imprints of my muse

A "Love" Story

2009-11-07T21:32:00.004+06:00

A beautiful story, a friend shared..

Once upon a time there was an island where all the
feelings lived - happiness, sadness, knowledge, and
all the others, including love.

One day it was announced to all of the feelings that
the island was going to sink to the bottom of the
ocean. So all the feelings prepared their boats to
leave. Love was the only one that stayed. She wanted
to preserve the island paradise until the last
possible moment. When the island was almost under,
love decided it was time to leave. She began looking
for someone to ask for help.

Just then Richness was passing by in a grand boat.
Love asked, "Richness, Can I come with you on your
boat?" Richness answered, " I'm sorry, but
there is a lot of silver and gold on my boat and there
would be no room for you anywhere."

Then Love decided to ask Vanity for help who was
passing in a beautiful vessel. Love cried but,
"Vanity, help me please." "I can't help you",
Vanity said, " You are all wet and will damage my
beautiful boat."

Next, Love saw Sadness passing by. Love said, "
Sadness, please let me go with you." Sadness answered,
"Love, I'm sorry, but, I just need to be
alone now."

Then, Love saw Happiness. Love cried out, " Happiness,
please take me with you." But Happiness was so
overjoyed that he didn't hear Love calling
to him.

Love began to cry. Then, she heard a voice say, "Come
Love, I will take you with me." It was an elder. Love
felt so blessed and overjoyed that she
forgot to ask the elder his name. When they arrived on
land the elder went on his way.

Love realized how much she owed the elder. Love then
found Knowledge and asked, "Who was it that helped
me?"

"It was Time", Knowledge answered. "But why did Time
help me when no one else would?", Love asked.

Knowledge smiled and with deep wisdom and
sincerity, answered, "Because only Time is capable of
understanding how great Love is."

A prayer...

2009-11-03T01:05:00.005+06:00

Smtimes when u question the ways of destiny..
just mellow down,
cuz there is really nuthing to question for whts in store for you.
just pray earnestly that if bad times come
let them not make u a stone or break you down
that they may pass without touching you
and without steeling a beautiful part of you from within
but just add an exterior coat of protection n stiffness to make you upright for the future challenges.

And just when things do start working your way and its difficult to stay on ground...
just mellow down,
cuz really no 1 can tell how soon it may go before you know
just pray earnestly that if good times come
let them not make you forget the bad times that u've seen,
or overlook the fact that change is inevitable.
In the high, pray that u may always remember that unpleasantness mite be waiting for u just round the corner
let it not make u too skeptical n over conscious but neither should you become too confident and self obsessed

pray that you just dont forget who you are and never forget to be yourself!

Just pray and pray earnestly
that you always remember it's the journey that matters not failures and success
that ur not so engrossed in the fruit but rather you are just able to cherish the voyage of life.

Little moments in life..

2009-10-15T13:23:00.000+06:00

Some moments that I cherish…

Warm sunshine touching my heart, kissing my shoulders on a soft ticklish wintry morning

Sipping hot, boiling green tea and feeling it’s each granule sink into your senses.

The Beautifully lighted house and the markets buzzing with people (and there families) for Diwali.. the season silently whispers some beautiful stories of happiness..

A ray of hope, enthusiasm

A spark of curiosity, inquisitiveness in my student’s eye when I leave the class

A stranger’s happy smile/ greeting

My faith in me.. When it bounces back to me like a little naughty kid with mischief in eyes and lot of energy

The way one can be so stupid being in love!

Few things that annoy me…

Loud nonstop honking to over take.. what’s your problem? why are you yelling..

My faith vaporizing leaving me lost without positivity

Noise... Someone nagging and complaining all the time.. spare me, can I mute the volume??

Last not the least The way one can be so stupid being in love ;-)

With love to papa

2009-09-11T11:13:00.006+06:00

A tribute to pa on his 54th birthday, all friends and family who wanna contribute most welcome.

