Something to smile for

“kehte hai, ke agar kisi bhi cheez ko dil se chaho to puri ki puri qayanaat tumhe use milaane ki koshish mein lag jaati hai”

I actually don’t believe in the above said dialogue. It does not happen always but it do happen sometimes. And yeah it happened this time for me.

Yes, I managed to surprise myself by clearing CFA Level I. I took a couple of weeks off during May to study for it. And I did give my best shot in those two weeks. Studied 12-14 hours a day. I guess the only time I had put in this much effort was during my 10^th board exams.

Its not that a big achievement considering almost everyone in my office is either CFA level III candidate or already a CFA. And somewhere I know am over-reacting but I don’t care. I am very very happy :D .

There are couple of reasons for it. One , I did not study much in advance, I always kept on banking on those two weeks vacations and am happy that I proved myself right on that. Secondly , I wasn’t in best of mood during that time because of some stupid issue but I managed to keep myself concentrated on studying which I was never able to do in past. So it’s a kind of personal victory for me. J

I have been short on confidence for last couple of months and thankfully clearing this paper will reinstill my lost confidence as its something which always has been my strength.

Looking forward to party with family and friends next weekend in Delhi. J

A song for every feel

If its difficult to define love, its impossible to define the feeling when you are in love and you are loved in return. Its special.

I remember watching movie “ Saagar” lots of times in my childhood. Used to come every 2-3 weeks on doordarshan channel. And we didn’t have cable then at home , so had no other option than to watch it. Am surprised now , despite having 200 channels , most of the times I still end up saying that nothing good is coming on TV. I rarely switch on the TV if I know there is no live sports action.

Anyways, coming back to the reason that made me write this. There is a beautiful song in this movie, and its lyrics are so simply superb and very close in defining that special feel.  In childhood I didn’t pay attention to the lyrics, so I guess its high time the song gets the long deserved appreciation.

Here are the lyrics, and while am writing this post, side by side am the song is getting downloaded and will be soon added to “My list”. J

sach mere yaar hai, bas wohee pyaar hai

jisake badale me koyee toh pyaar de

baakee bekaar hai, yaar mere....

jis haath me ik haath hai, uss haath kee kya baat hai

kya manjile kya faasle, ik humsafar gar saath hai

jisakee kismat koyee yu sanvaar de, woh hee dildaar hai yaar mere....

jhume jamin jhume gagan, tere liye hoke magan

khilatee rahe khushiya teree, mehka rahe dil kaa chaman

jindagee tujhako aisee bahaar de, dil kee pukaar hai, yaar mere....

sunate the ham yeh jindagee, gham aur khushee kaa mel hai

hamko magar aaya najar, yeh jindagee woh khel hai

koyee sab jite sab koyee haar de, apanee toh har hai, yaar mere....

And it all started with a Big Bang

Oh na na, am not going to talk about the “God particle” , which has been in news this entire week. I read couple of lines about it , how important a discovery it is. But am still not sure how this discovery is going to be useful for mankind other than answering the question of our existence to a small section of the world. I believe majority of the world’s population was already happy by an answer that we are creation of “God”.

Anyways lets leave that aside. Not a good topic to even think of atleast for me. A slighted related topic to this is one of the sitcoms that am watching again and again these days “ The Big Bang theory”.

First, it was Friends, then Prison Break, then How I met your mother and now the Big Bang theory.Well so far, I have seen only these 4 TV series and though I have loved each of them, there is something special about The Big Bang theory. I have watched each of its episodes (Season 1-5) numerous times and still I don’t get bored watching it again.

If you have never seen it , I recommend give it a shot. Download any one of its episodes or stream it. Just around 21 mins each episode.

 Here are few lines about the sitcom sourced from wikie :

“The show is centered on five characters: roommates Leonard Hofstadter and Sheldon Cooper, two physicists who work at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech); Penny, a blonde waitress and aspiring actress who lives across the hall; and Leonard and Sheldon's equally geeky and socially awkward friends and co-workers aerospace engineer Howard Wolowitz and astrophysicist Rajesh Koothrappali. The geekiness and intellect of the four guys is contrasted for comic effect with Penny's social skills and common sense.”

“Soft kitty, Warm kitty, Little ball of fur. Happy kitty, Sleepy kitty, Purr Purr...”

You’ve got mail

Everyday I log in, I see tons of unread e-mails in my mailbox. Some research reports and some related to work. At my personal mailbox, I get stupid job alerts for the account I created during my engineering days, then snapdeal offers etc. But then, I have got 3 e-mails in last couple of days which have really made me feel good. It is from three different people who have appreciated me and my thoughts.

I always believe it is one thing to be appreciated verbally and its entirely different when it is in a written form. Because when you write, you actually are conscious of what you are writing. It’s a three step thing : You first think what you wish to convey, then you write it and then you read it before sending it. So for me something in written is extra special.

I have kept a printout of one of these mails which actually made me shed a tear, I got so overwhelmed reading it, a short and sweet mail from one of the heads who has been instrumental in shaping my progress so far.

Somehow I always have been fan of e-mails. I never delete non-forward e-mails. I keep them as a memory. Even today I have all the e-mails since I created my account. And once in a while , I do go back and read them.  And somewhere I think the existence of this blog is also linked with this. 

Earlier I used to write on word docs and keep it. But its difficult to keep word docs organized. So a blog helps me keep my notes organized plus it offers a good interface too. Moreover, I guess with time my blog has become kind of my closest friend who is always there to listen to me. J

Back to strangers

Am sure it must have happened with all of you also. Don’t you wonder that how many strangers you met turned into good friends and then all of sudden back to strangers again.

When I think about it, I see it happening when I moved on to one phase of life to other. Say after schooling, engineering, job shift, MBA. All of sudden all the faces which I was so used to seeing everyday got replaced with new faces. And with time, I forgot the old faces and the new ones became a part of my life.

Oh yes, some of those people remain a part of my life. But then what about others. I lost touch with them. I guess those were always acquaintances. And if someday we do cross at some path, we will surely smile at each other, no hard feelings of not being touch for such a long time. J

The other reason when good friends turn strangers again is because of something happening between the two where both are right from their perspective with a opposite viewpoint. A tricky situation, where it is very clear that the matter wont be sorted out and you cant even forget it. So the only way is not to talk about it , which can happen only if you don’t talk at all. No good byes, no wishes, just complete cut all of sudden. You keep waiting for the other person to call you with an open mind but it never happens because the other person is also hoping for the same. There are few people I will love to hear voice of, but then I know they will not call and I guess I will also not.

One other reason why this happens is because of the relationship moving on from the excitement phase to the meltdown phase. Oh yes, I still believe in this phase theory :D . (http://unknownrahul.blogspot.in/2011/02/phases-in-relationships.html)

I guess one thing that I learnt that no matter what the reason is Life moves on. You keep meeting new people, you keep walking. The best thing is to always take with you the learning’s from what happened and good memories of the other person. In the end we all are same, what someone has done with you, you also must have done it with someone else. After all nobody is perfect, so no point in blaming the other.