Batman lives.....

"... Either You Die A Hero Or You Live Long Enough To See Yourself Become The Villain....." that's when your things don't go according to your original plan, and you end up reaching your goal but not without sacrificing some of your core values, somethings that people respected you. The more you 'survive', the more you seem to be different in other people's eyes. Things change, and this change represents something that they didn't equate you with. Quote from the movie Batman: The Dark Knight.

Unalterable commitments

Success to many depends on executing plans based on carefully planned strategies and having options and contingencies. Every backup requires a certain amount of sacrifice of the core values, to gain the end result. Sometimes, along the way comes a factor that cannot be factored for, unalterable commitments. The best laid plans often go awry when met with such a barrier. Best thing to do is to see if the path is beneficial for all concerned, or cut off loss and leave it at that.
Immovable forces are there for all - certain things cannot (& should not) be ignored, or swept under the carpet.
I have encountered many personalities in my life and cherish meeting one of the few real 'successful' professionals. Only Achilles for those kind of people is getting caught up with their 'followers' and being blinded and disregarding others who understand and respect them. Perhaps time and experience would teach them to be more grounded and surefooted. Adios!

Lessons from the sea

Growing up in a coastal town, I used to love going to the beach, and the sea. The vast Marina, Santhome, later Elliot's & Thiruvanmiyur beaches were often our 'cost-effective' hang out places - no entry charge, sit down and talk for hours, a refreshing breeze, and a warm sea..... always a rejuvenating experience which money can't buy! I loved it, and I guess in many ways roots to some of my long lasting friendships are in those beaches. Serious discussions, heated debates, pondering deep thoughts on life, etc. etc., All gone with the wind by the time we headed home, but the 'friendship', along with the sand grains, got stored in my head.
The sea too was often a sight to behold. I remember countless sunrises in Elliots, when I used to just watch the sun come up. The glimmer on the water, the waves cruising by, the steady winds hassling me & my friends...... Where would I be without some of the lessons from the sea...... A wave would set off a big talking point in the midst of our silent awe of the sea, and we would often compete to see who could spot the first wave rising furthest from the sea, or guess which wave covers a lot of ground at the beach. Mostly I'd just stand there and look at the sea and its waves.
Like the waves, sometimes my life seems just meaningless, often fizzling out to nothing, only to form another wave. But sometimes when I look at other waves which start too late and don't make much of an impact, I feel maybe just meaningless ups and downs early can have a sense of fulfillment when I finally reach shore.
Damn it, lost the plot somewhere in the middle, just like a wave!

Growing up?

I've said this before in an earlier blog, that some people have the ability/talent to be economical in their ways to get the point across. Well, I'm not one of them! Talking seems to be a constant necessity to understand what is really transpiring inside own head, and many a times saying it out loud makes a difference. So far haven't cast any boundaries to that, thankfully, but started saving certain thoughts for a valuable future use. People around me immediately get suspicious if I keep quite, so some constant activity to keep myself busy.
Is this part of growing up? Whatever, as long as I end up reaching where I want, I'm more than happy to be this avatar.

Down the memory lane

It took a sprained ankle to realize that a decade back, the same ankle twisted while playing basketball. I began to remember some memories of my life at that time. Why? My memories are generally events and important things as a point of reference, some stored to use in future, some to learn from, and some to avoid repeating the same mistakes. This wasn't one of them (at least I thought that time, as it was relatively uneventful and the recovery period was really boring), I've not even thought of it since then.
Began re-reading a few of my posts, it was like flipping through my own not so private memories. Parallels are there in many of my posts too, like going through cycles of similar issues, different causes (or maybe not, I seem to be a constant).
Feels like a vacuum filled, don't have an answer as to how to solve the issues, but part of this 'cycle of issues' seems to be taking an uni-dimensional path. I am not a great follower of astrology and its insights, but something that I've heard a lot about me is on the Taurus/Libra effect (my sun and moon signs). We are after all victims of our beliefs, which is based on our behavior patterns. While I try and travel down the 'weighing issues and tackling them' memories, the distinct trample marks of Bull is also visible in many of my decisions of past & present. Bull decides, Scale (தராசு) weighs them. Yin-Yang!

