Loong time; now back with a bang !!

Its been real long time since I've come online. I was in Bangalore for more than 3 months now with my training and stuff; getting along with my new job and new people. As of now I'm back in Pune with all my energy revitallised. I feel myself to be completely fresh after the hectic lifestyle and schedule of Mumbai.

To start with, twas very nice to have a couple of most popular faces from Bollywood as Chief guests for the inauguration of our new office in Pune. The entire staff of our new office were working till late hours and beyond to get things in the right order since a couple of days and all our efforts bore juicy fruits... We had a promising number of delegates from UK and Bangalore. Twas great to have them on the dance floor shaking legs on some of the popular hindi numbers. Great people all of them, great evening, great performances, great dinner and indeed a great FAMILY...

Now it seems that a new journey of my life has begun and indeed I'm gonna make it much more BEAUtiful with all my ideas and opinions pouring-in. I'll be right back guys..

Final Countdown

"T'was time to say goodbye,
to this big city Mumbai."

Yeah... twas almost the last regular trip to Pune after I resigned from my assignments. I got a new job in Pune. It was memorable days spent in Mumbai. Learnt a lot, saw a lot and struggled a lot.

Everything still seemed to be so brand new to me.

As I reached the station, I took the general ticket for fun sake and then I travelled sitting on the footboard of the train all the way till Pune.



Twas fun, real fun. I took many pictures and videos.

Elections !!!

Flags and people, mikes and speakers,
Election and a bunch of campaigners.
Talking the words on which they cant walk;
hollow piece of oak, which would break in a stroke

We have some people who hurl shoes and sandals,
and have some politicians busy in national scandals.
Some people like fools act as honest tax payers;
end up in the pool of praise from corrupt sooth-sayers.

Seldom do we realise where our tax goes,
some say they're spent in our politician's booze.
they say 'Con' is the opposite of 'Pro' in the process,
So is this 'Congress' opposite of this 'Progress'

Anyways matter to be understood in short
is here something, that we all need to vote.
Wheather it be any national party or its ally
Being a true citizen, lets do our duty. -- By Jimson K Joy

..

Being religious is always important.

I dont really know what exactly made me to come up with such lines; but I liked when it was complete. I thought I would post it in here:

He's got something for you to show,
of how many times he has got the blow,
Guy who has never believed in lying low,
Look into his eyes, talk to him, you'll know,
He has come a long weary way and far still to go...

On occasions he has fallen and failed,
But in all, Christ the supreme was hailed....
Many times has been bruised and rejected
but all the time stood up strong not to be dejected

Achievemet of milestones shall be his
He is sure of this possibility only by His grace,
as he stands and watches the world with that gaze
yes.. He is sure 'The Grace' will never let him faze..

Looking ahead to the world so vast,
with dreams rooted to reallity at its very best.
Being isolated from the concept of 'rest',
cause for him the race isnt over; "not yet.. not yet".

All about my Office

All about having "Fun with the sense of Responsibilty"

With recession hitting every sector of our economy, even the circumstances prevailing in my office these days scares me of laying-off situations but thinking positively, it has become a creativity centre for me. With most of my work being outsourced, it has opened up ways to develop my creativity skills like sketching, poetry etc. Funny though, yesterday I was busy during post-lunch time trying my hand in sketching the side-views of my collegues and trying to write a few rhyming lines. Following are a few lines which you might find funny or may be silly.

Well... its all about my office.

Do I really need to emphasise

all that for me which it does suffice?

Sometimes I try sketching pictures

of my collegues or some fixtures,

or write poems although being youngster.

And that department of "Accounts"

Always have an issue with their counts

They say, they have a strict boss,

anytime just ready to pounce. -- By Jimson K Joy

My Trip last week to Pune

Hmm.. its just worth remembering one more time. I boarded the train on that Saturday; 11th April early in the morning at 5:53 AM; "Indrayani Express" from Dadar station scheduled to reach Pune Jn by 9:02 AM. Its nothing special, I always do travel on weekends to Pune but this one was different because unusually I started early on Saturday morning. Otherwise I always leave directly from the hectic office schedules on Friday night in the general compartment.

