Through the years I always wondered when my life would start. I was setting timelines for my life to begin. I'll get out of school and my life will start. I'll get a college degree and then my life would roar. I'll get a job and then my life would definitely start. But there were always obstacles. There was always something which happened to turn out into what I did not want. So I set new timelines.
But again the hurdles never stopped cropping up. Then one day I realized probably these hurdles would always come and the life I dreamed of would never really start. And I was scared of the thought but then I wondered maybe these obstacles and hurdles are actually the life. And my life has started long back. I just need to acknowledge and so I call it The Dawn...
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Never make a woman angry
woman arrived at the Gates of Heaven. While she was waiting for Saint Peter to greet her, she peeked through the gates and saw a beautiful banquet table. Sitting all around were her parents and all the other people she had loved and who had died before her. They saw her and began calling greetings to her,
"Hello. How are you! We've been waiting for you! Good to see you."
When Saint Peter came by, the woman said to him,
"This is such a wonderful place! How do I get in?"
"You have to spell a word," Saint Peter told her.
"Which word?" the woman asked.
"Love."
The woman correctly spelled "Love" and Saint Peter welcomed her into Heaven.
About a year later, Saint Peter came to the woman and asked her to watch the Gates of Heaven for him that day.
While the woman was guarding the Gates of Heaven, her husband arrived.
"I'm surprised to see you," the woman said. "How have you been?"
"Oh, I've been doing pretty well since you died," her husband told her.
"I married the beautiful young nurse who took care of you while you were ill.
And then I won the multi-state lottery. I sold the little house you and I lived in and bought a huge mansion. And my wife and I traveled all around the world. We were on vacation in Cancun and I went water skiing today. I fell and hit my head, and here I am. What a bummer! How do I get in?"
"You have to spell a word," the woman told him.
"Which word?" her husband asked.
"Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis", she replied.
Moral of the story: Never make a woman angry . . . there will be Hell to pay!
Note: That's the longest word currently listed in the Oxford dictionary and is a lung-disease pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters).
So you've learned a new word !!
"Hello. How are you! We've been waiting for you! Good to see you."
When Saint Peter came by, the woman said to him,
"This is such a wonderful place! How do I get in?"
"You have to spell a word," Saint Peter told her.
"Which word?" the woman asked.
"Love."
The woman correctly spelled "Love" and Saint Peter welcomed her into Heaven.
About a year later, Saint Peter came to the woman and asked her to watch the Gates of Heaven for him that day.
While the woman was guarding the Gates of Heaven, her husband arrived.
"I'm surprised to see you," the woman said. "How have you been?"
"Oh, I've been doing pretty well since you died," her husband told her.
"I married the beautiful young nurse who took care of you while you were ill.
And then I won the multi-state lottery. I sold the little house you and I lived in and bought a huge mansion. And my wife and I traveled all around the world. We were on vacation in Cancun and I went water skiing today. I fell and hit my head, and here I am. What a bummer! How do I get in?"
"You have to spell a word," the woman told him.
"Which word?" her husband asked.
"Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis", she replied.
Moral of the story: Never make a woman angry . . . there will be Hell to pay!
Note: That's the longest word currently listed in the Oxford dictionary and is a lung-disease pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (45 letters).
So you've learned a new word !!
Happiest moments of life
Sitting aimlessly, thought of compiling things that make the happiest moments/ the instant mood lifters in our lives and incidentally none of these are consequential to what we spend a lifetime striving for--
Falling in love.
Laughing so hard your face hurts.
Finding a Rs 50 note in the pocket.
Midnight phone calls that last for hours.
Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
Having someone tell you that you're beautiful/good looking.
Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
Playing with a puppy.
Having someone play with your hair.
Trips with friends.
Swinging on swings.
Making eye contact with a cute stranger.
Holding hands with someone you care about.
Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.
Watching the expression on someone's face as they open a much-desired present from you.
Watching the sunrise.
Knowing that somebody misses you.
Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.
Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.
Getting a letter.
Hearing your favourite song on the radio.
Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
Giggling.
A good conversation.
Falling in love.
Laughing so hard your face hurts.
Finding a Rs 50 note in the pocket.
Midnight phone calls that last for hours.
Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.
Having someone tell you that you're beautiful/good looking.
Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.
Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.
Playing with a puppy.
Having someone play with your hair.
Trips with friends.
Swinging on swings.
Making eye contact with a cute stranger.
Holding hands with someone you care about.
Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.
Watching the expression on someone's face as they open a much-desired present from you.
Watching the sunrise.
Knowing that somebody misses you.
Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.
Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.
Getting a letter.
Hearing your favourite song on the radio.
Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.
Giggling.
A good conversation.
Need Washing
A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in a departmental store. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence.
It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout.. We all stood there, under the awning, just inside the door.
We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day.
I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.
Her little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in, 'Mom let's run through the rain,'
she said.
'What?' Mom asked.
'Let's run through the rain!' She repeated.
'No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit,' Mom replied.
This young child waited a minute and repeated: 'Mom, let's run through the rain..'
'We'll get soaked if we do,' Mom said.
'No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning,' the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.
'This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?'
'Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, ' If God can get us through this, He can get us through anything! ' '
The entire crowd stopped dead silent.. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain.. We all stood silently. No one left. Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say.
Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.
'Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If GOD let's us get wet, well maybe we just need washing,' Mom said.
Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They got soaked.
They were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars. And yes, I did.
I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.
Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories everyday.
To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.
I HOPE YOU STILL TAKE THE TIME TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN.
It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout.. We all stood there, under the awning, just inside the door.
We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day.
I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.
Her little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in, 'Mom let's run through the rain,'
she said.
'What?' Mom asked.
'Let's run through the rain!' She repeated.
'No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit,' Mom replied.
This young child waited a minute and repeated: 'Mom, let's run through the rain..'
'We'll get soaked if we do,' Mom said.
'No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning,' the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.
'This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?'
'Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, ' If God can get us through this, He can get us through anything! ' '
The entire crowd stopped dead silent.. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain.. We all stood silently. No one left. Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say.
Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.
'Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If GOD let's us get wet, well maybe we just need washing,' Mom said.
Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They got soaked.
They were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars. And yes, I did.
I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.
Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories everyday.
To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.
I HOPE YOU STILL TAKE THE TIME TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Adhjal Gagri Chalkat Jaye
This weeked I got a chance to meet some of the people I'll admire and look upto for the rest of my life. I met achievers ..... the real men who spent their entire lives for a cause, climbed new heights and yet don't have an iota of ego. One of the most brilliant people who are either oblivious to their intellect or have developed such a strength and maturity in their character that it keeps them grounded no matter what. Authorities in their field who needed no ego massaging to show the world what they deserve. Brings me to think of the people back home which is full of those holding half baked baseless knowledge but an ego that overrides whatever good sense they ever had. Made me think whether its more difficult to acquire the knowledge or the fantastic attitude in life. Humility which was the essence of our culture has just disappeared somewhere. The generation of baby boomers though went through hardships when rose to a higher level forgot modesty in the bargain. The generation X with the imense competition and lesser employment anyways felt they achieved greatness when they got even moderate recognition. The onus lies on us the generation Y to bring back the culture of moral and behavioural integrity back to this country. We need to learn to grow as professionals and individuals on a continous basis or else it would be just another generation living in the illusions of greatness.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Rock the Shock!!!!
Every advertisement elicits an emotional response but the thought of getting one of shock is absolutely shocking. Shock advertising or 'shockvertising' may not be the new kid on the block but the growing competition in the market makes it more important than ever before. When the objective is to catch maximum eyeballs the "shock therapy" works wonders. Whether the idea is to evoke emotions or to generate buzz or just to get the masses talking a shockvertisement hits the bullseye. A shockvertisement may frighten, challenge the norms or mention the unmentionable the key is to strum that rebellious cord in every customer. United Colours of Benetton which has defined shockvertisementsnot just challenged the conventional every single time but built a successful campaign of "union of colours".Though deprecated time and again due to racial contents UCB never failed once to capture attention.
Whether it was the nurse kissing the priest; black woman feeding the white baby; multiracial family; the black, white and yellow hearts; black and white hands in one handcuff or my personal favourite- the graveyard, all scream the message loud and clear " UCB is for anyone and everyone".
