break too.

After the conversation i just lay on my bed for sometime and the above questions crossed my mind and to my dismay i realised that it had been a long long time that i had actually just spent time with myself. In my endeavor to achieve my goals and do well at work and studies i had actually not bothered to give myself some time out. I could not recollect when was it last that i went for a ride on a bike on the highway to feel the wind in my hair with just no hang ups at all...i could not recollect when last did i actually go out with my friends and be completely mentally present there with out thinking about the pending tasks!... Nor could i recollect that when was it last that i looked myself in the mirror for a few more seconds just to smile at myself!!!

It was so damn scary. I always thought that i was the easy going happy go lucky kinds...but just 5 mins that i spent thinking about myself today was a big shock to me! So guys i would request all of you to give yourself 5 mins of your time everyday. Think about things that interest you, think about what makes you happy, think about your old friends and take time to call atleast one of them each day, try to plan for your weekend, smile at yourself every morning and the world will smile with you, go out alone and listen to your favorite music, dance a little, treat yourself to your favourite food, sing out to yourself, pamper yourself, laugh loud and with all your heart...forget those plastic smiles for a while, think of the good old times and thank god for all those moments he brought your way etc etc etc..... to put it in one line....

Do all those things to yourself that you would expect your beloved to do for you.... be your own lover once a while and life will suddenly seem so "LIVELY"... as its rightly said....

“You must love yourself before you love another. By accepting yourself and fully being what you are, your simple presence can make others happy.”

A Beautiful Nightmare- Welcome to The Orientation!!!

Managing the smile

It all started on 19th June 2007, given a chance i would definately name it the "Dooms day!!". Though we officially started with our first semester on 18th June 2007 when everyone around seemed so sweet and caring and each senior that walked past us gave us that angelic smile little did we realise that this was the silence before the storm!

After the seniors addressed our batch on the eve of 18th June we all realised that now we are gonna be taken for a roller coaster ride..because after all the welcoming us and briefing us on the rules of the institute they ended with an announcement which said " So student managers of 2007-2009 batch please report tomorrow moring in front of the health care center at 5:45 sharp in a jogging attire! Is that clear?" But ofcourse it conveyed volumes to us. And i must tell you all that it was the night of 18th June that we actually got to sleep in leisure before the Orientation started. I could not believe myself for waking up much before time and that too even before the sun came up as i had really pampered my sleep in the past one year while i was working. I had never in the entire past year managed to wake up before 8:30 am even though i tried hard to make it for morning walks that time. Anyhow once we got dressed and reached the place the first bomb fell....the students who were late by even a fraction of seconds were asked to form a seprate line of defaulters!! Oh! my gosh! I was dumb struck and that too not politely but in a manner as if we had committed a punishable offence!

And this was just the beginning! Everyday jogging at 5:30 am. One hour it and you are not allowed to walk at all unless you have got serious medical issues. Gettin back to the room at 6:50 to get dressed by 7:20 am for the Economic Times test ! Just imagine three girls who never in their life had bothered to learn to drape a saree had to actually take bath and get dressed in 40 mins flat...definately the orientation had taught us that everything is possible! After the test half an hour for breakfast and then classroom and audi sessions from 8:30 am to 7 pm!!! And be prepared to be slaughtered if you are caught even blinking!!! No yawning, no coughing, no drooping, no smiling....just sitting straight all the while...just cant think of words to convey what that feeling was like! Then ofcourse the 'Batch Meet' at 7pm to 9:30 pmwhich to each one was as if hell had been let loose! We were screamed at for even the minutest of mistakes....and god save you if you tried any smart act during that period! But ofcourse since it was all a part of 'Orientation' we had nothing to complain about and the irony was that in our endeavor to not to leave any scope for error in our tasks almost each one of us ended srewing up!

Other than being a terror the batch meet was held with the main objective to inform us about the various activities etc going on in the institute and of course we got our assignments for the next morning. And then after a really long day with information overflowing when we would reach the room gald to be able to catch sleep, we used to be called to the senior's rooms for 'Interaction Sessions' and need i say more? We finally got to the room by 1 am now to start working on the assignments and reading ecenomic times! So finally going to bed by 3 am to report for jogging at 5:30 am!

