The Rat Race

Welcome to “The Rat Race” To all those who have just started their new jobs/career, it’s a bigger rat race with lot many people to race with. We wake up every morning just to ensure that we are also part of that rat race where everyone has some goal, might be an illusion, to achieve. In this race there is no time for people to feel/express their emotions as it’s a race where you are judged by your A4 size certificate and how big your pay check is. You just don’t have time to think about whether the race you are running is worth it or not. Our actual life starts when it’s a Friday evening and stops Sunday night. We only live on weekends and again continue to race from Monday morning. 

 

Not many are sure what race one is running and why they are running this race. When you join the rat race, the door is wide open but as you race along the door gets too narrow and some drop out in the midway. For us success is defined by people who have gotten through that narrow door. The irony which we miss here is when a person wins this race, he/she might be alone and there is none to share his/her success defined by rat race. From Monday to Friday we are all machines that are destined to do only one thing, run this rat race or made to believe that you are a loser. We have all been there before, aren’t we…??

But somewhere in this rat race some opt to drop out either it’s too difficult or they just realize that this rat race is not what they want to live for. That’s right, dropping out to live life are treated by society as the biggest losers in life, but you know they are the ones who took a stand to just live life and not be defined by people who are just running this rat race. They realize that the road they are traveling is not worth wasting one’s life for.  

We are meant to believe that life is lived only from Friday evening till Sunday night and not beyond. This isn’t your life and you know that. The irony is most people if not all, remember only those time spent between Friday evening till Sunday night than what happens between Monday to Friday.

Before you let know others that this rat race is not your road to live life, you need to let yourself know first. To let yourself know, you need to force your way out of this rat race. The hardest part is not breaking away from this rat race but to convince yourself that another path, another road is there that leads you to live what you dreamt off. If you don’t build your life, your little life the way you want to, then that will be the biggest regret of your life. Success is not only defined by money, qualification, designation but it can also be defined by Satisfaction of running away from the rat race and running into something magical called Living Life.

To conclude,

“Success is not only defined by money, qualification, designation but it can also be defined by Satisfaction of running away from the rat race and running into something magical called Living Life. A little life that awaits your presence from Monday to Friday provided you make a conscious choice to accept it”

Prashanth

PS: Image Source - Google Images                               

My Love Quotes

Below are some of my quotes about Love which I keep sharing on Twitter. I enjoyed writing about Love, hope you also enjoy reading it...:)

"Love has the power to equalize everything...anger, happiness, sorrow, guilt"

"Sometimes love happens for no reason & that’s when Love is at its best"

"You don't need to understand love to experience it.

"For your love to be successful, you need two things: Patience & Perseverance"

"The only condition in Love is, don’t be possessive"

"You will never realize the value of love unless you get hurt by someone you love dearly"

"There is a thing about love that can never be explained."

"As long as you are in love, enjoy every moment"

"Love unites two lonely hearts that needs company"

"When in love, you live for yourself"

"Just love the life you have & it will love you back"

"When you are in love, every moment feels special"

"Love is temporary but the feeling is Eternal"

"Love is what you seek from another person and not what you want"

"He fell for her silence & she fell for his words but the similarity is both fell for an expression called Love"

"You never know what love holds until you have experienced it"

"Better to be a loser in love than never experiencing it at all"

"Life may be short but there is enough love to give & take"

"Love is not all about compromise it's also about giving respect to each other's privacy"

"His eyes can sense her silence, but too far to see her pain"

"He got lost between her silence & words, yet never gave up on her dreams"

"Better to be hated for the right reason than to be loved for the wrong reason"

"What is love if someone doesn't have the patience to understand you?"

"Love can't be conquered but can only be fulfilled"

Prashanth

Image Source: Google Images

Peaceful Night

Here I stand

Gazing through the window
As the night opens itself
I wonder how life will welcome Me
There are less people on the streets
Yet not a face that I recognize
The darkness is slowly making its way
But the twinkling of stars gives me hope
As the clouds start to thunder
My heart waits to make peace with the Past
The end of this darkness seem endless
Yet I desire to make my life worth living for
In this world of broken Dreams & Promises
I vow to make my dreams come true
As I go to sleep in the midst of darkness
A sense of calm and peace prevails.

After seeing the above pic, thoughts just came to my mind. Thanks to Kirti Singh, a colleague of mine, for giving me the permission to use her pic...:)

Prashanth

Image Source: Kirti Singh

A Detour To Reclaim Your Life

Life seems very busy these days, isn’t it? Someone got married, someone went abroad and someone else got a job. These are some of the reasons that makes your Life narrower and sucks the interesting part of Life. I am not being rude here, but these are the observations, which I could make from speaking with my friends/dear ones who fall under any of the busy categories I have mentioned above.

