Happiness is a blog post

Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions. -- The Dalai Lama

It is very easy to be unhappy --- just watch a cricket match involving India, or pick up a newspaper and both or either of them may make you unhappy.

So here are some of the my actions which makes me happy.

• Let us begin in the very beginning of the day. If I get up instantly on hearing the alarm set on my mobile (which is, btw, set for 5:45 a.m.), I feel happy. But this is quite rare, maybe just once or twice in a week. I mostly hit the snooze button.
• Over the past many years, I have been taking 7:20 a.m. train (now you know why the alarm is set at 5:45 a.m.) to commute to work. The train is unbelievably crowded even at such an early hour, and it is such a struggle to board the train. But I don't know why I like this train and try not to miss it. I feel happy if I managed to travel by this particular train.
• After reaching my office, the first thing I do is to dash off to our excellent canteen. There is a particular seat in the canteen, which is my favourite, from where one gets an excellent view of Arabian Sea. If I happen to occupy it, I feel happy. Coffee, Toast with Butter and a beautiful view can make anyone happy in the mornings.
• A hard day's work at office, with minimum goofing or wasting of time on non-consequential things makes me happy. Honestly.
  
• I feel happy when I listen to any RD or SD Burman song, at work or at home. As I am composing this post, I am listening to a fabulous RD song `Panna ki tamana hai ke heera mujhe mil jaye .... and I feel happy.
  
• I feel happy when I do not overstay at office in the evening and reach home on time, that is 7:35 p.m. Oh how happy I feel to see my wife and childrens. I hope they too feel happy to see me. If I reach on time, I get a royal reception from them, if I am late even by half an hour, I have lot of explanation to do.
  
• After dinner, we, that is I, my wife and children go to our building's terrace for a stroll. Nowadays it is sooo hot during the day, the cold breeze in late evening just makes me happy and makes me smile.
• And yes, I do feel happy composing a blog post like this, which I am sure no one will read, but since it is written, let it be there ...
  

BTW, this is my 300th post.

What a Song

he maine kasam lee, he toone kasam lee
nahee honge judaa, hum

What a romantic song from the movie Tere Mere Sapne, which starred Dev Anand and Mumtaz. Only great S.D. Burman could have composed this song, and Neeraj could have written such a simple lyrics. The picturisation of the song, which is mostly on a cycle, is wonderful. The video of the song is below. Hear the song, and remember some one you love, and had loved once.

Cross-posted from my other blog Raju's World

Long Weekend Diary

This is my diary for the (long) weekend of March 17, 18 and 19.

This week it was a holiday on Monday, March 19 on account of Gudi Padwa, which is Maharashtraian New Year. Normally on the same day, it is Cheti Chand, but this year it was on Tuesday, that is one day after. So belated Happy New Year to all the Maharashtraian and the Sindhi readers of this Blog.

As my son, Sachin's Board exam for Standard X are going on, there is virtual ban on putting on TV at our home. We have to maintain utmost silence, least Sachin is disturbed with his last minute revision of his studies. I managed to catch same action of the World Cup Cricket 2007 match of India-Bangladesh match on Saturday, which India eventually lost. The media coverage of reaction of fans after the match made for sad reading. At many places the posters of Indian cricketers were burn and at Ranchi the under construction home of Indian wicketkeeper, M.S. Dhoni, was damaged. Well, these people are not fans of Indian cricket team, but just fanatics, and they just did what any fanatic would do in any part of the world. But really cricket is just a game in which the team which plays better wins. On that day, Bangladesh simply played well, bowled well and even fielded well, and the Indian team just played badly, and thus lost. Indian team redeemed itself somewhat, in their next match with Bermuda. Let us see how India plays with Sri Lanka, and if it can qualify for the next stage of the World Cup. My hunch is it will be South Africa, which may walk away with the World Cup this time.

On Monday I heard the sad news about death of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer. There are media reports about suspicious nature of his death. Rest in peace Bob.

Pakistan is now out of the World Cup after their defeat by Ireland. Ireland is not even a Test playing nation, and they managed to defeat Pakistan. Maybe Pakistan just defeated itself. Their exit means that there will be no India-Pakistan match in the World Cup.

I seems to be reading too many newspapers on the weekend -- Hindustan Times, DNA, Times of India along with which comes horrible Mumbai Mirror. I must restrict my reading to just one or two newspaper on the weekend. Anyway, barring for few articles, the rest of the Sundays papers are just not worth reading. After reading these newspapers, you are none the wiser at the end of the day.

About food --- last Monday we had Sai Bhaji with Koki. I cajoled my wife to make Thaynri, which taste great with Sai Bhaji, and should be eaten on Cheti Chand, but in vain. She does not want to prepare anything sweet, to safeguard Sachin's health during his exam.

Cricket ke liye kuch bhi karega

The Telegraph, Kolkata reports:

The Meghalaya power department has decided to reschedule its loadshedding timings to enable people to enjoy the biggest event of the sport, the World Cup.

