I strum my guitar to the empty house… !!!

I strum my guitar to the empty house,

Is this a dream? It’s God who knows.

Beautiful women in gorgeous clothes,

Beside’s men in black coats and bows.

White church, sun glazing through blue windows,

My love will recite the wedding vows.

I strum my guitar to the empty house,

Is this a dream? It’s God who knows.

A silent wind and a sweet flower scent,

2 alter candles flames, dancing and bent.

The priest adjusts his clergy collar,

A cross and bible to honor.

I strum my guitar to the empty house,

Is this a dream? It’s God who knows.

The groom is handsome, blushing

Besides the best man, beaming

Here she comes, in white gown,

A bouquet of flower, and strange frown.

I strum my guitar to the empty house,

Is this a dream? It’s God who knows.

A wedding cake, beautiful ring,

A just married vehicle, are just things.

What’s important, is 2 hearts,

Lots of Love and open wings.

I strum my guitar to the empty house,

Is this a dream? It’s God who knows.

The priest, “speak now/forever hold your peace”

The time would just cease.

“I do” say’s the groom.

A tear rolls down the bride and silence in the room.

I strum my guitar to the empty house,

Is this a dream? It’s God who knows.

‘You may have forced me to marry you,

But it’s he who I love and wish to marry too.’

The hand pointed towards me,

My guitar fell dead on my knee.

Yet,

I strum my guitar to the empty house,

Is this a dream? It’s God who knows.

A heated argument and all went nuts.

The blood in groom’s hand and a cross pierced into my guts.

I lay on her lap, floating in the clouds,

My eyes wide shut, in the middle of the crowd.

‘”Promise me, Promise me you won’t leave me like this ”

A cold tear and a warm kiss.

“I will be here all the while,

Till you come and become mine”

Therefore,

I strum my guitar to the empty house

,My love will come to recite the wedding vows.

I strum my guitar to the empty house.

She will come, because it’s me who she loves.

--------- RAJ

RAJ, ROBERT, RANJHA & RAHIM

2000 men with torch on their way,

To burn the train, satisfy their thirst that day.

25 women, 14 children charred to death,

Looked like, "humanity" was just a myth.

What happened next proves my point,

yes we know it was a total disappoint.

Men killing men, women and children,

250 Hindus, 400 Muslims, 100 policemen.

 

Divide and rule was what they taught,

 

Our politicians learnt it by heart.

 

Bomb explosion is now a child’s play,

 

"End of humanity"; is that today?

Should everyone relearn this theory?

Hatred, vengeance will add up to the misery.

Let’s live in peace, united, without any blame games,

Raj, Robert, Ranjha and Rahim after all are just names.

-Jai Hindh

I AM BENCHED !!!!!!!!!!!

“I am benched”, screamed a friend of my friend as he entered my room. No, he wasn’t any happy about it. In fact, it looked like he would do anything to get out of this situation.

2 months ago, this guy was shouting and screaming at the top of his voice, announcing that he has got a job in MNC and his life is on track.


So now, everyone in the room, including me were wondering what had happened in these 2months. We all knew that he was undergoing a rigorous training program in his company. He used to come home all smiles and stories to share.


“So what, if you are benched?” I asked, little harshly.


“Do you know what it is to sit on bench in a software company? It’s a shame to be on bench. Nobody respects you. There is nothing to do. You just forward emails, read the same forwards ‘n’ number of times, sit in cafeteria, gossip and come home. And tell you what? We never knew when we would get the project. My life is done man. They screwed my life. Imagine what would happen to my career. I will not be able to move into another company if I stay on bench for long. My friends are already planning to move now.” With this he put his head down and his shoulders slouched.


His words took me back by few years. I was not the brightest student with high IQ, but that didn’t mean I never tried to be one. I passed engineering from a reputed institute with an average first class; the campus placement was therefore out of question. Life outside college campus wasn’t easy. I attended many interviews, cleared few but failed to make it into the company. Well, the story wasn’t much different with my friends either. We rented a house far away from the city to reduce cost. Daily commute to the city, changing crowded buses, walking long distances, to attend an interview and finally failing to make it through, was talking its toll on our health and mind. On the other hand, meeting our daily and monthly expenses was another challenge.


