Memories

Memories
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On an evening, I was sitting with my Grandpa at riverside. There was a friendly chat going in between both of us.

“Hey son, did you see those birds playing? Those are beautiful.” He said delightfully.
“Yeah. I have seen that. Those are beautiful.” I replied in low voice.
“You see boy, I like being here every evening. It refreshes my mood and gives me strength to live longer.”
"Hmm." I murmured.
"Kid, I am watching you from a couple of days. Your granny makes your favorite dishes, chocolates, cakes for you and you are not enjoying them just like you were in past. You seem a bit nervous. What’s the matter?" He asked in calmly.

At the age of 20, I was just a kid for him. I smiled by hearing word ‘Kid’ from him after long time.

"Nothing" I answered.
"Nothing? Well, I don't think so. Son, I know you from birth. I am not only your Grandpa but a friend. Don't hide anything from me. Tell me son, why you are so disturbed?"

"Hmm. The thing is that, I am going through bad phase."
"Bad phase? What happened kid? How is Clara?"
"She left me two weeks ago. She's got another boyfriend so she broke our relationship. And I failed in my exam too. I didn't do well in last two football matches. The coach asked me to practice more and join the team after 2 matches. Nothing is happening well. I can't concentrate on anything. I remember her every day and can't think of anything else. Even I can’t sleep properly." I saw him with frustrated face.

"OK. Did you practice then?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Her memories are not leaving me. They are giving me pain." My voice might have been irritating for him.

"OK. So, what you want to do?" He asked calmly.

"I just want to kill those memories. Want to get rid of them. But don't know how to do it." I was totally frustrated with this dialogue. He patted my back with love and smiled. I was quite confused after seeing him smiling.

“Can I ask you a question?”
“Yes kid. Go ahead.”
“Why are memories always bad? Why I can’t have good memories in my life?”
He answered with same smile, “Son, memories are never bad. Those are beautiful.”
I was confused still and he continued, “Memories can be good or bad depend on what we like and what we don’t. But they are indeed beautiful. You are feeling bad now as you are unable to forget her since you loved her a lot. And you are just roaming around those memories. You are living in past. Try to neglect them for some time and come back to present world.”

“And how can I neglect them?”

“Just empty your mind, focus on your job. You are unable to concentrate on anything as your mind is full of memories. Empty it and then only you will be able to concentrate. You know something about memories son? Memories contain our experiences and we learn from those experiences. Just like that, memories are also our best teacher on life’s journey. Are you too old to live with your memories not in present world? Look I am not old yet. I am still enjoying life.”
My 75 year old best friend was explaining the “Memories” thing and I was listening to him with full concentration.

“And you said you are unable to sleep properly right? It’s because you don’t get tired. Let’s solve your sleeping problem. How about cricket tonight?” He asked me.
“How is it possible? I didn't carry kit with me.” I replied helplessly.
“ No need. Did you see the kit in your room kept in your drawer? It’s there. We can use it.”
I was shocked after hearing this and tears started rolling down as my grandpa has kept the “birthday gift” as it is from last 10 years which I forgot. It was touchy moment for me.
He continued, “We can ask your Granny to join us. And how about Andy? I think I shall call him. I am sure he will be happy”. He called my childhood best friend Andy and asked him to come home tonight and stay with us.
“But, will Granny be able to play at this age? She is 72. I don’t think so.” I was curious about his answer.
“Well, she is the best bowler in this world. She clean bowled me 50 years ago and she still does.” He winked at me and we started laughing.

I was eager to see Andy after long time. I started planning for tonight’s game and dreaming about tonight. And the Sun was setting.

Sunit S. Pendse
29th Jan 2014
sunitpendse.blogspot.com

Run Mumbai Run

Run Mumbai Run

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“Come on 63215. Come on. Run, run fast”

A Gujarathi Man with his family was cheering up the participants of Dream Run and we were enjoying it. We were also cheering up them with our presence. It was a different pleasure being there to watch Marathon and seeing everyone running for a cause. The cause may be different but yes they were running with Mumbai.

