The new Dronacharya

I faced one question from everyone while I was growing up and I believe most of you had similar questions posed to you: "Beta, bada hoke, kya banega?" (What do you wish to be after you grow up?) Sometimes, I just passed that question as I never knew what was in store for me and sometimes I said I wanted to become IAS officer which was a common trend when I was a kid. While some thought I was serious as they believed I had the caliber, I laughed it off as I was not sure if I was prepared enough to pass my slip test the next day. And with my sardonically ground breaking General Knowledge, I know I was aiming at the obviously unachievable.

As I met new people and sailed through different phases of life, I was getting better at knowing what I was good at and what I was terrible at. Everyone I met helped me to gain a perspective of my life and my parents made it even easier for me, by imbibing the most positive values in me. Having 'it' in me is one aspect while realizing my strengths is an absolute different thing and Madhuri made me realize the obvious strengths I had. The last couple of years, I have been trying to get to the point where I always have foreseen myself. I never had a blueprint chalked out, but I had an obscure image of where I would see myself after 10 or 20 years. Especially, the state I am in right now, at a professionally thriving phase, I needed someone to look up to who thinks on the same grounds as I do.

On April 2nd, 2011, I realized that he was the person I always had been thinking of. I then forfeited all my neutral opinions on this person. There was a time when I doubted his selfish attitude in scoring runs, but after I saw him cheered by a billion hearts en masse, I ruled out every minor skepticism I bared. If someone is carrying you on their shoulders all around the field, if people are cheering every move of yours (either you bat, bowl, field or just even walk), if you are respected with Honorary Doctorates from multiple institutions; you are not just any athlete!  It was really amazing to see everyone cheering him when he fielded, although the only thing he did was stop the ball and that too normally. I can't think of anyone else who enjoys a similar privilege.

I still believe that it is not just your batting expertise that brings you all these admirers but it is the disposition that you carry around, the way you maintain your ground, the lifestyle you lead and much importantly the humble attitude you possess. I was entirely spellbound when I saw the youngsters carry you on their shoulders and when the crowd gave you a standing ovation during the post-match celebrations. You should really have something spectacular in you to win so many hearts and this day, Sir, I idolize you as my Dronacharya. Having said that, I didn't mean I wanted to be a pioneer in Cricket but I shall practice being humble when I get famous. Unlike you, I was never adept in anything I did but today, I take an oath that I'll be useful to my country at some point in my life and the direction of my ambition would be - To be remembered by several people around me, who would celebrate my victory as theirs and absolutely love me for who I am.

I have had people in my life who admire me as a good Friend, a good Leader, a good Senior,a good Athlete, also as a good Human but I now dream of being 'like' Sachin! You are the only person after my Dad, I totally look up to in most of my deeds. Not just for scoring tons of runs but for the MAN you are; for the athletic ability you possess at the age of 37; for the social responsibility you display; for the ground you maintain; for the way you never ignore your admirers. Take a bow Master!

I don't know if I could get this to you ever but I hope to see your comment someday :).

Yours Faithfully,
VK (Remember these initials!)

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Hub of Innocent joys -> War Zone

Not once in my 26 years of life, did I ever regret the fact that I come from the city of Hyderabad - The city of Pearls, The city of Hearts , The city of verve, The city of vivacity and The city that is looked up by several other places in the world. For the first time, I feel sorry for myself for having lived among people who are senseless and heartless. I wandered around every nook and corner of Hyderabad and always loved the composite culture and beauty of the city. I spent the adolescent years of my life in Basheerbagh which is just adjacent to the Burgula Ramakrishna Bhavan (just 10 minutes of walk from Secretariat, Tank Bund, Necklace Road and Himayat Nagar).

I walked atleast a 100 times on the Tank Bund even before most of the surrounding areas weren't developed. There was no Viceroy Hotel, Buddha hadn't secured his place yet in the waters, water in the Hussain Sagar was clean and there were no eateries alongside. By that I meant that I had seen it in the most original state. I can safely recall most of the weekends where my parents used to drive us brothers on the much reliable Bajaj Chetak to the Tank Bund and show us the city. I remember the times when we used to park the scooter at a point and just stroll down the lawns across the 2.3 kms stretch, stopping at each statue of the famous personalities and reading the description underneath the statues (Both in Hindi and Telugu to improvise our reading skills). Sometimes my dad used to narrate a story on one of those eminent people on how they impacted the society. I grew up reading and listening to stories about each and everyone of them. I also remember the days I repeated the names of each person in order, on my way back from school and I was right everytime I attempted. That is how I am associated with those figures.

Yesterday, when I heard the news, I realized that I was raised among the people who could bring the lives of all the great personalities like Sri Annamacharya, Sri Sri, Kandukuri Veeresalingam, Gurajada Apparao, Sir Arthur Cotton and 8 others into their scummy Regional Differences. I felt bad for myself and pity for the agitators having lost their brains. I felt numbness in my eyes when I watched the footage and I wanted to express my anguish which was felt deep within.

How could they forget Veeresalingam's effort to curb Sati? Pothana's work in Telugu literature? Sir Arthur Cotton's dedicated life to Prakasam Barrage? They possibly forgot the fact that they wouldn't have been existing on this earth if Sati was not curbed and one of their grand mothers or great grandmothers had to sacrifice her life during that time. They must have ignored the truth that the grains that they are feeding on is a result of the Dam built by Arthur Cotton who is no way linked to India. Did they even forget that Annamacharya was just a devotee of the Lord that everyone of us pray? This is what one gets after they do so much to the society. The same hypocrites who associated the establishment of YSR's statues in a various parts of the city have lead the groups to demolish the statues of the more respectful people who made an impact on the Telugu society. Why don't they dare to touch the statues of NTR or YSR? Don't they have balls to do that?