Some month’s back I got a job and everyone knows how it feels to start earning some money. You feel liberated because you need not ask your friends/family for money for some small expenses like, eating out, going for movies and all other stuff.

When we were in college days, we didn’t have money as we were not earning that time but had enough time to enjoy small things in Life. These days we have money, designation, but don’t have time to enjoy the things, which we so badly wanted to do in life, what an irony isn’t it?

The Special Ones

There comes a time, a moment, a phase in life where we all meet that special someone. From that moment onwards a journey starts with that special someone taking care of you, being there for you, supporting you and standing beside you. There will be days to remember, days to forget, moments to remember, moments to forget, yet your love for each other should stand the test of times. Love is not meant to satisfy your desires and wants, it is meant to bring both of you closer to each other against all adversities. It's like a railway track, separated by a small distance, yet staying together for miles together in this wonderful journey of silent love and appreciation and finally reaching the destination irrespective of the minor ups & downs along the way. To be loved is the best gift one can receive from another person.

I would like to sign off by saying that, "A Marriage doesn’t make two people Special, but two hearts make the marriage a Special One" 

This blog is a small dedication to a dear friend of mine who got married and she is the first one in our small group of friends to get married. Wishing them great things in Life and let their love for each other stay like this forever in the midst of all the ups and downs...:)

Prashanth

Image Source: Her Own Pics

I, the Fortunate One

I, the Fortunate One

I feel life is at its best, when it teaches some very important lessons. We all know everyone’s life has some issues or problems, yet some are well at looking at the bright side of it. I would like to share two recent instances where I realized how lucky I am to be born as a human being first and then with less problems when compared to others.

My Interview Journey

Sometimes the journey is pretty tough and the way you look at it makes it totally worth it or a painful one. For anyone, after completing their college or higher studies, they want to get a job in a good company with a good salary. But the problem is, this is not as easy as it seems to be. If it was so easy, then everyone would stick on to their respective jobs and no one would leave their jobs. Remember how our parents used to do their jobs, joining a company and staying their for long, like 20 or 30 years and then retire.

Fortunate or not, I have attended a lot of interviews and if you ask me how do I look at it, well I am happy that I had to attend so many interviews and learnt a lot with so many unique experiences. As Steve Jobs said, "You cannot connect the dots looking forward, you can only connect it looking backwards" I would like to share some unique interview experiences of mine, which taught me a lot and made me a better person. I would not like to share the name the company, instead name it as company 1, 2 and 3.

Aren't You Missing Something in Life...??

It was in the last month of October, 2012 that an incident happened, that really hit me. I had my CA Final exams in 1^st week of November. My neighbour’s son who was 21 years old, died of heart attack. Yes, this really shook me. I am always prepared for death. As we all know someday we all will be gone, it’s just a matter of time. But what hit me was that at such young, how come one can die of heart attack that too without any symptoms at such a young age. He had no health issues and he was perfectly fine. It was at night his body arrived in an Ambulance. I carried his body along with others, inside the house. I still remember, that moment, when I carried his body, it was a strange feeling that can never be explained. 

A Leaf gave Her Life

Disclaimer: This is my first attempt to write a story. Would love to hear your feedback on this...:)

It was normal day like no other. Don't know why but somehow she felt that today would be an interesting day. Like every other day, today also she took a morning walk. While she was walking, she saw some dried leaves of a tree. It was beautiful. She kind of loved the color, a light golden one with a mixture of yellow and with stripes on it. It was totally different. Even though she sees them every other day, but today it was something different. She felt the need to pick up one of the leaves. She took one, finished her morning walk and came back home.

She got ready to go to office wearing one of her elegant dress that makes her feel awwww at herself. As she was about to pick up her bike keys, she noticed that dried leaf, which she had picked, it up during her morning walks. With a curious smile she picked up that leaf and left. While traveling, she had the same feeling, which she had in the morning, that this day could be something different for her. Something very special may be, she thought. But she didn't know what and how.

 

Life is an Illusion

The journey is never meant to satisfy your desires
The paths are treacherous to follow
Some paths are chosen and some are forced upon us
Some dear ones will leave you one day in silence
As I sit and wonder looking at the night sky
The twinkling of stars doesn't make any sense to me
Smile fades away one day
Beauty vanishes in thin air with no trace
What remains is nothing, just nothing
Loneliness will feel lonely
And sadness will have no company
In the midst of nature
We see silence, we see bliss
People come, people go
But memories stay forever
Lets hug each other
For we may never see each other again.


