November 29, 2008

Angels = Friends, for health, wealth and life…

Hi Folks! Today I am a let depressed... :( Take a look at this photo! Yesterday, I came across this blog, ‘The Domestic Diva’. This blog belongs to a concerned mother; a mother who sews amazingly, has a beautiful daughter with a great set of friends, all dwelling in a small town, at some corner of Philadelphia in the US.
The girl, Marielle whom you see in the above snap goes to school, is brilliant, talented and loves her mom a lot. She has two kidneys like the most of us but the depressing fact is that her kidneys are not functioning normally as it is supposed to.

Yeah, she is victimized by Chronic Renal failure.
Now why am I so concerned?? If I look back 13-14 years in my life biography, (Yeah, have come a long way!), I see myself in Marielle. That is right! I too was once in a condition of Chronic Renal failure.

As a word of faith, I posted a comment on her mom's blog for her daughter. She mailed me today morning, voicing her happiness over what she read. A tear or two slipped by my cheek as the reminiscence of my past flashed in front of my eyes. I know exactly how she would have felt. My mom is what I saw in her, Jeannie.
10 years up the line, as I look back, I remember my doc letting me know that such cases for young girls happen once, one in a million. Today I look around and I see the number just being swapped. It is more like a thousand in a million, regardless of age or sex, life style or education even if you are rich or poor. And not just Marielle, but there are so many out there who need help. Just that only some of these people and their conditions come to our knowledge, at times.



Two days back she was rushed to emergency as her condition was deteriorating. She happily flips through the pages of a favorite book not aware of the darkness laid in front of her. Days back, her mom had blogged to let the world know, that an easy pal has volunteered to donate her kidney and so far so good, the tests have been matching. Amen!! Marielle looks forward for a heavy feast during Thanksgiving and Christmas, as her surgery is scheduled the next day of Christmas, the transplant operation. Her blood pressure is rising and her blood counts are dropping, day by day. My heart goes out for her completely because I lost on my best years of teenage and childhood, thanks to this disease.



Being the only child for my parent, I was always pampered and loved by all. Even an injury of petite importance would take them by shock, if it happened to me. That is when I encountered a breathing difficulty while preparing for my 8th standard exams which shocked my parents completely. I was never a healthy child, always anemic, but my folks never realized that their daughter was sinking into something from where she could never opt out. I thought I was going to stop breathing eventually as the pressure rose and I couldn’t take it anymore. Hospital to hospital, bed to bed, finally the doctors addressed my folks and let them know that their daughter has kidneys that have shrunk completely and are dysfunctional. Heart broken, for the first time, I saw my dad shed a tear and burst into complete sorrow. The doctors put me onto peritoneal dialysis, unlike Marielle who is on haemo-dialysis, and so my next 4 years passed in having a tube from the inside of my tummy swung around my hip, all for the dialysis purpose. This tube had become a part of my life. I studied like the normal, played and even won accolades in various domains. Finally after my high school, we found the perfect donor (with whom I have no connections as of now, and that makes me feel low and guilty!) who like an angel bowed down and placed his blessings on my life. After a lot of struggle and another couple of surgeries, I have now arrived here.

Well, may my stories lie behind and let us focus on Marielle. Quite contradicting to what you saw above, below shown is a snap of Marielle in the hospital now. All in smiles, as she lay on this white bed of daisies, I pray that strength and courage bind her and be happy for life, may she. The story of Marielle has really disturbed me as it brings back my memories. Most of my friends and family never knew about my condition and so I assume that blessings for me were scarce. Prayers really help and we all need it. Marielle at this point needs it a lot.



Numerous lives were taken in and out of terror dens in Mumbai and now we have left no chance to save them or even pray for them apart from the fact that we can wish that their souls rest in peace. Marielle still has a chance! I request all of you to go through her mom’s blog and give wisdom of advices, blessings of thoughts and a bouquet of prayers.



I wish to hear from Jeannie, her mom soon that Marielle has finally succeeded in fighting her destiny and is staying happy in smiles with her friends and well wishers. Let us pray that this day comes to us in news, soon!

November 28, 2008

Hours of Terror

40 Hours back, as I switched on the TV to watch my daily marathon of reality shows; a marquee began flashing beneath the TV channel logo. To my shock and surprise, and thanks to my instincts, I swapped to some News channel that would spill clarity on the BREAKING NEWS that I just saw, ‘MUMBAI ATTACKED’.


