TRUST

Jane had always been the “black sheep” of her family. She came from a rural and very conservative Middle Georgia clan, and had fought constantly with her parents since she was a child. Jane wanted no part of the settled and routine life her parents had lead – she was an impulsive free-spirit who would travel to the far corners of the earth at a moment’s notice, sometimes not even knowing where she was headed, or why.

So it came as no surprise when, a few weeks shy of her 30th birthday, Jane announced that she was leaving her high-paying job at a major corporation to fulfill her life’s dream – to become a professional sculptor. She sold her expensive suburban apartment and moved into an abandoned mill in one of the rougher areas of Atlanta. She planned on converting part of the space into a full-time studio and living area.

Her parents were horrified, especially when they learned that her studio was just a few miles down the road from the county jail. And Jane didn’t see the need to rig her studio with an expensive alarm system, for her neighbors seemed nice enough. But like every other discussion Jane had with her father, his words of warning went in one ear and out the other.

So on her 30th birthday, her father took matters into his own hands and bought Jane a guard dog – a Doberman named Max from the local humane society. The dog had been abused by his former owners, and had become mean and distrustful of humans. But Jane always had a strong love for animals, and she took the poor dog into her care. In a matter of weeks, Max became very much attached to Jane, and extremely protective whenever anyone else would approach her.

One morning, Jane came home from a trip to the hardware store to find Max lying in the middle of the floor, coughing and wheezing uncontrollably. She immediately rushed him to the local veterinarian, who performed a series of tests. After a while, the vet was satisfied that Max wasn’t dangerously sick, but he couldn’t figure out why the dog was still coughing.

“Don’t worry,” he told Jane in his calm and soothing voice, “Max looks perfectly healthy. But I’d like to run some additional tests on him this afternoon. Why don’t you go home and I’ll call you when we know something. There’s no sense in sitting in the waiting room all day.”

So Jane got back in her car, made a trip to the health food store, and then returned home. As she walked through the door, she could hear the phone ringing in her bedroom. Loaded down with shopping bags, she decided to let her voice-mail catch the call. But no sooner had the phone stopped ringing then it started ringing again. Thinking it may be an emergency – or perhaps an annoying telemarketer who needed to be yelled at – Jane dropped her bags and ran to the phone, catching it on its last ring.

“Hello?” she breathlessly answered.

She was surprised to find her veterinarian on the other end. “Jane, we have some results on Max. We need you to come back to the office.”

“Okay. I’ll be there in an hour or so…”

“…No, Jane,” interrupted the vet in a barely controlled voice. “We need you to come down now.”

Jane was taken aback by the sound of his voice. She could hear the tension lurking behind his words. There was something he wasn’t telling her. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “Is Max okay?”

“We’ll talk about that when you get here,” answered the vet, his voice growing louder and more agitated. “Just get in the car now.”

“Why can’t you tell me over the phone?” asked Jane.

The vet suddenly blurted out, “Are you in the house alone?”

A chill ran through Jane’s blood. She slowly sat on her bed and replied, “Yes. Why?”

She could hear the vet taking a deep breath on the other end of the phone. Then, barely able to contain the tremor in his throat, he said in a hushed voice, “Listen to me carefully. We found out why Max was coughing.”

It was then that Jane noticed her bedroom window. A hole had been punched through the glass, and it was unlocked.

“Jane, are you there?”

“Yes,” Jane answered, her voice starting to shake.

She then noticed drops of blood on her carpet. They stretched across the room and underneath her closet door. “I don’t know how to tell you this, but what we found in your dog’s throat were fingers. Human fingers.”

As the vet spoke, Jane sat frozen as she watched the closet door slowly creak open on its rusted hinges. “Did you hear what I said? He bit the fingers off somebody’s hand!”

Jane still didn’t answer. In the darkness of the closet, she swore she could see the hand of a large man, blood dripping from where his fingers had been gnawed off. And on his arm was the orange sleeve of a prison uniform.

“There’s somebody here,” Jane whispered into the phone.

“Get out of the house, Jane! For God’s sake, GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!!!!!!!”

The phone line went dead.

