Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Critical analysis


I sometimes wonder how all the famous personalities are able to take criticism in their stride. They make one mistake, whether its because of a controversial statement or a controversial look, while they are doing their jobs or when just being themselves, everyone is up in arms standing against them.

You may be the most beautiful looking woman in the world but you still get pulled down for wearing designer clothes that dont match the previous standards. You may be the most popular actor but you are told that you are not good enough at your job... that there are other people who are better than you job but don't receive the well deserved adulation. You may be called the best batsman ever with skills rivalling those of Don Bradman but still people don't trust that you'll be able to pull it off in the next game.

How do they listen to all the brickbats and flak and not get affected by it?

I like being showered with praises. We all do, don't we? Our hearts swell with pride and there is a twinkle in our eyes when we hear something good about ourselves. But when the opposite happens we find it difficult to digest. What probably makes this situation a lot worse is when on certain occasions we've strongly believed that we are not at fault and that we've been doing things correctly.

On not receiving a positive response for our ideas we should not feel let down. As long as we have faith in ourselves we should simply follow our convictions and do the things the way we want to. In the end our critics might still turn out to be right but we would at least have had the satisfaction of having tried. Stepping up is the first step towards achieving one's dreams.

Friday, February 23, 2007

Jaane kyon?


Jaane kyon log pyar karte hain?
Jaane kyon woh kisi pe marte hain?
Jaane kyon? Jaane kyon?
Jaane kyon? Jaane kyon? Jaane kyon?

Pyar mein sochiye toh bas gham hain
Pyar mein jo sitam bhi woh kam hai
Pyar mein sar jhukana padhta hai
Dard mein muskurana padhta hai
Zeher kyon zindagi mein bharte hain?
Jaane kyon log pyar karte hain?
Jaane kyon? Jaane kyon?
Jaane kyon? Jaane kyon? Jaane kyon?

Pyar bin jeene mein rakha kya hai?
Pyar jisko nahin woh tanha hai

Pyar sau rang leke aata hai
Pyar hi zindagi sajaata haiJaane kyon?
Log chup-chup ke pyar karte hain
Jaane kyon saaf kehte darte hain?
Jaane kyon? Jaane kyon?
Jaane kyon? Jaane kyon? Jaane kyon?

Pyar bekaar ki museebat hai
Pyar har tarah khoobsurat hai
Pyar se hum dur hi acche
Arrey pyar ke sab roop hain sache
Pyar ke ghat jo utarte hain
Doobte hain na woh ubharte hain
Pyar toh khair sabhi karte hain
Jaane kyon aap ki mukarte hain
Jaane kyon? Jaane kyon?
Jaane kyon? Jaane kyon? Jaane kyon?















Above are the lyrics of one of my favourite songs from the movie Dil Chata Hai. The film tells the story of Aakaash (Aamir Khan), Sameer (Saif Ali Khan) and Siddhartha (Akshaye Khanna). As different are the three friends in their personalities as varied are their outlooks to love and their journies to it. Among them Siddhartha is the one who understands the true meaning of love while Sameer seems to continually fall in and out of it. Aakaash on the other hand has decided not to cross paths with love at all until Shalini (Preity Zinta) makes him realise ki pyar faisle se nahi kiya jaata bas ho jaata hai. In the song Jaane Kyon... Aakaash and Shalini put forward their views and counterviews on love. Reading through the lyrics its difficult for me to decide whose side I am on. But what about you? :D

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

The Good and the Bad

The Good

Whenever I make a new friend it leaves me pleasantly surprised probably because I am shy by nature and take my time to get to know people. For quite some months after joining NCL I barely talked to my labmates. I remember Sophy telling me once how then the guys used to feel hesitant to ask to me to join the group for tea in canteen. Things have ofcourse been entirely different for ages now. Not a day goes by without them teasing me... pulling my leg... calling me by my petname.

What surprises me more is when with some people I feel an instant connection. A simple exchange of emails or a couple of hours spent on the ym seems to do the trick.

What surprises me still more is when friendship comes from a place where I would never have gone but it was chance that took me there or some kind of luck that brought it to me.

I'd read a quote somewhere "laughter is the shortest distance between two friends". By whatever route I may have made my friends its the sharing and caring that has on each occasion been responsible for keeping us close.

The Bad

These days I seem to have rediscovered my sense of competition. When I read that one of my colleagues had won a best poster award at a conference I found myself saying I want that too. A labmate of mine who joined around the same time as me has recently got a paper published and I find myself saying that I'd better get a positive response from the journal to which I've sent my paper. Next Friday we are having a musical nite at NCL in which I am going to sing as I'd done in 2006. As much as I enjoy singing I am looking forward to getting even with one of the participants who had been praised last year for having "a steady voice".

While all these seem to motivate me to do better, I don't find myself feeling good about it.

Friday, February 16, 2007

A wedding song

I heard this great song at a Christian wedding which I went to attend today. Here are the beautiful lyrics penned by Steven Curtis Chapman.

Tomorrow morning if you wake up
and the sun does not appear
I will be here
If in the dark, we lose sight of love
Hold my hand, and have no fear
'Cause I will be here

I will be here
When you feel like being quiet
When you need to speak your mind
I will listen
And I will be here
When the laughter turns to cryin'
Through the winning, losing and trying
We'll be together
I will be here

Tomorrow morning, if you wake up
And the future is unclear
I will be here
Just as sure as seasons were made for change
Our lifetimes were made for these years
So I will be here

I will be here
And you can cry on my shoulder
When the mirror tells us we're older
I will hold you
And I will be here
To watch you grow in beauty
And tell you all the things you are to me
I will be here

I will be true to the promise I have made
To you and to the One who gave you to me

Tomorrow morning, if you wake up
And the sun does not appear
I will be here
Oh, I will be here.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

SRK on KBC

Shahrukh Khan ended yesterday's KBC episode by asking "when do you know that you've become old?". His answer: "When instead of going off to sleep at 6 am you start waking up at 6 am." :))

Saturday, February 10, 2007

If you were coming (by Emily Dickinson)


IF you were coming in the fall,
I ’d brush the summer by
With half a smile and half a spurn,
As housewives do a fly.


IF I could see you in a year,
I ’d wind the months in balls,
And put them each in separate drawers,
Until their time befalls.


IF only centuries delayed,
I ’d count them on my hand,
Subtracting till my fingers dropped
Into Van Diemen’s land.



IF certain, when this life was out,
That yours and mine should be,
I ’d toss it yonder like a rind,
And taste eternity.



BUT now, all ignorant of the length
Of time’s uncertain wing,
It goads me, like the goblin bee,
That will not state its sting.

Friday, February 02, 2007

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Between yesterday and today I've gained a year. Yesterday I was 25 and today I am 26. So here are some quotations to begin the celeberations for my birthday. :)


The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.
-Oprah Winfrey

When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.
-Mark Twain

Birthdays are good for you. Statistics show that the people who have the most live the longest.
-Larry Lorenzoni

A diplomat is a man who always remembers a woman's birthday but never remembers her age.
-Robert Frost

Let us respect gray hairs, especially our own.
-J. P. Sears

The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.
-Lucille ball