And there was the horror that I dreaded of! Away from the strategies and tactics that the IB, Police force and the Government was trying to implement, my heart immediately sank for those people who would have never woken up that day, imagining the end they would see.

Two luxury hotel sieges by unknown terrorists – the TAJ and TRIDENT! Well, how many times have I stayed in these hotels.. What would have been of me, if today I was there in one of those rooms as a hostage, fighting terror?



Young boys, by whatever name you call them, the Lashkars or the Mujahedeens or whomsoever, donning uniform black attires and clinching onto the professional, freshly imported AK-47s, had stormed into the simple lives of these innocent people to conceal the consequences and reveal the facts of their destiny. How the heck did they even enter this land amidst all that tight security? (Oh! Who am I kidding?) We all are known for the ‘being hit’ syndrome. 

Only when terror strikes in some part of the country, the states wake up and secure themselves, just in case they get hit. But this goes on for a short while, until all cools and calms down. Else, how could have these wrath filled individuals entered our land crossing the eagle eyes of our forces and guards?


Be it the Europeans who were just in town to attend a conference, or the local Cyprus origin chef who had to encounter death with his family, to the people who simply had to fall a prey to the attacks, as a result of just being in that spot, that day. What was their fault? If the attackers had a grudge towards those of foreign origin, then why did they attack those innocent Indians?

And what is their problem with people of British or American origin visiting our country for their personal or official purposes? Should India always be termed as a third world country? What was their ultimate motive? What was their success plan? If it was simply to keep us alerted on what they can do, whenever they wanted to, then why did they play fate with those innocents? They could have simply made a point through some emotionless announcement.

After the whole assault drama that has been continuing for hours now, sans the food, sleep and peace, Mumbai now remains dead in its daylight too. Nothing seems alive in the city that once never used to sleep. From films to fun, schools to sensex, everything mourns in the darkness of this incident, this horror. After fate sacrificing the life of hundreds in places, from the railway station to luxury hotels to those brave Indian officers who stood in front to lead and leave and on the other hand destiny forgiving the life of another hundreds who gets to live a traumatic future after this day, thanks to the NSG forces who have thrown light to our hopes in terms of the survival of hostages and the capturing of those mask blinded, selfless inhumanly beings.

So where does all this zero down to? Wake up politicians, Wake up the government! Yeah, Yeah, you all are doing a lot for us. But not where you have to. Stop fighting for power and prejudice within yourselves and instead get on to the streets to peek into the lives, that pay you votes. You want to bring India to the front? Well, use the brains and brawns in the right way for the right thing. Strengthen our forces, get them the best equipment, give them the best training so that any time anywhere for situations like this, we know we have a battalion that cares and have the guts to go up front and fight for those in panic and pain. We have all learned a lot. First it all began with Kashmir and now all the way till Bangalore. Blasts, murders, assassinations.. We, Indians are tired. It is time we want to be on the streets, free and fearless. Over every blast, the authorities meet up to take a decision. Two days, we all mourn a minute and then carry on with our lives and so does the authorities. But in a month or so, another set of terror incidents strike and once again we are all in panic and shock. This is what has been happening. Now, is this, what will go on, in India? Will people from all around fear to enter the boundaries of this once, sacred land? We all are economically hit and now we will be hit, in terms of everything, from tourism to education. Maybe even ‘Chandrayan’ may not help. Hope this rings a bell????


The drama still continues. Some of the masked teenagers dead and some still lingering. Hostages, some saved and the rest not. And something even more humorous that occurred to me, even during such a stressed situation was the non-availability of a copter, as part of the air unit, quite similar to the S.W.A.T team in US. Yeah, I know, that is US, and this is India man! But as my hubby rightly stated, the scarcity of such systems within our defense forces is what lacks the credibility of the nation, in terms of fighting terror worldwide. Now finally where does all this bring us to? Are we less capable of fighting terror in our very own nation or is there a blocker that is ceasing our ability to fight terror? If you had to answer this, do you have one?

