The Prophet

For all those who hate philosophical books...there is a great book that must be read.. "The Prophet" by Khalil Gibran.It has thoughts on everything that matters in life from friendship,work,love,freedom,joy and sorrow....to religion and death.

Here is an excerpt on "Work" :
"You work that you may keep pace with
the earth and the soul of the earth. For to be idle is to become
a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life’s procession
that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the
infinite.
You have been told also that life is darkness, and in your
weariness you echo what was said by the weary. And I say that
life is indeed darkness save when there is urge, And all urge
is blind save when there is knowledge. And all knowledge is
vain save when there is work, And all work is empty save when
there is love;
And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself,
and to one another, and to God. And what is it to work with
love.
It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart,
even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth. It is to build a
house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in
that house.
Often have I heard you say, as if speaking in sleep, ‘He who
works in marble, and finds the shape of his own soul in the
stone, is nobler than he who ploughs the soil. And he who
seizes the rainbow to lay it on a cloth in the likeness of man, is
more than he who makes the sandals for our feet.’
But I say, not in sleep, but in the over wakefulness of noontide,
that the wind speaks not more sweetly to the giant oaks
than to the least of all the blades of grass; And he alone is
great who turns the voice of the wind into a song made sweeter
by his own loving.
Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love
but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your
work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those
who work with joy.
For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter
bread that feeds but half man’s hunger. And if you grudge
the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in
the wine. And if you sing though as angels, and love not the
singing, you muffl e man’s ears to the voices of the day and the
voices of the night."

Long time!

Oh my god! I cannot believe it! So here I go pretending like I am a very busy person these days..No sir! I dont have the time for this blog!..well that isnt really true..It all started 1.5 months back when I was really busy at work..working 12 hours a day...6 days a week..too much for me...I gave up all my hobbies one by one..except listening to music which kept me sane...and then the habit set in..I stopped blogging..It took me a while to realise what was happening to me..I was becoming a workaholic! But still I recovered from that dreadful disease some time back and realized that I actually have a life outside my workplace...

So I have resolved to strike a balance between work and social life which is really very difficult...still I must learn not to worry too much and take a chill pill..coz its really difficult to keep everyone happy..

Anyways..everythings fine at my end..I am still very much alive and kicking..more so after a friday evening out after work :-) ..couldnt have been better..

I - Robot

"The danger of the past was that men became slaves.The danger of the future is that we may become robots."
It has been a long long time since I have blogged.I was very busy in the past few weeks at office.Many times I felt the relevance of the quote above in today's world.
So many things have been happening..Yet at this moment I dont know what to write..

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

- John Lennon

If there is one song that can rescue the world from all the madness it is this one..

Great Indian Rock Pics

Great Indian Rock

I went to attend The Great Indian Rock show on 18th Feb'06.Six bands were to perform that day including Demonic Resurrection ( I liked them for another reason..I liked their hair..They had really nice long hair.. :P Wish i could have tht ..) and Prestorika.. but they were too much for me..I liked two of them.. Medusa and Zero..Zero was particularly impressive...very good vocals.. I had the passive smoking of my life there...Almost everyone there was smoking..After the rock show i went for dinner with my friends..It was a memorable saturday ..

8 point someone

Oooh Ammey !this is a difficult one…not fair!!

The rules of the game are:

The tagged victim has to come up with eight different points of their perfect lover.
Need to mention the sex of the target.
Tag eight victims to join this game & leave a comment on their comments saying they’ve been tagged.
If tagged the second time, there is no need to post again.

So..here goes..

Sex : Male

This will be very filmy :P

1. He is Mel Gibson in BraveHeart for the bravery.

2. He is Aragorn (Viggo Mortenson) in LOTR for the character.

3. He is Aamir Khan in DCH for the attitude.

4. He is John Abrahim in Jism for the looks.

5. He is Tom Cruise in Top Gun for the cuteness.`

6. He is Keanu Reeves in Matrix for the intellect.

7. He is Hugh Jackman in Kate and Leopold for the chivalry.

8. He is Sanjay Dutt in Munnabhai MBBS for the humour.

I am tagging : Fictional Reality

On the way..

On the Top..