We decided that it was not going to work out this way. We tried to figure out why; we were failing to make use of opportunities. A day’s brain storming session made it very clear. We didn’t know what we needed; moreover we didn’t care to think about what our probable employers expected from us. Of course we all wanted an engineering job to suite our qualifications but we lacked the skill sets required to accomplish those jobs.


We studied the market and narrowed down to few main departments and skill sets which the companies were asking for, apart from the soft skills and an engineering degree.


Each one of us decided to select the skill set or the specialization which he thought, he was comfortable and which interested him. Therefore, we promised ourselves to dedicate the next few months to acquire these skill sets and with this newly acquired weapon we would attack the jobs again. Of course we had many questions like,”What if the market changed by the time we finished these specialization courses? And so on.” But we also decided to not to think about plan B.


4 months down the line, 2 of them topped the batch in their respective institutes and the companies had queued up to hire them. They never looked back after this.


Meanwhile I had taken up the job in a company with 6 employees. I would spend my time learning the language required to develop the companies’ software. But I didn’t feel like working for charity money. Therefore, I would ask my colleagues to give me some piece of work so that I could help them. I would ask them to review my work. I would develop prototype and present it to them. So the continuous pestering and perseverance paid off, and my colleagues felt more confident to provide me the work. Whenever there wasn’t any work for me, I would accompany my boss who was also the managing director of the company, to client locations. I would learn about the product and the presentation skills. Gradually my boss was confident to allot me some of his work, so one day he asked me to go and present the product to the who’s who of State family and health welfare committee. The experience and exposure I got in this company was immaculate. Sure, I had to quit due to health factor caused due to hours spent travelling between office and home, and many other reasons. However, I am very thankful to that company of few.


I would then work as a Microsoft technical support officer (TSO they call it), serving North America and Canada region, over 6 months. Of course, it was a change in the department, but it was also a temporary move to accomplish my plan. Then plan was to get enough of money to pay for the specialization course which my friends had done long back but I had to push it forwards due to several reasons. Little did I know that my job as TSO would educate me so much that latter on in my career, when I had an opportunity to work with clients at onsite for 2 months, I would surpass all the expectations.


After 7 months as TSO, I did get the specialization course in testing and I too topped my batch in this institute. They offered me an opportunity to work for an MNC on a contract basis, for few months. I grabbed it without a word.


Leaving all my friends, relatives behind, with whom I have shared my sorrow and happiness every moment of this journey, was a tough ask. But when life throws its curves at you, sometimes you got to take those curves on your face and convert it to a smile. New city, new climate, new language, new people, new company and the same old me, rather same young me. When you are too focused on your goals, you don’t watch or crib about the magnitude of challenges on your way. You just tend to rise above it. Perhaps that’s what happened to me. 8 months down the line, after a successful project, I would be offered an opportunity to be a permanent employee of the company, which I did grab with all my limbs. A year later I was appreciated for my work with a promotion. My joy’s had not limit then. All the things I had done to be here since 4 long years would flash in front of my eyes.


I am sure many can relate their story to mine and there are far more stories of individuals who have surpassed unimaginable challenges and reached the height of success, which makes my achievement a minute one. So, you must be wondering, what is the point in narrating this?


I am not here just because of me. There were lots of people to help me and push me to achieve. I keep them all close to my heart. But take my word on this point. Nobody in anyone’s life will come all the way to help you out in the corporate world. All of them have their own work and goals. However, if you are ready to walk half way to meet them and extend your hand, then you will find many who will reach for you and help you to attain your goals. So, instead of cribbing about not having any god father, let’s make an effort to walk half way and extend our hands.


