Sooo Loong

Its been a while since my last entry. Life has been a bit hectic still seams like not much has happened. It is a phase typical to a parent of an infant.

Last 4 or 5 months have been centered around my daughter Zuni. Everyday with her has been special and every new thing she does is memorable. I try to capture as much as I can in my camera, rest is in my memory.

Last week Ruqu, Zuni and I had a small getaway to Pondicherry. It was an ideal getaway for 3 days. Mostly relaxed, swam and checked out the beach. Zuni was really excited to see the water come at her whenever we went to the beach. Though she does not understand whats really happening. Overall it was her first vacation and it was memorable for Ruqu as she had to enjoy and take care of Zuni at the same time.

For me it was an interesting drive. 80% of the road is amazing. 20% of the road is a nightmare. The stretch between Krishnagiri and Thiruvannamalai is very bumpy. Especially when there is a little baby crying, I would not recomend anyone to take that route.

Now that Ruqu and Zuni have gone to Hyderabad for few days, life is going slow. With Zuni, I hardly find any freetime. Time just passes playing with her. I don't feel like doing anything else that talk to her. Last week has gone much slower than my last month. Hopefully next few days will fly and I will make use of this opportunity to finish some of the pending tasks that I could not when she was around.

Work wise, life is going pretty slow. Not much happening at work but lots in store. Looking forward to the interesting days ahead.

Personally, I am going through a phase when I am trying to learn as much as possible about different spheres of life through staying in touch with some smart bloggers, tweeters etc. But I now feel that is not an ideal way to learn anything. It only helps one get aware about the events happening around. Learning is not that easy. One needs to go through the authentic sources of information available.

Everything combined, my life has been very static over the last year or so. Everything has got a bit repetative. I am looking some drastic changes professionally. I am really waiting to go out of my comfort zone. I feel the change is round the corner.

The High's and Low's

Last few weeks have been very sad for a fan of the Indian cricket team. Team India has gone through one of its worst phases in more than a decade. A number of reasons could be attributed for this dismal show. Most prominent being the hectic schedule planned by the BCCI. BCCI has treated the cricketers like the 'Golden eggs laying Goose'. Everything has been done to kill the Goose.

Main driving force behind such planning is that BCCI is filled with industrialists, politicians, etc. in key positions. Though their organizational and management skills have helped promoting and acquiring required infrastructure for the game, they have put the cart before the horse by making cricket a pure business.

Dhoni, the captain cool has looked clueless while all his henchmen are getting injured. Most probably, the current tour of England has witnessed the biggest team India squad ever for a single tour. Life can really be hard sometimes.

All said and done, I think the Indian cricketers, fans and BCCI should look at this as a lesson. A new start with the premise that 'Resting on laurels is not the way forward'. We need to prioritise quality of cricket over the financial gains. If quality of cricket is compromised, we stand to lose in the long run.

Take a leaf of Stuart Broad's book. He was hammered for 6 6's in an over in the T20 WC of 2007. He has come a long way since. No matter where we stand we can always bounce back. Just that we need to be honest with ourself and be realistic but ambitious. We have the ability but that alone is not enough. Planning and efforts in the right direction are very important.

I am sure, not just the Team India but everybody will go through a slump. The slump is not "The End". We need to take a lessons from our yesterday and live to fight again tomorrow. A fighting/sportive spirit is a prerequisite to victory.

Eid Mubarak

The holy month of Ramadan has just finished and it has been a really good month. Especially since the work load at work place was fairly relaxed, I could give more time to reading the Quran with understanding. And I must say if you put your mind to it, it is not difficult at all. Another positive being I could get my life a bit more disciplined. However, some effort is needed to continue with the momentum.

Most important part is that, this is my first Eid with my daughter Zunaira. She has been such a big change in both Ruqu's and my life. It has been truly an amazing experience to witness and infant grow day by day. She is 4 months old now and a complete bundle of joy. Though she keeps us on our toes, she makes sure that the day is filled with extremely happy moments.

I had a good break from the monotony of work for the last 5 days and Feel extremely lazy to get started again. Still have to get started and maybe plan a vacation sometime next month with Zunu and Ruqu. Bye till then.

Blessed month is here

We are already into the 1st week of Ramadan. The most interesting month in the muslim world. Interesting because of several reasons. Main reason being, we see the entire community go about the daily activities in unison. Most of the people fast and the spirituality goes a notch higher. Most who would not normally pray become regular with prayer. Especially the sight in the mosques at the night prayer is very refreshing. The taravih time is the best time of the day when each of one wants to stand in prayer, listen to the Quran al Kareem being recited and also seek forgiveness for our sins in unison. It indeed is the king of all months in the Islamic calendar.

Another aspect that makes this month one of its kind is the real tasty food available for Iftar's. Most of the food items that are forgotten for rest of the year make an entry during this month. Especially Haleem is a speciality dish especially in Hyderabad that makes ita culinary delight. It makes me think do we eat to fast or fast to eat?

I feel apart from the atmosphere one needs to understand spirit of this month more holistically. It is the month when the Quran al Kareem was revealed and one who believed was commanded to fast. It should be a month dedicated to practice self restraint. One should understand what hunger means and the pain of the less fortunate. It is a time when one should try to read/understand the Quran al Kareem. Understand the message it has for the humanity.

It is the time to introspect ourself, repent for our sins and reform for the better.

This is when most people donate maximum in charity. I think the charity should be directed towards those who genuinely need it and towards making our society a more equitable one.

Overall one should 'Sieze the moment' and make this month count with respect to our Akhirat. It is indeed a fact we cannot ignore.

