Small things do matter
There are certain points in our lives when we feel that our existence is worthless. When we feel that life has no joys left for us. People expect things from us which we cannot give. Things that they themselves might not have done in their time but want us to do, infact they try to impose their will and viewpoint on us, almost to the point that we feel stifled and suffocated. No one is ideal and being ideal itself isn’t ideal at all, remember Brutus of Julius Caesar who was an idealist. At these points all one can manage to do is to cry, hidden from everybody else. Everybody thinks that they are correct and try to force their view of righteousness on everybody else, not realizing that their views might not agree with those of the person they are being forced upon. Its not that the people who force their views don’t care for the person they are forcing their ideals on. Infact they care more about that individual and want to prevent him from harm, but the person might not be wanting to listen to them. Such forcing of ideals creates an atmosphere of bitterness in a family/workplace that might never be removed. It induces fear, hate and reduces family ties.
Moving on to the important topic, small things do matter, sometimes more than the big things do. It is our tendency to give more importance to people who don’t even care for us and little/ no importance to those who do.We tend to ignore people whom we don’t like not realizing that ignoring a person makes him hate us even more than openly fighting with him. Staying with the in-crowd at times is more important than staying with people who care for us more. Everybody likes attention, love, respect and it is our fault if we can’t give it to all. If a person hates me, its probably my fault, because i must have done something to cause this hatred. A few positive comments won’t cost us anything, but they might make the day for somebody.
Treating everybody equally is probably the most difficult task ever. We always manage to differentiate between people and find faults in them but the arduous task is overlooking those faults and treating the person you hate/don’t like at par with your close friends.
Any one who manages this can achieve a lot.This is something i am trying to learn. For example When anybody makes us wait for even ten minutes, we curse the fellow for making us late forgetting that even we might have made somebody wait for 30 minutes.
Remember if we take care of the pennies, the pounds will take care of themselves. I received this really nice sms the other day “Don’t make someone a priority in you life when you are just an option in theirs.” Its really thought provoking, because this is something that we all manage to do. Give undue importance to one and complete ignorance to the other..
Introspection helps me reach my flow , as i realised after reading sheetal’s blog ( http://letzcenterourselves.blogspot.com ).A flow is when a person is, to quote Sheetal ”so plugged into the activity/task at hand that you lose awareness of time and your surroundings and enter a zone that is much more expansive than your own presence.”
It is, when we are in flow that we attain our true potential, that we realize our weaknesses and our capabilities.
It can also be a point when we are the most susceptible emotionally.
Lizard, Lizard on the wall
Bala told me an interesting story today.. Here it goes
I was sitting in my room, thinking about life, people ,things, events …when i noticed these four lizards on the wall. Three of them were forming a triangle of sorts and the fourth one was a bit far away. Suddenly an insect flew in. The fourth one rushed towards it while the other three remained still, watching the duel. What was actually happening was that the fourth lizard was drawing the insect towards the other three. As soon as the insect was near enough , one of the three rushed in and gobbled it up. Pretty good teamwork huh! , and to think that i thought only ants showed such amazing teamwork. This process continued and each time a different lizard got an insect for itself…..
Man i wish people believed in working together like this…….I mean everybody should have someone who can understand what they are thinking and read through eye contact……I mean its very rare that people understand what you are going to say without your actually saying it…..
Introspect…. because even though sometimes life may suck… but there will always be some people who’ll make it worthwhile….. whom u’ll realise u didn’t even feel important enough to think about, who show more concern for you than the people you care about….
every second in your life can be something in which you learn a new thing, provided you are with the right people….and i just realised how beautiful this line by Voltaire is “Each player must accept the cards life deals him or her: but once they are in hand, he or she alone must decide how to play the cards in order to win the game.”,
Birding–How to begin
Bird-watching or birding as it is commonly called is one hobby that can be done by anyone regardless of any prerequisites.
All it requires is a good set of eyes and the ability to connect.
Here’s are a few tips for the new comers…
Step-1
Getting Ready
For beginners the best book to begin with is Salim Ali’s Book of Indian Birds which contains coloured photographic description of most of the birds in India.For slightly experienced birders Krys Kazmierczack or Grimmett are fine.
A good pair of binoculars and not too bright clothes(avoid reds) are all you need to have a great birding day.
Step-2
The best birding time is early morning. After that its evening. These two are the good times to go for a walk in your colony.
Look for birds around you. As soon as you spot one that seems new/unfamiliar, focus your binocs on it.
Step-3
Try to become an expert on the birds in your locality. Maintain a journal/diary in which you note down the birds you have seen. These ones don’t even require binocs and provide ample time for you to view them and gain idea about their size.Go for walks in your colony with your family and make it a family activity to spot birds. Believe me kids learn fast.
For example you will definitely see Indian Mynah,Pied Mynah,Black Headed Starlings,Purple Sunbirds,House Sparrows, House Crows,Robins,tree pies,spotted owlets etc in any green belt near you.
Once you attain a mastery in these, then you can move on to slightly rare birds which offer less viewing time.
Step-4
Keep going through your bird book and try to look at pictures and names of different birds.This will help you when you are in the field, trying to identify a particular species.
