Gosh! I "need" to post this on Facebook!!

I am not posting a beautiful picture of mine on the beach at sunset in the perfect dress. I am not posting a picture of mine jumping in joy with a creative blur of city lights behind me. I am not posting the black and white picture of the perfect steam coming from the cup of coffee in my hands. I am posting instead a few lines about a recent incident in which I acted irrationally and was not proud of. Nothing illegal or immoral or too personal. Just something small I did, big enough yet for me to learn a lesson. Why did I do that ?
Because that too is life! Of course I want to share all the happy moments of life with my friends on Facebook. But what happens when I keep posting the "perfect pictures" and never the "imperfect" one's: what happens sub-consciously? What happens to us when looking at these pictures is something very similar to how advertising works. We are shown a beautiful, happy, sexy scene, that sometimes has nothing to do with the product and yet sub-consciously we associate the product with all that we see : Happiness!

When we see people always happy, always beautiful that is what our sub-conscious registers. No matter how much we may think out loud that everyone's life has its share of ups and downs, one would continue to feel that our own life is not matching up to the "bar" of prosperity or joy set by others in our life (social life). This is inspired by a recent article I read about Mark Zukerburg sharing about his wife's miscarriages on the social media.

This either creates a strong urge to do the things that you see others doing, just so you can post about it! Yeah Yeah Yeah, I know you really felt inspired to do the skydive looking at your friends picture, but was it really you who appreciates the "eye-appeal" of that Biryani ? Did you always want a picture of yours with arms open in the middle of mountains ? The point is, when you post something that is "picture perfect" you are advertising your life to be that perfect. And that is not real.
There was a 5 hour flight, 2 hour drive, 3 hours of hike in which you felt sweaty, hungry, tired and breathless before you could spread your arms in the midst of the mountains. How about a picture of you in the middle of the hike with your face all red ? Do you dare to do that?

It might just be ok, from time to time, to post about the real you. Some challenge you faced. A picture you weren't looking perfect in.

And sometimes.... it is perfectly okay to not post at all.

Hope you all have a realistic day :P.


PS: I am going to post my pictures with me in the middle of the mountains as soon as  I find them :P

"To eat or not to eat"-- By a software developer

Have you been reading up a lot about what is healthy enough to eat and what is not ? Are you confused by the contradictory opinions, and being called crazy by your friends for your ever changing opinions on what is good and what is not ?I am.
I have also been playing around with lot of different diet options to see what works and what doesn't. Been reading up a LOT and been asking doctors of modern medicine, Ayurved, Naturopathy... the list goes on. After all this experimentation, I have started to realize that eating healthy is very similar to writing a good elegant piece of code. I have pieced together few basics (written a little bit in SDLC lingo) which pretty much summarize the pillars of healthy eating.

Software developer or not, I think the following points would be helpful to all when question "Is this thing I am about to eat healthy for me ?"

1. Less processed food is like a well documented code.
Our body works like a machine. We all know it. It expects a certain input and a specific format (which *is* quite a big range).  Personal experimentation have shown, the closer something is to being raw and unprocessed, the easier it is for our body to understand how to best extract nutrition out of it.
If you put in something that has been cooked, then fried, then frozen.. you are confusing your system quite a bit. Even if the starting ingredient was organic and freshly picked, it is now too far from the origin to retain much nutrition.

2. Not reading the ingredients and nutrition facts, is like not reading documentation.
If you are planning to out source a part of your software to a third party implementation, the least you can do is to read what they have to say about their product!! If you cannot do that, you cannot complain about any side effects it may cause. Thats step1.

Step 2, it is important to understand what is written, and read between the lines!! Yes, on the cover it says "All Natural", "Fat- Free" etc etc. This may sound like a perfect snack!! But beware, look behind in the ingredient list. Is there anything that you don't understand ?  Can you do a quick Google and see what that "natural flavor" is ? Thanks to the plethora of articles written on almost every ingredient, this step shouldn't be hard. It might be confusing though, as more often than not, there are conflicting opinions. My rule of thumb for this is : "Even if 40% of people say it is bad, why should I risk it!"

3. But this is organic brown sugar. This can't be that bad!!.
Not saying that sugar is good or bad. But sugar in any form is sugar. Be watchful how many gms of it you are putting in your body. Unless you are running right after eating the sugary treat, odds are it'll probably add up to your fat.

4. Get the requirements right - Know what you really need.
One of the big advantages in today's time is to have good medical diagnosis available to a lot of us. Now, there may not be a cure available all the time, but it is always a better option to go see a doctor, get a complete physical done and see your numbers for yourself. "My symptoms are very similar to a friend of mine. I must have a the same issue. I should follow the same diet" isn't very scientific and may delay your progress or even put you on a wrong path.

5. The only way to learn how to code, is to do it yourself!: 
The best way to find out what works for your body is to find it practically. If you have heard from 10 people that juicing is good, maybe try it for 2 weeks!! See how you feel!. Once you know what specific nutrients you are lacking, see what natural alternatives are available to you.

6. Clean and simple is always a winner.
Can you get some fresh organic ingredients and make a meal ? Perfect!You have a winner!!
Cooking something by your own hands helps you sleep at peace since you know what you put in it.
Yes, we all have days when we are too tired to cook. A freshly prepared meal from a restaurant is also a lot better than something that is canned or frozen.

Would love to hear from you : what are your basics for a healthy diet ?

I Want To Play...