This time I travelled early in the morning because I had to take my guitar, gadgets and some accesories with me for a performance in Pune on the Easter occasion. So I needed reservation. Unlike buses which takes you to Pune in 5-6 hrs, and other govt buses which are very hectic (going to Dadar TT carrying your luggage, standing in queue to book ur ticket, buying necessities like water, wafours, chips etc before hand etc), trains are the best alternative atleast for me to travel between Mumbai and Pune. With the upcoming railway e-ticket booking, you can get the ticket in your office if ur having access to a computer and a printer (who doesnt have !!).

Well this is not first time I'm travelling by a train but dont really know why I'm getting the feeling of "first time", this time. May be it was the excitement of Easter or may be it was the family with an extra-energized kid sitting right in front of me during the journey. Sometimes he sits on his mom's lap, sometimes he jumps and climbs up the window and sits there and finally he tells his dad every now and then to buy him whatever the vendors are selling in the train. I've clicked this little guy's picture.

Sharing and caring

Well... during this recession hit season, whats the best thing we can think of ? Cutting of cost, saving, putting a limit on too much of expenditures (parties, shopping, boozing, and whatsoever), right investements, and may be all of them you might know better than me. But did we ever reallise that prevalence of this situation has tremendous capability in bringing harmony in our personal life? It can be our family, friends, near-n-dear ones etc. After all, its all about care what matters. Today I came across two such example that made me update my blog.

I came across a news article "pimp my style" in DNA After hrs about the clothes swapping parties which might be popular amongst recession-hit fashionistas abroad, followed by QAs of wheather it would work in India.. Coloumist Sheree Gomes-Gupta says that its not a new concept as far as west is concerned where people of like-minded, like-styled swap thier clothes, shoes, bags accessories etc. Its a unique way to save money and at the same time flaunt new designer stuff !! This topic was further exetnded to asking for opinions from various people in Mumbai about wheather the same idea will work here in India or not and blah blah....

But then, for me it was something else that struck me, when I came across one more similar situation. I was chatting to one of my students when she gave me her contact details and I asked her if I could call her now. She told me that we have one cell at home and everyone uses it turn by turn and that I can call her after 15 days as right now the cell is with her grandparents who are in a trip to Delhi. How wonderful !!! Now it was this which I wanted to emphasize throught this article. The sense of sharing brings caring. I was so damn sure about what I wanted to say at the very first instance; that prevalence of this situation has tremendous capability in bringing harmony in our personal life. After all who has time to even talk to our dear-n-near ones in the busy hectic schedule these days?? It gives us the opportunity to mingle, exchange our ideas, and most importantly, to be close to our dear ones.

EXPERIENCE: The best Teacher.

They say... "Experience" is the best teacher you could ever have, to learn from. It really teaches you so much. The point of time, when something positive or tragic happens in our lives, it has already taught us something but we dont reallise in the true sense what we've learnt but when we face a similar situation, we become aware of the same. I dont really remember where I read this quote long time ago. "In school we learn the lesson first and give the test but in real life situation, Experience gives you the test first and then gives the lesson"
Something similar happens in everyone's life from time to time. The concept of learning from experience has many flaws too. By the time our teacher Mr. Experience conducts an exam and gives you the lesson, you might get old and left with no room to bring it into practical what you've learnt. Nowdays they say, "Theres no time to learn from experience so learn from other's experience". What an insight !! Isnt that a possibility? This is the reason why people read, go through autobiographies, articles on one's life, philosophies etc. And in a way, its back to the same cycle; learning from lesson first and then getting ready for the real-time situation", which is exactly the opposite of what they say "Experience is the best teacher". This is all-time a debatable topic, with one school of thought advocating the fact that whatever you learn from your own experience never fades away from the memory chips of your brain. And all other mode of learning are stored in the temporary registry in the brain.

But then anyways, I would conclude this topic in favour of the fact that "Experice is the best teacher" becasue life is all about exploring. The more you explore the more you know. The more you try, the more you learn to explore eventually leading toward success. And no matter you fail again, again and yet again.. eventually you learn to survive. And someday, if once you've learnt, no matter how much time it has taken, you'll be an ultimate master in that. As I quoted before, lifes all about exploring no matter whatever the field may be. Its all about LIVING life morally and ethically in the right way !!!

