Our strange connect with non-living things

 It's been months that I have been running after someone and pining for one positive gesture from the other person, inspite of the person having told me a clear No. A little shameless on my part, I suppose. I had gone so crazy that I would close my eyes and see that person. I knew that something was wrong somewhere, but if I feel that way, I can't force myself out of it till I actually feel different.
Yesterday, it suddenly occurred to me that by my binding that person so much to my thoughts and desires, not only was I binding myself, I was in a way binding the other person too. That was an eye-opener. I would never want to bind the person I really truly love against his wishes. It ceases to be love that very moment that you try to bind. My feelings changed and I could let go. Aah! I feel so free now and that feeling that I was doing something wrong is so gone.

Oh! I forgot to explain the "not only was I binding myself, I was in a way binding the other person too". Do you believe in telepathy? If not,then, really no point in reading further. For those who do, I believe that if you really love someone and keep the person always in your thoughts and feelings, you are drawing that person to you because of the power your love and feelings hold. That's the concept behind attracting anything that you want or do not want to yourself. Haven't you ever experienced that something that was constantly in your thoughts actually coming to you or happening to you? I'm sure you must have coz it happens to everybody.
So, the point is, its ok that you attract a thing/experience to you, but its not good if you do that with a specific person, because you might be affecting the person in a way that he/she does not want. If they did, they would have anyways come to you without you having them in your thoughts. Its ok to desire love, but not that specific person against that person's desires.

Hmmmmm... I have not yet written abt the main topic of this blog. :) So, after I felt free, I decided to take my bike(gearless Scooter) for a ride after 2 years of not having used it. I call her Dhanni and I have an amazing connect with her. She has always symbolized freedom for me from the first time I bought her. I used to talk to her all the time while riding. I hope I'm not sounding like a psycho :)

Picked this image from google pictures. No clue what is pxleyes.com and I do not endorse it either :)

It was amazing how it was so easy to reconnect. Her electric start has ceased to work for now, but it was amazing how easily she started in the cold season with kick start. And I felt so good to be back in touch with my old friend. You know, the first time I met with an accident with Dhanni, I had cuts on my hand and stomach and there was some blood too. I remember I started crying and my colleague didn't know what to do and stupidly asked me why I was crying. I told him I felt very bad that Dhanni was hurt(Her brake handle broke and had scratches at multiple places). He couldn't stop laughing for 2 minutes.

Its a different feeling when you feel the wind while on the bike and you know its just two of you. The manouvers that you do are as one entity. The traffic that you go through, the accidents(small ones); all are as one. Its like sharing joy and sorrow and experiences. In Avatar(the movie), the connect with the dragon made so much sense. When you are on it, you do function as one and as much as I'd love to have a living being as my ride, for city life, my non-living Dhanni does feel alive :)

I have a friend who calls his car 'his wife', sometimes to the disappointment of his Gfs :) But, I've had the priviledge to have driven his car and I agree with his fondness for his car. One hell of a smooth drive. I think his love for his car makes it so.

 Anyways, like the Jockey Ad, "Unconditional Love or nothing". If you love your vehicle, you do get unconditional love from it. Go give you vehicle some love :)

My BIG, fat Cisco Family

So, here I was late as usual for an early morning meeting at office. Just that , this time it was with a Senior Director, Venkat Pullela for an environmental initiative we were starting. And, hell, I didn't want to be late.

Actually, I was not quite late late. The meeting was scheduled for 9:30am and we had a pre-meeting discussion at 9:10am with the other volunteers. So, I left home at 9:00 am. I live a few km away. But, in Bangalore 5km tends to be as bad as 15 km if there's a jam. And as it always happens when you are in a hurry, there's a JAM!!

I was like, "Chill Neha. We have time". "Oh!, but I am not getting any auto!"
My principles don't allow  me to spoil auto-wallas in B'lore by paying them double the meter or other ridiculous fares they come up with. So, after a wait of around 7 mins, I got a Ric. "Am glad, but jus that the Ric is slower than the guy who's jogging on the pavement next to the road!".
I was still like, "Chill Neha. We won't be late for the real meeting. Atleast you have gotten yourself a Ric".


GHATTAK...GHATTAK....GHATAK..DHAK.
Guess what?!....... The Ric died!    I was sitting composed while the Ricdriver made futile attempts to repair, till he gave up and so did my hopes of reaching on time. Needless to say, there was no other free autos in sight. I waited for 5 mins.... Something drastic had to be done.

