Failure

Failure .. I think its a scary word. It has always been so for me. If you scourge the net you will find a million quotes and stories saying why failure is important. Some samples:

• Failure is the key to success.
• Failing is better that doing nothing.
• Good people are good because they've come to wisdom through failure. We get very little wisdom from success.
• Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.

When you read or listen to these, it seems very nice. These sound even better when you talk to people who experienced failure - you feel your words will do them good. But when it actually hits you, none of this matters. A failure is failure. What you do after it, how you react, and how much it impacts you - it all depends on the individual. The 'nice' quotes never come to your mind, and they dont matter when people tell you the same stuff over & over again. To some, it would even hurt - "Do you think I don't know these things? Please shut up!!"

So what next? Deal with it YOUR way. What is your way? You have to figure it out. Some would just let it hurt till it does, till it goes away. Some would move on without a bother. And some would go nuts. I guess it also depends much on the magnitude of the failure and its impact. It could also depend on the reason of failure. It could also depend on intangibles like ego.

In my book, it would depend on how it changes your life. What would have happened if you had not failed and what will happen because you did. i.e. how hard it hit you. Food for thought, right?

Back from hibernation

After a long slumber, I am back. And I have a story - about what pushed me quicker to this page. While I was not 'writing' blogs, I was actually 'reading' blogs. And I read lots & lots of them. Some of those blogs became a habit (will put up a list sometime), and the list kept growing.

One blog which I used to read earlier (last year) was my ex-DM's blog. Now who is a DM? In simple words, the DM is the boss of the boss of my boss!! I stopped reading his blog after he went into hibernation, similar to what I did over two months, and I just thought I'll check if he's back. He indeed was, and that was 3 months back!

While I read all his blogs, there was one where he listed blogs of his friends with name of the author and the blog link. Obviously the list would have blogs which he likes. The last one (I think there were 6) was "Varun's blog" with a note saying "I misplaced the link. Varun, if you read this, send me the link again." That got me thinking. Was he talking about me? I didn't think so. Because we didn't know each other much and I didn't even know if he knew I had a blog!

But I could not resist the temptation and sent him an email, asking whom was he talking about. And soon he responded - it was indeed this blog he was referring to! I was surprised but very happy. And that also told me that I need to get back to writing ASAP.

So there you go. Time to start again. Especially for folks who read my blog. Thank you!!

Blog switched off :(

I know I know - no blog in more than a month is almost a crime. It's not that I don't have enough time, but somehow the blogger in me has just switched off. Usually a blog just happens - something will urge me to write about it and I just do it. But that has not happened and here I am - writing this bewildered blog! I hope this is going to end soon. So folks please keep coming back - I will be back with some good stuff very soon.

Till then, good bye ...

कृष्ण की चेतावनी

Today I got a very good Hindi poem as a forward - 'Madhushala' by Harivansh Rai Bachchan (for the uninitiated - that's Big B's father). It was fun to read the poem after so many years. You can read it here. That in-turn reminded me of school and of my favourite poem in school - 'Krishna kee chetavani' by Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar'. But I could not find the poem on the net.

Some research revealed that it was actually not a poem but was created by pulling out parts of a much longer poem called Rashmirathi. I and another friend had memorized the poem in school and tried to remember it. To my utter disbelief, I could recollect most of it!! So I wrote down what I remembered. Some more serious search helped me find something - scanned images of most pages of Rashmirathi. It was diffucult to find the part (Krishna kee chetavani) in it but finally I got it, and that helped me correct errors in the what I wrote.

Thanks to Google's indic transliterator, the whole thing could be converted to Hindi fairly easily. Here it is:
कृष्ण की चेतावनी

वर्षों तक वन मी घूम-घूम, बाधा-विघ्नों को चूम-चूम,
सह धुप-धाम पानी-पत्थर, पांडव आए कुछ और निखर,
सौभाग्य न सब दिन होता है,
देखे आगे क्या होता है I

मैत्री की राह बताने को, सबको सुमार्ग पर लाने को,
दुर्योधन को समझाने को, भीषण विध्वंस बचने को,
भगवन हस्तिनापुर आए,
पांडव को संदेशा लाये I

'दो न्याय अगर टू आधा दो, पर, उसमे भी यदि बढ़ा हो,
तो दे दो केवल पाँच ग्राम, रखो अपनी धरती तमाम,
हम वहीं खुशी से खाएँगे,
परिजन पर असि न उठाएँगे' I

दुर्योधन वह भी दे न सका, आशीष समाज की ले न सका,
उल्टे, हरि को बांधने चला, जो था असाध्य, साधने चला,
जब नाश मनुज पर छाता है,
पहले विवेक मर जाता है I

हरि ने भीषण हुंकार किया, अपना स्वरूप विस्तार किया,
डगमग-डगमग दिग्गज डोले, भगवन कुपित हो कर बोले -
'ज़ंजीर बढ़ा आ साध मुझे,
हाँ हाँ दुर्योधन बाँध मुझे' I

