Storyteller of a kind :) :)

You will be thrilled, you will feel your pulse rising with every page you turn, and it will leave you wanting for more.
Kalki was a story teller of a kind. There was much more than just”storytelling” to the stories he wrote. It transported us in time, to a different land, to a different era,  to a different culture, to a different experience . It is a guaranteed one of a kind ride.
So this is a tribute to one of his all time classics “Ponniyin Selvan “.
 Though I happened to read only a translation of the original, this was the best translation available and did complete justice to the original.
The story is set in the backdrop of the choza dynasty. The 5 part series has all the elements that will keep you intrigued till the end, and will leave you spellbound with the master story teller spinning a wonderful tale of love, conspiracy, war, patriotism and heroism.
Each and every character in the book will stay with you long after you have finished reading the book. The hangover will last for days and will leave you revisiting the memories of reading the story over and over again.
 An ailing emperor, a strong conspiracy, a valiant hero on his pursuit to save his kingdom, a daring crown prince, an effervescent boat girl bubbling with energy and ideas, the lovely princess, the charming and benevolent sibling to the crown prince will simply steal your heart.
The book will leave you guessing till the end , and finally the master story teller connects every missing link and gives you a lovely piece of beauty that you will simply enjoy reading .
This book transcends time, 60 odd years since the first publication the book is still a hot seller. The magic created by kalki almost half a century ago has still not lost its sheen and will continue to find its way in the years to come and will always entertain us.
 I would not call it “reading  Ponniyin Selvan “ , it’s a journey you take. You travel with the characters, you bend and sway with the emotions within the book and in the end you would have had such a memorable journey that you will keep wanting to hit that road again


Cheers
Sandy :) :)

PS:  The translation is by CV Karthik Narayanan and this is worth every bit of your money

:) :) :) :) 200 and counting :)

This weekend my blog views hit 200. This is probably a very small number to most of you, but I am leaping with joy and happiness. I have been shying away from writing for a very long time , afraid that people will mock my lack of words and expressions to pen my thoughts. But seeing the number of views and comments I am inspired to write more and better. And this new found inspiration to write is all that I have been searching forJ

So a big thank you to all of you who have read/ commented on my posts.  

Thank you all and *hugs* J J

Love

Sanz J

Berried again :D

Today we live in a world where apples and blackberry’s are more than just fruits. We are engulfed by  rapid technological advancement s, and sometimes I feel that technology must pause, take a deep breath and allow mankind to catch up with it , so that, we can continue the journey together  hand in hand.

I think am generalising by saying mankind, its not like I have spoken to every person on this planet and  I am voicing my opinion on behalf of  the rest of the beings, probably it is more specific to me. It is more of a self retrospection to see how abreast I am with the latest technological developments.  So to judge that I decided to list the last technological splendour I purchased.

It didn’t take me long to figure that out. It was right there in front of me, my blackberry J

This is the last piece of modern technology I own. I took the phone in my hand turned it around to examine what  I had done to this in a matter of two years.   

For starters it didn’t look 2 years old, some of the paint from the QWERTY key pad was fading ,the blackberry logo that was once  bright and shining is now almost nothing, the little pieces of shiny paper stuck to the frame of the logo peeled off long ago and now it is just plain. The back side of the phone has various shades of black ( Yeah ! if you see my phone you can at least pick 5 distinct shades of black ) .

Now, coming to the worst part, in the place of the volume control buttons, there are 2 hollow openings that open into the internal phone circuit. ( I somehow managed to break the volume control buttons ( not intentionally though )and now the only thing left of it is the circuit that is clearly visible) . So how do I control my phone volume ?? I don’t really feel good about this, but then what I do is I jab the circuit with the tip of a pencil I carry around to adjust the volume controls.( I know!! That is so not nice)

 All of this boils down to just one question, whom should I blame for this mayhem my phone is going through. I dunno if it is my lack of technological interest or I was never made for smart phones from the very beginning.

 I cant agree to the last point completely though, for sometime during the early days of my phone, I did use it to the fullest.

But I cant rule out the first point either, coz the decision to buy a blackberry was not mine. It was my dad’s. The ever protecting and caring father as my father is , always wanted the best when it came to our family. So starting from my phone to my watch to my specs my dad only wanted the best. (  I know you are the best appa : )in the world) So my dad got me my blackberry at a time when  only a small bunch of people owned this. Now every other person on the road has an iphone or a blackberry. But  I had mine at a time when heads turned if you had a blackberry and it sure did put you on the map of tech savvy people.

