25 random facts about me.. :D

My friend, tagged me into this!! I thought that would be fun and so here it is!!

Random facts about me:

1) I am a total perfectionist in some tasks and equally not in others.

2) I like it when I wake up in the morning and its raining outside.

3) I cannot sleep many times because I have so many thoughts, ideas and plans in my mind, that I feel I will waste time if I sleep.

4) I am famous for going out of contact with people but if you really mean something to me, I will definitely come back some day!!

5) I really really don't care about what people talk behind my back, because thats something I was not meant to know... :)

6) I am a Libran to the core... I love art, intelligence, creativity.. I often plan ahead, always give importance to detailing..... and most of all... I always try to seek balance based on fair consideration of all options... believe it or not.. :P

7) I genuinely like listening to someone who wants to talk... not because I want to gossip about it but because I will be happy if I can use my experiences to help enlighten a situation.

8) I have a very bad face memory... so if I do not see you for a while and happen to ignore you when I see you next.. it just means I have forgotten your face!!!! Please don't misunderstand!! If you still come and talk to me, I will remember you right away.. because I have a sharp memory otherwise... :P

9) I am always ready to do something outright crazy.. :D

10) Whenever I am uncomfortable in a group, I either start talking a lot or I just pick up my phone and start talking to no one... ;)... see that's why I always keep my phone silent!!!!

11) I like trouble shooting... that's the best way to let out the creativity.

12) I used to not like stuffed toys when I was in India.... but I suddenly became crazy about stuffed animals after coming to US... something that I cannot find logic for!!!

13) I like to be resourceful.

14) I love travelling... but not alone.. with my favourite people.. :D

15) Driving is something I almost never say no to....... and my dad's Wagon R back home is my darling.... :P... I wish I could bring it to US.

16) Whenever I go shopping, I usually head to the clearance section first... ;)

17) My favourite time pass is playing 'Bricks' on my phone.

18) I sometimes like to be alone.... I am not sad, not angry, not depressed... I am just looking for my space.

19) I am more comfortable writing an email or chatting than talking on phone with strangers.

20) During winter and spring of US, my eyes water soooo much that I often feel dehydrated.. and everyone else thinks I am always crying... :o

21) I like talking to people on phone while I am alone in a journey.... I actually prefer that over listening music... because this is when I catch up with most of my friends and family.

22) I usually have messy desk, but that mess has a logic and believe me its faster for me to find things in that mess than on an organized desk.

23) I am a complete foodie... while I like trying everything else.... I do not like unauthentic Marathi dishes.... :)

24) I like the smells of paint, petrol, varnish and a new book... :D

25) And as you can clearly see here...... I am a narcissist!!!! :D :D :D

I tag following people to do the same:

Swarup, Shilpa, Chaitu, Sayali P, Gaurav, Archana, Sudhu

Dated : 10th February 2008

परतून यावे सोळावे वर्ष
परतून यावे ते दिवस
मानसिकता राहावी अशी
की झकोळून जावी ही आवस.

स्वप्न पडावीत तशीच निरागस
आकाश वाटावे तितकेच ताजे
सगळी कटुता विसरून जाऊन
जग पुन्हा व्हावे माझे.

पण यावेळी ती चूक
मी पुन्हा करणार नाही
आयुष्याला परत एकदा
गृहीत धरणार नाही.

तीच माणसे, त्याच घटना,
द्रूष्टिकोनही तोच हवा,
माझ्याकडून मात्र आपुलकिचा
थोडा अधिक वर्षाव व्हावा.

समजून घेईन यावेळी सगळ्यांना,
समजून घेईन सगळेच अर्थ
एकही व्यक्ती, एकही संधी,
मी जाऊन देणार नाही व्यर्थ.

- Adu (2/10/2008)

Shuddha lekhanachya chuka maaf asavyat, tya marathi typing mule ahet!!

Coming-out-of-the-cocoon Effect!!!

Wow.. irregularity in my blog writing has reached its peak in this last year. Well, I would like to believe I was too busy.. :P and really I was!! I have started writing, but I don't really know, what I want to write about today. After reading my older posts, I feel like a butterfly now... stop giggling.. I am talking about coming-out-of-the-cocoon effect!!

