A poem about NIT

I wrote this poem during my first year at Nirma Institute of Technology. I came across it today so I scanned it and thought of posting it here.

We were the first batch of students at our college. I was in the Electronics & Communications department. 

STUDENTS OF NIRMA

A group of students

Set to make a name,

To become prosperous

And earn lots of fame.

The students of Nirma

We gather here,

What the teachers teach

We are keen to hear.

We have a great responsibility

On our shoulders,

I hope we are able to

Remove all boulders.

We are extremely lucky

To be the first batch,

So I think,

We must not leave any patch.

It is not possible

To be perfect though,

And we urge God,

To guide us through.

Feeling Nostalgic. 

What's on my Fridge?

This post is inspired by PS. Thank you :)

As you can see from the above picture, I love picking up magnets from various places I visit. I love travelling, and magnets are the most convenient souvenirs to buy - inexpensive and small enough to bring back home.

I love the Green magnet in the center of the above picture :) - it says,

The Happy 

Couple:

Mr. Right

&

Mrs. Always Right

There's another one on there which has the following quote By Abraham Lincoln:

"Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today."

There are a lot of magnets from National Parks - I love the outdoors and have spent most of my long weekends in US visiting national parks like Yosemite, Yellowstone, Redwoods, Grand Canyon, Hawaii (Volcanoes, Haleakala, Waimea Canyon), Crater Lake, Shenandoah, Rocky Mountains, etc. doing hiking, camping, snow/water activities and much more. 

As PS has said, things on the fridge reflect who you are, bring back so many memories and lead to so many new conversations with guests. 

As I was writing this, I remembered my most memorable hike (18 mile round trip) to Half Dome at Yosemite. My friend and I started driving from Sacramento to Yosemite at 2am, reached at 6am, started our hike around 7am, and after a day long of adventures (I will blog about it in another post :)) got back home at 2 or 3am. What a day!!!!

Here's a picture of me at the TOP of Half Dome. 

Cheers!

Before the night ends....

I was previewing the "Yanni Voices" CD on a local PBS station today....and fell in love with this song.

"Before the night ends" by Leslie Mills. 

I close my eyes to see the world
I close my eyes so that it won't hurt
I'm sailing on blue ocean and flying to you

I catch my breathe under the full moon
A star that shines, so pleased to meet...you
Maybe I'll dream forever
And I'd like to love right here

Before the night ends
And dawn of a new day dawns
How I hope, how I hope
That out of this endless blue
Somehow I will find you
Before the night ends, 
Before the night ends

I made a choice more than a few times
To walk a road that didn't end up so right
But I want to go the distance
I'd like to love right here

Before the night ends
And dawn of a new day dawns
How I hope, how I hope 
That out of this endless blue
Somehow I will find you
Before the night ends, 
Before the night ends

Close my eyes...
Never gonna let up...

Before the night ends
I hope I find you

You can listen to the song here.

The CD is releasing on March 24, 2009.

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

 
I was remembering 9th December 2007. It was the first time Sameer & I celebrated his birthday together. We had invited our friends for lunch at a restaurant, and I had ordered a sweet edible creations and an eggless cake for him (see above picture).

It's 2008 - and its that day again. 

Wish you a very happy birthday my Dearest Hubby!!!! 

I am writing this blog since I cannot be with you in person today....

Birthdays are very special for me. I look forward to my birthday every year eagerly, and I am in a very happy mood on the days leading up to my birthday. Since my sisters' and other family members' birthdays are around the same time as mine, its like festive atmosphere in our house.

I will usually make a special effort to celebrate birthdays of people who are special to me. I come up with innovative ideas for ordering birthday cakes and have also baked cakes myself on several occasions. 

When trying to pick gifts, I try to pick practical gifts, but also create small unique personalized things myself. I do keychains with beads, scrapbooks, photo collages, and much more. 

