Window to my world

It is a herculean task to get anything done from home for a freelancer. I came to this conclusion after I tried to work from home. I thought I would be able to spend family  time as well. I hate to admit it, but I was so wrong.    Not only was it impossible to get any work done, I could barely ideate. I was constantly yelling at the kids to keep their voices down as I struggled to conjure up my thoughts after  reading the brief. All I managed was jotting down three to four points for the given assignment . I went to bed thinking I would wake up early and start afresh the next day.   I had  originally planned  to  start  the  day  at  six but then had to reschedule it to eight o’clock, since the kids left for school.   After bidding them goodbye, I was relieved that I had the whole day to do my work.  As I switched on my computer the door bell rang. It was the milk man. I put  the milk to boil, indulged in a cup of hot tea and returned to my desk.  Time flew and it was nine o' clock

“If someone isn't what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.” ― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist  How easy it is to judge the other ? We judge people and their situations as a routine of the little we have seen of them, and we take the little we have seen as a persons whole personality and character.   For example, we see a woman sitting at the bar alone ,holding a drink. Immediately, our brains start functioning. In a second we assume she is a fast and easy to get cookie. We sum her up as a girl who has no character. We don't stop there. We nudge, we poke just to get the others attention, so we can revel in the assassination of her character and be swept away by our own feeling of false superiority. Never mind if we know nothing about who she really is.   However, something about her attitude or her comfortable demeanor unsettles us, and we don't even blink

    A decade ago, television was our second screen because it was the only one we took to after the movie screen. When I grew up, we had one TV with a few channels. Life was simple, compared to the struggles we have to endure with today's new gadgets that are bundled with complicated features.  In fact, as I watch my own children handle today's technology with such efficiency, I feel so inefficient. And if that isn't enough, you have to keep updating them constantly. I have become a source of entertainment for them every time an update is announced. They love to see my quizzical l ook and irritated stance every time  I have to hand over my phone for it to be updated.  They never seem to struggle with all the new technology that is being launched every day. They take to technology as fish to water.  Struggling with a TV that came with a hundred channels and a plethora of features was bad enough , now smart phones are even more complicated.  Sharing and communicating with fri

"It's Ringing ." "Pick it up ." "It could be important ." How many times have you heard that ?  It's a nuisance .I've nicknamed it Nosy Parker .It is ill mannered,it interrupts whenever it wants to - like the middle of the night . It gets out of control yet people don't put a leash on it .  It creeps up whenever it wants to ,anytime and anywhere. Talk about stalking- it's a pro at that . It scares the hell out of you when it comes up unexpectedly at your door . If you refuse to entertain it ,it pesters you . The word privacy is not in its dictionary .It doesn't understand that people may like solitude and their space. Imagine yourself at a theater,seated in a perfectly silent auditorium , engrossed in the most powerful performances being delivered by your favorite actors, at the edge of your seat ,waiting for the suspense to unfold ...  and suddenly it starts ringing!  It breaks the spell and the momentum . Hateful, vile, inexcusabl

                                                                                               Earth from the view point of a Martian ( if he exists) If we isolate ourselves from Earth , getting away some distance from our world ,it would help us focus our attention on what it is otherwise too obvious to notice while we stay on it . To see what we may be really like it will help if  we  put ourselves into the  shoes of a "Martian," if he happens to wear such an invention of the earth in the first place  .  So what do Martians see of Planet Earth ? What they see today is a population of over six billion people crawling out from every nook and corner like caterpillars . Now ,almost all of  this six billion devote a significant fraction of their time and energy to some sort of religious activity: rituals such as daily prayer (both public and private) or frequent attendance at ceremonies.Does this bring about a change in them?  From their point of view ,it must be hard keeping up

                                                 Spending a few moments by yourself can do wonders for your well being. No,it is not really being selfish, as some would say.It does not mean you have to shut down the rest of your life or retreat to the Himalayas  either.In our daily life we're so busy doing chores like driving down to school to drop our children or pick them up,cooking lunches and dinners, tending to our families,shopping for the household,helping kids with heir homework ,finding solutions to their problems,our problems,meeting clients,listening to our bosses, paying our bills etc.We are constantly wearing our selves out each day.   We can’t fix ourselves. We can’t find our own way. We certainly can’t control life’s twists and turns.But we can gradually learn to calm down and let our grey cells take a siesta for five minutes in a 12 hour schedule or more.  To be honest ,I tried it. Didn't work the first few times , I must admit . I tried to figure out why I have

                                          Why do we blink with both eyes simultaneously ? Interesting questions, not answered by anyone without the help of Google . Here are some more. Why do we laugh when something funny happens? We may think it is just obvious that laughter as opposed to,let's  say, scratching one's ear or hiccuping is the appropriate response to humour, but why is it? Why are some female shapes sexy and others not? Isn't it obvious? Just look at them!  But that is not the end of it. The obvious and most automatic responses to the world do indeed shout out  that they are a part of "human nature," but that still leaves the question of why ?  Well then does anyone know the answers to really basic questions ? Do they even care to rack their brains ? Do they care to explore on their own ? Do they experiment on their own so that they can cough up some answers after that ? Or do we just type into our keyboards with a finesse that has come after hours

                                           I have often wondered why being  diagnosed with depression, anxiety or any other mental disorder is so hard to conceive by other so called normal human beings. I know a person who is very close  to my heart . In her late 30s, she fell into depression and her state compounded two fold as her husband and his family failed to see this as a disease that can afflict anyone. Responsibilities such as two growing up children and a disgruntled family weighed on her shoulders and her condition became worse . She was a compassionate, caring individual earlier  but became  hyper sensitive, emotionally reactive over time and  responded to everyone  badly.She was  perceived increasingly difficult  to who ever she knew ,including myself .During calmer times, she discussed this extensively with me but I was oblivious to her state of mind and  why she was so emotionally reactive .    The facts?  Ignored . Her personality became the sole focus of her family .  