I suddenly started noticing the stickers on cars and started looking for the Cisco Sticker. I saw one and made a brave attempt to ask for a lift. There was too much traffic for the guy to see a damsel in distress. I squinted hard to find my next target. Saw this car with 'L' sticker and also a Cisco one. There was no time to concentrate on the risks of 'L'. So, I again signed. He did not see. But, there was a jam ahead. So, he went past me and stopped.

Believe it or not, I ran and caught up with the car before it could move and knocked on the car's closed window. As courtesy would require, the guy pulled down the glass and I was like, " You work for Cisco, right?".
There was a surprised look and before he could answer, I chipped in," I work for Cisco too. Could you Plz Plz give me a ride till office. I'm really late for a meeting. ".
Still shocked, he let me in. Did you get the title of this post just yet ?! :) No issues, read on.

So, obviously, he was still looking at his badge lying next to the hand-brake and wondering why he was targeted. His first Q was, " How do you know I work for Cisco"?. I gestured at the sticker and he was like,"Dumb Q".   He was an extremely nice and helpful person and helped me reach the meeting just 8 mins late :) Why was I still late? Remember, the Jam? And the 'L' was coz his sister was learning to drive :)

I know some ppl(who I value), who would really get upset with me about asking a stranger for a lift, but that's the point I'm trying to make with this blog. I did not quite ask a stranger. Just knowing that a person works for Cisco makes the person dependable to an extent and if you request a favor, you know that that person would help you for the same reason that you asked him. That You are a part of the same big Cisco family! Its always nice to have a big family that you don't quite have to live with :)

I obviously am not going to use my family connections like this again, but, it just made me feel good abt how big Cisco is(2 cars passed by me in less than a minute with Cisco stickers on it) and how easy it was for me to reach out at that crucial time(It was for me!). I also realized that I should leave much earlier for important meetings :)

United Nations!

Disclaimer: I don't own copyrights to any of the snaps in the collage, but I do own copyrights to the idea displayed in this collage.

Ted Mosby urf Josh Radnor is an American Actor.
Dev Patel is a British Actor.
Crockroaz is an Indian Dancer/Performer (You must search for him on Youtube if you don't know him already)
I hope The Title makes sense now :)
Urf is Hindi term for 'also known as'.

Cisco-Life-Paradigm

I work for Cisco and Cisco has a grading of engineers. Higher the grade, higher is your responsibility and visibility in your Business Unit and of course, higher is the salary. The current seniors at Cisco set up such a high standard that you really want to be able to live up to the expectations before you get that promotion. Like, if I was offered the designation of a Tech Lead (ya, ya thats a dream), I would not take it (though the money obviously would make my life rock.). Cisco employees live the phrase 'With great power(replace with Grade) comes great responsibility'. So, at your grade level, you work hard to gain that experience to be eligible for the next grade and then you look forward to greater responsibility and doing more in less time at the higher grade. In short, the years of experience you add, the more valuable you get and the more valuable you feel and the more you contribute.

That got me thinking as to why people do not treat their life that ways. When we are young(G4), we need assistance(mainly monetary! :)) from our parents (G6 and above) to do even the slightest of things. As we grow up(in the Cisco Paradigm, our Grade increases), we start doing more, take up more responsibilities in lesser time and get more independant. Not sure if all do, but, we are supposed to. With every passing year of our life, our stress-taking ability, people handling ability and multi-tasking ability should get better and we should feel proud of our achievements. But, do we? I see people getting more stressed as they get older. Most ppl start worrying about all kinds of stuff as they start reaching 30. They worry abt all kinds of things from their humungous home-loan to possibility of a heart-ache to the new found wrinkle! [ Is it just the people I know?!! In any case, carrying on...] Instead of using their maturity to achieve bigger things in life, they are frantically trying to get back on the lost years and feel young. I myself am reaching a milestone age in my life. And aaaaaaI feel great!! Like I'm getting promoted. I do feel sad when I think I could have achieved more. But, all in all, I am so much more a better person that the teenage me. I am matured in my mind and more raring to go. I love promotions I suppose, whether in my job or in life :) Ok, stopping my self-praise rant...

All that I am trying to say is that like we sit in front of our manager to figure out what are the new expectations we should meet(to reach the next grade) and work on it, we should sit with ourselves and think of what we want us to do better(in the coming year) and work on it. Then, every passing year of life would feel like a promotion coz you would have achieved something new. With new year coming, its a good time to think of the new skill that we want to master. It could range from cooking round chapatis to attempting to climb the Everest to not getting stressed in Bangalore traffic. As long as years added to life are meaningful, you are not getting old, you are just getting matured.

Note: For ppl outside of Cisco who do not understand this article, my apologies. Ever thought of applying to Cisco ? :)