I am creating something for him but its still in the works - however, I mailed him lovely cards and this is one of the cards that I sent him this year - 

It's been almost 3 years that Sameer & I have known each other - and our relationship has grown stronger each day. We've had our fights and arguments, and I think it has made us grow closer to each other and love each other more and more.

Our 2nd wedding anniversary is also coming up next month - and what a roller coaster ride it has been since our marriage :) I'm enjoying it thoroughly though ;)

Once again - HAPPY BIRTHDAY - to one of the most special and important person in my life!!!!

Lots of love and XOXO,

Your Darling.

My Stroke of Insight

I just finished reading the book - "My Stroke of Insight" - A Brain Scientist's Personal Journey by Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D.

I started reading around 8pm today and was so engrossed in it that I had to finish it before I went to bed.

After reading it, I am so touched and moved by it, that I have to pen down my thoughts RIGHT NOW :)

The book is about a Harvard-trained brained scientist, who experienced a massive brain stroke, and how she completely recovered with the help of her amazing mom.

As I read the book - Its fascinating to learn how our brain works - how different our right and left brains are and how we can control them.

I am a person who has bad temper. It is generally like a flash - comes and goes - but when it flashes, its bad :(

The most important thing this book teaches me is how to deal with this. 

She says that it takes less than 90 seconds for any of the emotional programs (example: Anger) to be triggered, surge through our body, and then be completely flushed out of our blood stream. If you remain angry after those 90 seconds have passed, then it is because you have CHOSEN to let that circuit (or program) continue to run (in your left brain). 

We are unconsciously making choices about how we respond all the time. By choosing to move back into the present moment (right brain), we can allow that reaction (anger) to melt away as fleeting physiology.

The book has more detail about this so I encourage you to read it if you are not clear about what I mentioned above.

Many sentences and/or quotes from this book are worth mentioning here:

"We must be the change we want to see in the world." - Gandhi

"I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be." - Einstein

FEAR - False Expectations Appearing Real.

Something to ponder - what does it mean to you to be compassionate?

The more attention we pay to the details of how things look, sound, taste, smell, feel against our skin and feel physiologically inside our body, the easier it is for our brain to recreate any moment.

"Enlightenment is not a process of learning, it is a process of unlearning."

Just like children, emotions heal when they are heard and validated.

Responsibility = Response-Ability.

"Peacefulness should be the place we begin rather than the place we try to achieve."

Feeling deep inner peace and sharing kindness is always a choice. Forgiving others and forgiving yourself is always a choice. Seeing this moment as a PERFECT moment is always a choice.

Honor the healing power of sleep.

Peace is only a thought away, and all we have to do to access it is silence the voice of our dominating left brain.

I like the description below when Jill's mom G.G came to first visit her after she got the stroke:

"I clearly remember the moment G.G came around the corner into my room. She looked me straight in the eye and came right to my bedside. She was gracious and calm, said her hellos to those in the room, and then lifted my sheet and proceeded to crawl into bed with me. She immediately wrapped me up in her arms and I melted into the familiarity of her snuggle. It was an amazing moment in my life. Somehow she understood that I was no longer her Harvard doctor daughter, but instead I was now her infant again. She says she did what any mother would have done. But I'm not so sure. Having been born to my mother was truly my first and greatest blessing. Being born to her a second time has been my greatest fortune. I felt perfectly content all wrapped up in my mother's love."

Scientific Facts:

Majority of the neurons in your brain today are as old as you are because they do not multiply (for the most part) after we are born.

The human nervous system is a wonderfully dynamic entity composed of an estimated one trillion cells. 

The typical adult human body is composed of approximately fifty trillion cells.

We humans share 99.4% of our total DNA sequences with the chimpanzee.

As members of the same human species, you and I share all but 0.01% of identical genetic sequences. It is obvious that 0.01% accounts for a significant difference in how we look, think and behave.

