When the Going gets Tough, the Tough gets Going!

This is an article about a person whom I admire a lot -- HB!

I met him for the first time during my induction. And man, must say, what attitude, what personality he had.. We all started talking about him after he left!

Next, from my first day at work, I have always found him to be the Fun-Loving, Workaholic and Bold  He-Man at Investis.

Well, now let me explain why I added all these adjectives to this person. He and his team works under a tremendous work load.. (Many a times, it seems that they have keyboards even at their feet!) And yet, I find him and his team mates always cracking jokes and having fun.. And neither does it affect their speed nor the quality of work they do!

As far as his work is concerned, I would say for him its like if there is any way to do the work, it only one.. "The Right Way" -- The Perfect Way!
We have always noticed perfection in his work.

Our team and his team work very closely -- must say hand in hand with each other. And once, during an annual event in our company, I gotta chance to talk to him something about his personal life -- The tough times that he has faced, the hard life that he has lived, the failures that he has had, and yet he is happy with what he has and whatever has happened to him!

Basically, after what I knew what all he had faced in his life, my respect for him actually increased, because there are people who get unhappy with life and stop trying once they face some hardships and failures in life, and he, was one of those few who bounce back and not just that, one of those who is on a roll!
I recollect a quote from William Arthur Ward at this point in time -- Adversity causes some men to break; others to break records! And he is the second kind of guy-- Truly Exceptional!

He is a person as I know, who has no fear to tell anything to anyone, come what may! -- whatever that person is, if he thinks he gotta say it and its right, he will never think of the consequences, he will speak it out!

And I think he follows this -- Instead of giving myself reasons why I can't, I give myself reasons why I can!

Currently, after sharing a nice period of almost 1 year and 6 months together, we are really good friends and for him, I just got one thing to say -- Not all pebbles can become a Diamonds. Its just the ones that can bear the Heat, do well under Pressure and have the most edges cut to perfection that shine the most! -- And this one is of a special Kind!

You Rock HB!!

Some Memories from my School Days and a Learning to Fight Fear!

I have always wished to perform.. To go on stage and sing a song, rock a performance, do some acting... and so on..

Right from when I was a kid, I saw various artists performing on small and big screen, Live Programs and some Stage Shows.

Till 6th Std, when I had been a part of a play called "Aasha-A Ray of Light", it was just something that could never be done. I still remember that day, it was a Thursday, our show was to begin, at 6PM and I was sweating like hell.. It was already 5:45PM, got the required make-up (for my required role, which was that of a Manager -- with around 55 years of age -- ) and my heart was pumping inside me with the greatest force it can! (I even felt it will come out you know!)

But behind it all, there was something in my mind, wasn't this the one that I had waited for?
And I said YES! I started remembering all those programs and award functions that I had seen on television and thought of these performances...
And slowly and steadily my restlessness was gone! I started feeling confident, enough  to take myself on stage and perform my role.

While all this was going on in my mind, suddenly our chief guest appeared there! NAYAN MONGIA -- the chief guest at the evening, came in when we were just behind the side curtains standing and waiting for our turn to come...
"Hello Young Guns!" he started.. and we were like O Man! its him!
"Hey Fellows, do perform well, and I will be watching you.. You guys look so cute really.. Oh Wow.. You have a kettle.. (he said to my friend Pranay Shah) hey that's nice are you playing the chaiwala?? , Hey Wow, You are wearing a Nice Suit! (He said to me) You guys are superb, continue it!"

Man.. we felt as if we were seeing some kind of dream.. and we literally screamed when he went on stage from there!!

And now we were encouraged by the then Wicket Keeper of the Indian Cricket Team..
So how can we let it go!

We performed our play, and you know what, I was the one that stood in the end with a mic introducing everyone.. with their names! (Got cheers for that from the crowd for that, and got my cheeks pulled from my teachers for that as this was their task that I did.. ;) )

But this incident, had got the fear off me, for going on stage and performing!

Till date, I must say, I never feel afraid of going on stage (well frankly speaking, sometimes I do, but I remember this day and its gone!)
  
I would like to conclude this article with a noble thought, "If you fear of something, fight it out by doing that thing! The maximum thing that can happen is that you will fail in that thing, but you will surely win your fear!"

My Best Friend - Mr. K : Who taught me how to enjoy life!

Hey Friends,

In this post, I would like to tell you something regarding my friend, my best friend, without mentioning his name, as always, to avoid any problems to him.

Let me tell you one thing about him, he was not the perfect human, but he knew how to live and enjoy life. I think he followed and still follows the concept of "Live the Present".

He always has a passion for learning anything new... and he has trained his mind in such way that he can learn it easily, fast and one day he does it perfectly.

He has tried I think almost everything in his life, be it various games like cricket, badminton, football, volleyball, tennis and others, be it knowing various topics and he is ready for a talk on it (even if he doesn't know it and learns it that way), name a music instrument, and he knows it... be it a Harmonium, Keyboard,  Guitar, Violin, Drum-set, Mouth-organ, Mandolin and ready to learn any other instrument that comes his way; dancing, acting,anchoring,hanging out with friends, and that too as a center of attraction for everyone around, from wherever he passes, I must say a wave of happiness is spread....

