An Island

In a desert all alone, where there had been life once, allured by the radiance of solitude, he trudges along, stepping on fossils, from times gone by. Waiting for a mirage to happen, to seduce his senses to insanity, so that life becomes bearable. But the pain doesn’t go away, and he breaks down and wails, for someone to end the misery but no one listens, nobody can, for he is an ISLAND.

Narcissurfing

This is a very interestingly amusing word that I came across on my reading spree today. Narcissurfing is a combination of two words Narcissism, which is excessive preoccupation with oneself and Surfing, as known, exploring, cruising and browsing the World Wide Web. Narcissurfing, of the habit of surfing and searching the Internet for self-appearance. It refers to an obsession to one’s own personal importance or with only achieving one’s own chosen goals on net rather than bonding with others. An example of his would be people who google their own name to see where, when and how often they show-up on Internet. Well, we might laugh at such egomaniacs but these days companies and HR firms are increasingly finding Narcissurfing a way to find out information on how they are performing. The same companies will also search key people in companies whom they are about to do business with. It gives them a great deal idea to see what their competition is upto, address complaints and get a feel for the people that are using their services or products.

My advice, J everyone should indulge in some amount of Narcissurfing now. Let’s face it; the truth is you need to know how your online public persona represents you, especially important if you’re embarking on a job search. HR departments may find it interesting to know how that newly graduated applicant deems important and what they can expect.

So, take a second and Narcissurf – open up a new browser window, and google you name.Ahhhh!! What a self-satisfying experience that would be. Cheers!  J 

Android – Google’s new mobile operating system.

Though I am not much into technews writing on my blog, this one surely caught my attention and interest. On Monday, the world’s largest online search engine company, Google launched Android- an operating system for mobile phones – in alliance with T-Mobile, Qualcomm, Motorola, HTC. Some other companies in this alliance include Broadcom, China Mobile, eBay, Intel, NTTDoCoMo, Samsung, Telefonica and Texas Instruments. With Microsoft’s Windows Mobile already in the market, looks like Google has announced an open war by entering into operating system space. Other tough competition in this field will be Symbian and Nokia’s OS for mobile devices. Also predicted, Google’s release is a precursor to their entry in mobile devices and operating system arena – with an expected launch of Gphone in the second half of 2008. The Gphone will be the first mobile device that will be developed on Android.

With more than 3 billion users worldwide, mobile phone has become the most essential and ubiquitously personal communication device. The healthy competition for market share and the formation of an Open hand -set Alliance aims at developing new technologies that will significantly lower the development and distribution cost of mobile services. As stated by Google, the Alliance will release an early access software development kit to provide developers community with necessary tools to create innovative and futuristic applications for the platform. This collaborative effort surely will be a step ahead in providing best of breed services to ever-changing needs of mobile savvy consumers like us at relatively much lower cost. Through Android, developers, wireless operators and handset manufacturers will be better positioned to revert back to the needs of the users in most cost effective way.

“This partnership will help unleash the potential of mobile technology for billions of users. A fresh approach to fostering innovation in the mobile industry will help shape a new computing enviorment that will change the way people access and share information in future,” said Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt.

 

Shelfari

www.shelfari.com, thanks to a friend for sharing the information about this website. It surely is a treat to all fervent readers and starters out there. Easy navigation, user friendliness, concisely well explained features and contents are few of the prominent characteristics of this website. With much less effort you can signup, create your own profile, build a shelf which particularly not only reflects the books read by you in the past but also helps you to furnish your top 10 list, reading list and wish list. In the likeness of a social networking website, you can invite your friends to join your friend’s list and join groups and communities to interact with other readers. Permitting to share your opinions on a book and to be informed of recommendations by other members helps the users to pick the best read. There are book reviews and editorial reviews available on all the books that can be searched through a powerful search engine. With each book review you would get to see the members, groups, user reviews, tags as well as edition details attached to that book. It’s a true bliss for any bibliophile to have all these facts so thoroughly assimilated. In my opinion, the inherent effectiveness and potential of this site is impressive.Try it on; your minute effort will not go unyielded. Happy reading.

Puuuuuurfect couple

Marriages can break but the love within never dies; People who love and live together should trust each other with their complete mind and soul.

