The TED Video which inspired me to write Poems

The TED video which inspired me to write poems. Billy Collins Talk about his project of mixing poems with animations. I remember, the first time I watched it, I could clearly understand his poems in the first go(some that rarely happened before) and I was able to appreciate how poems can be a wonderful medium to share thoughts. I guess, after that I started writing my own and look forward to many more.

Enjoy
Amit

Eric Clapton - Wonderful Tonight

Integrity

I was reading through this article (Student returns check for a half-billion dollars) and in the comments section I found something worth sharing with my readers.

No one Cares says:
I recently took the train to the local football game. You buy the ticket on the honor system. My son asked “DAD other people are just walking on not paying. My response, son certain people have integrity. You can be one or not. You have to live with your choices in life.

Take Care.

On similar note. Al Pacino's speech in Scent of a Woman.

 

Music & Poetry Jamming

Here's another experiment with my poetry passion. Curran on Guitar & Seth on Soprano.

Never before my I felt so supported for my amateurish poems. The company and the music made all the difference and I look forward to doing some more writing now since I have these great musicians to join me :).

Let me know how you feel about this.

Enjoy

Amit

What defines our Success?

Many a times we do many things but seldom get success in good ratio. Ever thought, what could be the root cause? Well, I am able to see things more clear after watching this short video of Swami Chinmayananda, the founder of Chinmaya Mission. He explains in crisp and logical sense, what decides our success in any activity and what is it that we need to tune.

Also, just for a note, for a time being, even if you are an atheist, I am sure you don't plug your ears to rational and logical discussions and hence, don't worry too much about this man's title and orange robe. Just listen with no prejudice but with open mind and let me know what you think. Its fine if you disagree, there is still some thought processing :).

What should I mourn for?

Here's a picture of a poor family( a baby girl and a father), trying to make both ends meet.

If your sorrow is not bigger than this one, don't shed tears. Don't feel bad if your favorite toy is broken, if your friends just bypassed you, if you didn't make a great grade in school or if you lost someone who was not sure if he/she loved you as deeply as you. Its not worth it. 

There are many more important causes for which we should hold on to our tears for. There are some really nice people who are fighting for people rights, animal rights, right to education, fighting against corruption etc. They are the people whom we should sincerely show our love to and for whom we should stand as a strong pillar of support. That's where we can find a better meaning to our life. Life always gives a second chance and only if you hold on to this faith, you will be surprised to see, how beautiful life is.

Sometimes we fail to see he bigger picture because we are so involved in one problem of our life. We think our whole life is dependent upon one thing and let me tell you guys, its a matter of pity that my life is just about one small thing. Rather I think it should be about a big vision. A vision as humble as providing a free eduction to one poor child, vision of fighting against corruption, vision of being an honest politician who is going to change the life of its people,  vision of making a great scientific discovery which will relief the pain of this world and make it more bearable for people to go through their life.

I am just amazed by the idea that how much time we are spending worrying about a person whom we thought as the perfect partner, but didn't think the same. I know some of my friends who take a beating in their professional career, on their health, on their family to keep thinking about this one person who may/maynot be the best one. And let me be honest, "the best one", "the perfect match", "made for each other" etc are commercial words of hollywood and it creates a skewed image of life partner in our head. What I feel is, a partner for life is someone for whom you have unwavering commitment, a 110% trust and faith that everything will turn out fine even if thing look challenging at present because you are not alone in the fight.

Sometime back, if you would have asked me "What is Love?", my answer would have been "I don't know what is love, but I consider it synonymous to, I Respect You" for its own reasons. But today after going through a short trip to this unknown island, I know how to define Love.

A love doesn't care who you are. It doesn't care if you have done many mistakes in past as long as you know it was unintentional and you share a bond of trust. A love is not about giving lots of gifts to keep your relationship alive, it is not about who pays the bill on your date, its not about what outfit your wear, how you talk. It goes beyond all this. It surpass these.

So, let's vow to mourn for right reason, to fight for right reason and to love for right reason. We as some privileged humans, also have responsibility towards uplifting the life of those who were unlucky to born in their families who cannot fulfill the basic needs. Only if the vision of life is big, it gives us inspiration to live and enjoy our achievement with many more people around. Our life will be more lived more worthwhile if we look beyond our needs and try to make some positive change to the world around us.

Peace!.

Note : Picture Courtesy Rohit Choudhary's facebook album and internet for dog and cat one.

There's music in the air

There's music in the air
The occasion is Lowell festival
Infront of the stage you have
Crowds,  you have us

Sitting on ground with no fear of dirty clothes
We both enjoy the music
I see you keenly
You dont notice me at all

You are absorbed in music
You're tapping feet
You're swaying head
You're happy

I am glad I have your company
I am happy we came for this
There's no better way to know each other
There's no better way to bond

I see we gonna last long
We gonna remember this day
With joy, with warmth
We will cherish our togetherness

How to choose school for MS in US

A friend of mine sent a mail asking me to shortlist the university from the big list he sent me for MIS Program and this was my response.

Now that's a tough question because I am not in that program but MIS is more of management studies in IT and people end up becoming Business Analyst.