Team Building

I went for a team building workshop from my office on 20th Jan, Friday. It was pending for a long time. Every time I postponed it for one reason or another.It was essential for coming out of the probation period.It turned out to be a particularly unique and fun filled activity. It was almost like a party. After all how often do u go out of office on a Fridayand have fun trekking and boating while your own team is sitting in the office and slogging..

I had to get up at 4 in the morning as the cab was supposed to pick me up at 4:35 am. The cab came at about 5 am and picked up others too on the route and then we reached office a t 6:30 am.

We were 35 people in all. The organizer was a Colonel of some adventure club.We were divided into 4 teams of 8 to 9 persons each.The teams were given names - Thunderbirds, Highlanders, Trailblazers and Achievers.Each team had a responsibility.We were responsible for providing medical aid.

The activities were planned at a lake some 15 km from office. We reached the place at 9 am. Then we had breakfast and were instructed to leave our watches and cell phones in a room. The first activity was boating. There were some flags having different points that were to be collected by each team.The team having the maximum points would win. Though the entire place didn’t have much scenic beauty or greenery, still we enjoyed ourselves to the max. Then we went for trekking on some rocky mountains..the whole place was dry and arid ..with thorny bushes..the main challenge was to reach the target escaping all the thorns :P . After that we had lunch and then we had some games..

The main point that was made during the outing was that to work as a team,the team had to stick together and support each other..since most of the persons were strangers to each other, it was especially important..for a loner like me who takes time to open up to people,it was a lesson..

I would love to be here..

"It is so strange that the mind knows all the answers and all the right ways..yet sometimes u dont wanna see the truth and just do what u want"

2006!

Happy New Year!

Every year on 31st Dec,I end up looking at my last year's resolutions in my journal.And almost everytime they are not successful.So this time around I didnt make any resolution so far..

I had this new year thougth scrapped in my scrapbook on orkut.com


"It is difficult not to believe that the next year will
be better than the old one! ... And this illusion is
not wrong. Future is always good, no matter what
happens. It will always give us what we need and what
we want in secret. It will always bless us with right
gifts. Thus in a deeper sense our belief in the New
Year cannot deceive us."

And as I lay awake on my bed on 1st I thought about the
secret of happiness...

The key to happiness is to let go and not hold back..To give and
not to expect..The more u try to pursue it..the more u lose it..
One doesnt need any reason to be happy..U can be happy here and now..
Its really a state of mind.

I pray for two things to have in life - health and peace...God usually
gives us the rest as we deserve..

20 things about me

Its been so long since I wrote a post here.I was quite busy in the office on weekdays and weekends just zoomed past without me knowing whats happening..I was mostly going out with friends on weekends..and was too engrossed in work on weekdays..
I was enjoying the sleep between wakefulness and the breaks between work... :-P

Fictional Reality has tagged me.And now I am gonna write 20 thingsabout myself..not a simple task..there are so many things ..I dont know from where I should start...
1.My favourite colours are all shades of blue and pink..In fact if u have a look at my wardrobe,u ll largely see only blue and pink clothes and may be some red shades too..
2.I am a vegeterian from the past 8 years.... I love animals and like observing them..I especially like cats and birds..sparrows.. In fact my friends were so taken by my fascination for cats that they gifted me a toy cat on my last birthday..
3.My greatest passion is music..listening and singing..I feel best when I am listening ot my favourite music.. I can listen to any genre..anything that appeals to me.. There are too many favourites..But I like rock best..
4.I have been writing a journal from the time I was in my 9th standard.. I used to write very regularly in those times.. And I got to know myself a lot better due to that.. But now I write very infrequently..only when I feel like.. I basically like writing...I write poems too when I feel like it.. 5.I was always a sincere and good student in my school and college.. Though now I wonder I could have been less sincere..
6.The funniest thing that happened to me when I was a kid- I fell head along in a pool of water while I was trying to put a paper boat in it..I got some bruises on my head..
7.I used to paint when I was a kid..Then I started sketching too... But then I dont do it anymore..it takes a lot of time..
8.I get angry easily .But then I also know how to control it.
9.I am quite impatient.Especially when I have to do some work, I jump straight to do it and try to complete it as soon as possible..but it becomes draining at times..
10.I hate winters.
11.I think a lot and as a result of it,I worry a lot generally... But I also analyse things a lot..which helps me to understand them better..I am not a lazy thinker...I mean I dont escape thinking just for the sake of keeping my cool...this sounds weird..
12.I am a night bird..in the sense that I feel freshest at midnight and worst in the morning..
13.My friends have given me the title of PJ Queen due to my habit of cracking silly jokes and one liners..
14.I love nature..trees..forests..flowers..
15.I believe in the doing everything in moderation.. Excess of anything either disgusts or bores me.. I also believe in being disciplined..though I am not perfectly so..
16.I like reading books..particularly non-fiction and philosophy and spirituality..
17.I generally expect a lot from friends..but I am trying to reduce my expectations as expectations invariably brings disappointments..
18.I have this curious habit of hitting my very close friends playfully..
19.I still like watching cartoons..Rugrats,Hey Arnold are my favourites..
20.I recently chose my new nickname - Nue (pronounced as New) - Neha Ultra Edition.