As the vet as was not able to reach Jane, he immediately searched visitor’s database for an alternative number, luckily Jane disclosed her parent’s details to which, vet called to inform that Jane is in danger.

As soon as Jane’s parents learnt that she is in danger they got an idea, they thought this is a great opportunity to kill her.

Yes! They wanted to kill their daughter and put the blame on someone else.

 Jane’s father Tony was on his way to put an end to Jane’s life the reason being, Jane was an adopted child but Jane was not aware of this fact. Many years ago Jane’s real father who was a drug addict and a dangerous convict decided to give all his wealth to Mr. and Mrs. Tony and in return requested them to bring up Jane as he did not want his daughter to be embarrassed about being the daughter of a criminal, but now as she had grown up he had to transfer entire wealth to Jane which made Tony angry and provoked him. Tony was not willing to give away all the treasure but instead was ready to kill Jane.

Meanwhile Jane knew that she is not alone in her house. There is a genuine fear inside her, the fear of unknown, and the fear of her life in risk, she is under a severe panic attack …

Jane missed her dog Max badly and she also wished that her parents would come and save her, the irony was her father Tony is indeed coming not to save but to murder her ,Jane is extremely nervous; she knew that a stranger in a prisoner’s uniform probably a prisoner from the nearby jail is in the house. In anxiety and confusion not knowing what to do, she rushed to the basement to hide

It seemed as if she will surely die now if not in the hands of the prisoner; she would definitely die in the hands of her father who is steaming in to kill her, the prisoner whose right hand with no fingers is soaked in blood holds a pistol in his left hand starts’ looking for Jane. After searching top floors of the studio he slowly goes down to the basement, Jane reacts quickly eludes him and flees towards the Main Gate shouting and screaming for help.

 Someone Please Help, Please Help!

At the same time, driving with head lights on and with great speed a Car honks at the main gate, it was none other than Tony. Jane finally felt happy and relieved thinking that she is safe now.  But as soon as Tony comes out of his car he takes out his handgun and starts firing at Jane.

Jane is scared to death, she is unable to understand what is happening, she for a moment thought that Tony is firing at the prisoner but could not interpret why the bullets are coming at her; she runs away from the car now and goes towards house again.  This is the first time she sees prisoner’s face, immediately the prisoner screams Jane please move away.

For a minute Jane is baffled and mystified. She has no clue why her father Tony is firing at her and how did the prisoner call by her name!

It is  completely chaotic out there.

Out of nowhere the prisoner picks ups his pistol with his left hand and fires twice accurately straight into Tony’s head. Tony is laid down on the ground.

In tears Jane shouts daddy! Daddy! She runs as hard as she can towards Tony. Fuming with anger and in complete rage, Jane picks up the gun lying down and points out at prisoner and questions

Why did u kill my dad?

The prisoner drops his pistol and says baby I am your real dad .please trust me. Believe me, Tony has adopted you and now after so many years he now wants to kill you. He loves your property not you. Trust me dear. Trust me for once.

Jane does not believe the prisoner and shoots at him. The bullet hits the unarmed prisoner in his heart.

Jane’s real father who actually saved her from Tony in his last breath says

“Please take care dear. I love u my angel. Sometimes one needs to blindly trust.

Good Bye!”

New kid on the block

 I wear my heart on my sleeve

Though naive, I believe I can achieve

When mind and soul converge

I am sure new thoughts will emerge……………………………...

WEEPING ENVIRONMENT

WEEPING   ENVIRONMENT

Weeping environment pleads today for help

Only to find everyone busy to destroy it themselves

It thinks while world is so big why is human thinking so small

Why it is not their responsibility to protect nature above all

If Industrialization and urbanization have made us first in race

Then why it is the poverty population is still the curse of human race

While people are at war for conquering a simple piece of land

Floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are unable to withstand

Deforestation, Ozone depletion, Water crisis is nobody’s concern

Cut throat competition is an excuse to let the flora and fauna burn  

Indiscriminate use of fertilizers and pesticides have gone berserk

Very soon the granted beautiful serene landscape will be out of work

Not every mistake can be undone and be given a second chance

Global warming and Environmental conservation techniques have to enhance

Time is running out, to save mother earth is the need of the hour

If not the next generation will be ashamed of human resolving power   

WHAT MATTERS IS.....................

