The Savin' me Tag

Sachi tagged me for this one and by far, its one of the most fun tags I have done. I will tag some people, but anybody who wants to take it up, please do so coz there is nothing to do in this tag, its all automatically awesomely done. Also, do this tag honestly; or-else all fun is lost.

I used my iPod, have been honest throughout *swear* and would describe it as Gunj did, just quoting her when I say that, Its a mind-reader! Had a laughter riot while doing it, hope some of it reaches to you guys.
Here I go.......

The rules:

1. Put Your iTunes/ music player on Shuffle
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER WHAT!!!
After you've answered all of the questions, tag 5 other people and then let them know they've been tagged.

# IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
I say -> Jeremy - Pearl Jam. [Wow! The very first song is by the band I am perennially in love with!]

# WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
It would be -> Chupke se - Saathiya. [?]

# WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL ?
I like -> The Memory Remains - Metallica. [Hehaha... Fortune, fame, mirror vain, gone insane; but the memory remains!]

# HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
I feel -> Goodbye to romance - Ozzy Osbourne. [:-| pehle shuru toh hone do yaar...]

# WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
It is -> If - Pink Floyd. [How I wish! Well, keeping jokes apart, please check this song out if you haven't already. Features is my top-ten 'priceless' list :-)]

# WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
They think -> Truly madly deeply - Savage Garden. [Awwww, simply love you guys!]

# WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
I think -> Everytime I Die - Children of Bodom. [LOL! No no, I love them both. By the way, if any-one meets Alexi, just let him know that my parents call him "the screaming boy" :-D]

# WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
I think -> Touch Like An Angel Of Death - Children of Bodom. [What a paradox, I think about 'life' very often. Well, nevermind.]

# WHAT IS 2+2?
It is -> Title track - Bhool Bhoolaiyaa. [lol! This made me literally roll on the floor laughing! Of the 500 odd songs, why this?]

# WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
I think -> Khwaja mere Khwaja - Jodha Akhbar. [Haila! mere paas yeh gaana hai?]

# WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
I think -> Man on the Moon - R.E.M. [Yea, astronauts are sexy :-P]

# WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
It is -> Goodbye cruel world - Pink Floyd. [:-) , the song is from the album "the wall". *nostalgia*]

# WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
I want to be -> Hero - Mariah Carey. [:-D sure! I love her and I love this song.]

# WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
I would think -> Chaliya - Tashan. [Ha ha! something I would exactly NOT think :-P]

# WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
They think -> Ending Credits - Opeth. [:-)] [

#AT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
I would dance to -> Jame Raho - Taare Zameen Par. [God! how apt!]

# WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
They will play -> Someone that you're with - Nickelback. [Man! They would wanna be that 'someone' I lie with in my grave! this just made my day! :-)]

# WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
My interest is -> Fade to Black - Metallica. [Errr, no comments!]

# WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
It is -> The Happiest Days of Our Life - Pink Floyd. [Yea, that pretty much sums it all up :-P]

# WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
I think -> Haunted - Kelly Clarkson. [Ha ha, exactly! ek se bad-kar ek ghosts! They haunt me even at 3 the night! for various reasons :-P]

# WHAT SHOULD YOU POST THIS AS?
I should as -> Savin' me - Nickelback. [:-) as the tag nears completion, all my favorites turn up..]

# WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THIS TAG?
I think -> The Call of Ktulu - Metallica. [Ah! absolute delight!]


I tag:

1. Anindita [Do it, its awesome fun.]

2. Arv [coz you liked it great deal on Sachi's :-)]

3. Bhai with Chai [coz I wanna see your taste in music!]

4. Rajesh [Shreya Ghoshal maniac, go explore all you can, guaranteed fun.]

5. Urv [Do you do tags? do in leisure if you can :-)]


P.S. Sach! Thanks a ton for tagging me yaar! I always believed that tags play a role in blogger-bonding :-) This is such a great one, no wonder it is so popular! Cheers!

A lil bitta fascination doesn't hurt :-P

Recently, one of these days, I was bored. Not just bored, in a horrible horrible mood.