If you haven’t met a perfect couple as yet, let me introduce you to one. A perfect couple is the one who stands on a butter layer frosting; and well for the starters, they don’t even have to look at each other.

An abstract from ‘Desperate Housewives’ this season.

Quite thoughtful…. I thought

7 Quick Ways To Calm Down

Here’s an interesting article by Therese J. Borchard that I read today morning. Some of the most simplest and workable anxiety zappers that can rescue us from daily stresses.

I’m easily overwhelmed. When my kids’ exuberant screams reach a decibel level my ears can’t tolerate, when Chuck E., the life-size “rat” at the pizza place, starts doing his jig while flashing arcade lights blind me, or when I open my email to find 100 messages–I feel a meltdown coming on. Which is why I came up with seven quick ways to calm myself down.

I turn to these when I don’t have time to call my mom and hear her tell me, “Everything is going to be fine.” They keep me centered and grounded for as long as possible, and they help me relax my body even during those times when screaming kids and dancing life-size rats converge.
1. Walk Away
Know your triggers. If a conversation about global warming, consumerism, or the trash crisis in the U.S. is overwhelming you, simply excuse yourself. If you’re noise-sensitive and the scene at Toys-R-Us makes you want to throw whistling Elmo and his buddies across the store, tell your kids you need a time-out. My great-aunt Gigi knew her trigger points, and if a conversation or setting was getting close to them, she simply put one foot in front of another, and departed.
2. Close Your Eyes
Gently let the world disappear, and go within to regain your equilibrium. Ever since my mom came down with blepharospasm (a neurological tick of the eyelid), I’ve become aware of how important shutting our eyes is to the health of the nervous system. The only treatment available for this disorder is to have surgery that permanently keeps your eyelids open (you need to moisten them with drops, etc.). Such a condition would be living hell for my mom, because in closing her eyes she regains her balance and proper focus. The only time I recommend not using this technique is on the road (if you’re driving).
3. Find Some Solitude
This can be challenging if you are at work, or at home with kids as creative and energetic as mine. But we all need some private time to let the nervous system regenerate. I must have known this back in college, because I opted for a tiny single room (a nun’s closet, quite literally), rather than going in on a larger room with a closet big enough to store my sweaters. When three of my good friends begged me to go in with them on a killer quad, I told them, “Nope. Can’t do it. Need my alone time, or else none of you would want to be around me. Trust me.” Be creative. Find your space. Any way you can. Even it involves black construction paper.

4. Go Outside
This is a true lifesaver for me. I need to be outside for at least an hour every day to get my sanity fix. Granted, I’m extremely lucky to be able to do so as a stay-at-home mom. But I think I would somehow work it into my schedule even if I had to commute into the city every day.
Even if I’m not walking or running or biking or swimming, being outside calms me in a way that hardly anything else can. With an hour of nature, I go from being a bossy, opinionated, angry, cynical, uptight person into a bossy, opinionated, cynical, relaxed person. And that makes the difference between having friends and a husband to have dinner with and a world that tells me to go eat a frozen dinner by myself because they don’t want to catch whatever grumpy bug I have.
5. Find Some Water
While watching Disney’s “Pocahontas” the other day with my daughter Katherine (yes, I do get some of my best insights from cartoons), I observed the sheer joy the main character shows upon paddling down the river, singing about how she is one with the water. It reminded me of how universal the mood effects of water are, and how healing.
On the rainy or snowy days that I can’t walk the double stroller over to our local creeks, I do something the global-warming guys say not to; take a long shower, imagining that I am in the middle of a beautiful Hawaiian rain forest.
“Water helps in many ways,” writes Elaine Aron. “When over aroused, keep drinking it–a big glass of it once an hour. Walk beside some water, look at it, and listen to it. Get into some if you can, for a bath or a swim. Hot tubs and hot springs are popular for good reasons.”
6. Breathe Deeply
Breathing is the foundation of sanity; because it is the way we provide our brain and every other vital organ in our body with the oxygen needed for us to survive. Breathing also eliminates toxins from our systems. Years ago, I learned the “Four Square” method of breathing to reduce anxiety:

1. Breathe in slowly to a count of four.
2. Hold the breath for a count of four.
3. Exhale slowly through pursed lips to a count of four.
4. Rest for a count of four (without taking any breaths).
5. Take two normal breaths.
6. Start over again with number one.

