Ripples of my Reflections

I think, therefore I write

Year: 2011 (Page 4 of 9)

The 10 day challenge

November 20, 2011 / / 8 Comments

After pondering over and over on this subject, I decided that I will finally take the 10 day challenge, which I came across on Paanipuri Lover’s blog. I was hesitant at first because I have to be truthful and I do not get to decide what to write. There are restrictions. Yet I finally decided and I assure you whatever I said will be truthful. And, I cannot promise blog continuously for 10 days, but I will complete the challenge. Keep watching this space to know more about me 🙂

10 day challenge

The above image is the 10 day challenge.  I must accept that I might have to take some compromises in completing this challenge. Like 4 books is too little  a number to list my favorite books. Stay tuned.

Until later 🙂

Be (un)comfortable

November 13, 2011 / / 4 Comments

Hello all 🙂

How has life been for you? It has just been fine. Have been digging others’ blogs. Got a few honors bestowed upon me. 🙂 🙂

The first,

Pradeeta, better known as Mystical Skeptical Me gave me a special place in her colorful star-set and am so happy about it. Also, I am happy that she bestowed me with Aubergine Purple. After all, purple has taken over the post of my favorite color, after successfully pushing royal black to the runner-up place. Describing me in a way I had never seen myself, she touched my heart and made me go bonkers with happiness over the next few hours. The way she wrote out the accolades for all of her favorite writers was simply mind-blowing.  If you are not following her already, please go over and do.

Next,

Did a guest post on Adhi’s blog. Just a little story that I wrote and he found it good enough to let me post it on his blog. The story means lot to us both as it is half-true and half-fiction. It touches our lives so deep that none can ever fathom how deep. So, I just posted it, just like that and just for us. Do head over and read, if you feel like. The post is here: Ghosts from her past. Also, let me know your thoughts. There is no great feeling than knowing that someone loves your writing. 🙂

Next,

The guy who is the god of humor, Kalpak, asking me to do a paragraph for the guest(s) post @ his blog. I have to think really hard and come up with something that will be good enough to match the noises of his empty vessel.

Now, coming back to the post, I warn you. It is an advice kind of post but I decided to go ahead and post it because I found it good enough when I followed it and hence thought I would share the same with you people too.

We all live our lives inside a circle. A comfortable circle drawn by us. We never come out of the comfort zone. Very rarely do we break the usual routine of lazy Sundays, sleeping for almost half of the day, eating only the food that we love, doing stuff that we love. Never out of the box. As I was living that kind of routine life, my guy gave me an idea for a change. The idea was get out of the comfy zone and do something for a change. How ever small the thing might be. It might be a different outfit than the usual, a walk home from office though if it is a bit more of work to your legs than you usually give, trying some food that you have shunned long ago due to some reason, getting up early for a change and again if you are an early sleeper, taking a night out from sleep.. Anything! Literally anything you might try. It really feels good once you do it. Gives you a vibe. A breather. Whatever you call it.

I tried to pick this idea up and do one thing that I would normally not feel comfortable doing it, a day. However, due to a lot of reasons, I could not stick to one thing a day. So I just picked out ideas from my mind and started doing it whenever I can and I tell you. It feels good. It makes me get out of the bored shell that I sometimes go into. Makes me love life more. Makes me look forward to every new day. A list of few things that I tried out are (Just to give you an idea and of course, to flaunt what I have done :P)

~ It has always been a “NO” to drinking as much water as human body needs, in my case. I do not drink water more than a glass or 2 at one go, because I hate the gurgly feeling that it gives and I feel like I am having a Tsunami inside my tummy. But then, I decided to give it a go and drank 1 litre/hr for all the awake hours in a day.

~ I walked home from office the entire distance, though I knew that it would take a tough front with the flat feet I have.