Left Brain	Right Brain
Head telling us to do one thing	Heart telling us to do the exact opposite
What we think	What we feel
Mind consciousness	Body’s instinctive consciousness
Small ego mind	Capital ego mind
Small self	Inner or authentic self
Work mind	Vacation mind
Researcher mind	Diplomatic mind
Masculine mind	Feminine mind
Yang consciousness	Ying consciousness
Sensing mind	Intuitive mind
Judging mind	Perceiving mind

WARNING SIGNS OF STROKE (which is a medical emergency):

S = SPEECH, or any problems with language

T = TINGLING, or any numbness in the body

R = REMEMBER, or any problems with memory

O = OFF BALANCE, problems with coordination

K = KILLER HEADACHE

E = EYES, or any problems with vision. 

My suggestion - Read this book!!!!

~S~

PS: This book is the #1 Science book of 2008 as per the Amazon.com's Best of 2008: Science list.

Thanksgiving Mumbai Mayhem

I had a very disturbed thanksgiving weekend this year. 

For the first time in few years, I had decided not to travel during this 4-day holiday weekend. I had family visiting me and we had planned to relax and enjoy at home - cook, sleep, shop, watch movies, play games, etc.

I was talking to my in-laws on Wednesday (Nov 26th) morning, around 9am (PST). They had mailed me a wonderful birthday card and were eagerly waiting for me to receive it. I called them to let them know that I received it and that it was beautiful. I loved it!

They live in MUMBAI. When I asked them what they were doing, they said they were watching BREAKING NEWS. So I jokingly asked, "What happened now"? And my father-in-law briefly updated me on the Mumbai mayhem.

I then logged on to CNN and read the news. I IM'ed/mailed my friends who had their families in Mumbai to know if everyone was safe. I thought it would be all over very soon. 

When I came home from work, I turned on the TV and was glued to the news. I was terrified, shaken. 

I made phone calls to my parents in Ahmedabad and my aunt in Mumbai. I was waiting for my husband and family to come home from LA. When they came, all of us discussed the events unfolding in front on us on TV.....and at about 3am decided to sleep. I prayed for all this to get over soon. 

The first thing I did after waking up is to check the news again. It was getting worse. I wanted to go and help. I felt very helpless. I prayed for peace. 

The weekend wentby as we had planned - we relaxed, cooked, watched movies, played games, did shopping, slept (lots), etc. All with a feeling of guilt. 

Thousands of miles away, in my home country, innocent people were being killed by terrorists. My heart cried when I thought about the family members of the people who died. 

I am filled with rage. How do we fight this?

I hope this brings unity. I hope all of us fight this together. Each one of us can do our bit to make sure such events never happen again.

As my thanksgiving weekend comes to an end, I again pray for peace. I pray that God gives strength to the families of the victims to bear the pain of loss. I pray for us to rebound stronger from this tragedy. I pray that we take the right steps in the right direction to avoid such events in future. 

Peace!

Baggage Claim @SMF

Clicked this picture of the baggage claim at Sacramento Airport on my recent trip to LA :)

My first TAG!

Tagged by CG.
First time doing a TAG. Please correct me if I goofed up :)!

1. If your lover betrayed you, what will your reaction be?
Terrible. Bitter. But I would say: "This too shall pass...."

2. If you can have a dream come true, what would it be?
Can't share personal stuff here....but one of my dreams is to help the poor and underprivileged (kids to begin with).

3. Whose butt would you like to kick?
My opponent in RB (racquetball).

4. Why do you blog?
It's fun.

5. Will you fall in love with your best friend?
I don't know - maybe, maybe not.

6. Which is more blessed: loving someone or being loved by someone?
Both - but if I have to choose one, being loved by someone.

7. How long do you intend to wait for someone you love?
Until I grow out of love.

8. If the person you secretly like is attached, what will you do?
Leave the person - there is no other choice :)

9. If you could root for one social cause, what would it be?
Peace.

10. What takes you down the fastest?
When something happens to any of my family members or close friends.

11. What resurrects you the fastest?
TLC - from my near and dear ones.


12. What’s your fear?
Losing my loved ones.

13. What kind of person do you think the person who tagged you is?
Smart, candid, intelligent.

14. Would you rather be single and rich or married and poor?
I was happy being single and I am happy being married. Rich/poor doesn't matter much to me.

15. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?
Brush my teeth.

16. If you fall in love with two people simultaneously who will you pick?
I don't think I can fall in love with two people simultaneously.

17. Would you give all in a relationship?
I would always try to.

18. Would you forgive and forget someone no matter how horrible a thing he has done?
I can forgive but cant forget easily.

19. Do you prefer being single or in a relationship?
In a relationship.

20. Tag 6 people.
Andy, Shubh, Nidhi, Nirali, Tapan, Vijay.

Vibha Dandia 2008

I volunteer for a non-profit organization Vibha - which works to ensure that every underprivileged child attains his or her right to education, health and opportunity (http://wiki.vibha.org/Main_Page).

We organize a Vibha Dandia Event every year for our local Sacramento chapter. This event is not as popular as other Vibha events in our area. We did not make any money from this event last year, so we were thinking of canceling the event this year. But a few of us were motivated to keep this event going and gather some funds to do our little bit for Vibha.

The venue was booked and the date was set for 27th September. However, the "Dhol Baaje" band that we book every year had a conflict. Our efforts to arrange for an alternate band were not successful. Our chapter co-ordinator persuaded us to form a band from our volunteer base.

The event advertised a live band, so we had to have one. We found one volunteer to play the dhol and few volunteers who are good singers. The band was formed :)!

We also booked a DJ for the event - the band could not perform for the entire duration of the event, so we decided to do a combination of DJ and live band. I gathered few garba CDs and met with the DJ to co-ordinate the music for the event.

The band started practice only 10 days before the event.We BROKE the dhol we had borrowed during our very first practice. We got it fixed and returned it to the owner. Most of our singers were non-gujju, so they started practising few garba songs and they did a fantastic job picking up the Gujarati Garba lyrics. In the meantime, I contacted the "DHOL BAAJE" band and was able to get a DHOL for the event.

Now comes the day of the event. We had sold less than 50 tickets - TOTAL. I was very very nervous. I got ready around 5pm and reached the venue to help with the arrangements. My nervousness was obvious. Slowly, people started coming. It was mostly non-Indians and NRI teenagers (some with their parents). Around 7pm, we started the DJ music.

I started dancing, along with my sister and few other friends. And then everyone joined. And more people came. And they kept coming :)

We stopped the DJ music, introduced our live band - and they performed. Everyone loved it. Everyone was dancing.

Most of the crowd was non-gujjus and we were giving garba/dandia lessons to whoever was interested.

The event was a huge success with more than 200 people attending. I had to leave around 10.30pm as my parents were leaving for India the next day, but my friends said everyone was dancing and enjoying until midnight.

I came home with a feeling of content - of having made a positive impact on the future of India, of having helped an underprivileged child with his basic rights.

Here are a few pictures from the event:

THINK

I read this today morning and made me think/reflect about so many things - my family, my friends, my work, my priorities, etc etc.

Hope it makes you guys think too!!!! And please share this with someone you care about.

A professor stood before his Philosophy class and had some items in front of him.

When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full.

They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.

He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full.

They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.

Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He asked once more if the jar was full.

The students responded with a unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand.

The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.

"The golf balls are the important things - your family, your children, your health, your friends, and your favorite passions - things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

"The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, and your car..

"The sand is everything else--the small stuff.

"If you put the sand into the jar first," he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.

"The same goes for life.
"If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

"Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.

Play with your children.

"Take time to get medical checkups.

"Take your partner out to dinner.

"Play another 18.

"There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal.

"Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter.

"Set your priorities.

"The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.

The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked.

"It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a cup of coffee with a friend."

SLEEP

Since I LOVE to sleep, I decided to write this blog post about it.

I always say to my family and friends, SLEEP is my first boyfriend.