My brother and I, have been very close and very good friends since childhood. Every afternoon after getting back from the school, we used to play all our favorite games. We used to play till late evening when our mom used to call us for dinner , and then it was time for sleep. All sorts of indoor and out door games. At times with other friends too, but most of the time it was just two of us because we used to live a bit far from the city. So not much of population lived around us. At least not many of our age.
We had build ourselves a small tent out of some old furniture and clothes. It was good to give us shade in the afternoon and a nice place to play. We had to rebuild it many times, coz as we grew taller and bigger, we needed bigger tents.
Our mom made delicious food for us.As we grew up, my brother, who was elder to me, started loosing interest in the games we played. He started to say, "what a stupidity this is?" He told me, "there is a big life in front of me and I want to become somebody in this life. I can no more waste time with your stupid games. Common now!! GROW UP."
Those words are etched in my mind. I stopped calling him to play.
He now lives in a far away land. Pursuing his purpose of life. Something inside me refuses to grow up. Something inside me still likes the play. There have been many other many kids near my house since my brother left. I tried to be friends with them. But they are no match to my brother. Nobody understands me as well as he did.
He pays me occasional visits. I wait for him to come. He tells me how stupid I am being, and I am just not ready to listen. He says that I will pay a heavy price for this. And I say I already am. He goes away, saying that if I ever want to get of of my tent, I should let him know and he will do me any help that he can. I thank him and remind myself of what a gem he is. He leaves and I say a wish in my heart that he be successful in whatever he has taken up. He gives me a call from his home, lets me know that he has reached safely, and again tells me to come out of my childishness. I just drop a tear and wish that he becomes a child again.

The Sunshine in a backyard..

"Pyar ka pehla khat likhne me...waqt toh lagta he..."
"Gaanth agar lag jaye toh phir rishte ho ya dori....gehre zakhmon ko bharne me...waqt toh lagta he"...
I often wonder to myself...how much more time will it before i have finally written this love letter perfectly enought to please my beloved.Will it be a lifetime?Or many more?I ask my beloved to give an answer. And he says
"Pyar ka pehla khat likhne me...waqt toh lagta he..."
"Gaanth agar lag jaye toh phir rishte ho ya dori....gehre zakhmon ko bharne me...waqt toh lagta he"...
He says, If you wish to be my admirer,
Wait till it becomes stronger..
If you wish to be best of friends,
Wait till it becomes purer,
If you wish to be my Love,
Wait till "you" does not exist anymore,
Wait till these entanglements..are shunned with the house you live in now,
Wait till the pain of your wounds has been relieved,
Wait till you are ready to forget the sunshine in your backyard,
Wait till you have made peace with the fact,that darkness is the real light,
And here I wait...for the day to come, when i have finally written the perfect letter. I don't have o play with the words in it, neither is any poetry going to do a magic. I am going to wait till the words are silenced.

Hazaron Khwahishein Aisi...

Hazaron khwahisein aisi...ke har khwahish pe dum nikale...bahut nikale mere armaan, lekin phir bhi kam nikale....


To the many fold meanings this deep couplet by Ghalib , though the meaning seems very obvious, how easily we fail to forget and ignore such a truth of life?
Thousands of my real big desires have been fulfilled, yet i am not satisfied...still i think i don't have enough!!!
Is it our ignorance?? is it our greed?? I don't think it is any of these.
"Desire", which we have always learnt (in the bookish snese) to be pulling us back from eternal appiness."Desire" which we have thought to be the root cause of all our problems."Desire" which we think is never ending. "Desire" might actually be our way to ultimate freedom!!!
To express in a nutshell, our "Desires" are only external manifestations of our inner self to be free.But, then...there is the "catch". Every desire we have, is just an attempt to touch the higher, to feel the greater freedom...its is just an "attempt". it is just like a shot taken in the dark.In most cases it does not hit the target.In most cases, we are just left with the pain and disappointment of missing the target. And in this state of pain, we start firing more and more shots, again in the dark..Which lead to more disappointments. And that is how we get into the vicious trap of never ending desires.Also, our spirit inside keeps a log of all the disappointments, pain, anger, resentment which it gets through the "missing taget", not to forget the thrill,fun and different experiences(both good and bad) which the spirit gains during the desire fulfillments.This log is what becomes our "karma" which we carry though lifetimes.
So it all boils down to something like a graph problem in one sense.Our spirit wants to find its route to the destination in the shortest way.So instead of trying brute force for all the paths, ideally it should give time to itself, analyze the maze in which it is stuck, and patiently work its way throug it with guidance. This whole method is nothing but the "Sadhana" we ought to do.And the guidance is the 'Divine Grace'...

The Journey.....as it goes..

Disappointment....

This is the second step in the journey. Not achieving what we expect to achieve or in most of the cases people not giving us back what we expect them to..now the question is why is disappointment is a crucial step ? Well...because Failure and disappointment might act as very important tools to kill our greater enemy and, ironically, the reason of our existence too...our ego.

The Journey

Failures...Failure...is the first step of a journey!!! weird??? Well...when the journey is cross galaxies and universes..then every step is going to be like never before. OOh!!! am i talking about space craft journeys and alien worlds??? i think not. This is the journey from being a weak human to realizing being a super human!!So...such a journey many a times, begins with Failures. Failure to be a human. ironic; isn't it?? i don't know how many of people reading this blog have experienced the failure to be human, do leave a comment if some one has.Failure to be a perfect human;which we inherently want to become might make the first step to becoming a "Non-Human"