I don't want to brag, but one can't stop being much more confident after having done so many things in a few months time. So thats my secret, I have come out of the cocoon that was created by my stupid self. Seriously all inhibitions, all limits, all incapabilities are usually self-created. And one day or the other life makes you come out of it.. it should, because then, sky is the limit and you find ways to do anything you want to. I remember those days back in India, when I wanted to but never gathered courage to join college dance group... because I told myself that 'you have no dance training, so you won't be able to dance like others'. Thats a cocoon of my own thoughts. It was an accident, I am thankful of.. that Sudhu saw me dancing once and we instantly hit it off as dancing buddies. Now that I have come out the bubble it feels great to be a part of a choreography or even just the thought process of creating a dance performance.

Circumstances are most of the times going to be against your will, but fighting them back and achieving something is fun. Its like pushing the limits everytime you do something. Its like juggling... first you start with 2 rings, once you master it pick up the third one, then fourth and keep picking up till you think you have tested yourself enough.

So thought of the day: Opportunities will come knocking if you create a door first!!

Hmm another dose of gyan.. but I am happy to have finally written something on blog. Thanks Swarup for nagging constantly, due to which I wrote this stuff down. Good or not.. who cares.. this is where my mind wanted to take me at the moment!!!

Trips!!

Its been relatively long time since I wrote anything on my blog.. rather since I wrote anything at all. Well no particular reason, I fondly call it my 'writer's block'.. :D. But I miss writing a lot.

Since I cannot think of anything better to write about, I am going to write about places I have seen in the US of A.

Seriously, I am really too lucky to have gotten a chance to see around so much over here. Like my American friends tell me, most of them probably have not been around so much. Thats nice to know.

Thanks to my family, I am blessed with friends and relatives. My most recent visit was to Philadelphia. Already having seen most of the places in and around Philadelphia 2 years back, the only things I did in this visit were - eat, sleep, watch movies and most importantly and interestingly have loads and loads of discussions on many topics. Anyone who knows me knows that I love being in interesting conversations, I love talking and listening others talk. 7 hours back and forth of driving in the capital beltway traffic all alone in a mazda 6, was absolutely worth it!!

Totally contrast, was the trip to Great Smoky Mountains. Such an eventful 2 days. White water rafting was awesome experience. Its great to be almost at the level of water while you hit those rocks and get into those currents!! Too good.. And then hiking, with the fond memories of past like Sinhagad during rainy season or Phansad. We also got an experience of the term 'raining helter skelter' in these woods, it was raining so much that towards the end of it I was nauseous of water!!! But this was a great trip and I am extremely thankful to my friends who kinda forced me to go with them.

A month before this one was a 'road trip'. The road was - Richmond (I 64 W) to Pittsburgh (I 81 N) via West Virginia to Baltimore (I76/ I70) to Ocean City (US 50) to (US 13 to 'The' Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel) Richmond (I 64 W) to Washington DC (I 95 N) to Richmond (I 95 S). A little less than 1500 miles on road in 2 and half days. I would say this was my most impulsive, least planned and best executed till date. When we started out we did not have a specific plan in mind. We just knew we wanted to drive a lot, see different places and have funn and thats what we did alright!! But undoubted best part of the road was The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, 20 miles on ocean. Great places, great routes and great company... why would the trip not be fun!!

In between these, came small trips like shopping trip to Williamsburg, Smith Mountain Lake state park, NASA in Hampton VA, VA Beach on the 4th of July to watch fireworks. All this in just last 2 months.

Other than this, one of my best trips ever was last summer to Colorado. It is a beautiful state and Colorado Springs is awesome. I re-iterate, I am blessed with amazing friends. And then biggest and the coolest (or coldest) was December 2007 when aai and baba were here. Stillwater OK, Phili, Atlantic City, NY and my cousin's house (read palace) in Connecticut, Stalagmites and stalactites in VA... very cool trip. The valentine day trip... :P to York River State Park with my roomates and I am sure there are quite a few others that I am missing here.

Wow, I really do travel a lot!! But lot more to go... :P!!