What matters is not your Role but your Goal

What matters is not your Designation but whether you’re an Inspiration

What matters is not your wage Hiked but by how many you’re Liked

What matters is not your individual Brilliance but your team’s Resilience

To single out an incident, a project or an event over the past 18 months would neither give a precise reasoning of the effort nor will it be rational but YES

We did slog and stretch beyond the call of our duty during deployment, release, throughout critical phases and also when some of our team members were missing , just that every time it was given a new name  as optimization , production issue, severity and priority, deadlines etc….

The above mentioned catastrophe is what most of us in TCS do and is probably also expected out of every TCSer. From design to deployment it asks for commitment at various levels and by performing all the assigned tasks we anyhow not only make a difference to the team’s objective but also to our respective bank balance on the last working day of the month but the real difference is when it brings a transformation in an individual, gives that kick to come back next day morning to complete the task and to take that so called ownership.

 In my opinion Ownership is when one feels like:

 “It’s my Application.

  It is my Module.

  It is my Test case.

  It is my Design.”

Since last year I actively participated in development, unit testing, manual testing, automation, performance optimization, documentation, excel reporting, delegating, research, analysis, build, competencies and many more. Never did we say NO nor did we ever gave an excuse, from a complex domain dependent change request to unit testing of UI, from verification to validation, from compatibility of browsers to automation of the entire application. We were flexible and we made huge difference in being good enough to adapt, perform and excel in whatever was thrown at us.

It was very much like the game of chess while in chess a pawn can only be pawn and a king can only be a king BUT we played the pawn, the queen, and the king. We delivered everything that client asked and expected out of us; we worked like a horse, served like a pawn and felt like a king. Our biggest strength of the team and the greatest difference we made together was in being flexible by placing project needs ahead of personal preferences.

There have also been times when we did fight our ego

I am a Developer, Why on earth I have to do this?

I am this, how can I excel at that?

Why am I being treated the way I am?

They got everything for nothing and nothing for everything I am?

All the above questions were answered the moment I dropped I AM from it, before I realized that I AM being troubled by these questions , all of sudden found that it’s a grand and fantastic release, there was sense of achievement everywhere . I did not enjoy the victory as much as others only did then I learnt the culprit was “I AM”.  For a seed to be a plant it can’t be all on its own, the contribution of the soil, environment and most importantly the persistence of the seed to stand against all odds will eventually make the difference it needs to be a plant, it is needless to mention who is the seed and what is the environment.

Seldom do we take wisdom from technology to character, in being able to adapt to different tasks it made a difference to our attitude and helped in our corresponding personal lives, I started thinking where else can I contribute , how else can I make a difference to my family. I confess this with lot of pride and honesty that while technical capabilities and proficiency in adeptness made a difference to this project; coincidentally working in this project has brought and made a difference in my own life.

Every day we contributed in some or the other way, it never mattered how big or small it is, how good or bad it is, what always counted is our sincerity and loyalty towards team’s goal. The biggest reward or the greatest honor is in the process of making the difference to the project we learnt so much that it actually made a difference to us.

I am elated and fortunate for making a difference until today.

I hope and wish to make a difference tomorrow.

IF ONLY I HAD KNOWN THAT THE END WOULD BE SO BEAUTIFUL……….

IF ONLY I HAD KNOWN THAT THE END WOULD BE SO BEAUTIFUL……….

Today neither will I quote Great leaders nor will I make an attempt to steal the show by exaggerating inspirational stories, today I would share few of my personal moments which made me what I am from what I was!

When I grew up, I realized that my illiterate parents belonged to a lower middle class family with no access to education at all. My  younger brother and sister completed our beautiful family. For many years I stood first in class for which at home I was treated like a super hero.

In school I was going from strength to strength by this time my mother has already declared in society, friends and relatives about my marks and why I would be the most successful person, for her success was simply an end of problems ironically for me success was only to learn math’s formulae and chemical equations by heart. She is my biggest fan, my greatest supporter and my super best friend.