There are few factors on which the college should be decided. The order is in priority.

1. Availibility of courses of interest.
2. Availability of Prof. in area of interest.
3. Proximity to Companies of Interest as this will help to get internships and thereafter job.
4. Ranking of University : A higher rank will make you look lucrative and get you more intellectual campus crowd.

Look into these and then decide any college. Its an important decision.

Sorry I am not of much help in this. Hope you understand.

Cheers

Hope it helps few.

Take Care

Amit

My Friend

My Friend
-------------

When I am sad, I think of you
When I am happy, I think of you
The longing for you is ever
The sight of you is joy forever

We started as journeymen in school bus
Sharing few minutes of joy
From home to school and back
Waiting each day holding your seat

One day you said, "I like him"
I confronted, "No you cannot, because I like him more"
You grimly suggested. "Ok..Morning yours, Night mine"
and I said.."No. Night is mine"

In many occasions we fought
In each of them we reconciled
Compromising on few, Laughing on rest
Never we separated

One day, You moved on,
You changed school, 
You changed home
Leaving me alone

At times, I wait outside my house
Looking far left, Hoping for your return
Thereby we could be together
We could be friends forever

How money motivation can actually be harmful in some profession.

Some recent pictures

Here's some pictures from Spring Carnival'12 at UMASS Lowell. I was all by myself and had fun.

New Entry.

Summer
Her White Nails
Her White Nails with red paint
Her White Toes
Her White Toes with Colorful Sandals

You could say summer has started
Or could say summer is anticipated
Either way, she is excited
Excited she is

Prepared to go for a long walk
Prepared to let her hair play with air
She is waiting for semester to end and summer to begin
for she could lie on ground, with toes shining red and hair brown


Memory
There is sadness in her eyes, for she could see through windows
Kids playing on the ground
Reminding to her
How joyful was she then.

The imagination took her to one moment
With father in a nearby park
She swinging on a rope
While him pushing from the back

Tears come to her eyes
For he is no more near
To push her higher
To hold her tight

The future of formal education is exciting.

If you have been on the disadvantage side of receiving quality education and great teachers, you will not regret living in this century.

With the onset of many quality online course providers like https://www.coursera.org/  or http://www.udacity.com/ , you can learn close to what student at elite schools learn. This is just the beginning and I anticipate further revolution where the entire education will happen sitting at home via internet.

I want to share my experience with the very first course that was announced last year. It was Artificial Intelligence by two Stanford Professors Peter Norvig & Sebastian Thurn (the autonomous car DARPA challenge man). It was a great experience to learn from the leaders and I specially enjoyed the applicability of the teachings I had. They did fine job in explaining each topic in detail and supporting each idea with a real life example and not just some hypothesis.

I look forward to taking many more courses online as I know they are worth the time and they are best and free(how can I forget that). I am thrilled to be born in this generation where education is getting democratized and I can compete with the best in the world which otherwise I couldn't.

I would encourage you  have a look at both the links and start this wonderful journey of learning from masters with one course of your interest. Its gonna be fun and maybe we could have a google hangout where you could share your excitement with me and motivate me to take classes with you. I would say that would be a perfect date :D.

Take Care.

Life of Prayer

Here's a summary of Chapter 11, Life of Prayer from the book of "We Must" presented as part of Chinmaya Mission Pune weekly group study class.

Transcript of the Video:-

Hari Om to Swami Jee and everyone present. My topic for today's discussion is "Life of Prayer". Like in each chapter of We Must, Gurudev has emphasized upon a particular aspect of life, in this he talk about Prayer.

My first questions is, why at all we need to Pray?

How I understand is, like the physical body, which get's cleaned every morning under shower and set out for a fulfilling day, mind does equal amount of work, if not more and hence there are times we might be physically active but mentally exhausted. To replenish mind for a fresh start, daily shower does not work out. As we still remember the pain of yesterday.

For mind to re-vitalize, it needs stimulation. For that, we need to study inspiring scriptures which have the potential to calm our mind and make out self emotionally strong. It is no magic. Many a times we feel relaxed by being all alone. Mental silence is what we gain with reading the scriptures.

The effect of this activity cannot be measured in scientific units. They are perceived. Prayers have the potential of transforming someone's behavior because it promotes contemplation and evaluation of self.

Talking about other necessity of why we should do prayers, Prayer help us control our desires. You may question why do we need to control them at all. Aren't they our natural behavior. The answer is, indeed they are but they are also the reason for pain. Fulfillment of one desire breeds a new one and the seeker is in  a never ending cycle of fulfillment of desires and one day he will be frustrated with himself.

Man is capable of higher achievements in life. He is capable of doing everything his/her mind could perceive. The only blocking stone on his/her is their self-doubt which is a product of mind.

Prayer, like I said is mental gym-ing. It helps us flex our mental muscle and prepare ourselves to for higher achievements in life. It cleans the mind of self-doubt, instill confidence and calmness.

Prayer help us connect to supreme self. We should embrace it with love and tune our mental self to his message through scriptures. There's only one output of this effort and it is reaching higher.