Start your day off right with coffee in a coffee mug made just for you.  Wafting through the air, the enticing smell of coffee makes you look forward to the day ahead . And when it's poured into a cup that makes you smile .Aah ! The best  things in life couldn't be better than a cup of coffee every morning .                                                   Let's admit it ,having a cup of coffee is the breaking point giving us strength and motivation for tackling yourlost files and the bellows of your bosses. Taking the cup to the table and drinking this delicious codffee does make us ponder over the days events as they might unfold, realizing that they probably won’t unfold as one would wish, but then that's what coffee is there for .  Time to take a coffee break ,don't you think ? In a cup that makes you smile ,even if it's for a moment . 

I nfographics - in yore days  In the limelight for everything you can think of ,here are are some of the earliest infographics of our times .  Cannes in the 60's  Enjoy and observe these infographics with those of today . Did you know that they started so way back in time ? Betcha you didn't know . Can you find some more of these and pin them up . It will be great to see them . Just need a little bit of effort . I will be back with more of these series ,so keep watching this space .

Discover and learn one new attribute of life everyday Carry a notebook everywhere. You never know when a thought might strike you. Keep a journal on your bedside table. Sometimes even a dream can trigger off new ideas. Be gadget free for a day. No mobiles, no I pads, no X – Box. Read instead. Be one with nature, preferably early morning. Take a break once in a while. Visit a new place .Soak it in. Learn something new . Listen to new music. Be open to others. Listen. Surround yourself with positive people. Don't give up. Keep trying to reach your goals. Stop trying to be someone else's idea of being perfect. Be yourself. Be original. Think uncluttered. Clean your workspace. Have fun. Chill. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes for one day. Observe. Learn .

Have you ever lost something that was more precious to you than your own life ? Someone special  who was meant to be yours forever but now isn't ?  Have you lost someone you loved unconditionally and then realized over time  that the love reciprocated was only conditional . Believe me ,it hurts . Hurts like hell . So , what does one do in a situation like this ? You're hurt and you are expected to smile as if nothing ever happened . We don't grieve over a love lost in this lifetime. Not the norm . Not the done thing .Why do we only grieve when somebody dies and is put to rest physically ? Isn't a love lost , memory forsaken as good as a part of you dying ? We go into mourning when somebody passes away but we can't mourn a death of a relationship . That does not equate death ,one would say .After all the heart bounces back and we only mourn because they can never come back . They can never come back . What's gone is gone . Often I hear a person saying ' Oh

YOUR WORK has taken over your life, you are suffering from stress and sick of running to stay in the same place. Solution? Exchange cash for qualitative time. If you feel bored, frustrated and trapped in your job, you are a likely candidate for not just a job change but a 'downshift'. This trend started from the US, where it is practised by ten per cent of the working population, is arriving in other countries . A better word for downshifting would be reequilibrating, suggests Judy Jones, co-author of Getting A Life. To have a  Happier, Simpler Living, leading to a simpler life -  Trade  part of your income for more time is about redefining yourself and your idea of success.  But how do you achieve one aspect of the downshift's dream - financial independence? First, try living on less money. Do keep some  money to keep the footmill turning. All your have to be paid bills for example . Make a third of your income to be spent on work-related activities like eating fast

Human nature is such that it can either catapult you to ecstasy or throw you down with a thud ! The thud hurts and we wonder if we can walk again . Yes you can . Just believe in yourself and you will .                                                                                         We often confuse what we are feeling with who we really are.  We begin to build this persona that we are not good enough, and because we feel bad then we think we are bad.  We hold onto a false identity because it sits so deep within us that we begin to think and see it as our truth.  If we keep our mind and heart disconnected we end up becoming dysfunctional, inattentive, distracted, and remote.  This causes harm to us and our relationships.   We create situations to protect ourselves from pain and hurt but these can disconnect us from our true feelings  When we  let down our guard and inhibitions with others - we let more of life in and let more of life out.   This can be healed through sha

Paper craft  It's a city . Paper city ? Who made this ? It must be made of cardboard,I thought . I was wrong .  These creations took my breath away as they will yours . Mesmerizing stuff .Could almost walk through those alleys myself . Breathtaking city in paper .   And I thought I was brilliant at making those paper boats,planes ....oh well ! Never mind . Worth a look .  These figures come from the “Lavazza Fairy Tales”. The announcement was made in animation by using stopmotion technique. It is installed in a paper city. Buildings are made three-dimensional and the characters are bi-dimensional. In order to make the publicity, more than one thousand paper shapes were used, and each of them has a different movement. The shapes were drawn, at the beginning, at hand and then, modifi ed in the post-production and afterwards, in the end, cut with a cut laser printer. Houses are made in shapes of polystyrene cubes covered by thin cardboard sheets. Don't miss the intricately carved

  Innovations that make your day simpler Brilliant Minds at Work  There are gadgets and then there are more gadgets. Everyday there are new start ups, new technologies, new inventions, new mobiles, new theories and new faces in the world of innovation. Some of the "so called new gadgets " become outdated the very next day, redundant to the core . But there are some innovations that become a part of our daily life and you wonder how you managed without them . I came across some wonderful inventions that would make our lives so much simpler yet I've heard very little of them. What I mean to say is this - why aren't they as popular as an Apple product?  Without wandering off to other realms, let me introduce you to these brilliant minds and their brilliant gadgets . Chew bots - Dog lovers, this one is dedicated to you What is it? A line of fully automated robotic dog toys.   Who made it? A mechanical engineering major Christoph