The Perfect Balance

We often wonder of how we can,
balance our life that always had ran
behind these invented pleasures of man.

Did we ever seek for an advise or a plan,
or walking under the sun simply for a tan?
and calling out "hey its harsh I can't withstand"  -Jimson_Kj

The Paradox of our time: Sharing an insight

A couple of weeks ago, I got a mail; thought I would share: Its an article written by "George Carlin" (1937-2008), a comedian of the 70s and 80s who wrote the following eloquent and appropriate piece on our times:

"The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge , but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered the outer space but not the inner space. We've done bigger things, but not better things. We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this article to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or just ignore"

...being "Faithful"

Thursday, 26 March 2009


Yesterday after the cottage meeting in one of our fellow believers house, while returning, I listened to this song in the cell phone of one of my friend... " I was enthralled when I heard this song; I liked it so much; thought in heart that I would for sure sing this one for that grand occasion soon to be expected. Did I say I was enthralled??? Rather I asked him "Bro wens the occasion??? Without even having his consent I went ahead to activate blue tooth of my cell-phone and told him to send me the song.

And perhaps the first task I did after coming to the office today was googling this song along with its chords; thought of just sharing with you all.

FAITHFUL

C Dm
I never wanted anyone before
G7 C - Em - Am
Half as much as I want you
F
I finally found what I've been searching for
D7 G
My whole life through
C Dm
You're the answer to the prayers I've prayed
G7 C - Em - Am
More than I've ever dreamed of
Dm
So I give to you my heart today
D7 G7
And pledge my eternal love



C Em F G7
I'll be faithful, faithful till the end
C Em F
I'm so thankful that heaven
G7
Chose to send you
F C
And this love will last forever
E7 Am
Forever I'll be true
F G7 C
And be faithful to you

You're my one and only one you see
There's just no one to compare
I'll hold and keep you close to me
Way beyond our golden years
Our two hearts will always beat as one
One thing you can know for sure
I promise that I'll never let you down
Your trust in me's secure

So lovely....

How it all Began: The Origin of Guitar

Recently I came accross an article which sheds light on the origin of Guitar: A stringed musical instrument. I thought I would share:

The guitar actually has a mixed heritage, but the origins of the modern instrument can be traced back to Spain. In fact, the word "guitar" is derived from the Spanish word "guitarra." Of course, for many beginning players, the last thing they really want to know is the history of the guitar. In reality, however, knowing the origins of the guitar, as well as its extensive history, can help players develop a deeper respect for the instrument. In addition, knowing how the guitar has evolved helps players understand the construction of the modern guitar.

Sometime around 40 AD, the Romans made their entrance into Spain, or Hispania as it was called. With the Romans came a musical instrument known as a cithara. The cithara was a type of lyre, but it was typically played by professional musicians. It had a wooden sounding box made of two tables connected by ribs. Above the box was a tuning bar, and the strings were stretched from the tuning bar to a tail piece on the box. Notes were played by strumming strings with one hand, while using the other hand to deaden the unwanted strings.

In the 8th century AD, the Moors entered Hispania from the south. The Moors brought an instrument called an oud. The pear-shaped body of the oud was flat on the front, and bowl-shaped on the back, and it usually had more than one sounding hole. At that time, the most common oud had only four strings, and the neck was not fretted. Tuning was accomplished by turning the keys on the pegboard. Both the oud and the cithara were played with a pick, although the oud could also be played by slide and vibrato.

Eventually, the cithara and the oud were combined into two instruments: the Moorish guitar and the Latin guitar. The Moorish guitar retained the rounded back, multiple sound holes and wide fingerboard of the oud. The Latin guitar, on the other hand, had a more narrow neck, a flat back and one sound hole. Despite having only four strings, the Latin guitar of the 11th century is clearly the predecessor of the modern guitar.

Music CHANGES Life !!!