The day started with fresh air and fresh mood. It was my first time to be a part of Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon, at least being a watcher. Hence I was very excited. We had decided to meet near Churchgate Railway Station. I was going directly from office after Night Shift. And still I was not feeling sleepy; it may be due to excitement. I reached CST Railway Station and saw many people getting ready for Marathon. The Marathon Fever had started. Everyone was getting ready to run with Mumbai apart from their daily routines. I saw many of them during my CST to Churchgate walking journey. Each one of them was very excited and ready to run. Everyone was carrying Mumbai spirit with them.

The marathon consists of five races such as Full Marathon race of 42.195 km, Half Marathon of 21.097 km, Dream Run of 6 km, and Senior Citizens Run of 4.3 km and Champions with Disability of 2.4 km. This marathon is just not an event for world’s leading athletes; it is an event for all of us including Bollywood Celebrities, Sports personalities, business tycoons and other noted people.

I reached the destination and started enjoying Dream Run with my friends, cheering up the Runners and clicking photos. There were balloons, banners, shouts, drums, lots of good cheer and yes few of them were also talking or chatting on their cell phones. Runners were from children to old age, some of them were fit and some of them obese as well. Some of them were running for first time, some of them were habitual of running. Some of them were slow, some of them were fast. We saw a man running with artificial leg. We saw some of them running with wheel chair. Employees from many organizations also took part in this Dream Run and they were promoting nice messages such as “Save girl child”, “Run for Education”, “I am water, save me”, “and Segregate dry waste” etc. Colorful Mumbai Marathon was going on with them.

There were mix emotions while watching them running. I was feeling happy by looking at those happy faces and feeling sad as I was not running with them. We say that walking is the best exercise but we don’t get time to walk in our so called busy life. A day is of 24 hours and we still not get time to spend at least 5-10 minutes on walking to keep us fit. I think, marathon is just a reason to wake up all those lazy guys and ask them to walk, run daily. Take a look at our fitness, and make us more fit. Enjoy fresh air early morning and increase the stamina. Get ready to face the world and achieve many things in life. In and all, achieve happiness in life and spread it with others.

I am motivated by just watching them running and will start running daily. This time I was just a marathon watcher but next time will be a part of them. This time I was just motivating them but next time someone will motivate me by saying “Run Mumbai Run”, and I will be running with Mumbai.

Sunit Pendse

22^nd Jan 2014

Perspective

  Perspective
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“It’s hard to look at things that are too close. If you guys are dealing with anything, that is hard to handle or doesn't seem to make much sense, then get a new perspective.”

 I heard this dialogue in a movie named “Soul surfer” a year ago. “Soul Surfer” is based on a true story of a brave surfer Bethany Hamilton who is from Hawaii, US. She has survived Shark attack. She tried hard to get back to surfing even after Tiger Shark has bitten her left arm and she won the surfing tournament.

 The movie is indeed inspirational. But this dialogue inspired me while dealing with many things. It helped me a lot to find a way to get out of troubles. We, Human Beings struggle for existence, struggle harder to come out of situations. Situations could be good or bad. But we expect end result to be good always. But do we consider all kinds of possibilities to come out of the situation and achieve end result? If no then what is the solution? Is there any way?

 Well, the answer lies in this dialogue itself. Let’s take an example of a problem. When we are close to the problem, we are bound to it emotionally even though we know all the things related with it. Due to which we are able to see only one side of it. We are unable to see other side of the coin. Rather, our emotions do not let us see it, as other side may not be good. So what is need is to be practical in this situation and get away from the problem and instead of taking closer look, we should take the broader one.

 One of my best friend once said, try to think as being a third party when you are dealing with your problems. This way you will be able to deal with them properly and find a new solution. It will be easy for you to get rid of those problems and get desired result. Sometimes the result may not be desired one but it will be better.

 Let’s take another example of an opportunity. If we get an opportunity to work on a project, no matter big or small, it is the time to test our skills. We need to consider each and every small point to make this project work. For that we need to look it closer. But at the same time, to ensure that all required points are touched, or considered, we must have a broader view of the project too. We must keep verifying at every step of the project to ensure that it will work well. Having broader look along with closer look at each and every step of project helps us to achieve end result.

