KDRrrr...rrrrrr

I looked around,

but there was nothing unusual in sight,

it was a normal day,

and everything seemed all right.

but what choked me to death,

was a smell that was stuffed with fright,

or, was it the devil himself,

against me in his worst disguise?

It was a usual working day at office, the time after lunch. People were just settling in at their workplaces. Lots of cup of coffees were being poured from the coffee machine. Friendly banters and jokes were on among people. Everything seemed just like a normal working day. But it was suppose to become a little different.

Probably people, who have worked in IT, would know that we sit in a big hall with each of us having our own big spaces but no walls. So we can see each others faces, talk aloud and even share jokes and work stuff.

So this fateful day, suddenly my boss rose from his cubicle which is like 3 cubicles away from mine and opened his windows and the guys sitting next to my boss cubicle immediately followed the suit. Next I saw that my boss and my colleagues next to him are laughing and opening all the windows. In just next 1 min. I realized the reason and virtually ran to open the windows next to my seat. In just few minutes almost everyone in the hall was running to open all the windows and the doors.

By all the holy mother, the foulest smell on the earth was let loose on us. The round of laughs followed as the blame game started to identify who the devil was. But the laugh just kept getting louder and the smell started to recede, courtesy to the open windows and doors.

In a span of 10 minutes a serious working environment was reduced to a laughing stock. Could anyone imagine that a foul smell could create so much commotion and confusion?

The conclusion of the story….whether Swiss or, Indian it doesn't matter…farting is common and its awful. But no matter how foul the smell is, at the end of it all you remember are the hilarious jokes, indefinite accusations to everyone around and a belly full of laughter.

Own House

It's a lonely night,

and the darkness shines,

I step on the streets,

and its all quiet,

With the twinkling stars,

and the dim moonlight,

I keep to the pavements,

and try to walk upright,

The road is long,

and the walk is hard,

But in the end it's all worthwhile,

as the road finally leads me to my house.

The association of the emotional aspect of a house to an individual is both amazing and strange at the same time. I would call it a really fascinating aspect of the human evolution. And what makes this even more universal is its equivocal acceptance across different cultures.

Probably it could be due to the inherited characteristics from our ancestors. The house could symbolize stability and protection to the male and the reason for a female to be attracted to him. The moment the male becomes strong enough to break away and start an independent existence for him the house is the first thing that gives him his identity. This could have been the case for years for our ancestors. But things changed with the development of the civilized society model. But the traits inherited are still not lost, they just lie dormant.

Even now the need for an own house is the considered the basic necessity of life. Most people spend their entire existence in pursuing their dream of owning a house. The dream that is pursued with all vigor, energy, enthusiasm, pain and sacrifice. The efforts and the pain are both enjoyed. This is bizarre but I have seen numerous people who feel proud to have gone through this choice of pursuit. How something that is just a wall around some empty space can infuse so much life into a living soul is worth the admiration!

In my most recent conversation, with a dear friend who is also a proud house owner, I realized that the house is probably not a non living entity. It is a chronicle of the struggle of the family that lived under its roof, a family that shared its joy and happiness, growing up of their kids, their grievance and compassion in sorrow, the memory of their existence, etc…etc. It could be just a house for someone who looks at it from outside but for that family it is their identity, their life.

And just by looking at the face of my friend while he was talking about his house, I realized that in the end it is really worth all that pain and struggle. Probably much more worth than that struggle!

Swiss Hockey and ME

Swiss indoor hockey came to me as a pleasant surprise. And honestly speaking I had not even heard about the game before.

It all started from a friendly chat on an internal chat channel at work. One of my Swiss colleagues asked me to join in for a game of Swiss hockey as they were falling short of guys. He said it was similar to field hockey and that I would get a feel of it once I played. So I pitched in. The game was to be of an hour during the lunch time. My colleague was to bring for me a spare hockey while I needed to bring my usual sports wear.

So the next day, we all met for a game of Swiss hockey. The field size was of a half soccer field, with 2 small goals at extreme ends like that of an Ice hockey. There were markings on the field with blue and yellow. But the hockey sticks were really light and different from a field hockey. The ball was light too with porous markings for air to pass.

I was quickly explained the rules and we were divided in teams of 4 each. The whistle sounded and we started playing. The first surd was of 20 minutes and god it was hard! It was like continuously running on a field with a stick and a ball. The moment you stop the ball was lost and in every possibility a likely goal! It came to me as an even bigger challenge as I was still not comfortable with the stick. I had a tough time to decide which one was better for me a left hand one or, a right one. Unlike field hockey, the stick in Swiss hockey is more about feel. You can't choose a stick on just you being a right or, a left handed guy.

So after an exhausting first surd, I finally got a little clearer about my stick comfort. And then the second surd was a bit better. I scored 2 goals and ran more vigorous. But nevertheless I was tired like hell! I guess I was never so tired in a game than this.

Finally we came to the third surd. It was fun by now. The game started to excite me. Though tired but the enthusiasm kind of grew! And then the final whistle blew. We won all the 3 surds. And I scored some good goals! But the lesson was a hard learned one. The key areas to work- speed, stamina and shots.

And I really look forward to try some more hands at it this Wednesday! ;-)

Fear!

The moment you fear, you are no body. It is fear that is the greatest cause of misery in the world. It is fear that is the greatest of all superstition. It is fear that is the cause of our woes, and it is fearlessness that brings heaven in a moment.

                                                                                                                                                                    -Swami Vivekanand

If you read the famous lines above, it could probably make you feel that fear is an ultimate vice. But I would not agree with that completely.

Fear is definitely a vice but only so long so forth it's not channeled towards its end.

In simpler words, it is only human to fear. It is a very part of our existence and drives us all through our life. It is the fear of loosing a living that makes us work, it is the fear of being punished and shunned that makes us follow a predefined social code of conduct, it is the fear of being alone that makes us make friends, etc… etc. The more you think on this the more you would realize that eventually fear is the biggest motivator of the actions in our life.

What eventually distinguishes people is how well they are able to battle this fear to win over their aspirations. If the fear to earn a living makes one work, the one who succeeds is the one who finds out a way to reduce this fear by doing something that makes this fear obsolete. These people are the people we refer to as 'stinking rich'!

I do agree with Swami Vivekanand, that fear is a cause of our woes but then it is also a catalyst for our growth. The moment one stops fearing he becomes immortal. And that's just the end of evolution. But being human is about evolving every moment. It is about trying, succeeding, failing and trying again. And in the end it is the fear of failing that eventually makes one succeed.

So I would say, do not fear to fear. It is only natural to do so. But every time you fear, just do not fear to look out for the ways to reduce that fear.