aging...

I happened to read George Carlin's Views on Aging... found it worth mentioning on my blog...

Here it goes...

Do you realize that the only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we're kids? If you're less than 10 years old, you're so excited about aging that you think in fractions.
"How old are you?" "I'm four and a half!" You're never thirty-six and a half. You're four and a half, going on five! That's the key.
You get into your teens, now they can't hold you back. You jump to the next number, or even a few ahead.
"How old are you?" "I'm gonna be 16!" You could be 13, but hey, you're gonna be 16! And then the greatest day of your life . . . you become 21. Even the words sound like a ceremony. . YOU BECOME 21.
YESSSS!!!
But then you turn 30. Oooohh, what happened there? Makes you sound like bad milk! He TURNED; we had to throw him out. There's no fun now, you're Just a sour-dumpling. What's wrong? What's changed?
You BECOME 21, you TURN 30, then you're PUSHING 40. Whoa!
Put on the brakes, it's all slipping away. Before you know it, you REACH 50
and your dreams are gone.
But wait!!! You MAKE it to 60. You didn't think you would!
So you BECOME 21, TURN 30, PUSH 40, REACH 50 and MAKE it to 60.
You've built up so much speed that you HIT 70! After that it's a day-by-day thing; you HIT Wednesday!
You get into your 80s and every day is a complete cycle; you HIT lunch; you TURN 4:30; you REACH bedtime. And it doesn't end there. Into the 90s, you start going backwards; "I Was JUST 92."
Then a strange thing happens. If you make it over 100, you become a little kid again. "I'm 100 and a half!"
May you all make it to a healthy 100 and a half!!

These might help...

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay "them "

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And the devil's name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person, who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9 Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Interesting Sunday...

I watched a late night show of MI3 on Saturday night…Sunday morning was so good a time to sleep, when the alarm started making noise, I thought of skipping the meeting I was supposed to attend with the volunteers of “Teaching to visually impaired drive”…but somehow the “sincere and responsible” part in me was strong enough for me to make it in the meeting on time…right on time…Shabbir, I, Piyush and Kasi met at Jogeshwai Station at 10:30. We were supposed to visit Tanya Balsara, a visually challenged girl who teaches computers at one of the places in Jogeshwari. We happened to know about her through one of the acquaintances and thought of meeting her to hone our teaching methods to the kids at VMS (Victoria Memorial School for the Blind).

Shabbir had talked to Tanya regarding the meeting and taken down her address…we came out of the station and the sight was pretty anticipated, people pouring in from all sides, since it had rained sometime back, it wasn’t very clean a sight. Looking for the landmarks, the four of us entered this place that was bang opposite the Jogeshwari station…it was a Parsi Colony…and GOSH what a place that was!!! I could never ever dream of such a place in Mumbai and that too SO close to Jogeshwari station! All greenery around with beautiful bunglows…a school, a fire temple in the campus itself…what a lovely place!! The most ideal place to take a walk or read a book or write something...

We finally reached Tanya’s house…an amazingly beautiful, cosy but not very small bunglow…I wasn’t getting a break from admiring everything around…we met Tanya and her sister…parsi gals are SO pretty…fair n’ flawless skin…lovely eyes…cute smile…any normal guy can fall for them!! And Tanya’s eyes were really beautiful…they seemed to carry the reflection of her clean heart…I was getting so confused about what all to admire at one time…the lovely colony, the beautiful bunglow, Tanya’s innocent smile, or the flawless skin of Tanya and her sis…!!

We were discussing things with Tanya when her friend Vishnu joined in…he introduced himself as a VMS passout and currently working as a programmer in Emphasis…Vishnu gave us really valuable inputs as in making the kids at VMS proficient in English, mathematics and logic right from the start because that is what makes a difference down the line…we happened to talk about the career paths the kids could take in computers once they pass out from the school and stuff…It felt really great to know that Tanya was a Xavier’s graduate while Vishnu pursued programming out of his interest after doing his Bachelor’s in Political Science from Wadia, Pune…we talked about how they went ahead with their interest in computers, what problems they faced and how they managed to overcome…Vishnu talked about his experiences while coding in VB and .NET…Shabbir, I, Kasi and Piyush were listening with questions in between…then we were introduced to Tanya’s dad…when he entered in the room, his face looked so familiar…I was struggling hard to recollect where had I seen this man before…my struggle went on till he introduced himself as, “Hi! I am Sam Balsara…Tanya’s dad.”; and I was like Oh, Sam Balsara…and then SAM BALSARA…(if you people aren’t aware, search for this name on Google and you’ll relate to my reactions…). Anyways we talked to Sam as Tanya’s dad wherein he asked us about our initiative, gave inputs from his side and stuff…finally Tanya gave us a hands on demo on how and what she teaches the kids about computers…