Out of nowhere I found a new passion of being a gifted cricketer and I instantly fell in love with the game. My parents urged me to leave this game as playing games was a rich man’s hobby and we cannot afford it .I willingly sacrificed my first love. Things like washing my bicycle, sharpening of a pencil, polishing of shoes and packing of lunch box was done with such precision and unconditional love that all my friends at school  felt  jealous and always said that everyone should  have parents like mine. I was given the status of a King and the respect of a leader.

                                                                                                 

Time flew, my engineering days passed in the blink of an eye, and when I got a job in Mumbai I gifted my parents a feeling of immense happiness and satisfaction.  My already king like status in the family was elevated to even greater heights albeit my mother could not control the emotions as I would be going away from them for the first time in my life.

My father bought a free STD reliance connection and everything was being discussed on phone, for some time I thought I was working in a call center, “what else” became the code word, after every sentence the discussion began with “what else” and conversation continued…  I wondered then how was reliance making profits.  I recollect my mom calling to tell me to put on a sweater and get wrapped in a quilt just because the weather was cool and chilly in Hyderabad. I  enjoyed my life to its full and considered myself luckiest person. i  was laughing so much that i thought smiling was waste of time.

All of a sudden I received a call saying my mom is admitted to the hospital and I had to fly back immediately. It was a brain hemorrhage.  I did not know what was happening, when I went to the ICU I could not believe what I was seeing, my heart stopped;   we looked into each other's eyes, we both knew something must be very wrong. Just minutes after that I became a stranger to myself, I lost myself.

Life became an unquenched thirst and a series of unfinished goals and dreams. I felt like part of my life is over. Every day my weeping life told me, please do not destroy me anymore. I had all the time in world with nothing to do.

There was no one who asked me to take little more rice...

There was no one who was waiting for me at home

There was no one who was praying for my safety and happiness

There was no one for whom I had to stay alive

I still pick up the phone to call her and give her some kind of news

I still hear her voice, still feel her touch, and is still alive in my heart

I cried by hiding my wounded heart, I cried with a smile on my face,

I cried without showing my tears, I cried by cursing my fate

I was not the same person I was. I had no will or desire to live ,i almost decided to call it off. But somewhere there was a force or probably my  conscience which told me not to give up; the end definitely has to be beautiful, For the sake of my family I donned a happy mask and started living a paralyzed life.

Everyone in the family was acting as if they were happy, few years passed by and my marriage became a crucial turning point in my life, it was a lifesaving occasion.  Words will fail to explain the magic my wife created to get my family back on track. On a July morning in 2009 I saw something which I will never ever forget in my life.i saw someone which made me complete.

How will I tell you, who you are to me?

 How will I tell you that you my life, my devotion and my peace

You are in my breath, and in my heart

You are in my sleep, and in my dreams
You are in my every word and in my thoughts
You are in my past, present and in my future

How will I tell you, I am nothing without you?

 

You are my success and defeat

You are my path, and my destination
You are my prayer and my wish
You are my identity
 

How will I tell you, you are my god?

How will I tell you, who you are to me?

I was blessed with a beautiful angel whom I named after my Mom. There were only 2 options either she returned to me or I decided to go back to her. I got another excuse to stay alive, immediately life transformed from death awaiting mode to life reliving mode, my dreams have come true.i was happy beyond imagination.i danced in joy and screamed in excitement.I don’t mind what life has to offer me in future; I have already lived my life. I always believed there is a difference in living life for a reason and I feel special in living my life for my daughter.

Let us ask ourselves a question?

What if we come to know at the end that the end would be so beautiful?

May be we then would have enjoyed or atleast accepted it right from the beginning.

The biggest inspiration is in believing that the end would be beautiful. Ladies and gentlemen, we are all running the race of our life in laps only to discover that every finishing line is also the starting line.

Before we finish the race

Will we see suffering?         

Will we experience difficult times?

Will problems come our way that we in no way deserve?

Yes, yes,. And yes.

The fact is, we all have a past, some of which we would rather not talk about, and some of which we wish had never happened….

