Chicken soup

Vacation has come to an end. How I wish my life would turn around 360 degrees so that returning to work would in itself become a vacation !

High hopes. Day dreams. But then what is wrong with dreaming, even in daytime. I read somewhere that people who dream during the day are more courageous and brave about what they want in life. ;-)

I am spending my precious time getting to know about Inca mummies, Hawaiian volcanoes, Phoenician traders of B.C times, Italian river Po and many such interesting topics. Thank God for National Geographic (N.G). Without it my library reading will syntactically hover around the programming languages of Bs and Cs. Apart from N.G, another rescuer that came to the aide was Chicken Soup. Not the Knorr variety but the soups for the soul kind. Read one for strenghthening the spirits of the "working women" !! (If you are wondering why a non-worker like me has been reading something meant for the busy bees, well then just call it precaution. ;-)

C'mon, I am not going to be left to enjoy for a long time in the world of N.Gs. )

About the book, it was great. I wouldn't say that I got inspired by the various stories. But what stuck me most was the commonality in the human emotions across people of various races. Feelings of love, joy, satisfaction, anxiety, self-doubt, insecurity that resurface in various stories is evidence to the fact that irrespective of the geographical, societal and cultural differences, people emote in the same way.

Les Vacances

Decided to take my mini vacation to my parents place. Booked the tickets, packed my bag and become all set to leave. And the great part is "I haven't booked the return tickets" ;-)
What is the hurry now. All of a sudden pace of events has slowed down making me uneasy. Any encounter with old pals or colleagues adds to my restless feeling. To fight off my boredom, I have started reading novels at my office library. But instead of keeping me occupied, it makes me even more guilty !
At the end I decided to take a nice break relaxing at my parents place is the best way to spend this "much- needed" break .
Au revoir. Will write once I reach there.

Sour Grapes

Having waited for freedom from work for a long time, the euphoria was not as expected when I actually got it. Reminds me of the story of sour grapes. Break from work sounds like heaven when one is immersed headlong in the work. In cases where the daily routine begins by making a delayed visit to office, spending hours waiting to get hold of a machine with restricted net access and whiling away time without any eyes monitoring your activities, somehow doesn't appeal to be a great get away from monotony !

Though I had promised myself to spend relaxed weeks just taking care of my own whims, I seem to be in an urgent need to get back to a secure seat within the office premises (ofcourse a machine with unrestricted net access) ;-)

Maybe a trip to my parents place will help me get the feel of a vacation ! How about taking this "mini- vacation" when a marriage is on the cards very soon ! That sounds even better. But will work leave me untouched till then ? I wonder. More so than my company, I think I will voluntarily take up a new assignment if I endure the boring routine any longer !

So much for the Yipee in my last blog. :-)

Breaking point

Yipee !!!

I am moving out of my current project. Got an official mail today from my lady boss. After 4 years of work in the same group, atlast I am stepping out. This means, I too get the chance to type my "last day in ..." mail and send it across to my colleagues. I am going to find myself some new experiences, challenges and new personalities. In short, I am going to face new scenarios. Sounds like music to my ears now.

The very day I had been waiting for, since one and a half years now. Initially I was scared of change ! I was doubtful of what might be waiting for me on the other side of the fence. But over the days, the stay became so boring and oppressing that it reached a "breaking point"beyond which endurance is not possible. Kamalhasan, the famous indian actor, spoke about breaking point in a tamil movie, one of my favorites, called "Kuruthi Punal" :

"Ovvoru manithanukkum oru breaking point irukku. Ithu iyarkaiyin niyathi"

When translatedn to english, the line means
"Every man has a breaking point. This is nature's law."
Kamal, an army officer, says this when he gets frustrated after being repeatedly blackmailed by a terrorist outfit's mastermind in a jail. The terrorist uses kamal's family as the object of blackmail and forces him to betray his country. Powerful movie with great dialogues and wonderful acting.

Anyway, getting back to the breaking point before it breaks ! That was what happened in my case too. I put in the request for a change and after quite an effort and many sacrifices have got it !!

I won't write about the tinge of sadness that I am feeling to leave my machine in this post. Maybe another blog will describe those thoughts.

Views Unplugged

viewsunplugged is a great site for reading on myriad subjects. I happened to read an article trying to answer the tricky question :
"Why a Marriage" by Deepanjana Mukhopadhyay.

Proved to be a good read.

malcontente

What a pain people are.. Full of complex and twisted thought processes and rigid value systems. Value systems that become flexible enough to be stretched to accomodate one's shortcomings. After all isn't one supposed to love oneself.
"To love oneself is to have a lifelong romance"
said some person (don't remember who !)and has acquired a huge fan following.
It is always the poor, sweet, innocent self that is beaten and humiliated by the "wicked" world (ww). And what does the poor, innocent self do in return. It becomes a part of the ww taking out its vengeance on another "poor, tattered" soul, which for its share takes out the drudegry on some other entity in the ww.

Hmmm, Another vicious cycle. Just like the poverty-population type cycle that is explained in elementary economic textbooks.

This blog is the result of the blogger being subjected to many such spins on this vicious cycle. ("Quite obviously", you remarked ? . "Experience ? " I ask)
Well, before i abbreviate vicious cycle to vc and start another boring revolution on this subject, i will put in a .

Daphne du Maurier

When I visited my in-laws place last time, I happened to pick some novels from my father-in-law's large collection. The intention was to spend the return journey reading those novels. Of the 4 novels I took, one was Daphne du Maurier's Frenchman's Creek. I had to decide between starting with a Sartre or this book. I chose this book just for the book's appearance. There is something nice about old books - the smell of the paper that takes one back to old times, the yellow faded texture of the paper and even the frail feel of the book.

Having decided on the book, I sat reading it for most part of the New year's day and finished it. Set in the 18th century, the story was about a Frenchman and his love for a Brit. lady who was from the top echleons of society. Throughout the story, the reader is exposed to the adventurous nature of the couple and the risks they take to accomplish what they have ventured out to do.

It made a good read and I was so impressed by the book that later when I went to my library to issue some books, I ended up borrowing a large volume of stories written by the same author. It is a collection of four novels set in the Cornish coast. I have just started reading the first now and it promises to be as amazing as her earlier novel.

Thanks to my father-in-law, I have added another name to my list of "must-read" authors !!