~ I joined Aerobics class. This I did for the greater good that it would do to me. I have never been a fit girl in my entire life. A little bit of exerting and you will see me panting my lungs out . This can also attribute to the hostel food, where I don’t get to eat nourishing food. But I wanted to do my bit and hence aerobics. I was afraid that I would make a fool of myself because I have never been good at mind-body co-ordination, yet I did not let my mind think and just enrolled into the class. And now, I am glad that I did.

~ I woke up really early one morning.

~ Took up initiative of certain things at office, which I would not normally.

and so on. However trivial it might be, I found the change a warm welcome. Planning to do a few more things.

So, if you think you need a change, do not hesitate to try something. Trust yourself and do it.

Until later 🙂

P.S: I love PeeVee’s P.S’s. 🙂 Head over to her blog and read them and her posts too 🙂

My missing senses

November 7, 2011 / / 8 Comments

Don’t get the title wrong. I am still sane-minded enough to be around. This post is about a different kind of senses. I did not notice anything abnormal about myself until I grew up. But now, as my evil mind analyses and draws conclusions on every single thing that I do, I find out a lot about me – Some conclusions sane, some insane. It’s hard to escape my judging mind. And that’s one reason I can’t get over regrets soon enough.

So, back to the point, I have noticed that I miss certain senses that are easily classified as reflexes or at least common in most people. First of all, a sense of direction.  Explain a way to some place with just words; I am sure to get it wrong without any help from people on the road. Ask me how to drive to a  nearby town from my home-town, I wouldn’t know. I would rather tell you which bus to catch, where to get down and all that but never the direction in which you have to drive. I wouldn’t even know if that is within the range of a few kilometers. I am pretty sure that later on, in the future, if I decide to get somewhere by driving my car, I will get lost. I have always gawked in wonder at my uncles who drive their cars to different cities without even having to ask anyone on the road.

Direction                                 Image Courtesy:http://www.cartoonstock.com

Next will be my sense of balance. Irony is that my zodiac is Libra the symbol of which is balance scales. 😐 Though I am not the Bella type girl from Twilight saga, I do not have a pair of feet that would support me indulge in adventures like hiking, trekking and such fun stuff. I have always wanted to do these, but I know too well what will happen. I remember too well the one incident that made me realize that I am not a person of balanced feet. During the IV trip in first year of college, my friends climbed up a small mountain kind of thing for fun, rather than taking the normal road route. It seemed fun and I did it. I got to the top and then I couldn’t climb anymore because the path had become too steep. I felt that if I take a step up, then I would be rolling down in a matter of seconds. So, I decided to climb down the way I came up. Even that, I couldn’t. With each step I tried to take, I felt the steep ground giving away. To top it all, the strap of my sandal decided to give away at that exact moment. (I mentally made a note that I’d have to talk to Murphy and ask him not to be so biased towards me.) Frustrated with my vain attempts to climb up/down, my friend came up again and literally dragged me down. After this show in front of my whole class, I don’t think I will dare again to do such stuff. Adventure was not meant for me. 🙁

Balance                                 Image Courtesy: http://www.orbitalsounds.com/

 The next one cannot be exactly classified as sense, but I have suffered enough and am still suffering of it.  A sense of mathematics or rather analytical thinking. Ask me to think logically, creatively, innovatively – I will try and come up with something that is worth, to say the least. Ask me to think analytically and then I am at a loss and hence so are you. Even now, doing mental maths is a herculean task for me. I will rather ask someone by my side the sum of 242,897,323,9273 and 1545 or use a calculator. It is not laziness, I swear. By the time I finish doing this mentally, you could have had a little nap. Railway timing baffles me, Still. 🙁 I need time to think it out. Distance in units baffles me. People ask how far is my place from Hyderabad and I blink. I will say 18 hrs travel instead of 899 KM (I googled :P)If you say that so-and-so place is 40 KM from here, I wouldn’t know how long a drive it would be. If you ask, how many days is December 17, 2012 from now, you will have to go have your coffee and come back for answer.  I think you get my plight.

That's my style                                           Image Courtesy: http://3.bp.blogspot.com

Above image is my style, when it comes to Maths.

