What's in a name ?

I have always wondered if we associate names with some characteristics of a person. You haven't met a person and you are just aware of the person's name. Does it lead to a fleeting glimpse about the characteristic(s) of him/her ? These are the actual names of people whom myself or some of my friends have come across ...

Art Rose -
Imagination - The name of a girl with a pleasing personality ..
Reality - The name of a healthy middle aged man

Bajirao -
Imagination - A well built aristocratic person with an orthodox family background
Reality - Software engineer working along the west coast and residing in the US for a few years

Subconsciously .. maybe we tend to associate names with characteristics, occupation,location etc of the person. Meeting them or interacting with them is in a stark contrast of the fantasy world that we associate them with.

V day ?

V day ?
Originally uploaded by Nikhil K.

Innocence

I was travelling by train today and the compartment that I was in, was full of children. There were 8-10 years old school children going on a trip to the museum. As the train proceeded ahead towards its destination, more and more people started pouring into the compartment. There was a college going student trying to finish his assignment on time ... a MBA lapping up the news in New York Times ... a young lady with a pleasing personality keeping her abreast of what is happening in Jeniffer Aniston's life .. a group of women sporting huge diamond rings in their fingers and going over the catalogues of fifth ave shops .. people glued to the blackberry .. some people lost in thought (maybe missing someone in their lives) ...

There was a striking contrast between all of them ... the children were all smiles and talking about in a carefree manner and then there were adults .. where worry was the only thing visible on their faces. I just remembered the childhood days ..

• when we didn't have to plan for the weekend to have fun ..
• when we didn't have to think twice before visiting someone ..
• when we didn't have to be judgemental
• when a smile was a genuine feeling felt from within ..
• when small things made us happy

Have we lost all our childlike qualities in the process of growing up and trying to be more mature (or at least acting to be mature) in our life ? Have we become too engrossed in calculations (if we do/say this .. we will get that) .. so that happiness seems to be on a distant horizon.

lonely islands maldives

lonely islands maldives
Originally uploaded by Ibrahim Firaq.

Lovely colours captured in this photo. The serenity and the glow of the rising sun is spectacular ....

Knock Knock .. I'm looking to marry !!

Disclaimer: Comments below should be taken with a pinch of humour and are purely fictitious in nature. Any resemblance to reality is purely coincidental

Its a funny thing .. but I find that there is always some thing to write on arranged marriages. There was a previous post on similar lines out here. The whole thing starts when you attain the marriageable age which is often read as ... being on the wrong side of 25. Here are a few facts ...

For Him

• You are outside India
• You are in a software field (duh? .. isn't it obvious?)
• The fact that you need to write a blog on the arranged marriage scenarios means that you have a looong way to go .. when it comes to girls
• You know you are a gem of a person (unfortunately .. other people need to be convinced about this fact)
• Girls love talking to you (as a friend. <--- there is a full stop here)
• People around you are getting "committed" all of a sudden ... and these gushes of good news are being delivered to your parents .. leading to a lot of anxiety in your family circle
• You get questions from people like ... why can't you find someone when XXXX (most unlikely to talk to any girl) did a love marriage ?
• You don't have too many expectations (unfortunately .. girls do)
• You have to visit online matrimonial sites (the great Indian IT industry .. please help .. these sites seriously need good web programmers)
• People who go to India for 2 weeks .. get married and come back ... start giving you relationship advice
• You remember the golden dialogues that you hear in Hindi films "Beta .. humne tumhari shaadi bachpan mein hi tey kar di thi .. simran ke saath".. it happens only in films .. or maybe only in punjabi families.

For Her

• You can be anywhere in the world
• You are well qualified
  
• You have an attractive personality
• Guys love talking to you ( <--- there is no full stop here )
• People around you are getting "committed" all of a sudden ... and these gushes of good news are being delivered to your parents .. and your parents say .. "I hope she chooses the right person"
  
• You get questions from people like .. So who is he ? Oh .. I thought he was the other one you mentioned last time
  
• You will always find people meeting your expectations
• You never need to visit online matrimonial sites (by the time you decide to do that .. you may have XX number of proposals in your bag)
• relationship advice ? (duh? what is that?)
• You remember (nah .. you actually hear them) the golden dialogues from Hindi films "mein tumse pyaar karta hun ... aur tumse shaadi karna chahata hun".. (oh no .. not again)
  

The perspective differences between him and her may/may not be apparent .. but the end result is always good .. or at least we hope that it is good.

P.S - The title of the post comes from a very interesting Indian film in 2003 .. you can find some more info here

Gmail .. running out of space

Gmail .. running out of space
Originally uploaded by Nikhil K.

Over the years, I did not anticipate that something like this would happen ... but today I saw these warnings on opening my mails ..

Birthday wishes !!

On the eve of my birthday, I decided to shut off all the birthday reminders on orkut to see how many so called "friends" go out of their way to wish me on that special day. I, myself was surprised by the number of people who actually called or sent a message to me.

There were only two people who called me on that day (from a list of 180) ... Well, I do not hold any grudges against them ... people are busy in their lives and have their own problems to deal with ...

It was just an interesting observation .. and people can draw their own conclusions from it.

Being an Indian .. on 15th August !!