Sorry

Have you ever thought about how the word Sorry originated? Some one out there sat and said OK there will be one word in the English language that will make all wrongs, right. So you can say, do or behave any which way and by just saying “Sorry” all peace will be restored.

I for one was drilled in with “Sorry” and “Thank You” during my formative years. If you did something wrong you said sorry, like it or not. If some one did something for you said “Thank You”. SIMPLE! If A n I didn’t comply we were reprimanded. These are things that we clearly did not compromise on. Today my Sorry’s and Thank you’s come very easily.

I bump into someone unintentionally in the Mall I will say sorry and every morning while stepping out of the lift I will say thank you to the liftman. That’s just the way it is. I don’t even think I give it a second thought. It’s a habit, second nature. But the point is, does it really make a difference to anyone?

Lets not confuse my good manners for weakness. Lets not think that if I say sorry I am being weak or stupid. I know for a lot of people it might not be an easy word to say. It might be considered a weak word. A word, which signifies defeat. To me it’s a word that restores peace.

The point being does it really restore peace?? Isn’t it a meaningless word because by saying nor do you feel better and nor does the person you have hurt feel any different. If you boss sacks you and then says sorry, what’s the point, right?!!

Once an action takes place it leads to a reaction, that reaction could lead for you to feel certain emotions. Those emotions will form thoughts and those thoughts will prompt words out of you mouth. Once those words are out then there is no stopping of the reaction to them. How much saying I didn't mean what I said, I am sorry, doesn't help. You said what you felt at that point. No one should feel sorry for expressing what they feel, but we do. Once the words are out they are and meant to be said. No amount of Sorry can turn the clock around…Sorry is then just a VERY SORRY WORD.

Are words like Sorry redundant when you are really hurt or when you hurt someone, A Seed for Thought for you my friends.

5 years forecast

Yesterday I got asked a very stupid question. It is so stupid that I actually refused to answer it. A chance meeting with a friend had kinda turned into an interview of sorts. He wanted to offer me a job and next thing I know his colleague started an "unofficial interview". As a management student I am pretty aware of what kinds of questions might get asked and a few years back I might has even answered this dumb question with great sincerity. Yesterday, it was a different story.

After asking me a series of very intelligent questions making me believe that she has pretty good "questioning" skills. This lady went ahead and closed the session with a very dumb question. Do people really ask "Where will you be 5 years from now???” I mean I got asked that a decade back when I went looking for my first job. Is it still relevant today in a time when a second goes past faster than a nano second?

Where will I be 5 years from now...hmmm...let’s roll back 5 years from now and ask this question to me. So this question is being asked of me in 2005 and I am looking at 2010 while answering. OK..Here goes. 

1. I will most certainly not be working at VA. C'mon who spends 9 yrs with a company??
2. I might be on a sabbatical from work as I will be a mother of two (at least)
3. Facebook..Twitter, are you joking?! I wouldn't be telling the world what I am doing at any given time. That is invasion of privacy!
4. I have no clue how to keep fish...let alone have 2 pond
5. Blogging? Are you crazy? I have nothing to say and no one has time to read my crap
   
6. Nah! Why bother with driving when you can have a driver
7. Not tell the person who is kinda interviewing me that this is such a stupid question that I am not going to answer it!

I can go on and on...but I am sure you get the point. Why on heavens name do people ask such a stupid question??! Well, I know for sure 5 year back I wouldn’t have asked anyone to bugger off when they asked stupid questions like this. But in 2010 I did. I actually told her its so damn irrelevant that I don't think I will answer it. Will I get the job...well let me look into my crystal ball, 5 years from now : )

Why are management graduates still stuck in fuddy duddy questions of the past about the future? 

A Seed for Thought for the ones who are supposedly making a difference to our economy with forward thinking.

Generals Daughter

Last night I attended a very special party. 9 Para Commandos got the Presidents citation for being the best fauji unit last yr. It was for their bravery during insurgency in Kashmir. Why was it special to me…well, my father commanded the regiment way back during IPKF.

Evenings like yesterday reminding me the importance of my heritage…my heritage of being born into an Armed Forces Family. Most of the officers present there are posted in the most hostile environments. If it weren’t mentioned, you wouldn’t know. These men are joyful and hopeful. I didn’t hear a single person moan about his job or life. Army men are such positive souls.

I am so thankful to have got this upbringing. Not a day when my father gave A and me more than we deserved or needed (needs never end…do they?). We traveled through the country in all kinds of transportation…but they journeys were always fun. With packed food and water campers, we just marched along.

My father is a big role model to the young army men. Last evening there was not one person who didn’t walk up to me and say how much they loved and respected my dad. Not one wife who didn’t ay how much her husband looked up to the General. My father…THE General. He was the Colonel of the Regiment in his last 3 years of his service. He was one of the very few Lt Gen who Para jumped down with his men at the age of 60, during the Para regiment-raising day.

The General has been my only role model. Although his father was an army man as well, my father has taught how to have a flawless career in the civil world. I don’t have a mentor in the corporate world. Yet at the age of 26 I was heading one of the most respected brands in the world. It can only be due to the great advice that my father gave me during very rough days.

If I ever came home cribbing about work or my boss, all he said to me simply was “ If you find all this too tough then why don’t you just get married and raise a family?” Baas that was it, next day I would be back at work telling my self “ I love what I do, then why am I cribbing”. My father taught me the importance of loving what you do.

Last night I was so proud to be The Generals Daughter…Not just any General…My father …my hero!

I salute you dad for if I am even half of what you have been in your career, I would consider my career a HUGE success. If I have inspired even quarter of the people that you have inspired in your life time then I am happy to be me.