I am not sure if everyone goes through this. But, I have been with enough people to know that my brain is wired wrongly, at least in such aspects. So much, for being the daughter of a man who has an excellent sense of direction and a sister of a guy who absolutely shines at analytical thinking. I seriously think my bro took all the good stuff from my parents’ genes, being the first child. Hmph. 😐

Have you been always comfortable with all these stuff?

Until later 🙂

Rewards of my current obsession

November 4, 2011 / / 8 Comments

It all started with Spaceman Spiff. A month or so ago, I was just going through my blogroll, loyally checking if any of the blogs have any updates even though if they had not got updated for the past few months. From Vineeth’s The unabridged Version of Life, I hit on Spaceman Spiff’s Senseless Sense? Or Sensible Nonsense?. Lo and Behold, I hit upon a mother lode of blog-o-treasures to read, read and read more. From there, my journey has never ended. So, I present here some awesome bloggers, whose blogs I hit upon recently, each as priceless as the next. Tada.

Spaceman Spiff : As already mentioned, the start of my journey. I really get lost in the tangles of her posts. Captivating, mesmerizing her posts are. Once you start, everyday you will want nothing more than a post from her.

PeeVee™ : Mind-boggling writer that she is, her every post touches a chord inside you somewhere, somehow. The chocolate-obsessed makes readers from all over the world obsessed with her blog.

Kalpak : The noises that his empty vessel makes are sure to make you go rolling on your floor, clutching your stomach, tears of laughter running down your face. I was just following his blog silently, until today. Made my first comment there and headed to post about him here. 🙂

Maithili : She doesn’t stop with just One Such Story, but continues to write heart-stopping, beautiful stories. It is because of her that we got Darlings of Venus, the next on my list. And it is because of her, I got to know so many bloggers. I owe you one big hug, Maithili. *hugs*.

Darlings of Venus : A bunch of female bloggers pitching in to make an awesome recipe of posts that present you all the flavours of life. I just love the blog name and its speciality is the variety it gives you. I am proud to say that I am a member. (A single native of Mars- The FreeLancer, got caught among the Darlings of Venus and he is holding up pretty good, I would say 😛 )

Mystical Skeptical Me : As mystical and skeptical as she is, MSM’s posts never fail to make you go open-mouthed in awe and wonder and you will find it hard to come to normal again.

Meoww : So crazy about cats that she chose her pen-name as meoww, hailing all the madness in the world, this sweet girl will give you the touch of childish madness that everyone longs for. So honest in her writing, you do not feel like reading a blog. Instead, you feel like you are actually listening to her talk. You would never want the post to end.

There are a lot more of blogs that I have read recently like Pannipuri Lover’s Sanely Insane, Sumitra’s iThink, iBlog, Viya’s A peek into my life and so on.. Just that I have not found enough time to dig the rest of these blogs. 🙁 I am working on it 🙂

Now people, go to each of these blogs, enjoy and then come back and thank me 🙂

Until later 🙂

How I dumped Facebook!

October 20, 2011 / / 8 Comments

I heaved a big sigh of relief as I click the delete button on Facebook. Phew! Now, I am gonna bask in my newly acquired freedom. Free from notifications about Ms.X’s friend’s boyfriend liking her photo, free from the tendency to check out others’ profile and compare yourself with others. (Don’t even think of denying it. We all do that) Free from the smiley statuses, the life updates of persons whom you have not spoken a word to and probably will never speak a word to. Free from all the crappy, spammy updates from FB applications, videos and photos.

Do not take offence at my statements above. It is not that I am demeaning friendship though it may seem so to some of you. It is my worry that Facebook has become so inherent in everyone’s lives that they are not realizing that they are not living life in reality, that everything goes in the reverse order. As far as I am concerned, I believe that in the world where sanity exists, two people meet up somewhere, go past introductions, do things together and then try becoming friends. In reality friendship means much more than sending a friend request and accepting the same. It does not mean seeing the birthday notification on the right pane and then posting a standard, clichéd, canned “Happy Birthday” on the friends’ wall, just for the sake of it and without meaning it. I would say, I can forgive you if you do not remember my birthday and forget to wish me. I am totally OK with that. Forgetting my birthday among many others’ or in the busyness of your career/life is OK for me. But wishing friends, communicating with them, playing games should not become your highest priorities. That is not real living, in my opinion. That is virtual living.