November 26, 2008

Lashing cats and dogs



This is the scene that has been going on in my town for the past couple of days.. I had to literally skip work today coz' the roads were totally flooded.. For us guys here, rains are actually a blessing in disguise as if we do not get enough rains, then the summers would welcome the water shortage crisis much advance in time.. But thanks to the poor storm drain water systems in the city we, the people have to sacrifice and suffer a lot of hiccups during these times.. especially when it comes to our commutation, even to the nearest destination...
All these talks and just no action by the authorities, makes me think and blink, eventually what are their priorities??? Anyways, I blogged a little, watched TV, had some good food, spoke to some of my old pals (who were also stuck up at their dens, not being able to do anything during these heavy rains, apart from eating and sleeping..), read a book, jogged a little on the treadmill, mended some pending work and finally made myself some great sandwiches (Oh! By the way, I do really make good sandwiches, innovative and tasty ones; Those are one of the dishes that I really am good at, both cooking and eating!) and hot tea and sat by the window to enjoy the drops fall in a rush to kiss the sands of time.... Well, it is secondary that I got some time today to ponder about many things like reminiscing one of my old poems like this one, where I connect the nature of the rain to my decision of looking ahead amidst and apart all that pain....

   

I hope tomorrow is a pretty bright sunny day out there! So that I can get back to work or else, I might have to collect and reinforce some other weird stuff from my diary of thoughts...

Philadelphia to Phir Milenge


Yesterday, after a pretty long time, much after a hectic week at the office, I managed to pick a favorite movie to watch on Sony Pix, ‘Philadelphia’. This is definitely my choice of flick when it comes to sensible cinema.

A movie that was out in times when filmmakers were dreading to find a good meaningful story, no offence to other such films, but ‘Philadelphia’ released in early 90s, seriously seeped the hearts of millions to empathize with those who were living a life similar to that of ‘Andrew Beckett’, a character flawlessly portrayed by Hanks.


A myth follows that if a movie is inspired from a true life story, then the movie would gain weightage based on the depth of screenplay and showcasing of characters. This movie too proved a point.

For those who did not know, ‘Philadelphia’ was directly taken from a page of Geoffrey Bowers’ biography who was an established attorney in the late 80s and had rose to fame when he sued the law firm with whom he was associated for a concrete period. Bowers was affected by HIV and in spite of being an intellectual attorney in those days; his associates fired him on the basis of unfair discrimination.


For those who have not picked up this flick for a watch and want to get a synopsis on the same, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_(film). It is basically a movie that deals with issues such as AIDS, homosexuality, and common mindsets of people with regard to gays and even homophobia, a fear of homosexuality.

Written by Ron Nyswaner and directed by Jonathan Demme, ‘Philadelphia’ captured my attention absolutely with its many aspects of touching screenplay and strong portrayal of characters and the relationships between them.

Some of my favorite pointers from the movie:
1. The relationship between the two most handsome gays in ‘Philadelphia’ – Andrew and Miguel


2. How Andrew takes the news of him getting fired from the law firm
3. The tiff between Miller and Andrew in the beginning of the movie, as lawyers


4. Miller’s homophobic reaction when Andrew states that he has AIDS
5. Andrew’s fight against AIDS and homosexual discrimination


6. Hidden affection of the law associates for Andrew
7. The revelation of the fact that homosexuality does not always lead to transmitted diseases
8. Andrew taking up of off-color homophobic jokes when he is silently being hurt
9. Andrew’s dedication as an attorney
10. The documentary of Andrew as a child being watched by loved ones during his funeral
11. The support that Andrew gets from his pals and folks during such touch times
…. the list just moves on, to name many!

What I like, a lot more about this movie is that when the film ends, for a minute you actually introspect the happenings in this story. You take Andrew to be your friend who had to struggle his walk over stumbling rocks in a dark tunnel. You wonder what if the same happened to you or to your dear ones.



So many questions remain unanswered when you actually think about all that but ‘Philadelphia’ till date remains as one of my favorite flicks. Everything connected to this movie was awe-inspiring including Tom Hanks’s speech at the Oscars where he clinched the beautiful lady in his arms with tears in his eyes, love for all associated with the film and not, the tribute to Denzel Washington and parting the credit with his pal, his attorney from the movie and finally the end that he gave to his speech. No words, but just speechless.

Road trip to Phir Milenge “Life is all about timing... the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable... attainable. Have the patience, wait it out. It's all about timing” -- Stacey Charter

Ron was inspired by Geoffery and Revathy was flabbergasted by Ron’s masterpiece. A perfect timing is what I would say, for Revathy who milestones away from us had once captured the filmmaker’s glory in South and North Indian movies. Already known to be a great actress proved her maturity with the lens too.