When a runner runs a race, the runner always looks forward, the runner does not look backward, and the runner gazes towards the finish line. No race is completed by looking or running backwards.We all will finish the race we are in. In running, it doesn't matter whether you come in first, in the middle of the pack, or last. You can say, 'I have finished.' There is a lot of satisfaction in that.

In a world of progress, there is no ‘Midas touch’. Neither failure is final nor is success permanent, if you play this game of life long enough,without quitting midway and play to the end eventually we all will cross the finishing line ,extending this analogy  it is so very important to run this race of life till the end or we will never know ourselves how far we could have gone.

Do not look back and grieve over the past for what is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for what has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful it will be worth remembering as

The greatest pride is to grow in your own eyes.

The greatest setback is to fall in your own eyes.

Because you never know .

What if we come to know at the end that the end would be so beautiful?

The Risk of Not Taking a Risk

                                                             The Risk of Not Taking a Risk



To laugh is to risk appearing a fool,

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental

To love is to risk not being loved in return,

To hope is to risk despair,

To try is to risk failure.

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But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.


The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.


People engaged in every kind of human endeavor say that taking risks is the key to fulfillment and success. It is at the heart of our biggest thrills and proudest achievements. Ask someone when they felt most alive and they’ll tell you a story about a risk she took.



There come times in everyone's life when you're faced with a choice that involves risk. Perhaps you want to change careers, move to a different place, quit your job and start a business, begin a new relationship, have a child.


Risk is, by nature, scary. It's uncertain and unpredictable. You're heading off into uncharted territory. You risk criticism and humiliation, or having to pick up the pieces and start all over again. You're giving up what you know for what might be. The rewards can be great, but so can be the cost


                   So, why would anybody want to take a risk?


Life is all about taking risks. And we willingly take chances every day.


Risk is not only when a doctor decides to tear open human chest to operate or when one decides to jump over a cliff, there is risk in every profession and every important moment.
Be it an artist performing live ,lawyer defending an innocent, an old man crossing the road, a mother carrying baby in her womb, a child climbing the stairs……

 Every time you go to sleep, you risk not waking up! But you go ahead and do it anyway.


Risk opens you up to new ideas, skills, opportunities and experiences.


Those who refuse to take risks to protect their security, willingly live in cages, trapped by their own fears. If we want to fly badly enough, we will be willing to give up being a caterpillar. Turtles can’t advance without sticking their necks out, and neither can we.


I believe we are living in an ultra-conservative environment with very low appetite for risks, if not Why is everyone always brought up saying “Take Care” and not ever encouraged anyone by asking them to “Take Risks”.


Why do we live life like: if you have an itch, wait for a few years, get a job with a six figure salary, take your parents' permission, invite a thousand people to dinner to celebrate the occasion, and then scratch it?


I heard an interesting story the other day about Koi fish.



For example if you place a Koi in a fish bowl it’ll only grow up to about three inches. 





f you took that same fish and placed it in a backyard pond it’ll grow to about eighteen inches.




Most amazing though, is that if you place that same fish in a large lake, the Koi will grow to be about three feet or more.




So the fish’s growth it totally dependent on the environment it’s placed in. This is similar to our own lives and the undo limitations that we place on ourselves which are more often than not self-imposed prisons.

Ladies & gentelmen there is no reason to be satisfied in being a koi in a bowl when u know u can be a koi in a lake.

 

Don’t you think that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi took risks with non-violence to become the Father of the nation?

 Would you not agree that Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu took risk with Kindness and tolerance to become the Mother Teresa?

Is it not true that a Greek king of Macedonia risked his life to become Alexander the Great?

 Today just few moments ago, I took the risk of not disclosing the poem at the beginning was by William Arthur



Every pearl in my hand today is equally unique and precious just like everyone sitting in this room. The birth of a pearl is truly a miraculous event, each one begins its journey as an ordinary oyster and when a simple grain of sand finds its way inside an oyster's shell it sacrifices being an oyster and gets magically transformed into a beautiful pearl.


Every one refers it as a beautiful pearl and not an oyster of yesterday;


My dear friends,Taking risks is the only hope to get ourselves transformed into pearls.


Even though you can come up with a dozen good excuses for why you shouldn't take a risk, there's one great big reason why you should. And that is, until you do, your heart is going to hunger. If you don't take risks, you'll never feel quite complete.