Besides, after all the damage was done, our great political leaders enter the arena and declare the Million March - "A SUCCESS"? I was pondering over it all night and was shocked to see some TRS leader speaking on TV9 - justifying the acts of vandalism. I was checking out the news today and people commented on various articles on the internet saying "There is nothing called telugu pride. This is sychopathic imagination of andhrites." I assumed that the people who can access internet should have been well educated and I was shocked to see many such people backing the vandals. Once again, I went into stealth mode for being living among them for 22 years.

Dr. J.P's speech on the tragedy was so emotional, I was moved; You should listen to that. A senior from my school said this in Telugu

Telugu jathi siggutho tala dinchukunna vela....Telugu saahitya ownatyanni chatina annamayyanaa meeru nela koolchindi..Telugu vaari raacharikanni ellalaku chupina Sri Krishna Devarayala vaarina meeru mattubettindi...Telugu aadabidda roudramunu teliyaparichina veera Rudramma naa meeruu....auraa...siggu sigguuu

 Shame on you people who instigated this and people who support this!

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My First Crush and the first Love Letter

Did you ever write a love letter to someone? Who was the first woman / girl you had a crush on? I was pondering over these two things early in the morning today. I made sure I blog about it after I wake up from my dream and here I am.

Every guy passes through this phase. If not, you might want to relive your younger years once again. Talking about me, being born notorious :P, I had my first crush at the age of 12 and my first love letter at the age of  7. Oh yes, you read that right! I know it has to be the contrary but my Love Letter came much before I had a serious crush on someone.

I don't remember if that was due to the after-effects of a movie that I saw the previous day or watching someone do it but I did this when I was in Class 3. I opened my Notebook and on the Hardback (Cardboard cover after the last page), I wrote "I LOVE ". I didn't disclose her name here for obvious reasons. It was as if I was making a statement, rather than writing a Love Letter. I went home in the evening and as usual my mother starts flipping the pages of my notebook for the day's classwork and 'Bang' suddenly I remember that I inscribed these famous writings on my notebook. My looks were wandering around the corners of the room (as usual) looking for an apt lie (explanation). 

In stern, she questions me "What is this?"
Me: What? (As if I don't have the tiniest hint of whats going on)
Me: "I LOVE " (I read it aloud), "Who wrote that?" :D
She: "Looks like you wrote that, thats how your handwriting is"
Me: I told her that someone might have forged that in my book as I didn't know who did that ;)

I couldn't perceive her thoughts with my budding Mind reading skills but I was quite sure that she got convinced. You know haw hard it is for a 7 year old to understand whats going on in the mind of  a person who is 3 times older to you and that too a woman. Well, that day, I escaped narrowly and my notebook was changed but I still remember that incident. The irony of the whole episode is I am still a good friend of that girl and I never wrote a Love Letter per say after that. :)

Does anyone of you has a crazier story, I'm listening!

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Yeh Dil Maange more

• I was a kid, I wanted to ride my father's scooter
• I was young, I wanted a bike for myself

• I was in college, I wanted football shoes (studs)
• I was about to graduate, I wanted to earn money so that I can spend it with no bounds
• I graduated from college, I wanted to run away from my past for a while
• I was into University, I wanted to be a leader
• I was Graduating from University, wanted my degree to be useful (Academic Project)
• I was 23, I wanted a Girl Friend
• I graduated, I wanted a job
• I had loans, I wanted a full-time & well paid job
• I am a Database Administrator, NOW I want to interview people for other jobs.

This journey of wanting something at every stage of life has helped me achieve it. I can't think of anything that I missed out on, other than #2. And I'm sure the list keeps growing with my unquenched and random desires.

I'm not aimless but ambitious. I'm not egoistic but have an attitude. I do not seek pride but enjoy recognition. If you know what I mean! 

Wow, my impromptu abilities are taking a spark. :)

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Relationships vs Expectaions

Motivated by the writings of one of my friends on her wall.

root cause of all frustrations in life is expecting something from another person....let it be happiness, honesty, fidelity, etc......

I've always believed in this but never tried to rub my thoughts on anyone. I was just thinking how a person models himself / herself per the society. You expect your friend to call you back after you call him once, you expect your friend to understand you when you are in distress, you expect someone else to clean up your mess and you expect someone to come change the political system.

When one's expectations are reduced to zero, one really appreciates everything one does have - Stephen Hawking!

With expectations come dejections, followed by suppressed emotions and then ultimately leading to frustrations. Finally, it boils down to blame game on who didn't live upto whose expectations. It starts at a petty issue, grows to an argument and ends at hostility. Some people would be able to comprehend on what leads to the all the mess while some feel good crying out to the assumed guilts.

A teacher has expectations on a student, Parents have expectations from their children, Girls expect a lot from their boy friends / husbands and a citizen has expectations on the leaders and everyone of us expects a lot to happen out of destiny. All these times, I had this simple question on my mind. Why raise expectations and feel dejected while you can shrug all this and make the other person feel the same. :)

Another side of this coin would be to forgo the disappointments while still building up expectation on people or situations. This is what I do, A piece of free advice.

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