One of the most prominent reasons for the same was that, I had just finished reading one of the poorest ever written books. "The 3 mistakes of my life" was definitely one of my mistakes. But then I don't usually give up things mid-way; so somehow finished reading it. Result, the previously mentioned awful mood.

Additionally, I had nothing to look forward to that day, apart from endless hours of journal writing. My assignments had fared badly, and I wasn't exactly happy with my presentation either. I had an argument with my mum first thing in the morning and first time ever, dad didn't support me!!!!!!

To add to it all, I was broke. The pune trip just sucked all money outta my wallet and left behind some moments of fun and the tickets n bills :- Top it up, biggest disaster, I had no balance in my phone, so couldn't wish one good friend on her birthday. Month ka quota finish, and no money, so no refill. All the bad times came rushing back to me. My mood was low. No, it was loowwww......

Nothing seemed to calm me down. Talking, floyd, painting, looking at old pictures, singing, cleaning, reading, writing, eating; nothing, absolutely nothing!

In short, it was a lousy, slow-moving, never-ending day!



And then,
He commented on my blog.

And my day was made!


Lousy day became day filled with surprises. Life was bliss.
Do I sound smitten? I guess I am.. :-P
Has this ever happened to you?

I D-O-N-T C-A-R-E

How do we become whatever we are? We learn. From situations we tackle, from other people. But sometimes we have this one person amongst our relatives, who is our favorite teacher! No doubt my parents top my list, but another person who also does is my nani :-)

She has this wonderful habit of co-relating every situation/decision to those good old bengali sayings, the one which make no sense to you when you are young, but when you grow up, reminding yourself of them helps you regain faith in yourself. Heres a sample of the same,


"korite paarina kaaj,
sauda bhoy sauda laaj,
shongshoy sonkolpo sauda taule,
paache lokera kichu baule."

General Translation.
Unable to work,
always feared, always reluctant [shy],
we always procrastinate, (because)
people talk shit behind our back......

Literal meaning.
Don't give a fuck about what people say, they always have something discouraging to puke. Work, don't fear, don't shy away; just because of what-people-will-think. If you have made up your mind, go for it. Don't restrict yourself for the people-factor, coz that will never be in your favor.

Isn't it amazing how certain things which are tagged of being a part of the broad minded current society now, have always been there, and we conveniently ignore that. But grandparents are always there, to bring us back to the ground, and by that in-turn help us grow.
This is one of the teachings that my grandkids are surely getting from me :-P

Azaadi..

Free,
Every-one of us relates to this word in different ways.
But there is a common chord.
Having free thoughts.

Dedicated to the fighters who enabled us to do whatever we wanted to do, to be whatever we wanted to be, to 60 years of this freedom.


Hamein aaj azaadi hai...
Mann ke bandhan todne ki,
kalpanao ki udaan bharne ki,
naye pragati ke marg sujhane ki,
aur unse sabke sapno ko saakar karne ki.

Rashtra-bhasha nirbhayta se bolne ki,
chamak-dhamak ke kaale chashme ko kholne ki,
kaam mein mann lagane ki,
sach or sahas ko mul-mantra banane ki.

Andhvishwas se mukt hone ki,
vicharo ko shabdo mein dhaalne ki,
shabdo ko prakashit karne ki,
kal se bada ban-ne ki.

zyada chahne ki, zyada paane ki,
aur paane ke baad, us-e baattne ki,
chehro pe muskaan laane ki,
sabko aaj aazadi hai.

Par kya hum is azaadi ka sahi istemaal kar rahe hai?

सभी देश-वासियो को स्वतंत्रता दिवस की हार्दिक सुभ-कामनाये
Jai Hind!

Happiness or contentment?

A thought passed by my neurons sometime ago and it left me bemused.
So now a new opinion is made, [subject to change, conditions apply :-P]

Happiness is the most over-rated among the emotions.
No-one likes not having happiness. So, it comes and goes as it pleases and we wait longing for more of it to come by.

And then they say, happiness should be coupled with sadness in our lives; thats how we will know the "value" of being happy. But can we manage that? Give happiness the importance and it will be around rarer. When we are happy, we forget about the harsh realities around and choose to rejoice. Why do people do drugs? to get the high and feel at ease. Is that happiness? How do we define happiness? does happiness in certain things dominate other things?