I cannot live without him, and I have to spend time with him every single day.
The more time I can spend, the happier I am the next day ;)

I am very loyal to him, and have been with him since the day I was born.

Me and my sleep - we dream a lot together. We travel around the world, we watch horror movies, we attend weddings, we drive crazy fast, we snorkel with the fishies, and have soooooooo much FUN together!!!!

There have been very FEW days in my life when I haven't slept, and I remember I was always miserable the next day.

Last night, I slept for 12 hours. It was BLISS!!!!

Happie Sleeping to all of you :)

Respect

I have faced this situation several times in the recent past when people close to my heart and people who I respect have said that I dont respect them. They very well know that I respect them, but when I confront them about something with a very strong opinion, they do not take it positively and consider that disrespectful.

This makes me wonder. Am I wrong that I am confronting them about something that I feel so strongly? Should I just stay quiet about how I feel so that they dont feel this way? Where/How do I draw the fine line between expressing my opinion and still making them feel respected?

It hurts a lot to hear from a loved one that I dont respect them. I am very sensitive to it and their words sting me.

I am sometimes harsh with my words, but not always. My close ones know me well, and so I have an expectation that they will understand that I was harsh in anger, but I did not really mean everything I said. I try everyday to get better at expressing myself when I am angry or frustrated, and over a period of time, I have become better at it. But there's still work to do this area.

I hope I dont have to face such situations again and will try my best to avoid them.

Please send me your thoughts and opinions on this issue.

To infinity and beyond - A sparkling survival story

I have few colleagues/friends with Autistic children. I have read about Autism, but more than reading, I have interacted a lot with these kids in the last 5 years. I have a colleague who has a soccer team of Austistic kids, and to watch them play is pure joy. They have different skills, but each of these kids is exceptional at something - even at a young age of 3-5 years. It amazes me.

I am sharing a story I read on CNN today about a father and his son (who has Autism) who survived in the open Atlantic for 12 hours.

Walter Marino shouted to his 12-year-old son, Christopher, as he drifted farther away in the Atlantic Ocean.

Christopher and Walter Marino tread water for more than 12 hours before being rescued.

"To infinity," the father yelled.

"And beyond," Christopher replied.


After a rip current swept the boy and his father out to sea Saturday, darkness fell, and the sound of rescue helicopters and boats grew faint until they were nonexistent.

Despite the danger, Christopher, who has autism, was enjoying himself, his father said. The boy lacks a fear of death because of his autism and finds comfort in the water, Marino told CNN.

Marino finds comfort in his son. Their unique circumstances helped keep them alive for more than 12 hours in the open ocean, Marino said.

"With many kids with autism, the thing that is so dangerous is that they have no concept of fear or fear of death," Marino said. "In this case, though, it perhaps saved him -- that and the fact that water is one of his favorite things. Whenever he goes missing or tries to run away, we can always find him near water ... even at the mall if it is just near a fountain."

Christopher was laughing as the father and son were pulled farther and farther from Ponce Inlet, Florida. As the pair lunged for buoys -- and missed -- Christopher couldn't help but giggle. It was this spirit that helped ground Marino, the father said.

Pair rescued after more than 12 hours in Atlantic. "It was a big entertainment roller coaster for him, that's what got me through it -- because he wasn't freaking out," said Marino, 46.

But after four hours at sea without a life vest, and after it became obvious that rescue operations had ceased for the night, jellyfish began to sting the pair. That began to "freak Christopher out," his father said.

While Christopher is almost nonverbal in his communication, he and his father use catch phases from Disney movies, which the boy loves, to communicate.

After four hours, the currents picked up, and Christopher began to drift from his father's reach. Because of the darkness, they couldn't see each other. So Marino shouted out part of a phrase to his son.

"To infinity," Marino shouted, referencing one of Christopher's favorite lines from the movie "Toy Story."

"And beyond," Christopher shouted back, pumping his fist in the air like movie character Buzz Lightyear.