Seize the moment

As cliche'd as it may sound, Last few months have been full of changes. But change is the only constant thing in life and it is a part of growing up. Also, I have longed like never before to get back to my student days and enjoy wthout any responsibilities. These are quite often thoughts that hover on your mind when you are not able to adapt to the present situation and want to get back to your comfort zone. But destiny more often than not takes you where it has to take you and it is upto the individual either to embrace it or to sulk about 'What could have been'.

This weekend was a very refreshing one. Especially after pretty hectic weeks and weekends recently. I decided to catch up with Srikanth/Nam over Zindagi na milegi dobara. Though I have not watched many movies in the last few months, it was a perfect break from the monotony. And what a movie it was especially looking at my hectic schedule of late. First of all, it was about something I've been looking forward to for quite sometime now. A 'Road Trip' through an unknown land. The movie recreated "Dil Chahta Hai" experience. An experience of relationship's and journey of life. A road trip is more often than not a metaphor for life. One goes through the journey, has various experiences., gets attached to various things and people and also has to detach. But the journey has to continue.

One thing I learnt is, not matter how busy life gets one has to have sometime to sit back and reflect about the priorities in life. One might work like a maniac but works to live and not lives to work. Those little moments with friends and family are so much more important than the rat race we are all a part of. It is never too late to start doing something you enjoy. In my case, I just love to swim. I look forward to scubadive/deep sea dive and experience some other adventures as well. There is so much to life but our worries keep us from going for it. Not always there is an opportunity for everything. But whenever an opportunity comes by, one has to "Seize the moment" and make the most of it.

The movie was a big motivating factor this weekend. Srikanth, Nam and I decided to start running next morning. And boy it was quite a run. We managed to run two full rounds around Lalbagh(about 4-5 kms). We plan to run a marathon sometime soon. I really hope to keep the momentum going after next month(Ramazan). Perhaps, Srikanth will have his shot at the marathon sooner than me. I hope he manages to do it.

I think instead of cribbing over the missed opportunities, it is better to snatch everything that comes by. Life always gives us an inch. It is upto us if we make it a mile or let it slip by. This post reflects my thoughts right now. I would love to translate it to action. Will definitely post when it translates to action.

Cheers...

An interesting beginning

Last few weeks have brought some really important changes in my life. Most important one among them is arrival of my little Zunaira. She was born on 3rd May 2011 in Hyderabad. She has truly made life more interesting and my family complete. She is still in Hyderabad with Ruqu and I long to go see her at the first opportunity.

Being a father is definitely a life changing experience. Though many of my friends have not taken the leap yet, I think the joy of having your little bundle of joy beats any thrill and the responsibilities that come along are really worth it.

On the work front, it has been end of one project and my manager wants me involved in another project 50-50. I am really scared of these 50-50 allocations as they are not really 50-50 but rather 100-100 ending up extracting 200% of your time. This is not something I wanted especially with Zuni's arrival. Still I think I will give it a best shot as I really need to learn time managenent and balancing between priorities. I hope this is an opportunity for me to learn how to manage limited availability or resources(especially time) in the most efficient way.

Another new beginning has been with swimming. I have started and stopped my regular swimming a million times. This time hopefully it is permanently a part of my life even when Ruqu and Zuni are back from Hyderabad. Hope not to mention swimming in my blog again.

Overall life has been interesting. Zuni's arrival has definitely brought many changes. Along with the joy her arrival has brought, I wish and pray for God almighty for mercy and blessings. Ameen.

World Cup and beyond

First of all congradulations to team India for winning the World Cup. One generation has grown up since we the world champions last. It has been long since we lifted the cup last and it has been a special moment. Especially at a time when there have been so much more going wrong in this world, world cup victory has been a rare moment when the entire country celebrated together.

Though out then tournament I have had my reservations about the format of the tournament. I felt that this tournament did not reward consistency as much as the previous editions. I believe this tournament was about rising to the ocassion especially in the knock out stage. Though one might feel a team like New Zealand, who had a complete whitewash in the sub-continent prior to the World cup was an unlikely semi-finalist. I think this format tested how one handles pressure.

Though skills help you win most games, it is temprament that helps you become champions. South Africa demonstrated, no matter how consistent you are you have to rise to the ocassion to be world champions. And what a pity, they have not won a single knock out game in the world cup inspite of being one of the top 3 talented sides in each of the world cup they have figured in since 1992.

I feel both the format and the venues gave India the best chance of becoming the world champions yet again. And the most important part of this tournament was the elimination of Australia in the Quarter Final stage. Yes team India tamed the big bully and heralded end of an era. Though I feel team India had an ordinary preliminary stage in terms of performance. The preliminary stage gave India the best preparation for the big games. Team India got the best possible opponents in the knock out stage to prove its worth as the world champion. It does take some performance to beat Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in a row.

Now that we have won the World Cup, I hope the success story of India as a country does not end here. I hope the players stay focussed and work hard to achieve greater goals in years to come. The cricket fans take this as a motivating factor to play sports and learn how to be competetive and sportive at the same time. I would ideally like our culture to evolve into a sporting culture where every person plays sports and that in turn builds his/her overall personality. I hope the cricket board does not kill the goose that has hitherto laid golden eggs by keeping them busy through the year. Also I hope we look at a sport as a sport that helps bring people closer. Let us not politicise it. The moment we make sport a devisive factor, the whole purpose of sport is defeated.

With IPL starting within a week of the World Cup, I feel the players have not got enough time to bask in the glory. Though I feel the show must go on. It should not keep running to the point where we get bored because of excess. And talking about IPL, I feel like most others confused about who to support. The auctions have jumbled the regional heroes of all teams into so many different teams. Thats for another day. For now lets bask in glory of the World Cup just gone by.