I remember that ghastly January morning,
When I saw the pain in your eyes, like I had never seen before..
How wrongly I thought it was an unbearable ache cuz of the oozing blood..
Cuz I never cud have imagined that those were the silent “goodbyes’, you were biding from your painful eyes…

Oh daddy! it’s been almost 10 lonnng years,
they say times cures all the pain, but it still sooo hurts..
Yes we did learn move on, but it still aches for the missing soothing touch of yours,
Your ever so comforting shoulders,
the morning warm huggies and you tickling us with ur unshaven scraggy beard,
the sweet lullabies, even in the cold cold winter nights,
those ‘god bless you’ kisses.. and all the fun with your lovingly calling us names
We miss you when we achieve smthg cuz ur not there to share the joy..
We miss you when we loose cuz ur not there to ease the pain…

I work hard to connect with you and create a virtual bond..
But it doesn’t seem to be working.. Is my faith not strong?
I strive to be sm1 u cud be proud of to say own... Like I’ve been sooo proud to b a part of you,
only I don’t know if it matters to you anymore.. :-(

I know perhaps the others opinion shdn’t matter much,
but it touches my heart to see their eyes moisten still, when they speak of you with high regard and love..
On your birthday 09- it’s yet again us..
just left with your photos & the greetings from the people who care..
I just wanna tell you how much ‘we miss you’, please send me some sign that ur listening and that ur there
I can’t let this connection just slip away…

No this distance hasn’t weakened our bond, but yes I am saddened by you not playing along..
Ofcourse you left us with a lot of inspiration,
N you r still mentoring our path, with the way you set before us your life- a perfect example to follow
And this connection still stays…

A dedication by me to my father 11/09/09
PS: You are the most precious to me dear papa, love you lotsss… wish we were together to celebrate all your 45th to 54th birthdays and the more to come…

My Father :- composed by Shreya Gupta (august 2007)

Once after a long and weary day, I went to sleep tired and enervated
I had a dream, a long and a beautiful one,
In it I saw my father…
He was there, around me,
Watching me as the days passed and I was unaware of it
After a long and uncomfortable silence, he came to me and spoke..
He asked me why I was giving my worst in everything that I was doing
Why I was shunning my duties, why I was so drastic in my relationships,
Why my attitude towards work was so irresponsible..
For a moment I was stunned, stuck by the realization that the questions he had asked me were all justified,
I could not withstand the painful truth that lied in the reality of his questions..
But what could I possible say?
Perhaps, I was too demoralized by my continuous failures
Or was I unable to put in my best in the tasks that I excelled in earlier only because of petty things that troubled me as swords
For me it was merely like winning a battle but loosing the war..

In this state of mind, I choose to remain silent.
Understanding my unspoken thoughts my father spoke to me again..
Shreya, life wouldn't always give you what you want or what you expect out of it..
There are various phases of life, some are painful and some are filled with joy. Embrace both.
Difficult times come in everybody's life but what matters is how you take it or how you handle it.
These will teach you lessons which are thereby your experiences.
Learn from them and remember the lessons.
The wise learn from the others experiences, normal people learn from their own experiences and fools never learn.
Now it depends on you that under which you want to be categorized.
True happiness can only be endured after experiencing pain
Pain is God's test that you can not elude yourself from, you have to take it..

His essence comforted me and his words uplifted my dying moral,
As he seemed to be saying these words of wisdom to me,
I wondered if all these answers had been there around me for a very long time,
But only I wasn't able to see them..
It was as if a thirsty horse was on the river bank only it did not know that only water could quench his thirst!!!

de must haves & trends for 09

2009-09-05T16:53:00.000+06:00

1. Cheap & Chic: With the word recession in the air, designers have gone economical too. Cheap chic is the mantra for the season. Clean cuts, flaunty fabrics and minimal detailing looks sexy yet is budgety.

2. Brighten it up with Color: The season is about resurgence of color. This spring make it up to the gloom of economic depression by draping yourself up in bit of color.Hot pink, yellow, florescent green, aqua and fuchsia are the colors of the season.

3.Pretty Prints: A pretty sundress with polka dots or a pretty ditsy print is almost a classic for spring summer, team it up with you stilettos.

4. Classy clutches: Clutches are the bags of the season. You don't have to go extravagant on the clutches they can very well be hip with a bit drapy look or in patent leather.

5. Faux skin or Animal print: Designers are flaunting crocodile-effect leggings to the fur-print silks all over the runways. Patent leather shoesand clutches are a rage this season.

6. Hot pants and boots: Boots, boots and boots are the hue and cry of the season, be it ankle length, calf high or over the knees. Goes well with hot pants.

7. Sheer is good: Hide some, show some makes you sensuous. Add a bit of sheer to your clothing and you are all set to sizzle in the heat.

8. Comfy tunics: Tunics are a carry over but the go less voluminous. Rather than empire line cuts more A-lines are popping up.

9. Dark straight leg jeans: Although these have been around from the last two seasons but as they go well with the voluminous tops these can not be overlooked.

10. Borrowed from boys: A pair of boyfriend jeans along with simple flats, give u lots of room to run around doing your chores and you can be cool and chilled out in the heat.

Srinivasan wudn't have to close out subhikha's operations had he been reading Godin fundas...