When you, are on bench, stop complaining that you have no body to help you out and you are helpless in this situation. Let’s learn to ask our superiors what they want from us? How could you be helpful to them? Talk to them. Discuss about the next job which is in pipeline. Gain knowledge on how you could be helpful to do this job. It could be something like, getting trained in the tool that is required to accomplish the job. Learning to track defects, writing MOM’s. However, small it might look, it really matters. Learn from your superiors. Discuss about their experiences. Ask them how you could be helpful. This way you will send a strong message across. People will know that you are not here to take home charity money. Tell them that you are not here for that and you would instead like to earn it. This attitude has helped me. A famous Chinese proverb goes, “one who asks may be a fool for five minutes. He who doesn’t is a fool for a life time.”


Don’t worry too much about future. Many allow themselves to be driven into the negative mind frame like, “how is this going to help me to gain me more salary? How can I become a manager in very short time? Where can I cut corners to grow? How could writing MOM take me to manager’s chair? Why should I be doing this? Believe me; many founders of the successful companies today had once started their job by laying foundation stone and cementing their basic concepts.


I am a strong believer of the Steve Jobs theory (founder of Apple computers). You cannot connect the dots in your life looking forward. You can connect them looking backwards. When I was working at Microsoft as TSO, little did I know how it would mould me to take up the challenges I would face while communicating with my clients. I had the opportunity to work with my clients in their office at onsite for a little over 2 months. It was the most challenging assignment till date both technically and non technically. All the education and experience I received as TSO was very helpful to accomplish this project. I didn’t know then, how a job as TSO could help me to achieve my goals, but I did it with my heart without regret and learnt from it. So looking back I can connect the dots. Whatever, we do, let’s do it with positive mind frame. Let’s understand that one day we would look back with pride; for what we had done yesterday is the reason for our happiness today. Today is yours. Let’s work on it.


Many colleagues on bench complain about, not being respected by their team mates or superiors. Let us think on this. If I spend my time forwarding emails, chatting to my friends over phone morning till evening, gossiping in cafeteria at rush hour even though I am well aware of the fact that many are holding plates in their hands looking for a place to sit and have lunch, how would I gain any respect? No one, except for few of the fellow like thinkers who would pull you down by their sad story of salary, hikes, appraisals, to add up to your misery.


Let’s, think about it. We get paid for those 8hrs of dedicated, sincere work. We get paid because we add value to the market. Let’s, think about how we could add value to the company. This way one would be respected for his/her effort. Else, if we just come, warm up the seat, spend companies’ resource and go home complaining about food, salary, superiors, then doesn’t that mean, a street vendor adds more value to the market than us? If we are not on a project lets work on developing our skill sets. Everybody has a weakness. Let’s accept it. Let’s work on reducing them. You could learn few things on time management, client interfacing skills and so on. You could be a part of a committee within the organization. The idea is to add value to the team and thereby your life as well.


At the same time it is the responsibility of the superiors to give back what they have received when they were fresher’s. Helping him or her overcome the challenges. Make them comfortable with the corporate culture. Many of them come directly from college to corporate life. It’s difficult to make this transition, so the superiors could help them with the day to day work in office and guide them. Of course, you might complain about a lot of work. But think on these lines. What if your superior stop’s listening to you? How do you feel?


As Subroto Bagchi, co founder of mind tree had said in this book, “Go kiss the World”. The menial person is important. Trying to please your boss is not beneficial in long run. On the other hand if you are considerate towards your juniors who are below you, greet them with a pat, a smile or nice words, you will be remembered for a life time.


And to all the junior colleagues, I would like to add from the same book. “The power to receive is far more important than the power to give. The act of receiving is far more significant in the overall scheme of things. One has to be blessed to receive. A good example is a family. Imagine parents of four children who raise them in a very comparable manner; yet the four children may grow up to be very different people in their own lives. One may become successful and rich but insular, one poor but willing to help, another leads a life of principle and another develops a flexible moral code and blames environment. The input from the parents’ remain the same, the output can be so vastly different. In the corporate world, a mentor who looks into 2 members of the team might share the same guidelines, but one would go ahead to become very successful but the other leads his life concentrating on not so important things. The power is then not in giving, it is in the extended hand that receives. What matters is the capability to catalyze what you have received.