In the Indian scenario where even UCB has taken a softer stand the shock factor needs to be free of sexual(think Calvin Klein) or racial innuendos the job gets tougher and asksfor much higher levels of creative thinking. Recently Volkswagen achieved the appreciative task through its audio ads in two leading newspapers
The bottomline however remains that you can find them lewd, terrifying,immoral or offensive but you can not ignore them which is the idea at the first place. isn't it?
Whether it was the nurse kissing the priest; black woman feeding the white baby; multiracial family; the black, white and yellow hearts; black and white hands in one handcuff or my personal favourite- the graveyard, all scream the message loud and clear " UCB is for anyone and everyone".
In the Indian scenario where even UCB has taken a softer stand the shock factor needs to be free of sexual(think Calvin Klein) or racial innuendos the job gets tougher and asksfor much higher levels of creative thinking. Recently Volkswagen achieved the appreciative task through its audio ads in two leading newspapers
The bottomline however remains that you can find them lewd, terrifying,immoral or offensive but you can not ignore them which is the idea at the first place. isn't it?
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Misadventures of a dentist
This is the account of the most exciting day of a disillusioned dentist and a juvenile in the managerial scenario and the feel good factor of the day is that I still crave for more .The eventful day started with the briefing of the task for the day to be performed with a partner(buddy for future reference) which happened to be earning our own bread and butter (which is also what I had as the most hurried breakfast ever) for the day with absolutely no financial resources at the first place as well as the last which means make your own dough but consume other’s bread.
CHRONOLOGY OF THE EVENTS
!0:15 AM Assemble at the gate and perform all the antics to hitch a hike.
10:20 AM Climb the back of a truck filled with gravel in an elegant sari using the nooks, corners and spaces between the driver’s cabin and the load carrier.
10:45 AM The truck drops us somewhere in the opposite direction which I realized after a very dramatic event of getting down from the truck.
10:50 AM I and my buddy Naresh managed a small load carrier.
11:05 AM We reach our destination Nal Stop and move on to the Karve Road
11:06 AM My Buddy and I are torn between the choice of a job in the hospitality industry(his domain) and a healthcare awareness programme particularly a dental awareness project me being the tooth puller.
11:15 AM We entered what looked like a glorified version of a “dhaba” and tried acquiring a job for the day. We excitedly narrated our expertise in keeping the tables clean, escorting the customers and the ability to pass expert comments which could push the sales through the roof over the day to the most important looking person in the establishment. Unfortunately our sincerity didn’t move him and he told us to come after the owner of the restaurant came back. We accepted the very justifiable excuse for not getting the job and unanimously decided to change our job profile and move on
Our new job
We made a shift to the healthcare industry and decided to be self employed.
Our new job was to conduct a unique door to door dental consultancy service with Naresh giving a suitable introduction and me carrying out the necessary service of checkup and consultation.
Target customers: shop owners on Karve Road
Our part included
Creating dental health awareness among the masses
Explaining their dental health status to the subject and the patients in layman’s language
Giving oral hygiene instructions
Prescribing over the counter drugs to the needful
Our marketing plan
Creating dental awareness
Raising funds with the help of this programme
Putting these funds back in the awareness programme
· We asked for a pay to be decided by the subjects or the patients according to the service provided
· We explained the process honestly to the subject
· At no point we lost patience due to unpleasantness on part of any subject
Our first subject, a very enterprising owner of a bakery and a mother of two children appreciated our effort wholeheartedly and invited us to provide the service at her residence to her family members and gave us a fee of Rs 50 and made our day.
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED
Hostile reactions by some people leaving us with bleeding egos though we continued the work with conviction.
Most of the subjects showed an initial interest in our campaign which wilted out as soon as we mentioned the fees which we clearly implied could be anything greater than nothing.