It will be strange to say but I will be honest. I do pray regularly but not sincerely. It is more of a mantra-jaap we hear in marriages. With this discussion I would like to convince myself and convince you that it is a worthwhile effort to be pursued with full faith onto him for reaching your best potential.

Thank you & Hari Om.

Brown Skirt

Brown skirt with white berries on it.
She is quiet and intense.
Always sitting equidistant from me.
Confusing me, is it love of the furniture or me.

She looks up, catching a glimpse of what's around.
Holding a water can and sipping as if making an excuse.
Studious she is, Immersed in her work.
Scanning the pages and reading sometimes.

At times she hold her pink pen wondering what to write
Scribbling a bit here, a bit there.
Taking a deep breath, as if the long journey has ended.
Only to bring a brief smile on her face.

I tried speaking to her, each time took step back
Fearing, what if she stop coming.
I fail to focus but I know she is far.
Far from being mine, far from being yours.

How to set Goal in Life?

Swami Chinmayananda, a hindu spiritual leader talk about "What is true Work?". I often visit this lecture to remind myself of what should be my attitude towards my work and life. At one point he says "You should never reach your Goal". Check out the video to know why?

Enjoy.
Amit

I don't mind scars.

Name : Om Prakash Yadav,
Age : 11
State: Uttar Pradesh, India
Award : Sanjay Chopra Award for saving children out of a burning van

Yadav has burn marks all over his face. On September 4, 2010, he was going to school along with other students in a Maruti van. But all of a sudden, the van caught fire because of a short circuit in the gas kit.

The driver immediately opened his door and fled. But not Yadav.

He broke open the van door and pulled out the others, caring little about the flames that had spread to his face, back and arms.

"I could feel fire burn my body but then I could hear the cries of my friends who were still caught inside the van. I threw my bag and entered to pull them out," he says.

He saved eight children.

Source : Internet.
====

Fools

Some get love too easily to realize how Big Fool they are to just let it go after all the years of commitments over demanding parents. Fools.

The child is grown, the dream is gone.

A friend of mine posted on facebook

"The child is grown, the dream is gone."

 It means a lot.

A Plan is a Plan only if it is thorough & written

I thought, "Well I know what I am going to do in next 7 days, I don't need to spend time on writing that on a piece of paper with hourly target, that's waste of time. I would rather spend that time on achieving my target".

I was so wrong. I drifted. There was no clear goal. I felt I could easily achieve what I am set out for in few hours of day and wont require full 24 hours.

Let me confess friends, I didn't utilize last 3 days. It went wastefully. I had no target to motivate me. I spent time leisurely. Now I am doubtful if I will be able to achieve what I wanted as the no. of days have suddenly shortened.

Every time I miss on plan, I remember an incident from my job days where I was in the committee of people arranging for business event for the employees and I saw my manager going by nanoseconds( OK, I exaggerated but it was surely in seconds), on each event timing and execution. Initially I thought, what a fool he is to be so pricking but after the wonderful success of the event I realized how right he was and what role his thorough plan played.

Unless I change myself it is going to happen repeatedly. As said in one quote "Life will keep repeating the lessons until you learn from it".

Why Start Early

Recently I learned the importance of "starting early". One morning I woke up at my first alarm and not waited for second alarm which was due 15 mins later. I told myself, "Amit, it is good to start early" and I was up and got myself ready for the conference I had to attend in Boston.

After I got ready, I waited for public transport but none were in sight and when I looked up their website, it was day off for them. Little anxious, I called up campus police for escort service and they were not servicing either. The lady police suggested if she could get me cab but I said "No, it will be very expensive. Thank You." Now, I decided to walk to railway station as it would take 45 mins which means I will be reaching 3 mins before my train departs from my station.

The good part was, I was not anxious but very calm and steady. With confidence to catch the train, I was walking briskly and kept my GPS on to help me correct in case I was going in wrong direction or path which was not shortest. On the way I asked a lady (who was about to enter her car) for directions to train station just to be doubly sure. My mental directions got confirmed and I resumed my journey. After sometime, while walking down the street I saw the same lady waving and asking if I need ride and I said "Only if you are going in same direction" and hopped inside she car. A small talk followed where she said "I still believe in giving lift to people even though the world has become a big crime place now". I nodded but at the same time got into thinking, "The problems are the same be it India or US. US is 100 times safer than India in terms of police response to crime but look here I am meeting someone who is bothered with the exact same thing what people back home are bothered with. Isn't life problems are similar(if not same) everywhere." Anyways we reached the station and I bid he goodby and thanked her. Next I had to wait for half and hour for my train. In the mean time I spent time reading a conference paper my professor asked me to read and give my opinion.

Coming back to the motivation of this blog, I realized that this control over the situation is due to the fact that I woke up in the first alarm and not waited for final alarm to buzz. This gave me lot of time and I was capable of absorbing any unforeseen situation. Doing things early could be boring and its benefits are mostly unnoticed until we start cramming in last moment which results in stress and anger and frustration and god knows what not.

P.S. It takes me more than one experience to change and hence I am not sure if this will change me.

I Dare

Let the New Year Begin with many Dares...

P.S : NYE = New Year Eve.