A ferrari in my office..

There is a Titanic in my cubicle! (During Floor decoration in my office)

Diwali Rangoli in my office.

This is how one of the cubicles in my office looked after the floor decoration competition...


It has been a long time now since i updated my blog .I had a lot of fun in the past few weeks in the festive season.I got a lot of leaves from office and had a very good time on Diwali.

Particularly the week from 24th Oct to 28th Oct was very busy..:-) ...In my company,we had some sort of fest.In fact,it was just like those college fests.We had events like dance,skits,music events and games for the first four days in the evening and then on the last day we had a floor decoration competition in the office and then a grand party in the night.I participated in a skit and did a song duet.It was great fun.And then in the following week we had a lot of holidays.

The floor decoration competition was very interesting.Flextronics is spread over 8 plots.Every year before Diwali,there is a plot decoration competition and there is a new theme every year for the decoration.This year the theme was "Bollywood meets Hollywood".At first i was not concerned with the competition and found the whole thing pretty frivolous.But then I shortly realized the seriousness of the matter when a meeting was called to discuss the strategy and ideas for the decoration.I was roped in for the decoration.And then funds were collected and a lot of stationery was bought...thermocole sheets,sketch pens,paints and what not..There are 3 floors in my plot and we decided to decorate the first 2 only.It was all very extensive.we started on 27th evening and finished on 28th evening.We created the sets for hindi and english movies in the cubicles.At the end of it all,office was not looking like office anymore..Then the judges for the competition came on 28th evening and someone showed them around according to a prewritten script.The decoration was done based on a script. :-P

nature..

just yesterday i was mailing my friend about an experience in Ooty and this is what i wrote..

it was during the month of july..
the weather was rainy...
we went to the highest peak in Ooty..
and then while returning,we came down through a forest...
there was a road alongside the forest...
but we preferred to walk thru the forest..
and it was lovely
there were so many green and tall trees..
and the ground was mostly covered in algae..
the weather was lovely
we were a group of 4 ppl
and there was no one else around
it was quite peaceful
and the weather was lovely
i still remember the time
the smell and the nip in the air...
thts wat nature does to u ..
makes u at peace and brings out the sense of wonder in u...

Hovering on Crossroads

Last weekend i went to meet my college friends , and i found my long lost poem tht i gave one of my friends to keep.I had won a prize in creative writing for it in my second semester in college.

Hovering On Crossroads

Here I am

Standing on crossroads of life

All the hopes be damned

I know I m lost.

In throes of pain

Of loneliness and betrayal

All those dreams went in vain

Oh, what a death my little hope died.

There was sound of laughter

And agony of tears

And a few moments after

There is nothing I can hear.

No longer is anyone around

No longer do I feel the touch

I do want to hear some sound

Now, I have had just too much.

Who would show me the light?

So I’d see which way to choose

Who would encourage me to fight?

And assure me I’ve nothing to lose?

Looking deep within I saw a figure

It was nothing but my hidden strong self

I can rely on it, as I know it won’t wither

No matter how strong the storms may be.

The greatest wisdom is hidden in me

To guide me through all the ways

I only have to pause and see

And brave though thick and thin days.

So realization dawns on me

And it surely surprises me to see

That the strength I needed was always there

So now I can be happy and here.

Now I have nothing to fear

For my own self will give me the strength I need

To excel, to cry, to laugh, to lead

And to make my own way, hovering on crossroads of life.