I looked at my angry friend and said, “Yes bro. I was on bench too. But was on my own. No pay, no guidelines, no help, running around from one gate to another. You have the privilege to take time to improve your shortcomings at the companies’ expense. Count your blessings. Go kiss the world”

*** My MIND, is a BATTLEFIELD ***

My mind has always been a battlefield of Dream v/s Reality,

Practicality v/s Impracticality.

On the other hand my poor heart has been in the confused state of mind, oops state of heart, since birth.

Couldn’t take any sides.

On the contrary it seems to be switching sides every single beat, which could put any Indian politician to shame or for that matter any regular job hopping computer geek.

But my eyes, my pair of stupid eyes were always searching.

Searching for the peace which didn’t seem to exist.

All it found was mines, bullet shells and blood.

I searched for it in music

And in movies.

I searched for it in poems

And in biographies.

I searched for it in relatives, colleagues

And in friends.

But with no success.

Few men & women covered with saffron and some in white, asked to look within myself.

I searched. I searched within me.

What did I find?

Sorrow, Impatience, Sadness, Confusion and grief filled dead faces in the mental battlefield.

But hey, In the corner, very bright, there she is.

I found her, face filled with fear, chained to the walls around the heart, waiting to be liberated?

My eyes wept and the tears meet the red bloody ground.

“I promise. I promise, I will fight. I will fight to build a bridge between the Dream and Reality, to maintain the equilibrium.

That day, that day, you will be liberated and I will find my peace, before I die”

-------- RAJ

What man OWEs and OWNs?

Sometimes I wonder what a man owEs.

Sometimes I wonder what a man owNs.

Is it the money? You can never own money. It’s a form of energy that flows from one person to another. May be you have a lot of this energy at this moment, but one day it will flow out to someone else and then to someone else.

Is it the strength? You can never own strength. You never had it to start with. Soon it will deteriorate and you will grow old and grey.

Is it the pride? It is false my friend. Your pride will be soon broken. You cant take that to the coffin.

Sometimes I wonder what a man owEs.

Sometimes I wonder what a man owNs.

He owes his life to the women who brought him to this world sustaining great physical pain, made him strong , taught him the importance of sacrifice and made him a human, his mother.

He owes his fortune and dignity to the women who taught him how to work hard and make a living, so today his head is high with pride, his teacher.

He owes his smile to the women who cried when he got hurt playing with her, his sister.

He owes his heart and soul to the women who loves him the most, for what he is and for not he could be, his girl, his soul mate.

He owes his strength to the family that he cherishes the most in this world, his kids, friends and relatives.

Sometimes I wonder what a man owEs.

Sometimes I wonder what a man owNs.

He owes more than he owns. But what he owns is priceless.

All that he owns is Love of the people who made him a man. All that he takes away with him is the memories of knowing these angels on this earth who made him complete.

All that he owns is the widely varied love of the women in his life.

-------- RAJ

You were there when my life was Silent.

You were there when my life was Violent.

Your voice made sure I was Alive.

But alas! What did I do to you all this While?

I smoked like an idiot, Madly

I choked you with poison, Deadly

But now I know, it was a Mistake

I know you suffered lot of Aches

Today I take this oath through this Art,

Oh My HEART,

“I WILL QUIT SMOKING”

Because, I know, I know,

I will Stop Breathing,

The day you stop Beating.

Note: The poem is dedicated to souls who have decided to quit smoking for good but can’t muster enough will power and the support to back their decision.

Love Yourself, Love your HEART!!

-------- RAJ

In Between and After, LIFE & DEATH !!

"It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live." Marcus Aurelius

“Are you scared of living or are you scared of death?” or does this question scares you more than life and death?


Oh, never mind. I am just curious.


If you ask me, I am scared of both depending on the situation.


But hey, wait a minute. Do we really need to think about life and death? What I mean is , why cant we think about the things in between life and death?


Ok, for the sake of argument. Let me think. What’s in between this life and death?. There is me with a bold “I” screaming out and yelling to prove my existence. The bold “I” which thinks that survival is the only thing that exists in between life and death. But if death is certain then why survive?