Write up's on seniors given by other seniors, time management, punctuality, presentations, extempores. SWOT analysis, BCG matrix, Ausi sessions, Jogs, perfectly draped sarees, quality work, long woking hours...everything expected from us everyday....was next to impossible but to our surprise in not more than two days that it started we had all got used to it and I am still surprised as to how did we all manage it so soon and so perectly..... I would just conclude saying ..."Worst situations bring out the best in you!!" and i am totally convinced with this quotation now!

Job for a Day!!!

Understanding the rules of the game.....

The Future CEO's the beginning.....

It was a very amusing day for me today. I always knew i was outgoing, smart and could manage well with minimum resources...but today i proved this to myself. The 10th day of orientation at SIMS and its already made me aware of my potentials! Our class had a Business excercise today where in we all made up a buddy pair and had to go out to Deccan area to find ourselves a job for the day and to earn minimum of Rs. 100 each without spending even a single penny till we got back to campus. It sounded really easy and fun but the challenges started the very moment we got out from the campus gates.

And the journey begins.....

The first challenge was to get to Deccan which was 4 Km from the institute and that too by taking a lift.It totally brought out the dramatist within me back to life...I made the funniest faces right from the brightest smiling face to the most helpless face to convince passerbyes to let me hop on. Well i did manage one finally and that too from a very old man and i wasnt too sure if he could actually handle the bike with me on it too ;)... nevertheless i manged to reach deccan and now the next challenge awaited me....I was supposed to meet my buddy there who was totally new to Pune and we forgot to exchange cell numbers before leaving college and even though he left 10 mins before me from college..He was no where to be seen even after waiting for 15 mins!!! I had totally given up the hope to carry on but then ....I spotted him across the road....There he was totally god sent i must say....Oh!! what a relief..and then our odessey began.....

We went to all the possible restaraunts on FC road, to all the famous apparel stores etc..crosswords, bag shops, Bata showroom, Oakwood etc etc etc.. but no luck at all... Finally at 11:45 am we managed to get the job at Louis Philippe outlet on JM road.... awesome luck i must say...after sweating for 2 hours and facing rejections and loosing all hope we finally managed a job at this exclusive air conditioned show room and for a decent Rs. 200 each for 4 hours!!!

Once we got to know our task there, we both got straight to work....the work involved updating the inventory or more simply put, it was to check for the present stock in the showroom. So i got onto checking the stocks for the their collections under the names Luxury, Khakis, Highlights, Formal trousers (PV,TR,Regular) under pleated and non pleated categories. The whole process took me 4 hours and while i was doing the needful there was a senior CCA who was assisting me through out and that too very patiently. He answered all my queries and praised me for picking up things really well and fast. Apart from doing the task assigned i studied the show room interior in details and learnt the concept of Visual Merchandise, the placing of products, the sequence of arranging the clothes, the reason for varying prices between almost similar looking fabrics and the art of making the customer buy atleast one item more than what he was actually planning to buy.

lt was a great learning experience as i had never thought that so much of planning goes into even the placement of clothes in the retail outlet. It was fun, exciting and extremely interesting and ofcouse very tiring too..it kept us on our toes throughout the day!

We then took our leave from Louis Philippe at 4:30 pm and set off to report to Mr. Manohar Kamath (The facliltator for this exercise) at FTI swimming pool with the 400 bucks that we managed to earn. Both of us were really hungry by now but alas...even with that money in our pockets...we could not buy ourselves food...as it was against the rules! And of course there was yet another challenge of reaching the required meeting place again by taking lifts which was an art both of us had mastered by then.

It was pouring cats and dogs when we reached law college road and we were late already but someting kept us going and we did walk our way to the common meeting place and were so glad to see all our classmates there and all of us patting each others back for climbing the first stay to CEO ship!

In the it was all worth it. Though totally out of energy end of the day i felt like a winner. It was an adventurous day for me as i never in my wildest dreams had ever imagined that i would actually earn myself a living without spending a single penny! So definately today i m proud of myself and realised that this was just the beginning and now that i have full confidence in me and now that i know i can do better..... I am gonna undertake this odessey right away!!!