foot prints

Seoul in my soul

2008-12-22T19:47:00.003+05:30

hello to all,
This post is coming after a lot of time. Things changed drastically & finally I can believe that all that happens is for good. The reason is, I am back in the place where I spent 3 years of my life...
I am back in Seoul. It is in the top 3 of the "My most loved cities". I came to the office after spending 2 weeks in my hometown in Delhi. Which was quite refreshing. The second day in office, I was asked if I am open to go to Seoul. Hiding my emotions , I bluntly said, "Yes, I can".. but inside me, there was an eruption of joy. Soon it started overflowing & I called a friend to give the news. Slowly I told my friends here in Korea about it.. & they were all excited & waiting to see me.

When I landed in Seoul, as I came out of the airport, I felt the touch of the -13 C wind, which was so pleasant & lovely. It was like a homecoming. I felt really nostalgic & amazingly excited to be back. When I took the subway later on, the exalted happiness in my heart made me feel that all the people in the subway know me, & are somehow welcoming me. I know that is an exaggeration but that was exactly how I felt.

In the office, I met all my near & dear friends. It was lovely to see them. One friend told me that when I left 14 months ago, she thought that she will never see me again. But somethings are destined to happen and that's exactly what has happened.

Right now, the snow has already started falling, streets are turning white & I am loving it a lot.

I don't have words to describe how I am feeling right now. I guess I will take a breath & let the feel leak out, it has sunk quite deep.

everyone is open to come to Seoul anytime. Here to welcome you all..

till then, stay well

4 years & counting......

2008-09-20T15:31:00.007+05:30

yeah, next month, it will be 4 years for me from the day I started my professional life, rather, my professional journey. I wont talk about the "professional" but about the "journey" in this post. Its been more than 4 years when I left the cool, happy, careless & comfortable life of New Delhi & came to Bangalore. Well, I have retained most of the above mentioned adjectives but maybe less careless now(at least I hope so).

These years made me realize that life indeed is a journey. We are just travellers, its us who choose how to travel & with whom to travel. Frankly, I can write a book on these 4 years, but lets save that thought for some other day(don't wanna scare you). If I think of the years on the timeline, they past rather quickly than I anticipated. But if I think of how I changed & how much I learnt, these 4 years were the life changing years for me.

I travelled a lot for work, 3 years were spent in South Korea, a country I love the most after India. Beautiful people & beautiful life. During this journey I visited many other countries & everywhere I found new friends & new bonds which are still tied with me. We just walk on this path , we find travellers who start walking beside you. Some of them hold your hands too & walk with you for some point of time. Suddenly the hands just get separated , you realize that they are not following the same road as you are. You were together for the common part of the journey, both ignorant of the fact that the paths are different. That separation can be very gloomy. Your heart sinks but we have to move on. And we move on.

During all that, some people are always next to you. Comforting you, empathizing with you. These friends light up the journey & don't make you realize that the journey is difficult. I have met numerous wonderful people like them who are still with me & hopefully we will go a long way together. You learn a lot from them & also from the obstacles which you encounter in the journey. Maybe among these people, someone might hold your hand again & this time both follow the same path together.

I don't know if I am able to get my point across to you or not, but I think you will be picturing what I am writting. Maybe one day I will try to take a break from the journey to take rest. Don't know when that will happen. But right now I just want to walk on......

All the fellow travellers who ever crossed my path, walked with me or are still walking with me, that thread of contact will never break,that's my assurance. Maybe your paths are different but we will stay in touch. Someday it might just happen that our paths cross , when that happens, I would love to recognize you.

DEDICATED TO ALL THE PEOPLE I KNOW, WHO WERE , WHO ARE AND WHO WILL BE WALKING WITH ME.....YOU MAKE MY JOURNEY WONDERFUL.

--keep walking.

still Rocking ON.....

2008-09-06T11:53:00.006+05:30

Well... I never expected that I will write a blog on a movie I saw, but somethings affect you in such a way that its impossible to escape their impact. I waited for one week to write this blog, maybe I was waiting for the infatuation to get over.... but guess what, it hasn't. I am loving it.

I am not describing the story of the movie, so those who have not seen it can chill...:)...
Before I say something else, this is purely my perspective on the movie. May be others who watched might have a different view....

I love simple stories....No exaggeration, nothing unrealistic. This movie tells you such story, yet for me, it was surreal. Nostalgia grips on & off while watching the movie. Sudden flash backs & then present, then another flash back, helps to connect the past with the present. Circumstances are the villains here.
A dream for which 4 people lived their lives just shatters in a moment. They were very close to achieving what they dreamt of, yet just as it was about to be real....... all is lost in a spur of moment. Lives change. Four paths that were together have taken there own separate ways.
Egos.... when they clash, man vs man, are devastating. Personally I have that experience. Its more like a divide that can never be joined again. Its like 2 tight fists that can only be joined to punch but never to shake.

Ten years on, life gives them a second chance to relive their dream. When people realize that happening, egos take a back seat, or rather thrown out of the vehicle. Four separate paths join again for good.The last concert of the movie was a spectacle to watch, I think that's why I went to see the movie second time. Climax created in the end pumps up the blood out of your head.
The stage performance has charged me up too to perform with my guitar in a great stage. It has inspired me to pursue my 6 yr old hobby of strumming the guitar to take it to the next level. Now, not a single day passes when I don't touch my guitar.