  It does not always work, but it's worth it. As you go through your life, the parts that are going to stand out are not the ones where you plodded along safely and did what was expected of you. The shining memories will be the times when you took a leap of faith, whether you won or not. It does not really matter whether you succeed or fail because every failure is a learning experience.

 

Place your hand on your heart, Close your eyes for a moment and ask a question to yourself as
What will I regret more? Taking the risk but losing in the end, or never knowing what might be if I take the risk?

This journey from womb to tomb is full of risks.



Someone said it and I quote



“Life isn’t a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, latte in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming ‘Woohoo WHAT A RIDE’!”



What can be a Tree should not die as a plant!



Take risks: if you win, you will be happy; if you loose, you will be wise.


Take Care But Take Risks!

SECRETS OF SLEEP

                        SECRETS OF SLEEP



The main facts in human life are five: birth, food, sleep, love and death.



Today after doing a 2 week research by referring journals, research papers and documentaries on web, Nitin will unravel mysteries of the most beautiful experience in life SLEEP through his CC #7 titled ‘SECRETS OF SLEEP’

 We spend about one-third of our lives asleep.


Sleep is one of the most pleasurable and mysterious areas of our lives. It is as necessary as breathing and as nourishing as eating, yet few people realize how important sleep is!



In our overcrowded lives, sleep has become a modern obsession, the thing we crave more than anything else. The alarm clock is an often-used fixture in an overwhelming majority of homes of the modern world. By using the electric lighting, alarm clocks, sleeping pills, and shift-work, we have wreaked havoc on the process of sleep.


Cutting down on sleep does not make people die (at least not immediately). It does make them feel miserable but the ease with which we recover by getting just one good night of sleep seems to make sleep look cheap.


In a couple of years from now, we may look at alarm clocks and "sleep regulation", in the same way as we look today at other "great" human inventions in the league of cigarettes, alcohol or radioactive cosmetics



Some of the bad rules that hurt sleep:


it is ok to use alarm clock to cut sleep short
it is ok to work in shifts
it is ok to save time by sleeping less and working more
it is ok to pull kids out of bed in time for school
it is ok to skip nights before important exams, etc.

 

Sleep is the time the body can undergo repair and detoxification. Poor sleep patterns are linked to poor health - and those who sleep less than six hours a night have a shorter life expectancy than those who sleep for longer. So sleep has a profound effect on our mental, emotional and physical wellbeing.



A typical night's sleep comprises five different sleep cycles. The first four stages of each cycle are regarded as quiet sleep or non-rapid eye move-ment (NREM). The final stage is denoted by rapid eye movement (REM).

 Though covered by lids, the movement of the eyes denotes the different stages of sleep.However, during the REM that follows there is a high level of brain activity.This is the stage associated with dreaming, causing temporary paralysis and so preventing us from acting upon our dreams.


Many of us had the experience of going to bed upset or anxious and waking up the following morning to somehow find that things are better because while we sleep the dreaming brain is working to solve our emotional problems. Dreams keep us psychologically healthy; they do this automatically without hope from waking mind.



Do we need to dream?

                        Yes we need do, in fact we sleep in order to dream.



 During our waking hours, the body burns oxygen and food to provide energy. This is known as a catabolic state, in which more energy is spent than conserved, using up the body's resource when we sleep we move into an anabolic state - in which energy conservation, repair and growth take over.



Every tissue in the body is renewed faster during sleep than at any time when awake, Research suggests that sleeping more when fighting infectious illness aids recovery.



JUST as the world is governed by light and dark, human beings also have an inbuilt body clock called the circadian rhythm. Merely resting or closing eyes is no way equivalent to sleeping as it will not move into a low energy state which gives body time to restore itself.



 While an individual experiencing lack of sleep not only gets less energy to work and feel irritated and depressed with a sense of insanity, but also suffers from many internal diseases and disorders.



Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night



“Sleep is the interest we have to pay on the capital which is called in at death; and the higher the rate of interest and the more regularly it is paid, the further the date of redemption is postponed.”



A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor’s book.




HAPPY SLEEPING!