2009-09-04T12:40:00.000+06:00

Top 10 Secrets of the Marketing Process

1. Don’t run out of money. It always takes longer and costs more than you expect to spread your idea. You can budget for it or you can fail. (Bingo! can't agree more..I guess this approach goes for the business as whole n for life as well n not jus the marketing process. No matter how tempted ur to expand don't forget to hold on to enuf liquid cash for the bad times when ur not making money but u've got ur FC's to deal w/. Classic example Subhiksha! ;-)

2. You won’t get it right the first time. Your campaign will need to be reinvented, adjusted or scrapped. Count on it. (U'll get tonnes of examples on this one.. jus browse)

3. Convenient choices are not often the best choices. Just because an agency, an asset or a bizdev deal are easy to do doesn’t mean that they are your best choice. (humm ya perhaps ..)

4. Irrational, strongly held beliefs of close advisors should be ignored. It doesn’t matter if they don’t like your logo. ( I read it as listen to ur instincts , they are the best guiding force.. it may have no basis but r more reliable :-)

5. If it makes you nervous, it’s probably a good idea. If you’re sure you’re right, you probably aren’t. ( something of a Murphy law.. but yea it works..mayb it's cuz when ur iffy ur xtra careful and alert..)

6. Focusing obsessively on one niche, one feature and one market is almost always a better idea than trying to satisfy everyone. (Now tht we all certainly know... one size cant fit it all, one dress cant b the perfect design for every1, one color is not the fav of every1.. so thr can never b one solution for everybody, nor can u give every1 thr custom solutions... so jus b specialist, its much easy..)

7. At some point, you’re either going to have to stick to your convictions or do what the market tells you. It’s hard to do both. (So r all these "mega trends" and all "market watch" a crap!?? I can say tht for fashion biz ya its smtimes true.. no matter hw much ur fashion forecasting or mayb ur just doing stuff from ur head abt wht u reallly feel .. if its good, it'll work!!!.. screw the trends..'u will become the trend' :-)

8. Compromise in marketing is almost always a bad idea. Extreme A could work. Extreme B could work. The average of A and B will almost never work.(.....)

9. Test, measure and optimize. Figure out what's working and do it more. (Is it ?? but it always reaches a saturation.. so u still need to keep diversifying n doing the next thing or add smthg new unto ur best thing in order tht ppl keep looking out for ur work/stuff ...tht's my opnion Mr Godin.. I m sure steve jobbs wud agree w/ me.. innovation is the key to optimization i feel)

10. Read and learn. There are a million clues, case studies, books and proven tactics out there. You can't profitably ignore them until you know them, and you don't have the time or the money to make the same mistake someone else made last week. It's cheaper and faster to read about it than it is to do it. (right so a good thing is u become a teacher .. gives u all the reasons n compulsions (hehe) to keep urself updated w/ all de crap happening aroun.. if nuthing u'll end up reading tonnes.. much more than u ever did in ur school days ;-)..but jus dont get too content w/ the easy life, being a teacher .. keep working on ur ambitions as well!)

source: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2006/10/top_10_secrets_.html

PS: comments on Godin's blog in italics in green (since i've my green thinking hat on!).

Nice story..

2006-05-20T13:15:00.000+06:00

Once upon a time...
There was a rich King who had 4 wives.

He loved the 4th wife the most and adorned her with rich robes and treated her to the finest of delicacies. He gave her nothing but the best.

He also loved the 3rd wife very much and was always showing her off to neighboring kingdoms. However, he feared that one day
she would leave him for another.

He also loved his 2nd wife. She was his confidante and was always kind, considerate and patient with him. Whenever the King faced a problem, he could confide in her to help him get through the difficult times.

The King's 1st wife was a very loyal partner and had made great contributions in maintaining his wealth and kingdom. However, he did not love the first wife and although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her.

One day, the King fell ill and he knew his time was short.

He thought of his luxurious life and pondered, "I now have 4 wives with me, but when I die, I'll be all alone.
Thus, he asked the 4th wife, "I have loved you the most, endowed you with the finest clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?"
"No way!" replied the 4th wife and she walked away without another word.

Her answer cut like a sharp knife right into his heart.

The sad King then asked the 3rd wife, "I have loved you all my life. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me company?"
"No!" replied the 3rd wife. "Life is too good!
When you die, I'm going to remarry!"

His heart sank and turned cold.

He then asked the 2nd wife, "I have always turned to you for help and you've always been there for me. When I die, will you follow me and keep me company?"
"I'm sorry, I can't help you out this time!" replied the 2nd wife. "At the very most, I can only send you to your grave."