I also salute you General for teaching me the importance of work. For every scream and every kick you sent my way, for today I am able to restart my life from scratch with great dignity. I could only do that for I have my work to support me financially and emotionally.

I salute you dear father for supporting a BRAT like me, even when the world thought otherwise.

Any man can be a Father. It takes someone special to be a Dad. A Seed for Thought?!

My Hero- Debbie Hinton Young

As I ponder the love that I saw in his eyes,

A Godly love, given without compromise....

I recall many times that he stood by my side,

And prodded me on with great vigor and pride.

His voice ever confident, firm and yet fair,

Always speaking with patience, tenderness and care.

The power and might of his hands was so sure,

I knew there was nothing we couldn't endure.

It's true, a few others provided insight,

Yet, he laid the foundation that kept me upright.

He's the grandest of men to have lived on this earth,

Although he's not royal by stature or birth.

He's a man of great dignity, honor and strength.

His merits are noble, and of admirable length.

He's far greater than all other men that I know,

He's my Dad, he's my Mentor, my Friend and Hero!

Pampered Silly

Have you ever been pampered silly??!! Like so pampered that you are scared that your happiness might just get jinxed. 2009 ended with such amazing pampering that I at one point was scared that it’s too good. Its gonna get jinxed and I am going to land up with egg on my face.

Wow, such pessimism that I was a bit upset with myself. What happens to us when we grow up? When we are born, we land in lap of luxurious pampering. Every cry for food is met by immediate attention of our mother. Every movement monitored with love and concern of our parents. We are showered with gifts by one and all. Gifts that we have no memories of. The first couple of years we are pampered silly by one and all…coochie cooed, hugged and snuggled endlessly. Pampering is all we know.

The irony of it all, from being the first born grandchild and the most pampered daughter, today I am actually feeling scared that I am being pampered. Makes me smile at wonderment called life. All I know is that I have not been treated so tenderly and affectionately in the longest time.

I went on a life altering road trip to the hills. This time is was a new destination, McLeod Ganj, a suburb of Dhramshala nestled in the Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh. I have travelled far and wide in India and it was a surprise to a lot of people that I had never seen Dharamshala. I guess all in good time.

From checking out graves at 'St John in the wilderness' to eating orgasm-inspiring Momos, it was unpredictable and spontaneous. We smoked up, drank wine, walked about in the night in pitch-dark hills. Did a daylong trek that was as breath taking as it left me breathless! Ha…this is what holidays are meant to be.


Closed temples were opened in middle of the night; even gods were smiling at the naughtiness of pestering the priest to open the temple way past Gods bedtime! Medicines were miraculously produced in pitch-dark roads. M actually had the gum shun of handing over the wheel of the car to me at 2 am in the foothills of the grand Himalayas. Errr…me…I just started to drive 3 months back. Then next thing you know I am driving through a pitch-dark jungle speeding at the curves and giving my Co passengers a fright of their lives! The only other witness to this madness was the full Moon.. Ahhh…. The moon has been a silent witness for the past year. The moon that had prodded me to endure the darkness, stood witness to my immense joy that week.

My heart had been thirsting a waterfall for a long time. We spoke about it often, and there I was standing next to one with such happy joyful people. In the winter it was far from inviting yet two mad boys jumped in…brrr…this has got to be insanity. Cut to me in a village in Punjab chewing on sweet barley and pulling out turnips from the fields with 2 tiny tot kids. They knew so much more than I could ever imagine about pulling out vegetables from the ground. Sitting on a charpoy with a grand old man drinking very milky and very sweet tea…my soul was growing every second.

The best part of my holiday was the way chapter was closed for 2009. I sat in deep meditation with that one person who knows be better than I sometimes give credit for. That one person who has pampered my soul. For the first time in my life, I brought in a New Year in total silence, peace and gratitude.

Can you think of a better way to ring in 2010..I can’t??

On growing up, why do we feel guilty when we get pampered, while as a child it was our birth right, A Seed for Thought?

Heart n Soul

I know I have been far away from the written word for a long while now. So much has happened in 2009, its un-freaking believable! I needed to get away.


So I did just that…went into hibernation from the world I knew and grew me a new Heart and Soul. A large, soft, adrenalin pumping Heart. A Soul that can cover the universe and more. Winter of my life is over. Unlike animals that hibernate who feed on their body, I fed on my heart n soul for a long while….NOW I am out for a FEAST OF LIFE. Boy, am I hungry for that juicy yummy bite of life and that soul quenching tall glass of lemonade!


Thank you Sweet Lord for throwing me the Sour Lemons. You kept throwing them and I kept collecting till we both were exhausted. My soul was numb and I could feel nothing. Then I crawled into a corner and made such awesome Lemonade. This Lemonade had my broken heart and lifeless soul. And with the first sip of that ghastly lemonade I felt the first stirring a new heart…yes I could feel faint heartbeats. How is that possible? I thought my heart was broken and gone…no wait, I can hear it getting stronger…and by the next glass I could feel the LOUD thuds resonating through my Soul. Wait…did I say soul…the same torn, rotten soul that could feel no more. What are you saying??? With the third glass my soul was growing…it grew and grew. Suddenly I could hear the LOUD thuds of my heartbeat and feel the GLOW of my soul. One fine day I came alive again.


Small Miracle is Back!! Wish you all an amazing 2010!!


Love what you have and live in the moment, a lesson I so painfully learnt through the raw winter of my life. We don’t know what our future holds but we KNOW what we can do with our NOW.

A Seed for Thought for the ones like me who only knew to live in the past.