7. Listen to Music
Across the ages, music has been used to soothe and relax. During the worst months of my depression, I blared the soundtrack of “The Phantom of the Opera.” Pretending to be the phantom with a cape and a mask, I twirled around our living room, swinging my kids in my arms. I belted out every word of “The Music of the Night.”
“Softly, deftly, music shall caress you, Feel it, hear it, secretly possess you….”
The gorgeous song–like all good music–could stroke that tender place within me that words couldn’t get to.

The Indian Whirlwind Campaign

Are you happy? Ask yourself? And you will get a resounding answer – Yesssss!! What a fantastic day it has been for Indian cricket; India registering a hard fought, well deserving win on Pakistan for the finals of ICC Twenty20 World Cup 2007 in South Africa. After the world cup in 1983 under the captaincy of Kapil Dev and Benson & Hedges mini world cup won in 1985, its been twenty four years, since we last lifted up and kissed that world cup trophy. Dhoni and his men in blue yet again revived the spirit of the game in the country. When our Indian team departed for the tournament without the maestros of the game, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, noone in their wildest dream thought we would even come close to being in this tournament till the last, forget about winning it. But this terrific team of youngsters showed extreme passion, astounding reflexes, overwhelming team effort, best techniques and above all an unbeatable attitude on the ground to take head-on some of the most deserving teams of the world like South Africa and Australia.

The trouble with normal Is, It always gets worse,’ sang the Canadian guitarist Bruce Cockburn. Inspite of playing with a strong batting line up and a well deserving team for ICC World Cup 2007, we were sent back wrapped up with a thank you note from West Indies. The normal attitude and sportsman spirit did not payoff to us. I have been intently following all the matches in this T20 series, especially the ones India had played. There is a remarkable change in the attitude of our players, be it in the filed to directly hit the stumps while picking up that running ball, coming back strongly on the batsman while bowling, defying the laws of gravity to field that extra run for the team, steadying your eye and calming your nerve to grab an unexpected catch.

Kudos! to the captaincy of Dhoni who has not only tried an tested some of the newest team members against these nerve wrecking circumstances but also had explored the full potential of other team members with their batting, bowling and fielding capabilities. The kind of fielding placements, batting and bowling rotation that Dhoni decides on the field looks like a well thought off and intelligent move. The decision to hand over the ball for the last over to this new kid on the block, Joginder Sharma, shows in itself that he is well confident of his team and these are the wins which will in turn produce cricketers who can handle high pressure games. Watch-out for the action-packed, technically correct and observably aggressive performances of Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Joginder Sharma, R.P Singh, Sreesanth and others who are surely here to stay. We have, with this outstanding victory, finally broken the normality that prevails and was exhibited in our team in the past. Not to forget, complimenting the tough fight and a great cricket play that Pakistan team has displayed in this whole series. Although being surrounded with controversies and changes, this subcontinent team has effortlessly kept them away from letting it affect their performance and moral.

I read somewhere; While playing the 1983 World Cup final against West Indies, when our Indian team was all out for a total of 183 in 54.4 overs, Captain Kapil Dev told his team members in the dressing room- This total might be too less to win this game but it is surely large enough to put up a fight, So let’s fight……

I wish, India will get many more of captains like Kapil Dev and M.S Dhoni backed by an exceedingly talented and positive attitude players, who can help bridging this gap of twenty four years to celebrate such a festive and victorious win in future. For now, applauding the exalted vigor, felicity and valued pride that was rendered to the country by these men in blue. Cheers!!

The Kite Runner

Courtesy, recommendation from an old college friend of mine, I picked up the debut novel of Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner, about two weeks ago.
In an empirical attempt, this contemporary writer accomplishes to reflexively maneuver the reader’s emotions along with the life of his characters in his book. The protagonist of the book, Amir, who belongs to a privileged class, is in veneration of his father who is one of the wealthiest businessman in Afghanistan. The story follows the life of Amir and Hassan
(son of Amir’s father’s servant) and their inseparable companionship. During their unspoiled and carefree days of childhood, Amir and Hassan spent their entire time together playing, talking, reading stories of kings and warriors to each other and most of all running kites. From their early childhood days in relatively stable Afghanistan to the political commotion when Talibans ruled, the writer, with native ability, gives a fantastic view of their practical and emotional lives.