Oops, a vicious circle. So is it worth to survive? If survival is everything then whats the difference between a human and a beast? Can you figure out any ? We both survive, live and die. So what could be that one thing that could differentiate me and you from the beast?


What? Say again. Oh, you got it. Humanity. Humanity my friend, humanity. Well, its shame that there are only few of them left, so it could easily be one of those endangered species. What about me? Well, I am half human half beast. Each decision is the outcome of the constant struggle between this beast and human. I could only pray that humanity wins.




Hey, if you are human, one of those rear species,then you got to guard yourself. Because there are beasts who would try to bend, twist and break you until the human in you succumbs to death. So , I guess we got to practice humanity otherwise you could be one of those endangered species.


Now, once you start practicing humanity, somewhere in the midway, you could face some questions like, “What’s the height of Humanity?” Well, I didn’t have an answer. But guess what, HE gave me an answer last Monday.


Am I kidding? Na, I don’t think so. HE was in a news paper.


A short-lived toddler’s parting gift


K. Venkateshwarlu




-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Eighteen-month-old Ishaan succumbs to brain tumour, but lives on through others, having ‘donated’ his eyes and kidney


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

— PHOTO: P.V. SIVAKUMAR

BRAVE heart: Swathi Vedam holds the photo of her son, Ishaan , whose organs she and her husband Venugopalan Vedam (not in picture) donated, in Hyderabad recently.


HYDERABAD: Putting behind the grief of losing the apple of their eyes, eighteen-month-old Ishaan, to a killer tumour, a courageous city couple donated his eyes and kidneys, making him one of the youngest multi-organ donors in the country.


“It was a tough decision but we took it as we wanted to make his short life meaningful. We could now see him live through the eyes of two otherwise visually-challenged youngsters and a middle-aged woman, who had suffered kidney failure,” said Ishaan’s mother, Swathi.


Ishaan was born on April 14, 2006, as a normal bubbly baby to Swathi and Venugopalan Vedam, both software engineers employed with IBM and Infosys respectively.


“There was no health complaint till Dasara last year. Suddenly he started vomiting and we thought it was a simple case of indigestion or electrolyte deficiency.”


Tragically for the young couple it was not so, as Ishaan suffered bouts of unconsciousness.


Complex scans


For a week from October 21, 2007 the couple made several agonising rounds to hospitals and a series of complex scans and tests later revealed that he suffered from a rare type of brain tumour.


Without losing time, the couple consented for a complicated and extremely risky surgery for the removal of the ‘large carcinogenic tumour’. Their prayers were answered when the October 26 surgery was successful. “He came out from near comatose condition, recognised us and cried,” recalled Swathi.


Just when they thought the worst was over, his condition deteriorated and he again slipped into a coma on November 1.


“He was put on ventilator and doctors told us that his chances of survival were bleak. It was then that we took the difficult decision to donate his organs,” she said.


What inspired the couple was the brave decision taken by an Army major to donate organs of his son of the same age as Ishaan who succumbed to grievous injuries in a fall. “My son came into this world and left in a brief time but gave a new lease of life to three others,” she added.


----------------------



So, did you meet HIM? What do you think? Does that satisfy my question?


She lost here son. Her eyes are still damp. Her heart is broken. But her soul is still free. Instead of yelling, “ Why God, Why?” , they choce to embrace humanity and make peace with Him.


Now, Can you figure out the height of humanity? If God exists then its here, I guess. He comes, helps and leaves. Those who can figure HIM out, might have won the battle within them.


So is it really about life and death? I don’t think so. Its about, something in between life and death. Its about LIVING and LIVING even after Death.


“You might not have much choice in deciding the time of life and death but surely, the in between time and the time after death is in your hands.”


Do you want to just live and die or do you want to live the human way and continue living even after death? Remember,

“Whatever comes our way, whatever battle we have raging inside us, we always have a choice. It’s the choices that make us who we are, and we can always choose to do what’s right.” – Spider man