We finally took leave from Tanya and her parents scheduling our next meeting with her at the institute itself. I couldn’t help mentioning to Tanya’s mom how beautiful their bungalow was wherein she told us that it was their ancestral bungalow and was some “100” odd years old…on my way back I was too full of thoughts and emotions to ponder upon…right from admiring the awesome place to Tanya’s and her sis’ flawless skin, Tanya’s graduating from Xavier’s to Vishnu learning programming on his own to his working as a software professional and coding in VB and .NET to acting upon the valuable inputs we got from them to meeting Sam Balsara in person…while I was sitting there in the local train on my way back to Borivali, I patted my back for getting up early on Sunday morning after a late Saturday night…or else I would have missed the whole experience which was unique and special in so many ways…quite an interesting Sunday…

Too Often...

Too often we don't realize
What we have until it is gone
Too often we wait too late to say
"I'm sorry - I was wrong."
Sometimes it seems we hurt the ones
We hold dearest to our hearts
And we allow foolish things
To tear our lives apart.
Far too many times we let
Unimportant things into our minds
And then it's usually too late
To see what made us blind.
So be sure that you let people know
How much they mean to you
Take that time to say the words
Before your time is through.
Be sure that you appreciate
Everything you've got
And be thankful for the little things
in life that mean a lot.

Meri Chunnu!!

Sheenu left for USA today…sounds very casual for a software engineer to go “onsite”…but for me, she isn’t a “software engineer”…she never was…I am finding it pretty much difficult to put into words what she means to me…all these days since her going to USA is decided, I had been pushing the thought forward of spending days without her…its’ been more than a year and a half we have been living together…infact “had been” living together…today, when I had no space to push any thought forward…there I was standing and facing it…when she checked in and said “Goodbye”, I simply hugged her tight…words failed to come out…all I could manage to say was “take care”… as she moved away all the moments we spent together…good and bad, happy and sad were dancing in front of my eyes… I felt so helpless and suffocated in the hands of time…a phase of life seemed to come to an end…why can’t everything remain the same?? Why everything has to come to an end?? Why can’t the people whom we love SO much be with us always….Sheenu has been with me day in and day out for the past one and a half years…she has understood me, accepted and respected me for what I am, she has seen me go through the good and bad phases of life, been there for me always, and suddenly I realize that she’s gone…far far away…for the past few months, all my friends had been moving away…each time I went to say “goodbye”, I came home and cried but had a balancing thought of having someone whom I could hug tightly whenever I felt lonely, someone with whom I could quarrel without a reason with the faith that she’ll come back to ask me what happened, someone who understood my silence, someone who never gave a second thought of bashing me up!! Today when she’s gone, I am feeling awful…inspite of knowing “that life doesn’t stop”…”that friends are always there…just a call away”…”that this is the way of life”….”that I’ll be meeting more wonderful people in the days to come”…I am still feeling awful….

At this moment, when I sit down and write all this stuff…I can’t stop the tears rolling down…I am actually tired of bidding Good byes to people…I feel I have developed kind of a fear of getting attached to people ‘coz when they move away, all you are left with is memories and tears…

Chunnu!! I am gonna miss you so much!! Your saying “TUTS tooot jao”…”jasta dista tasta nasta”…”tutu lipstick laga do”…your order and farmayish for “aalloo baingan”…”you not leaving a single chance to embarrass me (calling me MOMMY in the restaurant and the waiter staring at me)”…your taking decades to get ready for the most casual occasion and me shouting at you continuously…you fluttering your eyes every now n’ then…your “maroing adayein” all the time…our zordar quarrels on SAMETIME with those HIGH FUNDU filmi dialogues…irritating you by repeating whatever you said…our CHANGU-MANGU jodi going on date-shate….GAWD the list seems to never end...!!! Sheenu, for me will never be what she is in front of the world, infact I can never ever like her that way…for me Sheenu will always remain my Chunnu…

But at the end of day, this is life…it doesn’t stop…distances don’t rule feelings…emotions can never be controlled on the parameters of time and physical presence…I don’t know when will be the next time I’ll meet Sheenu…may be after one and a half years…or who knows I’ll join her in US of A in few months…even I am a “software engineer” you see!!!

Chunnu, you have made a difference in my life…Thanks for being there…love you INNNNNAA SAAARAAAA!!