Exactly 11 years down the line, she bagged a script with so much of depth, gave it the right shades with indigenous styles, chose characters that touched our hearts and finally contributed a gem to Indian cinema. Not within the clan of commercial Indian masalas, but a favored one rightly by critics who thought the movie spilled the beans of a social message in the most humanitarian pattern.


The movie was, in double words, copied? Yeah, it was an Indian sequel to ‘Philadelphia’. But the director beautifully strikes out the comparisons so that the latter is more original in its way and how??
  • From an attorney of a law firm to a creative director of an AD agency.
  • A gay living along with his partner to a spinster enjoying her times with her little sister, an RJ.
  • The attorney gets his best case and the CD gets her third best AD award, a hat trick in a row.
  • From having an anonymous relationship at a pornographic theatre to having a physical relation with the old college crush during a re-union.
  • Lesions to donating blood during the sister’s car accident.
And not to end the entertaining tidbits, in the Indian version there were many twists too!

The protagonist gets her job back but declines the offer and decides to begin her own AD firm. She does not die in the end to leave us with a heavy heart unlike Hanks’ heart warming dialogue in the end when he admits he wants to finally die and not the take the pain anymore. She, her sister and her friendly relation with her attorney and his wife continues. The unheard hero of the movie, her boyfriend who had already been a prey to the virus but had not informed her, returns during a court scene and dies eventually in her arms.

If the Hollywood director took a step, our masters leaped a bit.



Anyway movies are to entertain and for us to be entertained. I write short stories too and while I was writing this post, was keenly wondering if there would be any takers for my kind of stories too. If Ron and Revathy can do it, why can’t I? And as always the saying goes, ‘There is do or do not, but nothing to try.’

November 23, 2008

Fashion unleashed



One of my favorite bags, a Mr. Handbag product!! I am sure not many would know about this brand as it is from a local mall in Bangkok... Things I like about this bag: -- Handy and spacious -- Creates a fashion statement - Attention grabber -- Two-In-One 1. Can carry Stuff 2. Also read the magazine cover -- Inspires me to feature on a famous fashion magazine.. -- It is my bag, folks! -- Absolutely a Haute 'Couture' product.. Have you ever liked a bag of your possession that you carry every place you go, even to the vegetable vendor????

Dedications from my buddies...;)



My buddies @ work are all good poetess and writers.. there was a phase when each of us got into this groove of dedicating verses to our dear buddies... that's when two of my close buddies dedicated these for me...! ;) luv ya gurlz..!!

This one was from my writing inspiration Deepti a.k.a 'Kotapi'...
Simi a.k.a Cotton Candy!

Softness in her smile, warm and cute,
Sweetness defined, of high repute,
Stroke of imagination, a gifted mind,
She is simply creative, one of a kind,
A bundle of mischief, a bouncing ball,
She is a dainty delight, a joy to all!

This one was from my another buddy, the bubbly gal @ work...'Sari'!

She is small and she is petite,
With fun and frolic she’s replete,
She’s full of oomph and zest for life,
She wouldn’t know the meaning of strife.
She loves to wear stylish trinkets,
Chic dresses and trendy jackets,
She comes up with some sound advice,
Never feels the need to be concise.
Her SBs are of unearthly combination,
She’s gifted with a flighty imagination,
She always manages to make a saga,
Makes everyone feel totally gaga.
She walks with an impish smile,
Delicate like the lily of the Nile,
In her fiber, there’s a single kink,
Her obsession with the color pink .

I really miss you guys!!! :(

Spiritual and Clueless


Saturday blues have just arrived! I am basically not a party animal though I don’t hate attending some of them. To be frank, though I like to drink and mix cocktails in a while or have a say with a pal or two, I would rather prefer the company of solitude to that entire hoop. Wonder how many out there are like me? Today evening, however things changed. Things came by me that put me to wonder. I saw what my imagination carried off to a second world. I don’t know whether any of you have come across such thoughts, but anyways, let me hit it. 