Her answer came like a bolt of thunder and the King was devastated.

Then a voice called out:
"I'll leave with you and follow you no matter where you go." The King looked up and there was his first wife. She was so skinny,
she suffered from malnutrition.
Greatly grieved, the King said, "I should have taken much better care of you when I had the chance!"

In Truth, we all have 4 wives in our lives ...
Our 4th wife is our body. No matter how much time and effort we lavish in making it look good, it'll leave us when we die.

Our 3rd wife is our possessions, status and wealth.
When we die, it will all go to others.

Our 2nd wife is our family and friends. No matter how much they have been there for us, the furthest they can stay by us is up to the grave.

And our 1st wife is our Soul,
often neglected in pursuit of wealth, power and pleasures of the ego.
However, our Soul is the only thing that will follow us wherever we go.

So cultivate, strengthen and cherish it now!
It is your greatest gift to offer the world.

Let it Shine!

I hope reading this story makes all readers relate to the Karma yoga in a better way..what is supreme and why to achieve this supreme through being a Karmyogi (being involved in selfless action) is because it's only our soul that follows us, body has to be left behind.

Karma Yoga as enshrined in Bhagwat Gita..

2006-05-08T18:34:00.000+06:00

Hi all! I'll like to share whatever little i cud grasp frm the Greatest epic on Karma, the "Bhagwat Gita"

Karma means action..but the word action is insufficient to clarify the right meaning of the term Karma. The born nature of man anyways is always driven to action, so that can't be actually interpreted as 'Karma'.

The term Karma is very mysterious. "karma" actually implies performing your allotted duties/ responsibilities "selflessly".

To understand it better.. action is of three types.

Contaminated action, inaction and Karma yaga

Actions performed due to the carving for it's fruit is contaminated action. Due to the self conceited lust for fruitation, results of contaminated action are not satisfying very long and are perishable.

While some other men outwardly restrain organs of sense and action, just sitting mentally dwelling on the object of senses, ignoring their "duties". Those men are hypocrites indulging in inaction.

But to be a Karma yogi, Quoting an extract from Gita

Karmanaiva hi samdiddhimasthita janakadyah,

Lokasangrahamevapi sampasyankartumarhasi

It means Man’s right is only towards action/ Karma and should not feel any attachment towards the fruit of that Karma. As only through selfless action man reaches perfection and attains supreme!

Patterns to creative thinking...

2006-03-20T16:26:00.000+06:00

Hi junta!
Here’s some “probable” interesting introspection I like to highlight about the creative thought process and pattern to it, which most of us don’t realize too often. I highly recommend this reading to those who think of creativity as a cliché, or a stereotype phrase used for eccentric lost people….
My perspective is inference from the new avenues of information that I’ve been referring to on the same subject…

How dictionary defines creative thinking and creativity:-
“the intellectual fruitfulness of a creative imagination”

“passing above and beyond ordinary bounds; "a flight of fancy"; "flights of rhetoric"; "flights of imagination"

“the formation of a mental image of something that is not perceived as real and is not present to the senses; "popular imagination created a world of demons"; "imagination reveals what the world could be"

Is Creativity a natural instinct?
Creativity distorts or dodges reality to create fantasy.
Conventionally people believed that creativity is the possession of artistic caliber which is a natural instinct or an inborn talent. But actually creativity doesn’t imply artistic caliber, - being skilled, artistic and creative are three different platforms all together they can be easily interlinked and overlapped but are three different concepts.
Creativity actually incorporates learning from our experiences, knowledge, surroundings and observations and adds a creative twist to it. It walks the line between what is there and what can be created out of it! Design pundits and modern thinkers strongly believe that creative thinking can be taught and generated.

Is creativity only intuitive?
Yes a part of it surely is.. “BUT” what sparks that intuition.. How we get the strong gut feeling?
In any surrounding we automatically tend to form certain patterns which are an intangible & eclectic combination of observations & perceptions and draw certain inferences and conclusions that are primarily a constituent of our unconscious mind. These we term as “intuitions”. Even though our mind does works, all the time, to preserve “intuitions” it is @ a very abstract level and does not involve cognitive part of our brain so we are often unable to track down the logically essence of an intuition.
If we practice to implement the same "Intutive" design approch, converting the process @ a congnitive level, by rationalizing the input data we can discovery far better patterns and involving more minds in such a process can multifold effective creative thinking for more far-sighted, diverse and "profit making" ideas.