In the beginning I did live up to all of that. There was a time when my life pretty much revolved around my blackberry. I had all my remainders set in that, the BBM (blackberry messenger ) was a very integral part of my life. Suchi and me had to share everything we saw/ did over BBM. It could be the dress we wore that day or something cute/pretty we saw at the store. Once I had to give a presentation during my training days at work, as usual I had hit the 11^thhour and the 59^th minute mode when I started preparation, but thanks to my blackberry I had the entire presentation in my phone and the ride from pillar to Thoraipakkam was long enough to get me ready for that little presentation ( mind you , our batch also got selected for the finals :D) . There  was another occasion wherein I was lost in Tambaram and did not know how to head back home, all I had to do was hit 2 buttons on my phone to figure out what bus to take and there I was back home safe and sound. Those were the days I really felt empowered and sometimes swelled with pride ,” the power of the technology in the palms of my hand” ( not the way the doc-oc from spiderman-3 says that, it was more you know dignified, and off  course minus the evil laugh)

So what am really trying to say here is no matter what is said and done today my phone has lost the place it once enjoyed and whom do I blame this for? No one but me. I have lost the interest that I once had in utilizing this piece of technology to the fullest. The fun and the excitement I had in the beginning started to fizzle out towards the end. Today it is no more than an ordinary phone that I use for calling/ texting people and listen to music. So the numerous apps and features this phone is capable of is somewhere lurking in the dark.

So here is to all the people who have ebbed away from the brimming growth of technology, lets come back into the game. Let us pull out those expensive gadgets we once purchased with lots of hopes and dreams from the dusty insides of your homes and let us re discover the magic they were supposed to create in our lives.

Love

Sanz J

Live it up :) :) :) :) :) :)

90% of the people I know don’t like their job. Most of the people whom I have met/discussed/spoken with are bonded by these 4 words. “ I HATE MY JOB” . So here comes the big question, why do we still go ahead with this when we so clearly hate it?

As far as my analysis and connecting the dots go I can attribute this to 2 reasons

OPTION A :

People do this for money.  To put it more nicely, financial independence and stability.

OPTION B:

Well, we simply dunno what else to do ( I believe most of us fall under this category)

Or

Maybe we are all under the opinion that “ the grass on the other side is greener”. The IT people think that the Non-IT people are living life to the fullest, while the Non-IT people think that the IT people are living it out like anything. Well, we both know the bottom line now,” there is no such thing like the other side (literally), coz we are all on the same side trying to compare  ourselves  with a make-believe nonexistent other side”

So what can we do to beat this rigmarole??

1.       Quit ?

Well ,we all know that this is not going to be easy, especially for people who come under OPTION A and plus today we live in such a consumerist society which has driven us to believe MONEY MEANS POWER.

2.       Complain ?

Technically this is the only option that is available to all of us. But this doesn’t really help us. By doing so we repel people and make our life harder.

So are we left with no option to deal with this ?

Instead of whining, complaining and sweating it out, we should probably change our perspective towards it . I believe that’s the best solution.

What does changed perspective mean ??

See, for starters we all need money to survive, But money should not come at the cost of one’s happiness or peace of mind. So this is where we need to hit the right balance. What we all need is a strong motivating factor in life. Money should not be the only motive, we need that nonetheless, but the path towards making big money should be enjoyable. Its not like I will be happy only if I have so much money in my bank balance and till then I will remain sad and unhappy and miserable. But the honest truth is we are all unhappy about one thing or the other. For some it is money, for some its about a broken relationship, waiting for someone to come along to give you happiness and for most of them its their job.

We are all waiting for that one fine day when everything will just fall in place and all our problems in life will be solved miraculously.

Little do we realize that we have to be the source for our miracle. We have to make it happen. We have to bring that element of change from within. Its not like one fine day someone is going to descend from the heaven and straighten out our woes by the swish of a wand. ( though we wish things were that easy)

So step out and do the things that you have always wanted to do. Don’t wait for that one fine day to start living. Love each day, live each day. You are never going to get back the day you lost .So don’t let anybody make you feel bad or bring down your optimism. Maybe we cannot do anything about the job, but what we can do is have our plate filled with other things to keep us motivated and look forward to each day with lot of positive energy and feel good moments .

Now what we want to fill our plates with is left to us . Sky is the limit, we could fill in as much as we wanted. The world is big and there are lots of things to be done/experienced. So let’s open each day with a new challenge and end it with the joy and satisfaction of having lived it to the fullest.

Love

Sanz J