 So, getting correct perspective while dealing with anything in life either good or bad, is necessary. For that we must be thinking practical whenever needed instead of being just emotional. Whenever we will be in trouble, we must stand still and try to think other side of coin. We know it’s not possible every time but yes we can try though. And same applies in case of opportunities to prove us.

 Perspective matters everywhere. Do you agree with me? Or you have any other opinion?

Sunit Pendse
15/01/2014

Beauty

Beauty
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“We have to go out in next few minutes? Not possible yaar. I am not done with my makeup yet.”
“You don’t need makeup.”
“Ok. Now why you say so?”
“Coz you are naturally beautiful. Nature’s Beauty and Natural Beauty need no make-up.”

She blushed and pushed me out of the room to get ready for the party. I was laughing and happy seeing my love blushing. I tried to get into the room again, but since she pushed that door hard right on my nose, I couldn’t get in. Thank god, my nose didn’t get hit. Then I stood in the gallery of our hotel room and started watching outside.

I was speaking with myself, “Wow, what a wonderful phrase I just said ‘Nature’s Beauty and Natural Beauty need no make-up’. Does it really mean? If it does so then why these women use cosmetics? Not only women, men also use them nowadays like fair and handsome cream, why is it so?”

I tried searching for reasons of these questions. And climate conditions, pollution, stress of work etc things started entering in my mind. When we born we are always cute (I was not sure about myself until I watched my first photo of being just 2 months old), but when we start growing up, our food, volatile climate conditions, diseases, our interests etc affect our body. When we start facing world after teen age, and we travel for job or business, we visit many places. Pollution and climate on those places affects our body.

Not only climate or pollution should be considered, but also we need to see how much care we take of ourselves. We focus on our job, our targets, and our achievements in life and for that we are ready to stress for as much time as we can. We are welcoming stress happily and adjusting much needed sleep. At least 6 hours sleep is needed but do we sleep for 6 hours daily? We feel that we are fit and fine and are we so? The answer varies person by person. We also need to see the quality of food we eat. Homemade food is always good and recommended. But due to many reasons, basically job and relocation, we got habit of eating outside, eating junk food.

This was about human beauty and next comes nature’s beauty. To spend good time, relax and enjoy weekends, we are looking for resorts or we prefer being close to nature where there are trees, birds, animals and fresh air. Looking for second home with all amenities such as swimming pool, trees around in the society compound, fresh air is also kind of being close to nature. I think pollution and mismanagement of Jungles is the reason to affect the nature. This leads to volatile climate conditions as well. If we are thinking of taking care of ourselves then we should go ahead and start thinking about nature. We should start thinking about planting trees, taking care of them and try to avoid building concrete jungles as much we can. If we will take care of nature, nature will take care of us.

I was travelling with these thoughts and knocking sound on door disturbed my thinking journey. I asked, “Yes?” She replied, “Door is open. You can come in.”

I opened the door and she was standing in front of me. I saw her and my eyes said “wow” after looking at her pretty face. Earlier thoughts regarding effects of pollution, stress on beauty and nature etc were out of my mind now and that was quite natural.

She smiled and asked, “How do I look?” I started singing Shaggy’s my favorite composition “Angel”. She blushed again and we laughed. With this happy moment, a beautiful evening had started.

Sunit S. Pendse
8th Jan 2014

Productivity

Productivity

            Every night, when I go to bed, I ask one question to myself, “What is my today’s productivity?” Sometimes I get answer, sometimes I don’t. May be since I am being part of IT processes, productivity is a routine word for me but not for everyone.

            I try to remember the activities of whole day. I try to recollect the words I have spoken. I ask myself, “Have I done any mistakes today? If yes, then how can I avoid them tomorrow? What is today’s outcome for me? Did I achieve anything? How many things I kept pending and I have to look at them next day?”

            These various questions help me improve myself, my actions, my words. These various questions help me prepare plan for tomorrow. And this plan makes me ready to face next day. Next morning, I remember all pending tasks which I have to execute today. Sometimes it’s possible to execute all of them, sometimes it’s not. Then the cycle of tasks pending for today, pending tasks to be executed next day, if any of them are still pending at the end of day then they will be planned for execution next day again, it continues.

       These questions also help me understanding my capability and my efficiency.  By looking at it, I can 

prepare a plan myself. This plan will help me improving efficiency and capability to give best out of me.