'हित-वचन नही तूने माना, मैत्री का मूल्य न पहचाना,
तो ले अब मैं भी जाता हूँ, अंतिम संकल्प सुनाता हूँ,
याचना नही अब रण होगा,
जीवन जय या की मरण होगा' I

'टकराएंगे नक्षत्र निखर, बरसेगी भू पर वह्नी प्रखर,
फन शेषनाग का दोलेगा, विकराल काल मुह खोलेगा,
दुर्योधन रण ऐसा होगा,
फ़िर कभी नही जैसा होगा' I

'भाई पर भाई टूटेंगे, विष बाण बूँद से छूटेंगे,
वायस श्रुगाल सुख लूटेंगे, सौभाग्य मनुज के फूटेंगे,
आख़िर तू भूशायी होगा,
हिंसा का पर दाई होगा' I

थी सभा सन्न, सब लोग डरे, चुप थे या थे बेहोश खड़े,
केवल दो नर न अघाते थे, ध्रिथ्राष्ट्र विधुर सुख पते थे,
कर जोड़ खड़े प्रमुदित निर्भय,
दोनों पुकारते थे जय-जय I

I hope you liked it! And please let me know if there are any mistakes.

New look !!

From wierd look to new cool look in 13 days. I know its a bit long in the blog world, but couldn't help it. Became a bit busy with work, and getting rid of the extra image and text due to the template-import-accident took me a painful 2-3 hours. Then re-doing rest of the page and the new template took another one, though this was easier. Better late than never!

So please let me know how you like the new look. Its one of the available templates so nothing great about it. But after the last disaster, I'll need some time to summon the courage to experiment again. But next time I'll have a backup of my current template!!

Hey .. there are some new things too - the newsreel being one of them. Feel free to comment on the changes as well.

Blog in trouble!!

I know you are wondering why there is this weird look of my blog, and I apologize for that!! In an effort to give a new look to the blog, I tried some customizations and new templates. I was not happy with how it looked and tried to change things - and viola - my blog is in a bad shape.

Now it is in a stage where I will take some time and hard work to set it right! And I reckon 1:30AM on a Wednesday night (Thursday morning to be precise) is not the best time to do it. So now you know what I am going to do this weekend .. obviously fix the problems with this page!! Time for a thorough review of the html code, possibly using Visual Studio, followed by repair.

Apologies again! Please come back next week for a better look!!

13 vs 11

What am I talking about? Of course, the Sydney test! Everyone and his aunt has talked and written about this and I dont need an elaborate blog on the same topic. So I leave you with a few numbers, views and yes - a very well compiled video.

Poor umpiring decisions happen virtually in every match but 8 in one match and 7 against one team is too much to say the least. Add it up with cheating (yes, cheating) by Symonds, Ponting & Clarke, we had a team of 13 against 11. And as Kumble rightly said - 'Only one team played with the spirit of the game'. So true.

Enjoy this video - it shows all the wrong decisions and unfair play in the match.



Credit to this video goes to ESPN/Star who created it and Mr. chatrapathi6 who put it up on Youtube!!

Winter, my new office in Houston and my b'day gift!

I had done some homework about the weather before reaching Houston. I was told that its not as cold as north of US, it never snows, and winters are fairly comfy. And summers, they are very, very hot. I landed in winter, 31st December, and it was indeed a comfortable chill - around 10 degree Celsius.

But 2008 had other plans. The mercury dipped constantly, and when I checked the weather today morning, I was amused and intrigued. Amused - because it said "4 degree Celsius, feels like -1 degrees"!!. Intrigued - because it was going to be my first sub zero experience.

Coming back to the forecast - what on earth does "4 degree Celsius, feels like -1 degrees" mean? I figured out soon - the winds make it much colder than the temperature. Makes sense, doesn't it? And yes, it did feel like that. My fingers were numb by the time we reached office - even though it took only 10 minutes and we were in the warm car!! Lately every one has been talking about global warming. But temperatures in lot of places have been hitting their minimum in ages (Delhi, maybe Houston also). Seems more like 'Global cooling' - may be I can take credit for coining this new term!!

Its evening now and still very, very chilly. I never used - rather never had - a jacket. Now it is a must have when I leave home!! So lots of new experiences already in 3 days. Ever seen ducks in a pond in office? I see that everyday. Whoever thought of it might have been a genius. It looks and feels so good! Lots of trees surround the pond, and there are bridges over it and ducks in and around it - all this inside a corporate campus full of swanky buildings, smooth roads and fast cars!!

Contrary to my thoughts, people here are very friendly. Though they tend to respect and expect personal space, once you get talking, they tend to make you very comfortable. I am already friends with Glenn & Harry, and they are not even in my team!! Traffic is very much organized here, and pedestrians are shown respect by car drivers. Folks, don't get carried away - I haven’t spent enough time here yet to find stuff which I didn't like (except food of course!), so lets enjoy stuff which I liked!

And yes, its celebration time! Sachin Tendulkar just gifted me a century on my birthday. Its much more special because he has been getting out in nineties for way too long, the last century coming in May against Bangladesh, and his last against a worthwhile team coming two years back!. Congratulations and thank you Sachin!! You made my day :).