After a lot of forced persuasion from my mom today, I planned to visit one of the oldest, well-known temples (at least in Chennai) built in the name of Lord Maheshwara, The Destroyer, the Kaapaleshwara temple. This temple was known to be engulfed by the waters, way centuries back. There is a lot of awe in terms of this temple, the place where it is located, the gala crowd hugging the area, the basic pit stop for religious stuff, the holy stories that keep the legend of the temple high and many more. 

If you are not from India or from Chennai basically, I would purely recommend you to visit Chennai and this temple especially to know a lot about Indian mythology. I really enjoy going there, especially with my parents as it keeps the old times alive. But like we all do, during the last week of the month, so low, so broke, I was just sitting back and pondering on this week’s happenings, today. That is when, though I initially hesitated but then yielded into the thought of going to the temple. I am religious within, for those who didn’t know. But I pretend not to be superstitious at times when within, I actually would be. (This is for those who know me! LOL!) Anyways, at the temple, after the offerings ceremony, there were a lot of scenes that made me think about the person whom I just saw and about how his or her existence was making a difference to my thoughts!

 
  1. A girl was gazing at the idol of Lord Shiva with a Coke bottle in her hand.(How far has globalization reached, man?)
  2. A guy kept staring at his mobile while praying. (Can’t do without technology even at the altar huh?)
  3. A guy was wooing his GF while receiving the offering from the priest. (Being religious doesn’t help buddy!)
  4. A minister and his buddies were doing a donation of thousands for the temple. (Here we have job-cuts. I think the government has still not got the point.)
To my surprise, I don’t remember the rest. But there were many such scenes that made me think about what was happening around me. For a second, I thought being religious or spiritual doesn’t change the way we live or the way we think. I just felt peaceful today. But I realized that we were going too fast in times and life, without a perfect destination. So where are we all leading too? Amidst all the problems in the world like the ones we all are currently facing; the recession is killing employment and economics all around the globe and we turn our minds for religious backup. Spirituality is no longer an issue of staying alive in minds and for good fate to solve problems but a necessity or a luxury.



I don’t know how far this thought has percolated people’s minds but it has dissolved within my decisions, though. In the coming days, I am going to take my decisions, well about everything with regard to how is it going to change the lives of people around me and that of mine too.

November 22, 2008

Creativity

When a set of ideas, wacky and wise are detoured to reality, the word 'creativity' falls into place.

Think, then produce is what the great say! If you have ideas, then implement them, else it is mere imagination which would have already pierced somebody else's head and will no longer be a unique innovation from your end.

So if you have ideas, then act upon it, show the world that you have stuff that, you can bring about a change, a change in their lives, in their world, in their work. Allow them to re-think, re-act, re-work and finally relax. Let this change, let your imagination run wild..

Create an innovative creative idea, concept or solution. Let people imbibe from what you say and inspire from what you do.

You will see how this brings a difference in the way you think, we think!!

By the way, some other people believe being creative is a totally different genre.. like who?.. read this one! http://www.creativityatwork.com/articlesContent/whatis.htm

Strangers, All the way..

“Hop, Hop, Hop, they ride in shining white, Savior of all, calls themselves the reigning knights…”

Has it ever occurred to any that these lines, not in the literary sense, but play a part from day to day in front of our eyes? Maybe they are not known as ‘reigning knights’ or aren’t ‘shining in white’, but thanks to some selfless souls out there who still act that way, many of us reach our dens for the end of the day safely. My shifts, 10 out of 20, are late shifts. Thanks to the diminishing pay power and increasing cost of living, it is not certain how long can we survive on fuel and two-four wheels. So to escape this terrorizing thought, most of the days, I pick an auto, the Indian, three-wheel yellow regime, for my commutation to and fro for work.

 

Just two days back I realized that, unlike the ways these fellows, I meant the auto drivers, are portrayed in Indian commercial movies, they are actually friendlier in say and proactive in thought. Like every battalion has a set of its own black sheep, even among these fellows, there are some selfish, evil eyes lingering and so the bad name. But later, or never, I apprehended the fact that these men behind three wheels in their pride bind khakis are actually the chauffeurs or the charioteers who safeguard our lives as darkness falls. They acknowledge the stress and pain that we go through, especially if we belong to the IT clan, and cooperate with us in terms of a less tiresome en-route to our hubs at a pocket friendly price, at least at times. I don’t know why am I writing about the auto fellows all of a sudden! But I believe we ought to give a little more respect to these guys as the saying goes, ‘Give respect and then take respect!’. So my post comes to an end.. A small one with a big message! LOL :) So for all those knights in khaki, here’s a toast for being alive around the clock for passengers like me and many others… Just keep up your name guys!