Prashanth

My Conversation With Death

Disclaimer: I just want to say that neither I am in any state of depression nor I feel that my life is such a waste. This post is all about my thoughts which I keep thinking to myself regularly. These thoughts help me to lead a better life as we all have only one Life to live. 

Who Are You? 

"Dear Death, I don't know how to start the conversation with you. Do I start by asking, how are you ? But then that would be a strange question right, asking Death how are you. You take away the answer to this question from others. Do you have feelings, I mean what kind of feelings. Almost every person on this earth don't like you, because you take away their lives and their dear ones. For some you give a hint as to when you are coming and for others you come as a surprise." 

Spontaneous

Hello guys, apologies for vanishing for 2 months without any information. A lot of things happened in this period. It was an interesting one. Life teaches you some very important lessons in a very strange way. There were some incidents, which I have to tell you:

- I had my exams, so that's the main
reason for me to vanish from blogging.
Now it's over, so glad to be back to
blogging and looking forward to reading
some wonderful blogs...:)

- Death comes knocking when you least
expect it. There were 3 deaths:
- My neighbour's son died of a massive
heart attack. He was just 21 years old.
I was surprised and shocked, just
didn't know how to react.
- I used to go to the library to study.
There one of my friend's mother died
of cancer, just two days before the all
important exam for him.
- A far relative of mine died at the age of
80.

- Attended a NokiaApptasting Indiblogger
event at Bangalore. It was good and a
much needed break for me from so
many things that was going on in and
around.

- Diwali was nothing for me because of
the exams. It's a strange feeling, when
everyone is in festive mood, you need to
sit and study. Hope you all had a safe
and happy Diwali...:)

- Nov 18 was the last day of our all India
exam. On Nov 17, Balasaheb Thackeray
died. As we all know what generally
happens when a leader is dead. A
bandh was called by their supporters. A
thing which every student doesn't want
to happen is the postponement of the
exam & that too the last paper. Well it
was not postponed nationally, but in
some places including Mumbai, the
exam was postponed. I feel sorry for the
students, no offence to his ardent
supporters but after putting a lot of
effort, you just want the exam to get
over as soon as possible. Since that
being the last exam, everyone would
have planned as to what they wanna do
after the exams, some would have
already dreamt but unfortunately, they
all had to wait.

- On Nov 19 went & bought an iPhone 5,
my first iPhone. I am a Apple fanatic, so
it was a just a matter of time before I
bought one. For me buying any gadget
is not just about going there and buying
it. These gadgets hold a piece of me
and my memories. I felt like a kid
who waited for a toy for years to lay his
hands on...:) This is my first post from
this phone, so pardon me for any errors.

I was wondering as to what should be the title, because things happened pretty fast. All the above things happened in a span of 20 days. The first thing that came to my mind was, Spontaneous, so the title.
I have a million thoughts running in my mind, so can't wait to express them and get your honest feedback...:) Keep smiling, do what you love to do and never ever give up on yourself, never...:) God bless.

Prashanth

Hey YOU, Soak No More In Others

Satisfy means, "to fulfill the desires, expectations, needs, or demands of a person, the mind, etc." (From Dictionary.com website)

These days when we hear the word Satisfy, it kind of gives a negative impression or at least an indication about the negativity in our minds. Considering the amount of cut throat competition we have today, everyone is stressed and each one of us is trying to satisfy someone or the other. Satisfying others is not such a bad thing, but when we do so at the cost of our happiness, our own self, we feel defeated, depressed and let down all the time. There is a long list of people whom we try to satisfy by not being able to live up to their expectations like colleagues, friends, relatives, strangers and whom not. But in the process of doing so, we forget to satisfy those who make a big difference to our lives. Everyone of us have this one statement that keeps striking our mind at some point of time and for some as a regular feature, "I am tired of satisfying others, enough is enough, it's my Life and I want to live it my way. Let others think what they want to." 

Bare it All

Question what you want and whom you want. You have every right to question. Unless you do, you don't get answers and some times those answers are not enough to satisfy you and its fine. There is nothing readymade in life. There no accidents in life because everything happens for a reason. Its all about connecting the dots and when you connect it backwards you will the know the reason as to why some things happen in life.

Bad things happen. Pain is meant to happen, it is inevitable. Even gods were not spared, how come we will be spared..?? Pain is more important than happiness. Pain teaches you how to live your life, happiness just happens. By questioning you show your attitude, by accepting things you lose it. Don't just accept things, first question and then accept. That's a much better way. There is only one way to live life, that is to live positively. By default we are meant to be happy everything else is what we choose. Be the right one, be the better one. If you can look beyond pain, you will be closer to god, closer to oneself. If you want inspiration just look at nature, its ways and means. There is none better than Nature to teach us how to lead a life.