P.S. There is loads more i'll like to share on design methodology and tools to creative thinking .. but giving too much @ a time doesn't give time to seep in...btw wud really like a feed back and intense discussion from readers on the same.
Here's a nice quote i'll like to leave everyone with... till next time (do post ur responses)
"Design is so critical it should be on the agenda of every meeting in every single department." Tom Peters

Lyrics to "Everybody is free to wear sunscreen" by Baz Luhrman

2006-02-21T15:15:00.000+06:00

People this makes loads sense..check out the lyrics, beautiful song, i'll try and add the link for the song as well... till then read & get inspired:)

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of '97,
Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis or reliable then my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice....now.
Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, nevermind, you won't understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded, but trust me in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.
Don't worry about the future, or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubblegum.
The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind: the kind that blindsides you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.
Do one thing every day that scares you.
Sing.
Don't be reckless with other people's hearts; don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.
Floss.
Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.
Remember compliments you receive; forget the insults. (if you succeed in doing this, tell me how).
Keep your old love letters; throw away your old bank statements.
Stretch.
Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives; some of the most interesting 40 year olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of Calcium. Be kind to your knees -- you'll miss them when they're gone.
Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40; maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.
Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself, either. Your choices are half chance, so are everybody else's.
Enjoy your body: use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or what other people think of it; it's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.
Dance...even if you have no where to do it but in your own living room.
Read the directions (even if you don't follow them).
Do not read beauty magazines; they will only make you feel ugly.
Get to know your parents; you never know when they'll be gone for good.
Be nice to your siblings: they're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.
Understand that friends come and go, but what a precious few should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps and geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you were young.
Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.
Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.
Travel.
Accept certain inalienable truths: prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old; and when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children respected their elders.
Respect your elders.
Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse, but you never know when either one might run out.
Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you are 40, it will look 85.
Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia; dispensing it is a way of wishing the past from the disposal--wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts, and recycling it for more than it's worth.
But trust me, I'm the sunscreen.

All Growth Demands Destruction...

2006-02-14T23:35:00.000+06:00

Ever tasted Failure?
- Bitter, spiteful, despairing, disappointing are the causal- effect adjectives that we relate to the word… Failure. We believe Failure to be an adversary…
But is it so?
lets imagine that we were all blessed with a 100% success rate and none of us could fail….how would that have been? What kind of life would have we lived had man never failed in life…
Umm if you ask me, we would perhaps have been still be living in the Stone Age, hunting for food being our major activity schedule.
Getting pretty much what was needed, would have kept man satiated with what he got, never exploring what he could create. Had all his hunting expeditions given him enough kill (due to the ‘blessing’ that he couldn’t fail..) he would have never starved, he wouldn’t have ever bothered to look for resorts to store food and to grow food for himself..& further & further.. to the 21st hi tech world that we live in.
It’s is somewhat true that our achievements as a society/ as a civilization are somewhere attributed to the failures of our prev. generations. It’s so human to loath failure, which makes it challenging for us to beat the odds come what may. We give it the hardest push; extract the best within us, from our surroundings just to rescind the slap of a failure. Amalgamating the best efforts from within and surrounding always results in betterment, growth and development.
I don’t think success is attributed to failure.. For some it’s a flying start they don’t have to be bashed by a severe failure to achieve. So how can we attribute it all to failure? If it is all about being ‘successful ’we needn’t have to have taste failure for that. But there’s a difference…. And the difference is as much as say- being served a lavish luncheon w/o even working for it.. w/o earning it for urselves.. or starve the whole day and work your ass to get a meal!
So if we really introspect in a way"success” impedes growth because it satiates a person where as failure assists it!
That’s why we may say “All GROWTH DEMANDS DESTRUCTION” (to grow destroy within, wht u r, wht u have achieved in past, but just start afresh...)

"I think therefore I am"

2006-02-14T20:39:00.000+06:00

Quoting Rene Descartes, “I think therefore I am”…
The statement institutes a strong interrelationship between ‘Res Extensa’ (extended substance) and ‘Res Cogitans’ (thinking substance)
Everything evolved from an atom…but what makes Human a civilization, ruler/caretaker of earth and everything evolving on its facade is ‘Res Cogitans’ (thinking substance). Our grey matter enables us to feel, think, express and dwell upon.
‘Xpress’ that’s what I concerned out here, which is why I thought of starting to blog, so as to Xpress feelings, thoughts and inspirations that I dwell on!
Therefore I’ll christen my blog as “Imprints of my Muse”

CAUTION: ALL READERS ARE BEWARED MUSE IS GOING TO BE –
45% NUBELOUS
35% PHILO.
Residual BORING