 

November 17, 2008

Those dreaded days...



Something that I wrote when I was a free resource in my previous organization...Just reminiscing those dreaded days... "I have been a free resource at my work place for the past few weeks with the most least amount of work allocated to me...it feels terrible to be at ease...seriously!.. working hard for a phase and then being free for days.. sounds so sober...! But then I realised, why not utilize this time for something more productive... And thereby I started writing.. I wrote poems, phrases, captions, stories and so on...finally got the prime chance of creating my blog.. yes! I did it what I wanted to do long back... I always thought why people wanted to create blogs...? could have been for the simple reason of expressing their world in terms of words or to just be creative enough to let others know they are capable enough of creating wonders..


But just creating a blog makes me wonder ..is this it? Or is there more to it? So I thought of writing how I feel when I feel wasted?..seriously.. I wanna do this ID course which I have been thinking about for so long and now finally I have taken the decision of joining for this course from a well known university… yesterday, my ID manager complimented me on the kind of ID skills I have and the minor areas that I have to improve upon…so I have taken the stern decision of joining for this course….next I always wanted to learn either of the two things.. Swimming or driving!..since I have always been around with a chauffeur, I never thought that it is important to have a license to drive.. but now I feel its needed!!..

Next I am planning to join a home science class to improve on my cooking skills and more importantly some kind of home making skills… my gyming skills seem to never proceed more than a week… ;) juz kidding! I have decided to rejoin for my gyming class and beat the heat with a lose of sufficient calories.. I wanna become trim and slim so that I can fit into any dresses ever made…and of course please my honey day after day! ;)


I am a graduate.. well off (at least to an extent).. Technically qualified…married.. Happy with my hubby.. Working with a regular job and good pay…but I still feel wasted.. Rusted and seriously doing no good in life… Is this natural or is this just me??? All the above said things that I plan to do..will it take away this feeling of being wasted?. Hope so and let’s wait…I am prepared to face all pains to receive all gains..but all I want is to relive from the thought of being wasted not just at work but in life too!!!" Now thinking back, it all so seems funny, as I am loaded with work! Duh.. Anyways, just wanted to spill some of my old personal expressions on my blog as am *Y.A.W.N* bored folks!!!

November 15, 2008

Creativity - no more in the ‘WANTED’ list of users



A couple of years back, at least, until then, people used to crave for products that exhibited massive lengths of creative approaches and instincts. From advertisements to assignments, from movies to mehendi, from food to fashion, creativity is what caught the beholder’s eye in every direction. (Oh! That, a little rhymed there, LOL!)

Anyways, back to reality - But just like how everything else has to reach its saturation level at some point during its steady race, I guess even ‘Creativity’ has had its list of hits, pretty much these recent times. Nowadays, the tag that creativity pulls along is pure lameness. You do anything with your stuff and voice it out, ‘I came out to do something creative, something contemporary...’ and the world believes it.
Just last year, I remember seeing my friend sporting a CREATIVE tattoo as she says it was, which looked no lesser than the capital alphabet S written in three different directions. Now from the visual perspective, unfortunately it also seemed to look like a Scorpio. So there you go, creativity has its chunk so what, even the artist can brag about his or her creative angle.



I stood in pride when I decided to owe one of my blogs to Creativity. Why I wanted to do that was because I considered that my respect to creativity was sequentially been portrayed via a poetic essence. But now as I write here, am apprehensive that I did that. Creativity is misinterpreted in today’s times in many ways, in terms of money, effort, resources, thinking, time and so much more that this space would be less to write of.

I soon will be taking that ‘creativity’ tag off, but I truly believe that good Creativity (I know that creativity in its right sense is always wild and wacky and that is exactly what I meant by ‘good creativity’!) still exists within each one of us but we are just not sure how to put it in the right way and more importantly, where it put it guys. And even more seriously, how the heck are we going to convince these takers about the ongoing value of thinking wild, thinking new, thinking exactly ‘critical’ in place and thinking for the good of all.



Being an Instructional Designer myself, I have been experiencing this dearth in the plains of varied thinking and high engagement for learners – the siblings of creativity, in the courses that I have been developing over the past few months. All thanks to the vicious cycles of project management and client requirements.