Lessons learnt!!

I am re-re-iterating that I have learnt many things since I came to Richmond and became independent!! In this blog, I am just trying to list the top 10 lessons I learnt (Random order)
Lesson # 1 - It is very important to understand the value of every person in your life; its harmful to under-value or over-value anyone!!
Lesson # 2 - Always follow the gut feeling, sometimes rationales come later!!
Lesson # 3 - Using intelligence and creativity in constructive manner earns more, than using it to laugh at others!!
Lesson # 4 - Self obsession is the name of the game!!
Lesson # 5 - You have to have faith in yourself, before others start having it.. :)!!
Lesson # 6 - People play games all the time - you can be a player but the one, who has control over retiring from the game!!
Lesson # 7 - Everything and everyone is bound to change, you are not an exception!!
Lesson # 8 - Its ok to rely on few people at few occasions, never depend on anyone!!
Lesson # 9 - Sincerity does pay back!!
Lesson # 10 (most important) - If your values are strong, the storms in life won't cause fatal destruction!!

One rainy day..

Manaat jhaalele nirasheche ghar
Ani jhadjhadun aleli pavsaachi sar

Jalheen jharyala
kshanat vahta kela,
evdhach kay, sarini
melelya manalahi jagta kela

man jaaga jhaala
swatahlach vicharla
arechya aaj apan
ithe kuthe yena kela?

paNich paNi paN poor nahi,
sosatyacha vaara paN vaadal nahi,
jaNu kahi haa swapnatla gaav
nirjan betavarun disleli aashechi naav.

ashi jhadjhadun aleli ashechi sar
kshanbharat nirasha jhaali beghar.

- Adi (25/6/05)

The Search...

Human being is a social animal!! So true, how much ever I keep shouting in my earlier posts that everyone is alone in their own life and that there are no 100% buddies....... I also think that our search for one will never end. This search is one of the few purposes of life. This search gives lot of hope and also disappointment. But no doubt this is most interesting thing in life.
(Disclaimer: I am keeping family out for the sake of this post.)
During my search, I have met so many people... soooo many of them. Some, I never felt like even thinking - tresspassers. Some, I thought over for a very little time - acquaintances. Some I till occasionally think about - friends. Some, I think about a lot - good friends. Some I really think about most of the times - best buddies. Some, I don't have to think.. because I am a reflection of their values, their thoughts & their advice - 3 bestest buddies.
It is fun categorizing people into these groups/tiers and it is even more fun observing how people keep switching between groups. It has happened so many times, people had almost reached the second last tier or even last tier... but fallen deep down to second tier. Second tier is very broad, it has anyone who I know and had a reason to remember.
Audacity haan!!!! But well that is fact. I think it is very importantt for every person to know how many people are there in their last tiers. And it is also very important to be in last tiers of atleast a few people. There is quite a possibility that the two things are independent of each other... i.e. you might not be in the last tier of people who are in your last tier.
With me, I have 3 buddies in the last tier. I don't need to mention their names, they would know its them when they read this post. I have already mentioned, I am not including family in this post. So apart from my family, these 3 people have made most difference in my life. They have been through thick and thin with me and most importantly have not changed their behaviour with me whether it was a thick or a thin or none of those :P. These are the people who will not neglect, just because they think I am moody. These are the people who will know, why I react the way I do. I know I can take them for granted... and I am neither sorry nor thankful. They are the people I would call up at midnight or even after that and talk about a problem as small as 'bedbugs in the house'. They are the people from whom, I cannot keep any secret, as trivial as, ' I have a crush on the dude who was sitting next to me in plane.' These are the people, who I do not meet for months but feel no need to catch up when I do the next time. These are the people, who know half of what I am going to talk about in a phone call just after listening to the tone of my 'Hello'!!! And this list can go on and on for ever. Bottomline, I am very very thankful to God, that I have them for me.
Inspite of all this, I stick to my opinion that they are not everything in my life. They are a big part of my life.. they know around 5 - 10% about me. But not all. I am still 'alone' but have met few other 'loners' on my way to share my experiences of the journey and get reliable maps for future.