some day some father thought

How far does hierarchy extend its wrath? Heavy yes, but I keep wondering what if hierarchy was a virtue in the non-living. Will they also breathe qualities of vanity and pride just like humans do?

Designations; mere words matter so much to so many. Funny enough; yesterday while I was traveling, I saw this lighting switches advert which read as follows - Lighting India (with Gateway of India being lit by their switches). I started thinking if positions mattered so much then would the switch lighting a monument/ valuable building have superiority over the switches in my house? Or or even the switch lighting the lamps of my house's exterior feel inferior to the ones lighting the master bedroom? After all rules are simple. Your job defines how you are perceived by the society and for some the way you are defined in the society defines how you feel about yourself.

According to me, hierarchy is just yet another attempt of man to bring order to chaos. Humans cannot stand something that is not controlled by them or defined by their rules. Organisation is still a very minute factor, it hasn't taken a lot of effort for man to immediately define constellations, seasons, time etc to curb them to his own advantage. Hierarchy is pretty much the same for my thought process, some day some father thought - if I die as the head of this kingdom, no one would remember me if I don't leave behind an heir and ofcourse the way I have spoiled him he wouldn't at all get a job! Simple and now people talk about their lineages!

You like my page, I love yours!

It has always indeed been about give and take and I have learned this much too soon in the work I have entered.

It is simple: You make your business fb page, invite tons of people to view it (because it is like your baby), some loyal will appreciate it, some snooty will watch the page get appreciation (while being very active on Facebook in other things like farmville blah blah)

I have never felt any sort of detachment from appreciating unless of course you send me something that is hideous/beyond my understanding. But while dealing with what they call social inbound marketing I have seen chameleon-like standards of a lot of people. The best part being, only a few realise that it is actually really obvious.

So being in the new age where start ups are THE thing for obvious reasons like "dude the job market sucks" or "I can't work for someone, DUH" or even " My dad wanted to invest somewhere so I started doing something" or even " the entrepreneur in me was shouting loud!". Whatever the reason might be, the start up scenario is doing so well for so many people and also for the social media which has a prime role in upfront marketing.

An engineer by profession , I had no clue about marketing; forget trying to work in this field for a start up! No brainer being: Start small, try to grow bigger if not come back to small! So started my self-induced tutorials on online social media marketing. Made me realise: OKAY so you have to please others for them to take interest in you. Really? Dubious natures revealed. You have no idea about what I am doing, no clue about the business, absolutely no clear interest in it but you follow my page because 26 days earlier I followed yours. Simple.

It led me to my unopened messages in the inbox. SO MY SO AND SO IS STARTING SO AND SO AND I WOULD LIKE YOU (my best-est of the best-est friends) TO LIKE SO AND SO. Tons of messages like that and to prove my aforesaid point you know what I did and you know what happened right after. Wow in my whole engineering lab work I had never seen results that soon and that too with such a simple procedure. I thought to myself, this was easy. And learned further this is how things are done in REAL life too. So man (more like Mark) created social media, we created businesses on social media, social media taught us how to market our business and all we did was please others. Convenient.

I have come to a little handbook marketing note of mine, if you can convince any random man that what you are selling is equivalent to gold even though you know it is rubber (with the potential of becoming gold of course) then you have won the race my friend. But if you did not work to make it gold, well then you are not my friend!

WikiHow

http://www.wikihow.com/Start-a-Scrapbooking-Club#Steps

New Year Hustle: Worth it? NOT

Yes, its 2012. To be honest, time flew by so fast; I was still getting used to writing 2011 in the date format. I don't know how others feel about our journey around the sun but I believe that its almost become a figure of speech to say that this year flew by so fast. This year, that year, that month, this week.