The call and response went on for a while, with Marino choosing different phrases and Christopher yelling back. But over the course of an hour, Christopher's voice faded until his father couldn't hear him anymore.

"That's when I resigned myself to the fact that he was gone," Marino told CNN, saying he believed his son had been pulled under the water. At the time, Marino said, he thought about giving up, until he thought of his daughter Angela. She had just registered for ballroom dance classes, and he told himself over and over he would live to see her dance.

"I just kept thinking about her and how I was not going to leave her without a brother and her father in the same day -- not on my watch," he told CNN. "It was the visual of her that kept me going."

Marino used other tricks to keep his mind focused in the 81-degree water. He remembered going to the Ponce Inlet museum, which highlighted a lighthouse. He then set out to use the lighthouse as a guide for himself, so he would know how far he was from shore.

He alternated doing the "doggie paddle" and floating on his back with his ears in the water, the way his son loved to.

He would float on his back and watch the bright stars. He wished on four shooting stars that flew by and used constellations in the sky to know what direction to go if he drifted away.

Under the stars and in the dark Atlantic, he turned to his spirituality, realizing his life was in God's hands. A religious medal rested on his chest.

As morning turned, Marino tried to stay alert for sounds that might mean help was near.

Hearing a boat motor, he waved frantically.

Soon, a group of fishermen pulled him aboard their boat. A flash of light from the medallion had caught the eye of one of the anglers, who shouted at his brother at the helm to stop the boat, one of Marino's rescuers told him.

The first thing Marino asked was if the men had heard anything about his son, but they hadn't.

Marino began to grieve. It had been nearly eight hours since he had last seen his son, and he believed he was gone for good. He wept.

When the U.S. Coast Guard arrived, Marino asked them, too, about Christopher, but they said they had not found him. The Coast Guard crew asked if he wanted to go to the hospital, but he decided to stay on the boat so the search for Christopher wouldn't be disrupted.

But Marino chose not to watch the water as the search went on.

"I chose to be down below, because I didn't want to see them pull up on Christopher being face-down in the water," he said.

So the Coast Guard vessel steamed on. After more than an hour, the boat went full throttle, jolting Marino backward in his space below deck. Suddenly, the boat was idling, and Marino was asked to come topside.

"That was my personal green mile," Marino told CNN, a reference to what some people call the walk on death row from the cell to the execution chamber.

"I took three steps up the green mile to the back of the deck, and they pointed to the helicopter and they said, 'You see that helicopter? It has your son on it, and he is fine,' " Marino recalled a crew member saying.

Marino was so excited he began "kissing all the Coast Guard guys."

The father and son were reunited at the emergency room at Halifax Medical Center in Daytona Beach, where they were treated for dehydration.

"We were both very weak, tired and thirsty," Marino said. "But I reached out and held his hand and could tell from the same sparkle in his eye that he was going to be fine."

While Christopher can't truly communicate what he felt during those hours alone at sea, his father hopes that one day, he will be able to tell him what he felt alone in the Atlantic.


The one thing Marino knows is that his son still loves the water and that the experience hasn't taken away that special comfort from him.

"It may be a while before we go back to a beach," Marino said. "But he still loves the water. He's already gotten back in a pool."

Quotes

Here are a few quotes I came across recently that I would like to share:

- "Happiness is like a butterfly: the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder."

- Warren Buffett: "A very rich person should leave his kids enough to do anything, but not enough to do nothing."

- Melinda Gates: "If you are successful, it is because somewhere, sometime, someone gave you a life or an idea that started you in the right direction. Remember also that you are indebted to life until you help some less fortunate person, just as you were helped."

- Henry Ford - "If I'd have asked my customers what they wanted, they would have told me "A faster horse."

- Robin Williams - "You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it."

- "It doesn't matter where you go in life....what you do....or how much you have....It's who you have beside you."

- Eleanor Roosevelt - "Do what you feel in your heart to be right. You'll be criticized anyway."

- "What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility."

- "Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult :). "