With life steering them in different directions due to an unspeakable incidence, their reunion inherently strengthens their bond in a way, which neither of them ever expected. Your choices, passions and preferences at a moment defines who you are and what you will be . His will to counter his past demons and his pursuit for forgiveness brings Amir back to his fascinating homeland where he is to discover some of the most well-kept and heartbreaking secrets of his well known and understood life.

The book is an eye-opening account of political situations prevailing in Afghanistan and appalling rule of Talibans, which keeps reminding you that ‘the other world’ is not as perfect as ours. It evokes a feeling, which will correspond closely and harmoniously with you till the last page of the book. The acquired sensitivity to portray the strenuous effort of survival and emotional exultation of his characters, that too in his first attempt by Khaled Hosseini is commendable Its an extraordinary piece of artifice and a must read of the time.

Not an Indian Choke Day

I have been postponing writing this blogpost since the day India played England on the final one day international at Lords. As usual, they lost the high-pressure decider match and the one-day series against England. As all ardent cricket fans, I felt really disappointed not because they lost the match ultimately but ‘coz they had lost it mentally when our great Indian batting lineup collapsed to a meager total score of 187 runs. After the sumptuous performance of team India in England test series, this surely was a below expectation show. Yet again, as everytime, discussions were done, bug was passed and no conclusion was made. But as wisemen say “ Everything happens for good”. Fortunately my PC conked off the same day and its today that I am starting to write this post after watching an enthralling India- Pakistan match in T20 world cup. When it comes to Indian cricket team, we have a very short-lived memory. We were the ones who excommunicated them when they had an early exit from the world cup; we are the same crowd who cheered them for the superb win in England. Parallel sentiments were shared when we lost the one-day series and fought the T20 match against Pakistan. Kudos to the team for pulling off a magnificent victory over Pakistan, on a match, which had everything for which people wait to watch an India-Pak match.

Let’s pause for a minute to also applaud for Indian National Men’s hockey team who registered a superb win, defeating Korea for the finals of Asia Cup hockey championship. This should, hopefully, spur the Indian team on towards Beijing. However, our history in Asian hockey is pretty pathetic. We have won the Asian Games twice & the Asia Cup twice as well. But it’s never too late to start playing to win. It was great victory for India with the final score of 7-2. In the projected sequence of events, it looks like a high-spirited season for Indian teams.

Intervening my thoughts was also a recent bollywood movie that I watched a fortnight ago, Chak De India. With an attitude that inspires and animates a less recognized and contingent game like hockey, inspite of it carrying the tag of ‘National Game’, Chak de has surely attributed some spirit to Indian hockey scene. It’s a sincere effort to address some burning issues faced by any national sports in India today. Engendering, in the most imaginative style, producer Aditya Chopra, writer Jaideep Sahani, director Shimit Amin along with the star cast of the movie magnificently salutes India @60. Keep up the good work guys. Cheers!

In Christ Alone

Although many people may be aware that music has some kind of an effect on them, most people assume it’s  purely a source of entertainment and relaxation. Spiritual and emotional impact of music is now a well experimented and accepted fact. It has both physiological and psychological influence upon us as humans.

I have always been a good listner and appreciator of good music. I believe that music is therapeutic and has a power to alter our state of mind and furthering an individual’s personal development and transformation for good.

I am sure we all have our own take and taste on music. This summer when I visited my parents back home, we all watched a DVD at my aunt’s place titled “Nick’s Life Changing Story”. Its a powerful testimony of a man named Nick Vujicic, who with his faith and prayers has transformed his life without limbs to life without limits. For more information check www.lifewithoutlimbs.org. I was quiet taken aback by the story and what actually remained in my mind for long is a song from that DVD called “In christ alone” by Newsboys. Its a beautiful song that made my heart sing. Well written and sung , this is surely one of my favourite christian hymns. For those of you interested in listening to it, the video is posted on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsgwfliQoqg)

Jeremiah 29:11 – “For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”