I loved the songs of the movie long before the movie was in theatres, my favourite is "Sindbad the Sailor". Instantly, I came back home & tried to play it.... I love the feel of the song & the message it conveys. The rhythm is gripping & has a very expandable melody to suit your interpretations.

I would suggest everyone to see the movie at least once. Its a movie which is not everyday stuff, but a benchmark movie in years to come.
it has somehow charged me to convert surreal into the real.

happy watching...
ROCK ON..

Bright side of the moon

2008-08-12T22:28:00.002+05:30

Bangalore weather
Max-27 C, Min- 18C
partly cloudy, showers
wind - 20kmph

These 4 lines don't change much here in the newspaper. These 4 lines make my day wonderful. This city might be having lots of problems but these 4 lines make you forget all of them.

This posting will talk about the things I really enjoy in this city. The things which hold me back from leaving this city. Top of the list is the weather here, which is nothing but perfect. I started noticing how this one thing helps me stay happy here. I just came back from the terrace, which is my favourite hangout place. Cool breeze is blowing continuously. Its all cloudy as it just rained. I can hear leaves of the coconut tree making a soothing sound with the wind. It feels so pleasant. I might have had a tiring day , but that time spent on the terrace really takes the exhaustion away.
I can also say that weather makes everyone lazy here, as its pretty hard to get up in the morning even after a 10 hour sleep. I never switch on the fan as wind coming from the window is much pleasant. Laziness prevails all the time when I am in bed. I love it. :)
Stuck in the jam , traffic is hardly moving, but..... you wont sweat, you wont complain... the weather takes over all the time. Making that jam experience much tolerable.

I have always noticed, a weather really has the memory. If I am in a city & the weather is wonderful, that memory will be long lasting. When I travelled to New York, it was October. Sunny , cool & windy... I felt really pleasant & remember how that touch of the breeze felt. Sometimes I get nostalgic as I feel the same touch of breeze on a sunny day in this city.

The other thing which I enjoy here is the driving at night. The beauty of the roads can be seen only at night. There are lots of trees & again weather makes it even more relaxing & wonderful.
Roads here are not straight, but usually meander. Every turn of the steering feels really cool. Breaks are not required if you are cruising at 60. Driving has always been my passion, for me the most comfortable seat in the car is the driver's seat. Its really relaxing driving here at night.

The last thing which I like here is.. the taste of "Sambhar". Yeah, Sambhar tastes a bit sweet & sour. Karnataka sambhar is not yellow as we usually used to eat, but rather Orange. I can eat anything with that. Idly, Dosa, vadaa never tasted so good before.

So here the top 3 of list completes, though the list never ends. I am sure you will not fail to notice the things I described here. I also want to advise that if anyone wants to take a break & wants to go to a hill station, choose Bangalore instead. This place is a city with hill station effects. If you decide to come, do contact me... :)

Until then...
stay well

Living in India after a long time..

2008-06-01T12:46:00.000+05:30

It has been almost 8 months since I came back from Korea...Hard to imagine that 8 months have passed living in bangalore... did it pass too soon, or too slow??? Cant really answer that... But things are not the same in life as they were before... I would say that it takes atleast 6 months to settle down again after a long time... that settling down can be seen more as compromises & adjustments... I never wanted to do them, but there was no choice....
To look into the things, I went back to the life which I had left back in Korea....

I spent 2 years & 10 months living in Korea... I used to come to India but more as a visitor. All the comforts were available back there.... the best part was, I never paid for them. A big appartment, bills, even food on weekdays.... So whatever was spent was on me... going out with friends, enjoying the clubs... partying... or sitting at home. There was a sense of tranquility even sitting at home. Peace prevailed inside the mind... isnt this what we try to achieve throughout life?? "peace of mind".... the magic word.... I remember people telling me that they just pray for "peace of mind" in a temple.... I got it without praying for it.... I think I was lucky.
I even visited US, France, UK & some other European countries from there. Most of the time officially, at times personal trips.... each time I enjoyed the most. It seemed that its pretty easy to get to any part of the world from there.
An ordinary alien like me used to get more respect in Korea which we hardly get in India. Be it banks, taxis, bus, subway, talking to random people.... you feel respected. Never felt that in India. I miss those days....
Fast forward->->-> its today... the weekend was pretty lame... it was spent more in retrospecting what I was & introspecting what I want now... life is tough here in India... when you drive on the roads, you feel like yelling at every person on the road, feels like they are driving in an amusement park rather than city roads. Fighting with auto walas as they always demand 10 or 20 rupees extra without any reason. Paying at least 50% more for things than the rest of India.
My home is 3 kms from the office, it took me 35 mins on a rainy day to meander out of the jam packed roads & reach home... everyday is new a challenge here.... the whole time here is spent on accumulating the basic necessities... there is not enough time to think ahead... NOW needs to be secured if you want to think about NEXT.. Securing NOW takes a long time here. Tired after coming home, you try to relax by watching TV, or chatting with friends... but still there is no sense of satisfaction....

I miss my "PEACE OF MIND" in my country......