The Gift

Ever tried to make an impression to a girl? In school you would probably have pinched her cheeks and put bits of paper in her hair.Progress a bit to college and it becomes riding in on a macho bike and splashing cash in the cafeteria.Moving on a bit further to the work place it becomes dressing in "smart casuals" as has become the trend and talking the big talk and selling ideas to the boss.

I had my chance a couple of Sundays ago.There i was sitting on a bench minding my own business when this drop-dead-gorgeous girl came up and sat next to me.She took a while to settle down and we turned to each other simultaneously and smiled.First contact.She seemed a nice person but both of us sat still for the next fifteen minutes and looked straight ahead at a person talking some way off.I look back and wonder why i sat still then.I guess it was because we were not alone and i was conscious of others around.Or maybe it could have been because we were in church!!

Now the place of God is not ideal for making a first impression but when you are put in such a situation you make do with what you have and try to make the best of it.So i began act one of my play . I started to sing.It was about all i could do.For people who haven't attended a mass in church let me tell you that there are songs called hymns which are sung throughout the duration of the mass.Some are traditional whereas a few have incredibly catchy tunes.

So i sang and to my my pleasant surprise so did she.And what a voice she had! I had a eargasm then and there!! She was brilliant! Now i am not bad myself so decided to try and match her.I usually sing in church but this time i did so with a lot of gusto till it became a singing contest.I won't tell you who won but suffice to know that i came out of it a lot better than expected.And as suddenly as it had begun it ended.The mass got over and she walked out and i was too busy singing to notice.

Looking back i think that i should have done something .Maybe i should have followed her and asked her if she would sing for me over a cup of coffee.I notice that i often do this.I often think of what could have been rather than living the moment.You cannot correct what has gone on in the past but you can sure make a better effort going forward.Instead of looking back at what might have been try to enjoy the here and now.Its a great way to live.Living for the moment is a wonderful gift.

I like to call it the present.

Trust in me!

There's this restaurant i go to quite often and being as absent minded as i am i tend to forget my purse quite often.The first time i did that i called my roomie who had to bike all the way there to pay my bill.The second time it happened my usual waiter was there so i slipped out and got back home and got my purse. Today however was a different story.

Midway through my meal i discovered to a feeling of inevitability that my purse was not in my pocket. My first backup plan was to call my roomie but for some reason he did not pick up. I looked around for the waiter i knew and he found a very convenient time to not be around! Damn.. I hadn't a clue what to do.

So i tried something different.In the adjacent table were four guys who were tearing into a chicken like rabid dogs.So i caught the attention of the apparent group leader, a 6 foot plus guy with an extremely large build and explained my situation to him and asked if he could pay my bill . To my pleasant surprise he asked me how much i wanted and took out his purse.I got the money and paid the bill at which point my trusty waiter showed his face again. Talk about being like the police in a Kollywood flick.Arriving after the action is over.Well i went home and promptly returned to pay the guy back and went on my way thanking my stars that i didn't have to grind flour at the restaurant.

I then realised that what i did could be a pretty good scam and could be used to get free food every day :) Maybe the amount in question was trivial but what struck me was how the guy could just trust a stranger who was dressed in a sleeveless T with shorts and disheveled hair ( all the appearances of someone shady) . It felt good that a person actually trusts his fellow man and this is a breath of fresh air in a world filled with lies ,corruption and hate.

I feel though that people are more trustworthy than they are trusting and thus we fail to see the goodness in others.Well my experience was the opposite and i hope this trend continues.If i want to augment it i have to make a start myself and start trusting people a bit more and you can too.. Theres still hope for the human race!

Confessions

"There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what
the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced
by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which
states that this has already happened." - Douglas Adams

I found this very interesting as it made me wonder why i'm here and what my purpose is.Do i really have some goals or objectives defined or is someone controlling my every move here.No my friends this is not the matrix but it certainly got me thinking and i rewound to a time when i was a lil kid just entering the whole new world of school.
I was four i guess at that time(not the time i entered school but the time of this incident which i'm about to narrate) when the powers that be decided to have a fancy dress where the theme was "What am I going to be when i grow up?". Being incapable of making such career oriented decisions at the time i left it up to my parents or rather they did it themselves.
So there i was on stage dressed with a nice blue shirt, a tie and a pen in my pocket.No it's not what you think.I was NOT a TCS recruit! I was supposed to be an I.A.S. officer. Yeah thats what my parents decided i should be.Hell i didn't know what an I.A.S. officer was....I couldn't even spell it out for crying out aloud! Yet there i was reciting the lines i had memorized on how i would end poverty and hunger and do the rest of that impossible stuff.And as i walked off stage ( to a thunderous applause :) ) i made a mental note to myself that an I.A.S. officer was something i was definitely not going to be! That was perhaps my first piece of independent thinking. That i would do what i wanted to to do and not what others wanted me to.
So if you want to do engineering because all your friends are doing it or if you want to become a doctor because your parents want you to or if your stuck in some crappy job you hate but put up with only because of the money then pause and think a while.Being a musician or a bartender or EVEN a clown(no disrespect to any clowns reading this) is good if thats what you want to be.So go for it and follow your dreams!! It's worth it.