Power supply, which has been disrupted in the city for five hours from midnight for the past month, will now be cut off for three hours from 3 am, at least till the mega event is over.

Cricket ke liye kuch bhi karega. To have power cut from midnight is crazy, in the first place, Even crazier is to have it from 3 a.m. for cricket. But, then, cricket is not a sport in India, it is almost a religion.

This is my diary for the weekend of March 10 - 11, 2007.

I read somewhere that mention of word Blog means people think the person will write about what he eat for breakfast. So let me tell you what I had for breakfast last Saturday: it was jawar-ke-roti, which in Sindhi we call `Dhodha'. It is really very tasty. It is made as a normal roti, but, of course, wheat flour is substituted by jawar flour, with extra oil or ghee, and green corian·der and fresh garlic added. And we had the famous Sindhi `Sai Bhaji' with sindhi rice Bhugal Chanvaar or Brown rice for the lunch. Oh bliss. If you had a Sindhi friend, do insist to him or her to treat you to Sai Bhaji and Bhugal Chanvaar. After that I had good two hours siesta. On Saturday I heard the good news that the concerned authorities have very kindly reduced the load-shedding by half an hour. So instead of seven and half hours, it will now be seven hours, every day. Oh thanks for the small mercies.

More on food: on Sunday I had purchased thick carrots for Gaajar ka Halwa. But since Sachin, my son, is appearing for his Std. X exam, which will begin on this Tuesday, March 13, my wife was reluctant to make it, as it is quite time consuming. She wanted to sit with Sachin and supervise his revision of his studies. After much cajoling, she agreed, but on condition that I will mesh them and also oversee the cooking of the halwa. So, dear reader, I took up the meshing of the carrots and it took up about 45 minutes to mesh one and half kilos of carrots, and maybe one hour for cooking. So this is the end-of-season Gaajar Ka Halwaa for us. We will enjoy it for few days.

Cross-posted from my other Blog Raju's World

Bleak Tuesdays & Thursdays

Life, interrrupted
7:59 p.m.,
any Tuesday or Thursday

Ulhasnagar, where I live, has load-shedding every day of the week for seven and half hours. Tuesdays and Thursdays are special for us, as electric power goes at 1:30 p.m. in the afternoon, sharp, and returns at 9:00 p.m. in the evening, sharp. There is complete darkness all around, as even the street lights too are put out during the time of load-shedding*. The same pattern is repeated on Thursdays. This has been so since the third week of December last year. God knows, how long this will be like. Maybe for eternity. It is really a sad state of affairs. While Bombay city has uninterrrupted power supply, places like Thane and New Mumbai goes without power for four and half hours, but mostly during day time. It is places like Kalyan, Dombivali, Ulhasnagar and Ambernath, which goes without power for longer duration, mostly in the evenings.

For the record the following are the timings of load-shedding in the area where I live.

Every Monday: 6:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Every Tuesday: 1:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Every Wednesday: 6:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Every Thursday: 1:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Every Friday: 6:00 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. AND 5:15 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Every Saturday: 6:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Every Sunday: 9:45 a.m. to 5:15 p.m.

I have put the above table for my own record and to just check if the situation improves next month or it worsens. More likely it will be latter. With approaching hot months of April and May, I wonder what will happen. The demand for power will rise and so will be the hours of load-shedding. Situation is already bleak in rural areas, with load-shedding of 12 hours every day.

The root cause of this is that during the past seven years there is almost no change in the additional power generation sources, while the demand for the power is increasing every year. Obviously, the present Maharashtra Government is to be blamed for the sorry state-of-affairs.

Life, resumes
9:15 pm.
any Tuesday or Thursday

*load-shedding = the deliberate shutdown of electric power in a part or parts of a power-distribution system, generally to prevent the failure of the entire system when the demand strains the capacity of the system. (source: dictionary.reference.com)

Happy Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day. Wish all the women readers of this blog, a happy Women's Day. I wonder if there are any readers of this Blog. There is one confirmed reader, that is me, of this Blog. Sigh. Anyway, if you happen to bump into this Blog, by mistake or by design, and if you happen to be a woman, do today what your heart tells you, and be happy. But that you should do every day, not just on Women's Day.

Agar Tum Na Hote ...

Hamein aur jeene ki chaahat na hoti
Agar tum na hote, agar tum na hote

What a great song, composed, by who else, than Panchamda, from the movie Agar Tum Na Hote. It happens to be my favourite song, but it is the most favourite song of my wife. Whenever she hears this, she just stop and looks and looks at me. Well, thank you Panchamda for creating such a beautiful composition and to Gulshan Bawraji for writing wonderful lyrics of the song. And last, but not the least, thanks Kishore Kumarji for your unusually good playback singing of this song.

The video of the song is below. Note the funny facial expression of Rajesh Kahnna, which somehow kills the song, but the song is saved by ever graceful Rekha.