This is a case from my workplace a few months back. A client had recommended a world class gambling game to be the backdrop of an environmental social awareness based E-Learning program. The kind of analysis that goes into such courses is vast. It involves time, research extremes, and effort on understanding the game as well as the political hitches within the social awareness program for which the courses were being done.


After a few curves up and down, the clients were impressed with what we had proposed and done and the way it had been put together, as their needs were being served for the sophisticated, toughest genre of audiences like the CEOs, established entrepreneurs, MDs, founders and so on.



But after a long gap of silence from their end, we understood what held them back before they yielded in to being our eventual clients. COST…EFFORT…TIME - the C.E.T paradigm! So what would they have done to demolish this hurdle? Well, let’s compromise on creativity, that anyway had no value for money, it was simply value addition! So be it, we get back the project but the deal is just KEEP it Linear guys, as we don’t have much money to shed for what was that ‘out of the box’ stuff??? Oh Yeah! ‘Creativity’…

Well, the story doesn’t end here. What I simply don’t understand is why people have to apartheid creativity for the sake of business. Take the PR industry for example, I know firms that outdo their work when it comes to assignments in terms of thinking new but their profits go for a toss if the products or projects are enriched with creativity. Because as the one-liner goes, ‘A little too much of anything kills the originality in the good’. And you know what? All this has sprung by in the past few months.

Not desperate, not deprived but disappointed that people have stopped caring for what ‘Creativity’ was once for all of us. Don’t know how many out there are into doing business and don’t give a damn for those who think so fresh, so new, so creatively.



I know am creative enough and the people around me know that too, but my creativity has been getting rusted and ripped off over the past few months. Even the freelancers loathe projects that have too much of interactive signs and prefer the much old traditional approach of Linear learning. The only way I try to keep it alive is by writing poems.

The kind of creativity that I had for E-Learning courses is all buried momentarily, because nowadays clients look for projects that would reach them beholding lesser efforts, lesser thinking, straight-forward approaches, no scenarios, no critical thinking for learners, no engagement learning, no interactivity but more outputs at a quicker turnaround time with few or no interaction points and just plain text and graphics. (Oh Yeah, some don't even want animations..)



Times have changed! And I still look for those heart-warming, creativity yearning projects that come our way once a while, as I know that creative minds are still on a rage to do something new, something fresh and something totally out of the blue. Any one who has an anti-opinion on this perspective is free to voice theirs and guess what? I would love to hear it too! Because I always feel it is much brighter on the other side, but who really knows unless someone doesn’t say so?

November 1, 2008

Day 1 ends in the faded lights of the city that never sleeps..

Venue: Bangkok Date: 19.01.2008 Time: 04:30 p.m. Feeling: Tired

On our way through the city roads, we managed to barge into many governmental buildings, sky-scraper facing roads, and the enormously stretching flyover from the city till the airport, each prolonging a length of 200-300 kms. And not to forget to mention, everywhere around in Thailand, am sure the census would be surprised to find that the human population is much lesser than the canine population. Man, I sure was bugged by that. From the temples to the stalls, from the hotel to the markets! They were all there filling the picture with pride. Anyways, after a long drive and my small siesta (in between I did eavesdrop to listen to my hubby voicing some opinions about the country, to the driver), we finally reached the base of the golden mountain or the Golden Mount or Phu Kao Thong.



The Phu Kao Thong is supposedly built on an artificial hill and it is even better known as the guard who makes the beauty of the city rise up levels high. For a minute or two, I hesitated and asked my hubby whether to tour this temple due to the amazing height that it dwelled upon. But like some kind of a hypnotic reversion, I pulled myself out of the Camry and followed my hubby to climb to the peak of this temple, ascending all the 300 steps. The peak is known as the Chedi (something like a ‘Gopuram’) and it contains that idol of Buddha brought all the way back in the 18th century, from India (the birthplace of the original Buddha!) There are two alternative ways to reach the top. One of which is quite challenging and not that concrete, a path nature built just for people who’d like to trek even small distances . If you are a person with a knee-knock, I would advise you to take the steps to head towards the temple.