Also, the main reason I dumped Facebook is because of the recent news on FB. I have been following news on FB vividly because I am not a very good technical person to know about the implications of FB on my own. So after a lot of reading and discussing with people who know better, I came to know that FB does have serious privacy issues. You can ask, any other social networking site is also going the same way, why FB? All I can say is, FB is the king of such businesses and so I start with it.

I was in an ON and OFF relationship with FB since I created my account. I have been at stages like I had an account but I didn’t just know what use to put it to, then I started becoming active but the lack of internet connection prevented my addiction, then an addictive stage when I thought refreshing FB home page and playing Happy Aquarium was all I was created for, then a hibernation mode where I started thinking and realizing that it is not what it seems to be, then now I am dumping it today.

Below is the farewell message that I posted in Facebook:

Quitting Facebook on my birthday!

As a little birthday present to myself, I am permanently deleting (not deactivating, deleting) my Facebook account. Meaning, I am exporting all my data and am going to bid a final farewell to Facebook.

If you are already close to me, you know how to contact me.

If you want to keep in touch, you can drop in at:

My diaspora profile: http://diasp.org/u/keirthana

(or)

My website: //www.keirthana.in/

(For people who are unaware of Diaspora, visit http://joindiaspora.com/ or any Diaspora pod like http://diasp.org/ where I have my account)

Why I am leaving:

1. As most of us know, Facebook has gone to extents that we no longer control our own information and our privacy. I am no technical person,but I am able to understand the implications of what I post on the web. So, if you want a justification for my 1st statement and learn more on Facebook’s antics, visit http://gizmodo.com/5530178/top-ten-reasons-you-should-quit-facebook. Facebook is getting worse everyday and the recent news about shadow profiles (http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/10/18/1429223/facebook-is-building-shadow-profiles-of-non-users) is just a proof of that.

2. Facebook is annoying – I have been an active user of Facebook, when I was so ignorant about it that I thought if I click delete on a pic of mine, it is actually gone poof on the Facebook server and that playing Happy Aquarium is the highest priority of my life. But, now I know better! So, with more knowledge and enlightenment, I could see that people are trying to live their life on Facebook rather than living in reality (I accept that I was one such person in the past). I did not like that when I realised it. I am okay with communicating with people over the web through social networking, but I am not okay with living my life on a virtual, fake platform when I have a life to live in reality.

Will I come back?

My requirements for an acceptable social networking tool are simple. It must honor users’ privacy and information and help people to just communicate. And better, if it is free(dom) open source. I know that I am not as great an free(dom) open source enthusiast as Richard M Stallman, but as I get to know more about it every day, the more I like the ideology. So as of now, the least I can do is to support it. Like-minded people who believe in freedom should do the same.

I can consider coming back, if Facebook is honest enough to accept its antics and respect the privacy of users. This is never likely to happen because Facebook is just another business trying to squeeze out as much money as it can.

If you want to leave too:

Read about how to export your info and delete your account, get the word out,here:
http://blog.thesilentnumber.me/2011/07/delete-your-facebook-for-your-birthday.html

P.S: I have used a modified version of the note from the above link, since I just felt the same and wanted nothing more than a personal touch.

And that’s the story of how I dumped FB 😀

Until later 🙂

P.S: My intention is not to insult people who sincerely wished me on my wall. I respect and thank you all people for your wishes. My post addresses those who just do it out of habit than out of friendship. Also, I do not have the slightest thought that my move will nudge many others to do the same and put an end to the blatant abuse of privacy. I want my life to be as I wish and free of invasion. I did it for myself and it is up to you to decide for your life.

Not f'd — you won't find me on Facebook

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