Its not just words

Argue for the sake of arguing.
Is it healthy? or is it an addiction some just can't get out of??
Healthy, but learning it comes with a cost. Every thing has a price, every word said or not said, is always being weighed in someone else's scale. And arguments generally bring out the strongest form of viewpoints, so many times tip the opinion scales in the others minds. With such high payout, the flip side of the coin is a big price to pay.
The very best negotiators use strong expressions to convince the other person to their view point, and generally do not take the high ground when listening to the other person's point of view. In the other person's mind, it creates a feeling that the negotiator is acting very reasonable.This ability to shake the belief and create a doubt just through words is what makes him a negotiator.

Declaration of Independence..

"But when a long train of abuses and usurpation, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to throw off such government and provide new guards for their future security." -Declaration of Independence.

"It means, if there's something wrong, those who have the ability to take action have the responsibility to take action".

(Quote from the movie National Treasure)

420 local has arrived in Platform 1

Every now and then some random thought keeps creeping in, festering until it becomes an idea, and finally a story that has to be told. here's one thought that's kept me awake to blog at 4am on Monday.
As I grew, I evolved myself as an identity based on how much I can and cannot do. Folks say that you learn from your mistakes. Sure, but I also learnt a bit from my successes. I've been one type of person at school, another different identity at work and a different person at home. Yes, I know we all are (atleast most of us?), But why?
This year, when I look ahead, the baggage of the failures of the past suddenly seem to slow me down, more than my usual enthusiasm at taking on the challenges. I realized it just took a small slow down in life, as I paused to consider the options at a crossroad, for the failures of past to come ramming onto me. I now know that they never really left me (I just never stopped to look back), and it just takes a small pause for a small snowball to become an avalanche of all issues, and even deferred decisions to force itself to be decided upon.
Losing sight of oneself is sometimes the key to realizing who we really are, or who we aren't....
My time's up, the juggler of thoughts is back in the house - can't seem to blog more, this thought has left the building, other 'ifs', 'hows' and 'whys' juggling in my head as I try to sleep.

My cup of life

I used to believe that to fill up your cup of life it has to reach a certain level of happiness and success, and have been somewhat contemptuous of those who say they have filled their cup, or on their way to filling it. I always thought that their measuring cup must be pretty shallow, but now I see that their values itself is different. They measure their cup by different ingredients which I can never fully comprehend, as I haven't lived their life, but sufficient to say that most of us aim to fill up our life by the things that we long for, and we value most. For some its money, for some its to rise above others, for some its being included, for some its understanding and love, for some its just understanding their purpose in life.... I could go on, but I'll just be making up some more random things anyway. 
My point is, at some point in time, we stop to think about how much of the cup really needs to be filled, and how and when would we even begin to fill it? Oh well, I honestly don't know what my cup really needs, so I am just filling it with whatever I see, and hope that I get a good feeling from it. Maybe that is my purpose then.
You spin my head right round.

Forgive me God, for I have....

Dear God, its confession time again.

One of my more harmless (or not) hobby/peeves is picking brains. Most of the times its harmless, just a curiosity to understand the thought process of others when they say one thing and mean another. I admit to doing my bit to play along, some times dropping the right questions at the right time, to sift away their false plots and decoys, so as to get to the meat of what they really want to say. But more often than not, my brain tends to use this knowledge and plant a few false trails of its own.... It tends to be a 'pay back' for their pathetic attempts to do the same to me of course, but that doesn't justify it.
Put me back in Coach, I'm ready to play. Even if the ref doesn't call it fair.

Prepare to learn....

....and nothing will surprise you. Prepare to teach when nothing surprises you.

The showmanship culture

It’s the bug of the millennium. The key to survival has quickly transcended to 'I need to show people I know what I'm doing (most times even if I don't know how to do)' from 'I survive because I know what I am doing'. With seemingly endless technology changes, lifestyle changes, and never seen before opportunities arising, the leading survivors don't seem to be the ones who fit, but rather the ones who run the fastest. From eras of test matches to ODIs to T20s, many are caught gaping at the changes, and few still languish clinging on to the 'old school values'.
Change is upon us, and opportunities are ripe and aplenty for the ones who are really fit and ready to run! Run the marathon of life.