            Usually, I like to take rest on Sunday to prepare myself for whole week. But does this resting means no productivity to me? The answer is no. Rest is also an important thing for everyone and our body needs it. So if I take rest then also I count the day as productive as it is much needed.
 

            So, my definition of productivity is every day’s efficient outcome in terms of usefulness, which I have done in whole day, either useful for me or useful for someone else.

            What is your definition of productivity?

Sunit S. Pendse

Tragedy and Hope

Tragedy is the base of life

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies

              One day, I heard two dialogs, one from a play and one from a movie. They made me think about them. I started wondering and thinking, do they ever relate to each other?

              Tragedy, from the birth to death, on every single part of life, it supports us to realize what life is. The day we born, we see tears in every eye of our own people including self. We cry after getting born because we feel pain while entering this new life. We are afraid of life’s journey. And our own people cry because they are glad to see us being part of this world. Tears take part in both, Sadness and Happiness. But most of the times, these tears roll down during sad moments only. There are very few moments in life, which make us cry to cherish happiness.

              But do we stop at the very first step of life when we cry by looking at life’s tough journey? No. Because of one thing, that is Hope in our heart. Hope to see new world. Hope to enjoy every single moment right from crawling, walking, riding bicycles, playing with friends, and running after butterflies to catch them. We fall while playing, running and we cry. Crying is tragedy but our parents and friends asking us to ignore the pain. And we do it because there is a little hope in our little heart at that time that pain will be vanished.

              As life goes ahead, as we grow, we start feeling deep pain and understanding it. We start feeling Tragedy. During tough moments of life, we pray to God. We try to seek help from others to get rid of these tragedy moments and be happy again. No one wants sadness, everyone wants to be Happy. We pray to God, we try to seek help from others because we have a little hope in our heart to come out of bad moments and good moments will come.

              When we get habitual of anything such as same kind of work in office, we get bored and try to search new things. Try to get some change in daily routines. Nobody wants to read same book again and again. A new book is to be borrowed to refresh our mind. Getting bored is another type of tragedy and searching for change is due to hope. Whenever a team loses a game, team’s coach starts looking after weaknesses of team players and tries to help them rectify their mistakes, as he/she hopes to win next game. Here also losing a game is tragedy and training team players for next game so that it would be won is a hope.

              At the end, I realize that tragedy and hope both do really relate to each other. Wherever there is tragedy, there is hope. Wherever there is hope, there is tragedy. Tragedy and Hope can be considered as two sides of a coin. We always say that never think in a single way, never think of succeeding always. Also think what if you fail. What if you lose? What will you do after losing everything? Tragedy is failure and Hope is success.

Sunit S. Pendse

Resolution

Resolution

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Resolution is a word which is used by every single person on this earth in the beginning of each year. Everyone uses this word to express his strong will to make something happen in his or her own life which had never happened before. I also do the same. My friends ask me on first day of every year, “What is your resolution for this year?” and I get confuse. I have no answer. Because I never think of resolution till someone asks me. Rather I allocate first week of every year for preparing resolution for New Year.

What resolution is made up of? Why do people make resolutions for every year? Do they really achieve something? Are resolutions really important in everyone’s life? Is resolution related to something called happiness?

Well, I don’t have any idea about others but yes, resolution matters for me every year. Resolutions always contain of few things or few goals which we want to achieve in coming 365 days. Fulfilling a resolution not only makes you happy but makes you satisfied as well. Yeah, it’s true that I am unable to complete my resolution every year. I feel bad at the end of year but yes I am ready also for next year’s resolution.

They say many things in life are incomplete. I think resolutions are also one of them. I have seen very few of them who had successfully completed their resolution. They achieved something in year and they feel that year was very good for them. Most of us don’t complete our resolutions; in so called corporate world most of us do not meet our “Yearly Target”. But we never feel bad because we hope to complete this resolution next year.

Well, I also have a resolution this year. I will express my thoughts in English on every Wednesday on our group wall. And I will try to improve English till the end of this New Year.

I have my resolution ready. Are you ready with your resolution?

Sunit S. Pendse

1^st Jan 2014