I tag happiness of being over-rated because people choose to ignore that, it misleads us, too much happiness does. Happiness is not humour. If that was so, stand-up comedians would be the happiest people in the world. For me contentment is more important a virtue. Or when people say that they are happy, they actually mean that they are contented?

We always knew that "man is the most selfish amongst all beings", is this the reason why happiness is prefered above contentment? Or is the latter a very whole-concept and people prefer to look at things selectively, be happy about some of the things happening to them and forget about the rest of it, atleast momentarily.


I say I am happy....

*~* when I am full. Either with respect to food, or emotions, or relationships, or discussions, etc.

*~* when things are going my way, just the way I wanted them to be.

*~* when my questions are answered; [might be the same as 1 & 2, but is important to me.]


In other words, I am happy when there is contentment. So for me happiness is synonymous to contentment, and contentment comes by expecting less. They say, "when you smile, we know you are happy." I don't need a reason to smile. Call me a maniac, but if something is either funny, or cute, or reminds me of something, or makes me feel good, I smile :-) Not because I am happy, but because I considering smiling to be a part of being alive.

I came across an article on contentment recently and the jist of that write-up was, to be contented with what we have and not be contented with what we are. It made sense. Things we own, keep changing; they don't mean much. They bring joy for sometime and then we move on. But if we grow, as people; we learn, as appreciators; there is a zest to be better; we shall live better. When this is lost, the zeal to live will be lost. I can relate to this concept. Maybe somewhere we have to know our limitations and aim for what is achievable. But isn't it us who determine this "boundary" for our capabilities?

Dreaming leads to Aiming leads to Working leads to Succeeding leads to Contentment leads to Happiness.


Or did I get the very meanings of the terms incorrectly?
How do you define happiness?

The fire within!

Each one of us has this something they are passionate about. Sometimes it is a talent, or maybe a hobby, even occupation. Sometimes it is "craze for sports", other times it is as tiny as "talking on the phone". Our passions determine us, mark our personality. Not that it means anything, but people who have passion for the same things, have a similar wavelength. And well, that is how I have made most of my friends, coz we share, in common, some or the other thing that we are passionate about.

Among many other things here and there, I always thought I was passionate about bio-sciences.

Always.

*As a kid, I first wanted to be Paleontologist! [If you think of Ross Geller ;-) , I don't blame you] Then, I began to hate history. So, plan cancelled.

*Gradually, as every kid at some point or another wants to, even I wanted to become a Doctor. MBBS with surgery - specialization, then join the Army. [Yea 'Samby' and his friends, you can smile :-P]
But then, 7 years of MBBS was declared, and it was such a turn off! I mean, who wants to stay stuck in graduation when the whole world has done masters and already is working. Plus, just MBBS has no value what-so-ever and post-graduation competition is horrible with reservation every-where. No, no... Mission aborted!

*Then my interest diverted towards plants. Yes, Horticulture was the call.
So, when I joined Science in junior college, I had this dream. To do BSc Botany, MSc horticulture and go through forests all over the world, find some rare plant species and name it after my name :-P [Centuria shatabdi-expressa? :-D]

But locha!
Fell accidentally in love with Chemistry!
So, now I am graduating in Biochemistry... ;-) and I am loving it!

Yes, I am an academically attached kid, who loves her college and wants to pursue Research and Development. And I sure am still passionate about it, science. I mean, I sit in lectures with a temme-something-I-dunno attitude. And when teachers do tell me something I didn't know, I am happy, my day is made. There is no desire to learn answers by-heart, who likes to do that? What I like to do is find answers to my questions; know more, a little more, till I am satisfied. My teachers actually have to tell me, "You are doing graduation and that in just one subject. Leave something for post-graduation, will you?"
I smile in front of them and come home to read something from the net or refer random books of my preference. If I don't get the answer, I ask more people. I get so restless, I don't get sleep. Yes, I know its weird :-D

Curiosity, enthusiasm, interest in wholistic knowledge. Not working too hard, but sincerity towards our work.
Is this what we call scientific aptitude?