I keep wondering; why do we need to know that its 2012? To enter it as yet another era we ruined?
Whatever we say, I just think it gives us immense pleasure to find reasons to define everything. I remember the hustle about 11.11.11. My lord, I can't forget what my dad said. He's like why are you guys going crazy about this particular date? I said papa because it'll never come again. He said something that I initially revolted against and eventually thought of myself. He said you live through every date and it never ever comes again, even the most insignificant numbers won't come again. Then why don't we go crazy everyday!

I personally wish this whole time concept wasn't ever discovered. Why couldn't we just live one long journey? Why is that the day is split in two? Why can't we all define how ever long we want our day to be?
Actually at least our generation is working towards this thought of mine. Clear example being, while I am wide awake by 8am and call it morning; my friend wakes up at 3pm and his morning isn't any different (with a lot more taunts of course) .I can totally get it why he gets shocked when someone says: "beta itni late uth re ho?"

As far as he is as productive as any other person is in his own working hours, I find it uncalled for to say that he wakes up at the wrong time of the day! Why stick to conventions? After all the same 9 am task that seems early morning to me is late night for him!

I watched a documentary once that explained how the daily 24hours time period is getting shortened(by infinitely small amounts) day by day. I think if they would have read this piece earlier, they wouldn't have to invest billions of dollars in recording this difference in the length of the day when actually no one is sticking to it. Ofcourse with all due respect to them trying to figure out whatever they were trying to because although I watched the whole damn piece, I did not have a clear view of what they were attempting to prove. Clearly my iq levels were no where close to what they had in mind.

Also, I forgot the endless amount of scary videos/articles I have ventured into especially during exam time about 2012 being the end of the world. I still remember not being able to finish the syllabus for the next day's examination and consoling ourselves that how does it matter even if we score really well, we are all dying anyway! And then randomly a few days earlier, I see Washington post with the article: "Scientists say 2012 will not be the end of the world"

really? REALLY? You think we are so stupid to believe you all the time?

Considering they are called SCIENTISTS and we are called "facebook washington post application users", we are stupid! So stupid that we have spent hours making websites, blogs, even planning doom's day parties because these very SCIENTISTS said the world would end!

The Curse of Daddy

Is knowing about what you always wanted to do a good thing? Personally, I have been whacked by destiny trying to make definite stubborn choices since I was quite young.

My father, a typical " I don't want my kids to take the tough path" sort off business man wanted his daughter to barely finish schooling and join an oh so plush Interior Decoration course. To his dismay; I wasn't the kind of daughter he should have got.

Committed to making intricate puzzles ever since I was six instead of doll making, my dreams were kind of twisted according to him. By the time I entered 11th grade, my dreams became a nightmare for him. Interested in Biology and yearning to be a doctor my ambition didn't really fit well in my dad's business mind model. He considered my books to be equivalent to body building dumbbles and the content in them, a mere waste of paper resources. Although he never discouraged me but I always knew it didn't make him happy.

I died explaining; his arguments never sufficed. Ultimately I made up my mind to take defiance to the next level and told him that if he wasn't going to change his opinion, nor was I. Numerous upheavals at home and pissing off episodes made us each other's closest dopplegangers and worst enemies.

By the end of class 12, I was not only fighting the examinations battle alone but also the application threats. Talking to my dad's accountant more than anyone in my family, my applications were sealed and delivered and so were my expectations.

Compromising to come to common ground, I chose Manipal for a year. Closer to home (not really) and within constant reach (again not at all); the deal sounded legitimate to the MAN. A little detail about it being a twinning program was hidden. I can't forget my dad's words when I told him I got to leave for England; he said:" I wish your kids trouble you the same way like you have troubled me." Two long breathers and I swallowed the guilt with ease.

The years passed in a glimpse. Back home as an Engineer (succumbing to daddy's promise) I am doing something which did not require the amount of academics I had chewed over 4 years. In a recent conversation about the future and the babies; I was shocked to hear myself saying: I will never ask my kids to study as much as I did or even close. I wanted to reform those sentences but too late. The truth was on the table; clear and crisp. The cursed had worked I guess. I was so glad my parents weren't in the vicinity when I uttered those forbidden words!