When you are in the field, silence should be your companion. When you locate a bird, if you speak loudly it will be scared enough to disappear for the next two three hours and unless you are lucky, you won’t be able to spot it again.
On spotting a bird, try to compare its size with birds you have seen already in your locality, like mynah, bulbul, crow, sparrow etc. This is one major advantage in Salim Ali’s book where sizes are given like Myna+ meaning the bird is slightly bigger than the Common Indian Mynah which is a major help to beginners.
Observe its colors, patterns if any on wings. Color of legs and eyes help a lot too .So try to note them too.As soon as the bird is gone note down your observations and then start looking in your book for the bird that matches the one you found.
Step-5
If you can’t seem to identify it, or seem confused between two/three species don’t be frustrated. Join a good birding group.(For example delhibird,oriental birds, kolkata birds are some of the very good birding networks in India which contain excellent top quality birders.) Post you query over there and presto! u’ll get a quick reply within a few hours(generally).
Step-6
When you feel that you have succesfully spotted a bird make a column in you diary/journal noting down all the features of the bird you saw.The tree it was sitting on, Sounds it was making etc,etc..
These are just the basics, You will improvise and improve with practice.
Happy Birding!!!!
Visits to the North Campus
Travelling from Gurgaon to the North Campus is still pretty time consuming i.e. till the time the metro doesn’t come here (By May-June 2009). The best possible way for going there if you don’t own a car is to take a bus/sumo till AIIMS/Mehrauli from Sikanderpur / IFFCO Chowk which are available every two minutes. From AIIMS/Mehrauli Buses to Connaught Place (CP) ply very frequently. From C.P. the metro can be availed till Vishwavidyalaya station(North Campus).The journey time takes around 1.5- 2 hrs.
Anyways once you reach the Campus be sure to explore it. Beware of being taken for a ride by the Rickshaw pullers.
The whole campus is absolutely huge with lush green trees, barbets flitting from tree to tree. Some or the other activity is always going on.
It was the first time that I saw a wall labelled as wall of democracy :: It said “Stick your posters here” .
So many of India’s top colleges are located here. St Stephens College, Hindu College, Hansraj College, SRCC, KMC etc etc…..
The first college we (me and Siddhant who met me at the CP Station) visited was St Stephens where we bought and filled the forms.
Then we ran to Kamla Nagar Market because we had forgotten to bring passport sized photographs. We rushed to Prem Studios, Delhi’s most famous photo studio and got our photos done in 10 minutes flat.
After that we rushed back to Kirori Mal College where the centralised forms were being sold and quickly filled and submitted the form.
Then we returned to our favourite St Stephens and submitted the forms.
We then decided to take a huge round of the college campus.
Man were we in love with it. Huge trees, palms that looked atleast 80 years old, robins,mynas, barbets.. WOW… It was grand…
Then we decided to return to CP for lunch .
We went to Palika…Found this amazing place called Zaika in the undergroung market. Siddhant bought a pair of goggles which the shopkeeper quoted for 1200 but gave for 110 
.. Thats how bargaining works in Palika Bazar.
We found some of our juniors of DPS Noida on the gate and they took us for a treat to Mc Donalds.
Anyways after that we decided to part. I caught a bus to AIIMS (Medical) and then a bus from there to Gurgaon and then called up some friends to pick me up from Sikanderpur.
One visit to the campus has got me converted enough to drop the idea of engineering and do a simple B.Sc. also the fact that I save on one year and i can do an M.B.A. later .
Thankfully my interviews went well enough for me to get B.Sc. with Computer Science from St Stephens.
Now i can top them with some good add on courses.(hopefully it wont be too stressful)
All i want is to be able to say like Natwar Singh ““Whatever I am today, that is because of St. Stephen’s College.”‘..though Mani Shankar Aiyar made a joke out of it by saying “Why blame the college”.
Term begins on 15th and i cannot wait for the ragging sessions….:)
Things i Have to do this year
I broke my new year resolution on 27.04.2008… all my friends noe wat a hard time i had living upto it…
But here’s a new set of resolutions….(not new year ones …but random ones …)
1. Do atleast 2 certifications related to Computer Science..( A+, Red Hat,etc etc)
2. Meet up with all the people i wanted to meet in Gurgaon when i was in exile in Noida.
3.Maintain this blog…(thanks again Poonam Aunty)
4.Help(Force) Bala to write his book.
5.Get my license, Pan card, voter card made.(Sources need to be found,calls need to be made)
6.Do something really good for the wildlife..ie Ask Dicky Uncle to give ideas,guidance etc……
7.Sleep for atleast 5 hrs out of 24.
8.Party..Party..Party..Party..
9.Visit Kerala..(this year or next…but i m definitely goin.)
10.Convince Dicky Uncle to go with me to Dudhwa..
My First blog…
I was just recommended wordpress as the best place to create a blog by dicky uncle (see www.dickysingh.com) ….. and found the whole process of creating a fairly nice looking blog pretty simple….
Also Poonam Aunty who managed to convince me to start blogging needs to be mentioned …(simply because i m a great fan of hers)…..
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