23 April, 2010

The time to take off

A lovely video on TED, by designer Stefan Sagmeister on deciding to take the time off between work to rejuvinate and re-look at the creative outlook.


 
Often I have a similar feeling and I am sure that I would do that soon!
Enjoy the video!

20 April, 2010

Cherishing the moments.. one at a time...

I wanted to cherish the things today. So, did the rain feel beautiful. Yes it did. Also did the smile on the faces of the children at the local market and the cranes flying over the lake, against a background of the dark rainy clouds.



Had another round of you-need-to-slow-down moments today, when I took the risk of parking a vehicle in a no parking area and it was towed away. :) Thankfully had a friend who dropped me the PS and then I got the bike back after paying the fine.

I smiled and winked at Mr Murphy and asked him what he is upto. Seemed he was upset, but had not yet finished. While I was returning, he blessed me with the longest traffic jams I have experienced in a long time here in Bangalore. Reminded me of the Hosur Road days, when I used to travel to the Infosys campus and would spend literally hours commuting. But Mr Murphy you see, did not stop just at the traffic jams. He added some spice to the drama, in the form of drizzling rain. And yes, I did have my laptop bag behind me. So you get the situation.  As much as I would have loved to speed and get out of the situation, the traffic would not allow me to do so.

Now as if these were not enough, I interact with someone who aims to question every action of yours in a demeaning manner, and make you feel that the way you are doing things is wrong. Another of those sign, that I need to stay away from such people. So I am going to do just that.  I think as a person one can gain much more by staying around the positive energy than vice versa.

I need to continue doing the things I believe in and not worry too much about people who think that it is wrong just because they do not do it. Spoke it out with a friend and am glad she had the same thought as me and I can henceforth not worry about the ones with whom the thoughts do not match.

Another friend pointed out to the fact that a lot of the blogs she reads is just the negative vibes ones. I think she raised a really valid point. There is so much negativity around the news, the media already. Do we really have to gloomify ourselves by reading up more negative and sad stuff? I guess not and hence one should aim to look for the positive energies around and share that.

To sum it up, I think I liked the rain. Each drop to such an extent, that for an instance, I forgot that I was carrying my laptop and phones along with me. I also did not realize that I was in the drizzle for close to an hour.

How time flies when you cherish the things around you one at a time, is totally inexplicable.

18 April, 2010

The day when life tells you to slow down

I agree. My life was on the fast track. There has been just one direction and that is forward. Leaving things that do not need much of an attention, I just kept trying to move things faster and faster and that too in the forward direction.

But that was till today. And today was one of those days, when you are hit a hard slap on your face, and told that you need to slow down. What happened today? What was so special about the day?

I witnessed a bomb blast in front of my eyes. The low intensity blast (thankfully) happened barely 10 meters away from me and right in front of my eyes. Boom! Temporary Deafness for a few seconds. The debris from the blast flew to a few meters radius. The policemen guarding the stadium gates which were an entry to the IPL match between RCB and MI, were hit. The condition of one is heard to be critical.

For a while there was mayhem all around. A man in front me was bleeding on his arms. The Sanjeevni ambulances made their way across the rather busy traffic on Infantry Road. 

I was on the phone talking to a friend giving him directions, and before I could realize a small bomb goes off, and there is panic all around, with people fleeing the place.

I guess it is a day I will never forget. No matter how small the intensity of the blast is, if you see it in front of your eyes, and a gory sight to follow it, it shocks you to the core. It leaves you amazed and often thoughtless, without an inkling of what has happened.

Personally, it is a sign to slow down and not stress myself on the zillion things.

16 April, 2010

Where does the time fly?

I am just zapped at the way the time is flying. I am surprised at the busyness that I have got myself into. Did I ask for it? Yes. Did I foresee it? Absolutely no. Have I been in this situation before? guiltily yes. 

I keep asking myself that question everyday? To some extent, I do know that it is not good. But this has gone to a really bad limit. Mornings start at seven and the sleep comes around 2 in the night. And in between all that there is work, travel to client locations, meetings, phone calls and what not.

Social Media Marketing,  offline marketing, conducting workshops, writing design blogs and Search Engine Optimizations are the few things that are on my mind these days most, and looking to apply that in the context of Deskala. 

What the above has done is put a work-life balance for a toss. And that is not good. The sadder part is that I know it and I accept it. I got a realization to it in a strong way, when I forgot a friend's birthday. Not that he would have minded it, but still. Connecting with people online is on a low. It's become more of a case when people ping me and then I connect with them. Earlier it used to be mostly the other way around.

In the end I am hoping that it is all a part of the larger agenda, and the hope that things will fall into place. The hope that one day after a few months, I will have that time to actually sit and enjoy the sunsets without a thought about work in my head. Without the tension that I need to do this and that tomorrow. With the hope that I can go to sleep early without having to fall over my laptop keyboard.

Anyway I am trying my best to redo the things to keep the work and play life balanced.

Wish me luck.

01 April, 2010

Six months....

...of living a dream.
...of living on the edge.
...of uncertainty.
...of passion and compassion.
...of pride.
...of agony.

...of Deskala.

What an AMAZING journey so far!