The truth is one learns from experience and uses it so that our loved ones' experiences don't make them learn. Its like studying from a past papers guide for an exam. Yes you might score well but the chances are always dim. Everyone has to learn their own way whether its through a kick or a whack. Mine was a whack!

Red in colour, distinctive patches of black

Red in colour, distinctive patches of black, capable of flying yet crawls. I can't recall the last time I saw one of the finest creations (according to me at least). Although I do remember being absolutely heartless and catching them in my hand just to marvel at the detailing.

My fascination with polka dots made me a little biased towards ladybirds but there was just something about them that made me a committed collector.
Innumerable Lunch breaks in my former convent school were spent hoping/waiting under a particular tree for them to fall. So naïve; they would think our palms to be continuations of the leaves they were used to casually treading. One thing I can't draw out of my mind is the silence with which they walked; nil sensation on the skin, the moment your attention span breaks, they escape.

We have so much to learn from these tiniest pieces of nature. Shouldn't we be the same way in the lives of others? Not burden them with our presence, be there when they need us and walk off without significant complaining if they don't need us anymore.

As I said, its been ages I saw a ladybird. If you know what I mean.

"THODA ADJUST KARIYE!"

Ever since September two o one one, I have taken public commuting a little too seriously. It has almost become a daily challenge; convince myself day after day to get accustomed to the very fine Delhi metro.

Every now and then I question my own sanity considering my new found commitment to the metro. Thanks to the women's compartment, every 24 minute and 32 seconds journey is full of discoveries and learning. A new character (or many more if I get lucky that is) is waiting to be noticed.

One thing that I have continually failed to understand is India's disrespect for other's privacy. The occasional times when lady luck smiles and I manage to get a seat; it'll only be about a minute of luxury until a mob of ladies enter at the very next station and come running saying "thoda adjust kijiye". Adjust with what? Leave my one ass cheek at work and travel? My inability to argue after 7 hours of work eventually leads to the "very adjusting" person get her own seat as I get up and stand at my very own corner(yes I have found my very own shady corner in the metro).
Expect a thanks or atleast an acknowledgment? NO way. You might actually be laughed at like me for being incapable of standing up for yourself.

Winter has set in; so has the ultimate Indian dressing to stay warm. While having nothing to do, I notice fine details of what Indian women consider work apparel to be. Some very interesting, others trying too hard. The impact of luxury brands is so evident yet unknown. Bangkok's overflowing markets and cheap prices have done the trick. Unimaginable tweaks to the native luxury products, one can see flashes of non-existent sizes of the Lady Dior or never seen before Chanel head bands or even burberry headphones! Its wonderful how it can make you doubt the authenticity of your own purchase for a second amidst so many labels while traveling from work!

While walking through the aisle, you can literally be scanned top to toe by every women occupying the "fit for the queen"seats. So busy on their phones making conversations with god knows who, they will continue to scream "hello", "hellloooo", "heloooooo" even though they know that the train has entered the underground path. And keep trying the number again and again until they get through for a second to say Indian connectivity na, completely sucks. I want to literally go upto someone and tell them that there will be a world outside the train to talk!

It gets even more annoying when in a jam packed metro with literally just enough place to breathe; someone takes out a big fat novel to read. Jeez there isn't place to set your feet on the ground and you want to be reading? I really appreciate those making this unnoticeable effort of brushing up their reading in the free time but not when someone's book slams into my face as the train stops unexpectedly.

Even better is the love for rucksacks, as if everyone in this train is waiting for this woman to keep her bag aside so that we can attempt to steal it! It is so funny how no one is ready to part with their property so that others can get a place to stand. NO, infact I wouldn't be surprised if they stole a seat for just their belongings.

sigh...Moral of my journeys: In Delhi if you ain't trying to get ownership of anything even a metro seat, you are useless material !

I just pray literally PRAY that everyone realises that public transport is called PUBLIC because everyone travels in it equally.