This is true that music can bring tremendous change in one's life. I came across this beautiful testimony and guitar lessons from Claude Johnson; also a great testimony of Country Superstar Randy Travis; thought I would share with you. 

http://www.gospelguitarcourse.com/main.php?e=&l=&r=0

Gospel Music of Country Superstar 'Randy Travis' is Changing Lives - (An inspired article)

He's had 22 'Number One' Country Songs, with his most recent being a gospel song. He is one of the most popular singers in country-music history. Few country singers ever have 22 'Number One' singles, and the music of Randy Travis has been loved by millions of fans for years. Today Randy Travis spends a lot of time singing gospel music, and his music is having a bigger impact on lives than his country hits ever did. After listening to his music, some are giving up drugs and alcohol, and many are turning to a faith in Jesus Christ. Before he became a superstar, Randy Travis had his share of problems-both as far as his dreams of being a country singer and with the law. His father, Harold Traywick, (His record studio asked Travis to change his name from Traywick) forced Randy to take guitar lessons. He did go to church some as a child, but Randy Travis was not a believer.

Randy dropped out of high school. He was arrested for various offenses, including car theft and burglary. He had problems with alcohol and drugs. He only avoided going to prison for a long time by promising he was not keeping company with the same crowd, a promise he was not drinking or taking drugs-and by moving in with his manager, Liv, who later became his wife. Her marriage to another man was already falling apart, and later ended in divorce. At the time, Randy Travis did not have a personal faith, but he did begin to have a successful career.

Starting in 1985 he began to have a string of hits, including 22 number one hits. While most of his number one hits were in the 1980's, he did have five in the 1990's and one in 2002, with a gospel song, "Three Wooden Crosses". Some of his other 'Number One' songs have included on the Other Hand, Diggin' Up Bones, Forever and Ever Amen, Deeper than the Holler, Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart, Look Heart, No Hands; and Whisper My Name.

Life: The way it is percieved as

When I say "LIVE the LIFE", what comes to your mind? We have this latest trending thought called YOLO (you only live once).  How do you perceive it? Your mind has traveled far and wide across hills and valleys of time if you are old. If you are young, you have thought of all those activities you should be doing to enjoy your life. You are thinking of the day when you'll be in the high school in the years to come if you are kids reading this. For some, living life is to pursue a good career and grow in his/her specialized field and yet, for some its all about taking care of their families, mending the broken homes and relationships and making sure of a harmonious life. We also would certainly have this category of people for whom living life is all about spending money and enjoying a lavish life.

But surprisingly my opinions are quite alien to this. Life is all about keeping yourself busy in some or the other socially productive activities, learning and doing over and over; so busy that later on in life, you don't have to regret for things not done. No matter if its your career, no matter if its all about lending a helping hand, no matter if its out of you scope, no matter even its about trying a hand on guitar or any musical instrument even if you are not good at it. I mean.. how would you know you're not good at something unless you try it at least once? You can even spend time in practicing on the athletic-track preparing for the next Olympic games that is coming up. WHY NOT? But there should be perfect balance between everything that you do. No activities can be isolated and if you think you are extraordinarily better in something, devote your time more on that.

Here time plays a very subtle role. To think like that, you need to use every inch of your time. There are many stories and paradoxes people have written about the importance of time. I don't really think I need to give an insight in to this topic. Everyone knows about it. Time is the best and wisest investment you can ever think of. But then again it matters a lot of how you are bringing it into use, this investment.

Strums of Life: My first Guitar

Its all about my pursuit of guitar playing skills and of how the skills pertaining to music has given me Another reason to live. When you say melody, I relate it to gospel-music. There could be possibly no melody without old-time gospel hymns and even nursery songs!!! Because melody in music is what really matters.

My first guitar:I got my first real six strings bought to me by my dad when I was around 12 yr old. A Methodist (from Methodist church) man trained me with the basics. This guy was just amazing with skills on Piano and guitar as well. He undoubtedly had his soul attached with natural skills of playing the best of gospel songs. I lived in a central government colony where its all so serene in the outskirts of the city away from pollution and chaos where cycling down to the play ground every evening for a  match of Cricket or Soccer was a sacred tradition. We had a beautiful prayer fellowship in this colony. Every Thursday evening we had this gospel prayer meeting in somebody's house where the melody of gospel-music and sermons filled our hearts with joy and peace; it made our week. And  how anxiously we waited for another Thursday to come by. We celebrated every single Thursday by singing, playing, and reading out from God's Word.