The cuddled path to the temple will premiere a set of small Buddha idols along the path where, if interested, you can pray and light a scented stick. Donations are also welcome. If a master of photography, this path will really provide you a plethora of awesome landscapes, city views, different angles of the temple and other exciting tidbits. Taking the neater route would not provide you much entertainment, except for the various stopovers that allow you to click a picture or two and the amazingly spread city view of Bangkok from various heights of the mountain. You can also entertain yourself by sweeping your hands through the holy bells that fence the stairs right from the bottom of the temple till the top. The sounds that these bells create an ambience of a holy angelic or a spiritual being around us. After all the hopscotch acts and panting up the 300 rectangular blocks, when you reach the temple, you will feel that this exercise was worth the effort.



First, what you will see in awe is the wonderful view of the city from up above the temple. Then, your concentration will be drawn towards the entrance of the temple, which would be buzzing with slippers from all around the globe. Yeah! Kind of trippy right? Inside the sacred building, Buddha idols of different sizes, colours, make and importance will be arranged in front of your eyes.



The highlight, as talked about before, of this temple is the oblong hall that shelters the Buddha idol that was brought from India. The offering in this temple is a gold cover with a piece of camphor and the scented stick that can be used to light within the dark pool of ashes in front of the Buddha idols. All this is a heavenly experience. My hubby was quite excited about clicking snaps than actually being a part of the religious ritual.



While I was amazed at the beauty all these idols, the city view and the story that the young guide within the temple was entertaining me with, my hubby absconded to the next floor of the temple (which was equally challenging as the stairs to this floor was steep and dangerous) to capture some breath-taking pictures.





Down below, I was still with the guide who was taking me through the history of the main idol and the temple. He first instructed me to place the camphor (that was covered in the gold paper!) in front of the idol. The paper was then to be placed on the idol. Surprisingly, it got glued onto the idol as soon as I pasted it. This idol is placed in between a hollow circular hall with a narrowed cone-shaped ceiling, which opens up to the sky. It is believed that during some auspicious nights, this opening showcases the full moon so clearly that its reflection hits the peak of the idol and gives away a feel that mirrors an expression of rays radiating from the idol itself. The guide exclaimed that it is truly a breath-taking sight and if ever I got a chance to view it, there can be no other sight to match it. Quite reluctant to leave this scene, I stayed back a while to pray and register this experience for a lifetime. He even guided me to see a picture of Buddha’s tooth, which was brought all the way from India.



Then after a stroll through the shops and stalls inside the temple, I and my hubby started to leave the temple. I believe that this would be a momentous day that I would cherish all my life. After we both raced to the end of the temple, for a moment, we both turned to capture and absorb this feel. Then we headed back to our dear cabbie, Suntong. Really tired and exhausted, we headed back to the hotel. Well, we have more to see and experience tomorrow. So after a long drive through the highway and the city lanes, we finally reached the hotel after 6 p.m. Then we freshened up, took a small break, had a sandwich or two, and surfed the local channels over there to trip for an hour or two, apart from the regular HBOs and Star Movies. Then we headed to a nearby Shopping Mall, taking the local transport, the Tuk-tuk(Very similar to the ‘Auto’ in our country!) We actually wanted to go to a departmental store where we could get some amenities for the next 2 days and also some eateries. Our dear driver got us to this mall, which was at the edge of the Rama road (Name??? Do not remember!).

Oh! Talking about the Rama road, I have to mention that in Thailand, most roads go by the name of Lords, and though seas apart, both in Thailand and India, the same religion is followed, including the Gods. So, the roads are named mostly after Gods. Now back to the mall, we strolled through the entire mall which was in the heart of the city, bought a few attires and other souvenirs and also stopped to buy pizzas with a particular topping which was not quite known to me or to any Indian. Finally, back at the hotel, I went for a quick pedicure massage, had a nice shower after a tiring day, enjoyed the pizza (not quite!) with my hubby and wound up my day reading the book of Lord Buddha that was kept in the bottom draw of the side table.
Reminiscing all the wonderful moments I experienced in the day, in a random sequence, analyzing an event or two from the day and with a good night kiss from my hubby, I slowly dreamt my way off into those heavenly abodes of mysteries and missions. Who knows I might have been a Thai princess in my previous birth or something? So what is this, re-incarnation or a moment of relaxation???? The Lord knows right. Anyways, I can’t wait to wake up on yet another bright day. A day to explore another spectrum of this wonderland! ZZZZZ………………
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