Separation woes

“We want to move out of the family, we want more space” – when my brother told this to me yesterday, for a moment, it came as a shock to me. We are Indians, by culture, we live in joint families. When we grew up and getting to be married, both myself and my brother wanted to live together in a joint family.

Yes, there were differences in view points, differences in the way we wanted to live our life but there were also advantages – sharing joy and sorrow together, looking how our children grow together, care and share for each other. All those shattered by that statement.

After initial internal sad state, angry state and all, once I was able to think rationally, some of the thoughts that came to me

- how is that when we were small, we were dependent on one another but as soon as we have our own family, we think we should move?

- why we do not think that while there can be internal different view points, a common goal of joint family does not bind us always?

- in earlier times, people loved to stay in joint families, though the same issues existed then. How different are we now and what caused those differences?

While I have realized that once a decision is done, all I can do is respect it, I am not sure if this is the way we should lead our life. I may be old thinking person  but I always root for a joint family.

Today morning, I heard this song of Sudeep (not sure which movie it is) “Yenadaru Aagali, Munde saagu nee, bayasidella sigadu balali”

Educated People

On a saturday night, Sundara and Sundari along with their children Putta and Putti decided to go for dinner in a nearbu restaurent. They had visited their family deity temple in the day and due to traveling, could not have a decent lunch and the team was hungry and tired.

The restaurent they had selected was very near to their house and offered very tasty food. Evening when they went to near to the restaurent and was about to park their 2 wheeler, they were stopped by an elderly gentleman. He looked educated, was wearing good clothes and generally looked like coming from a wealthy family. He and his family were also coming to the same restaurent for dinner. The conversation went on like this

Well Educated Gentleman (WEG) – Sir, please do not park here

Sundara (S) – OK, but any specific reason?

WEG – we have to park our 4 wheeler here

S – sir, this is a 2 wheeler parking, 4 wheeler parking is little further down, please park there

WEG – do you expect us to park there and walk all the way from there?

S – sir, this place is meant for 2 wheeler parking, these are rules. If we do not adhere to rules, how do you expect the system to go on?

WEG – lot of people park under No Parking Sign, why should I not park here?

S – sir, just because some people are fools, should we also be one? Also, rules are made for ease of everyone.Let us follow it

and the conversation went on. But in the end, Sundara terminated the conversation as the WEG was bent on parking his 4 wheeler in the 2 wheeler slot only.

Looking at the entire situation, my thinking was that if educated people behave in this way, who will follow rules? Should rules be done then? How will society function, without any set rules or set conventions? Or what would be the difference between educated and un-educated mass!!!!!!!!.

Also, what message are we giving to our kids. Kids tend to follow their parents.

We should make a difference to the society.

Maybe, I am not fit to be part of this society 

Happy 2012, Happy 2013

How time flies? Looks like 2012 had just started and now, I am about to bid goodbye to it. I had a good 2012. Let me qualify good 2012

• Made a mark in my career – led the group for CMMI Certification, regained confidence in myself that I can
• Had a positive educated life – scored 1st class in my I Sem MBA course, getting ready for II Sem
• Managed to gift a good necklace to my wifey!!!! though the design was hers!!!
• We could afford to go for a luxurious holiday, entire family, including Vaishali
• I am becoming more spiritually inclined and relaxed

Thank God, for taking care of us. Anyatha Sharanam Nasthi, Twamema Sharanam Mama

What could have improved in 2012

• I could have been a better brother and son-in-law.  I lost closeness with my brother, somehow I wish my amma was there to tie the relationships. Also, I could have been more soft towards my father-in-law
• Improve my network of contacts with people
• I have tried let going of my past, few incidents still recur
• I need to get involved in sharing activities, I need to find a group
• I need to smile more

Thank  you 2012 for being a wonderful year. Looking for 2013 with its challenges and its fun filled moments

Bye

Is patience worth the wait?

In today's world, everything is "instant" - instant food, instant gratification. Also, when success is being measured on perceptions and not on work done, the question that always comes to my mind - "should I work or should I show that I work"

Me being of old school of thought - always used to think that if I work hard and smart, then results would speak for itself. However, looking at many of people working around, I fear that gaining perception rather than putting in hard/smart work is gaining momentum. With information clearly available and jobs in demand, I find that people learn theory and then experiment in their jobs. While this approach is OK, there could be few people who work hard and does not build up perceptions, left alone in this process

However, my experience has been - patience is definitely worth the wait. While people can move swiftly using perceptions that they have built, hard/smart work definitely pays. It is only matter of time, work put definitely outmanovores any perception

Cheated by Ezeego

I had booked a hotel reservation through www.ezeego.com and had paid the amount in full on 22nd Apr 08, however, after continuous follow-up only, I got a confirmation voucher. When our family went happily to the hotel, hotel declined the reservation as they had not got any confirmation voucher from Ezeego. After promise from my side that confirmation voucher would be sent, they gave us a room. Imagine, whole family travelled for 6 hours and waiting at the hotel reception, hungry and tired !!!!
After 2 days of calling to Ezeego, their customer service officer told me that there was a problem and I need to pay the hotel on my personal capacity and the amount would be re-imbursed by Ezeeego. I had no other option but to pay, once I returned back to Bangalore, I raised a cancellation request.
It is about 25 days now, only 40% has been re-imbursed, that too, after lot of follow-up. All I hear is that "wait for 72 hrs and refund will happen", but apparantly, refund has not happened.
I wonder, do humans become so desperate so that they need to cheat on others, isn't honesty any more about being good