And the thoughts takes me back to the childhood fights among the friends with seldom any conspiracy in mind or hatred in heart is now a part of my sweet memories. And it reminds of a few lines of "Memories", one of the best known numbers of Elvis.

Intro: A Asus4 A Asus4

Chours:

Amaj7 D Amaj7 Dmaj7
Memories, pressed between the pages of my mind
Amaj7 D Amaj7
Memories, sweetened thru the ages just like wine

Verse 1:

C
Quiet thought come floating down
Cmaj7
And settle softly to the ground
Bb/C Fmaj7 Dm7
Like golden autumn leaves around my feet
Fmaj7 Dm7 Bm7 E7 Amaj7 Dmaj7
I touched them and they burst apart with sweet memories,
Amaj7 Dmaj7
Sweet memories


"Back to reality....Now having faced the hectic lifestyle of Pune, Mumbai city, Bangalore, back to Pune, again back to Bangalore, the life is spontaneous and thrilling.. you got to experience it... Once in a lifetime...

Why the passion??My life is so sweet with so many colours. Thank you Lord !!!! He took me from a "village boy, a govt school-goer in Kerela" to all the way "a graduate from 'Symbiosis International University' in Pune"; worked as a teacher, a recruiter, an IT guy and now Working with an MNC as a Consultant. And all these days my physique underwent tremendous health issues with breathlessness, high allergies to dust and so on. But then, certain things in life always remained the same for me; like zeal for my creator, love for blogging, music travel and food and passion for sports. Among these "love for music and blogging" stands out as something very special and close to my heart

Guitar in my College:
In my college days (in the year 2002)... an electric guitar would have been the most priceless gift I could ever expect from anyone becasue we had formed a rock band and ti was the first official band of Symbiosis Computer faculty. With a very little exposure, almost with no inspiration or support, we performed at our best levels in various places in Pune for competitions and Inter college festivals. In the year 2004, our band representing SICSR bagged the position of 2nd best Rock band of Pune. Those days were too BEAUtiful with the whole bunch of people from our class and other batches hopping cheering on the canteen tables and chairs, holding guitars and singing (literally screaming). Most of the requests were for the numbers like "Hotel California", "Summer of 69" and other best of Bryan Adams and some rock n rolls of Cliff Richard.

Where are we NOW????
The "lead guitarist" of our band, Avishek is a Nepali national and now in the US, the "vocalist", Satish aka Jammy from Jamshedpur, is now in Bangalore working with HCL. My good old friend and a remarkable strummer, Sean is working with HSBC-GLT in Dubai-UAE. The drummer Rixon, the cousin of Avishek, theres no news from him. Uday aka UD is in the US. I'm right now in Bangalore, moved here last year along with family. Having spent more than 25yrs in Pune, it was indeed my true home. I was on the "Base+vocal support". I have come up with another blog which refelcts the whole of nostalgia our college days. You may go through the following link.

http://www.symbyrockers.blogspot.com/

Prayers Answered Finally:Anyhow... finally on a bright sunny day my prayers were answered...and my dream had to come true, as love for music and passion for guitars always got me ignited. I had been waiting quite long for somebody somewhere to gift me an electric guitar. However, the hope was ignited when I decided to gift it myself, to get myself a guitar. It was an immediate decision which made me ride all the way to "Furtados Music mart". I got my first dream "Greg Benneth" Signature series with a "Sun-burst" colour. I also got myself an amplifier of the brand "Laney". Since then I've been playing at home and church. I just love gospel and country music. Its such a great soothing to the ears. Recently a week back, I also got myself a mini-guitar stand of "Hercules". Its sturdy, strong, flexible, attractive and at the same time very handy.

And that's how the things are now with me in Bangalore
.