If you think others are really happy, then you are mistaken. Always compare yourself with the have-nots and then see how lucky you are. There is no time to satisfy others. Never ever do the mistake of satisfying or pleasing everyone by saying dharma and all those stuff. Your life is already written as how you gonna live it, only thing is that you don't know it.  That is what makes life interesting, isn't it...? Otherwise how will you understand the importance of small things, happiness, kindness and other values. If you are meant to become someone then you will be, its just a matter of time. Everything looks dark in sunglasses, so just remove it to see the best thing. If life is short for sadness it is indeed for happiness also.

Nature is raw. It is how it was and will remain so. The only thing that changes are the way we human beings live and look at life. Nothing in life is simple neither it is complicated. Its all in the way you look at things. If you want to blame you can, but how long. Somewhere you need to find the path that suits you. Sure there will be people who get hurt by your actions but that is how it is and that is how it should be. Just imagine if everyone accepts everything then there is nothing to live for. Think about it. One day, the dear ones will not be dear, close ones will leave you and you are all by yourself, so just bare it all because who hate you will continue to do so. As a man who was born with no hands and legs said (one of my favourite quote), "If God doesn't reduce my Pain, I will do it Myself"

Keep Smiling,
Prashanth.

Image Source: Google Images   

Life - Enjoying Small things

There are some small and unexpected things, which makes you feel proud of yourself. This happened, some time back. It was a bright sunday, a lazy one rather, where the most of day goes in eating, sleeping, watching TV and some other stuff.

Every sunday evening, I go out to meet my friends near place called Sankey tank in Bangalore, one of the best places to hang out with your friends in the heart of Bangalore. On the morning of that Sunday, I had washed my bike (Yep, my beautiful looking bike). I do wash it regularly and that makes me happy.

In the evening on my way to meet my friends, I had to fill petrol, so went to the petrol bunk. There the person filling the petrol came and said namaste to me and I kindly acknowledged it with a smile. While he was filling the petrol, saw my bike and asked me with smile, ‘Sir, Is this your new bike…?’ I replied, no this is not a new one but today morning I washed it. He said, it looks like a brand new bike. I felt so happy, he really made my day that day because I spend a reasonable amount of time to ensure my bike is clean and I take good care of it. I don’t expect any appreciation, but when it comes, I feel happy. The drive from the petrol bunk was one of the best till date, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was feeling proud of myself. 

It may not be a great thing, but sometimes even small praises means a lot, no matter whoever compliments you. So, no matter what, how small a praise, just enjoy it with a big heart and the best part is, it can come from anywhere. This is called the real beauty of life, small things making a big impact. So whenever you are feeling sad or bored or something similar, just cherish those small moments when someone had made you really happy and proud.

Friendship - Purest form of Relationship

To all my friends,

In the wonderful journey of Life, we come across so many people. Some, in this beautiful journey, become our friends. As the time passes by....

some become closer;

some become best ones;

some become just hi & bye friends;

some become your life partners;

some will leave;

some whom you have thought will never meet, one day come and say, “Can you recognize me”;

some who have left, will again come back and ask, ‘Can I be your Friend..?’

some will break your Heart;

some will leave a deep impact in your Heart;

I don’t know who discovered the word friendship, but it takes a lot of time to actually know the true meaning of friendship. It’s almost impossible to define friendship, but as the relationship gets better, you will come to know the true meaning of friendship. As they say, “You have to see it, to Believe it”, similarly in friendship, “You have to feel it, to Enjoy it.” This relationship is one of the purest form of relationship, I believe. Imagine your life without friendship...? It will be like, “A flower, without its bright colour and fragrance.”

Atlast, to all my friends, whom I met, I left, I still have, yet to meet, online, offline, seen, not seen....just enjoy this relationship as long as it exists.

Trust - 100% or 0%

Can you imagine a world without hope/trust/belief....? Impossible. Everyday we have to trust someone somewhere in the world. Right from the moment we get up till we go to bed at night. Trust can only be 100% or 0%, means.. you cannot say that, I trust someone for 10% or 20%... if you trust somebody its 100% or you just don't trust that person. 

If I trust somebody, I trust for 100% and if that person breaks my trust, I will blame myself for that. But sometimes, someone near to you might have broken your trust.. thats the worst part..you feel terrible, irritated, frustrated, and start thinking... " How can that person do like this to me..?" Thats the beauty of life, you never know...what to expect when. 

Sometimes you think, everything is fine and nothing will happen... but life has some other plans and it really hurts. But that doesn't mean you should not trust people..because of some bad instants. It is very difficult to determine...whom to trust and whom not to trust. 

So, trust people and accept what the life has to offer.