Basically, from above I mean he is an all-rounder. He knows how to maintain relations, do whatever you wish to do and that too with  100% of your own self.

The basic funda that he follows is "He is passionate about everything he does"

Yes... you read it rite... He is passionate about everything he does. When he takes up something in his hands, he makes sure that he gives his 100% to it..

And yea for many of the above things, I forgot to mention, he is a self learner....

This guy that I am talking of here, is a lad from a small town. And believe me that sometime back  he had no idea what so ever how to be what he wanted to be... (this is what he himself had told me)

He always used to tell me 2 things: First see if you like it or not... and in case you do, give your 100% to it!

This guy about whom I am talking about, was my College Friend, we actually met in 3rd Sem of my Engineering, we were class-mates, and by the end of 5th Sem, we developed such tuning that we could even understand what the other one wants... (we were like brothers from there on!)... Oh Man! Can't forget all those things I tried out in my college days with him!

But that's how I learnt to enjoy my life!

I still admire him for what all he did to change the way I thought of the world, and the people around.. and the way I am today, a major part has played by him! The reason why I am so popular amongst majority of people... missed by my friends when not around, whenever anything comes up... people remember me... and what not.. this is the life I always wanted...

And thanks Kenzie! You gave it to me!

My Grandfather - The Perfectionist!

Hello Friends,

In this article, I would like to tell you all about my grandfather. Believe me, till now, I have never found any person like him, or even near to him -- the qualities that he had and  his way of thinking, understanding and what not!

He was a type of a person, who always kept himself busy. Right from 4 AM when he got up, till 11 PM when he went to sleep, I can guarantee you would never find him loitering or sitting lazy. He was always Active!

He taught me (till my 12th Std) and my Sister (till her 9th Std), as his hobby, he used to read Mythological books, used to tell us and the whole family stories, used to be an anchor when it came to some celebration in the Family, remembered Birthdates, Anniversaries, and other imp dates like longest day and shortest day, along with the complete hindu mythological calendar along with the importance of almost each day and what not.. Well, I know one thing, that If I continue, I can go on and on and on and just never stop! So let me cut this short here, and come up to the main point.

What do you think that made him the way he was? Was it anything that forced him?

I would say it was his passion that got him what he wanted to and Learnability that helped him achieve it! Yes IT WAS HIS PASSION AND HARDWORK!
He always used to say, you wanna do something, do it whole-heartedly, else don't!
He did many things, had many things as his hobbies, and even if he was not very good at something, he was always ready to learn it from something, if he wished to do it!
The best example of this was, that he learnt how to operate a computer and use Microsoft Office for his own documentation work at the Age of 65. I mean, I have heard people lose their capability to learn something new, around at the age of 40-45 and this guy, he learnt something so new and so different, at the age of 65, just because he wanted to make his own work easy, and yes for sure, he wanted to say, I am a Father of a guy who was the first one to take Computers as his profession in Baroda.

I never heard the word "Feeling Tired" or "Lazy from his mouth. Always up for anything that comes up. As far as Mythological books are concerned, he had already read Ramayan, Mahabharat, Bhagwad Gita and some other books, which I don't even remember. And even at the age of around 68-69 he used to refer to some personality development books, and used to tell us, there's always a chance to improve yourself from what you are today!

He had led a very difficult life, supported his own education right from his school life, from around 5-6 std, by distributing newspapers, selling various things, and reading in street lights and lanterns! I am very sure he always remembered his past, and always thrived hard when it came to helping someone/anyone.

He went to heights because of his attitude, his way of working, his ethics and his education, and he made sure that he helped all those who were needy and suitable. He not only helped various people in their education, but even helped many in getting entry into the entry level interviews of some many government jobs and private firms.

Last but not the least, I think the best part to prove what great human he was, is that, when he expired.
He was not sick or anything, that morning he got a heart stroke, and second massive one at around 1:30-1:45, when he breathed his last. We gave news to some very close people, obviously the family was in shock and not many know how to act in such a situation. But, this news spread out like wild-fire, and by around 6:30 till when we took him for cremation, there were around 250-300 people standing at our residence, who had come up even from nearby cities like Ahmedabad, Surat and others, just to salute the Great Person!

From his life, I have learnt a lot, and today whenever I compare myself with him, I find myself, not even 10% the way he was! He is my Hero -- My role model for Life! And I will consider myself a successful if I can become like him in my life.

Bow to this Great Man! -- My GrandFather the Real Perfectionist!

A Big HI! to all

Hello Friends!

I start this blog today on 17th Nov 2011.
I had always planned to write something, regarding life, regarding the things that I learnt daily, weekly from the people like you and me... around me with me and against me... known to me and unknown to me.. from their body language, their talks their attitudes... But never started until today morning; when it was a restless feeling in my mind to start it  today without anymore delay..

And so here I am my friends, starting this journey to share with you some moments of my life -- rather many -- that have left a very deep impact on my life -- an impact that has even challenged and changed the way I used to think previously and I think today..

Here, in this blog, you will find those instances of my life which helped me change the way I think.. Believe me, I can feel the change, I want that others also get benefited -- who knows you got to learn from it!

Hope this blog helps you!

Cheers,
VNS