Most of the people looked at us with doubt & apprehension as soon we mentioned the word dental. The reason probably being venturing in an unknown territory like provision of healthcare service at doorstep
STATISTICS
VERY ENTHUSIASTIC POPULATION 15%
PEOPLE WHO REQUIRED SOME LEVEL 20%
OF PERSUASION
PEOPLE WHO REQUIRED 25%
HIGH LEVELS OF PERSUASION
PEOPLE WHO AVAILED THE SERVICE BUT 0.5%
REFUSED TO PAY
REFUSED ON GROUNDS OF A RECENT 0.5%
CHECKUP
REFUSED STERNLY WITHOUT PROVIDING 36%
ALID REASON
OUR LITTLE EXPERIMENT
We made a fake list of the customers previously attended to and we changed the fee paid by previous customers as 100/- based on the observation that most people wanted to know the fee paid by previous customers inspite of our mentioning it being optuional and noticed the levels of hostility raise dramatically.
EXPERIENCE GAINED
A good understanding of the body language and facial expressions
A chance to observe the effects made by small changes in the package of a service
Last but not the least gaining a bit more of clinical experience
CHRONOLOGY OF THE EVENTS
!0:15 AM Assemble at the gate and perform all the antics to hitch a hike.
10:20 AM Climb the back of a truck filled with gravel in an elegant sari using the nooks, corners and spaces between the driver’s cabin and the load carrier.
10:45 AM The truck drops us somewhere in the opposite direction which I realized after a very dramatic event of getting down from the truck.
10:50 AM I and my buddy Naresh managed a small load carrier.
11:05 AM We reach our destination Nal Stop and move on to the Karve Road
11:06 AM My Buddy and I are torn between the choice of a job in the hospitality industry(his domain) and a healthcare awareness programme particularly a dental awareness project me being the tooth puller.
11:15 AM We entered what looked like a glorified version of a “dhaba” and tried acquiring a job for the day. We excitedly narrated our expertise in keeping the tables clean, escorting the customers and the ability to pass expert comments which could push the sales through the roof over the day to the most important looking person in the establishment. Unfortunately our sincerity didn’t move him and he told us to come after the owner of the restaurant came back. We accepted the very justifiable excuse for not getting the job and unanimously decided to change our job profile and move on
Our new job
We made a shift to the healthcare industry and decided to be self employed.
Our new job was to conduct a unique door to door dental consultancy service with Naresh giving a suitable introduction and me carrying out the necessary service of checkup and consultation.
Target customers: shop owners on Karve Road
Our part included
Creating dental health awareness among the masses
Explaining their dental health status to the subject and the patients in layman’s language
Giving oral hygiene instructions
Prescribing over the counter drugs to the needful
Our marketing plan
Creating dental awareness
Raising funds with the help of this programme
Putting these funds back in the awareness programme
· We asked for a pay to be decided by the subjects or the patients according to the service provided
· We explained the process honestly to the subject
· At no point we lost patience due to unpleasantness on part of any subject
Our first subject, a very enterprising owner of a bakery and a mother of two children appreciated our effort wholeheartedly and invited us to provide the service at her residence to her family members and gave us a fee of Rs 50 and made our day.
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED
Hostile reactions by some people leaving us with bleeding egos though we continued the work with conviction.
Most of the subjects showed an initial interest in our campaign which wilted out as soon as we mentioned the fees which we clearly implied could be anything greater than nothing.
Most of the people looked at us with doubt & apprehension as soon we mentioned the word dental. The reason probably being venturing in an unknown territory like provision of healthcare service at doorstep
STATISTICS
VERY ENTHUSIASTIC POPULATION 15%
PEOPLE WHO REQUIRED SOME LEVEL 20%
OF PERSUASION
PEOPLE WHO REQUIRED 25%
HIGH LEVELS OF PERSUASION
PEOPLE WHO AVAILED THE SERVICE BUT 0.5%
REFUSED TO PAY
REFUSED ON GROUNDS OF A RECENT 0.5%
CHECKUP
REFUSED STERNLY WITHOUT PROVIDING 36%
ALID REASON
OUR LITTLE EXPERIMENT
We made a fake list of the customers previously attended to and we changed the fee paid by previous customers as 100/- based on the observation that most people wanted to know the fee paid by previous customers inspite of our mentioning it being optuional and noticed the levels of hostility raise dramatically.
EXPERIENCE GAINED
A good understanding of the body language and facial expressions
A chance to observe the effects made by small changes in the package of a service
Last but not the least gaining a bit more of clinical experience
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