Its not about having a better year. Its about being better next year!

Ola Mi Amigos,

Its New Years Eve and its party time, isn't it?
The adrenaline pumping, booze flowing, rock and rolling New Year's eve celebrations.

Its funny how events like these bring the world together into a frenzy of celebrations, enjoyment and happiness. People who had a great year celebrate because of it, and others because they need a fresh start, and somehow believe that changing the calendar they use at home will somehow give them that. Don't get me wrong, I am in no way against celebrating at every possible opportunity available, but this entire concept of happiness, wishing each other, telling them you hope they have a happy new year, why do we choose a particular day to do so got me thinking. When the concept of a year was invented, there were no concerts, no places called pubs or bars serving alcohol at ridiculously exorbitant prices, why then do we need to celebrate the event. I then figured, its more psychological than anything else.

On the brink of this new year, I find myself looking for a reason to find celebrating today a compulsion, like it is for almost everyone around me. Life is all about moments, and living each moment like it could be your last. I personally don't find an uncontrollable urge to party tonight, but I can see why this is a big day every year.

It is at this time, whoever you are, whenever you may be partying, whomever you may be with, will take some moments to evaluate your life. The choices you have made, the path they led you through, and how close you are to a destination you had in mind for yourself. Out of all the unsaid customs of new year's eve, this one is my favorite.

Although, the line between this year, and the previous is pretty hazy, I know I have come a long way from where I was, and have taken a huge step towards my dreams.

At this point, I find myself humbled, amazed, thankful, grateful, happy, and satisfied.
I'd like to thank all you awesome people who have been a part of my life and made it as great as it is.

At this moment, when your past, present and future stands right in front of you, you will feel alive, you will feel every moment passing, and every fiber of your being will feel alive. Here's hoping that feeling stays with you guys forever, and your dreams, your desires, will all be that much closer to you.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

See you guys next year,
Dhiraj
Tomorrow is the first blank page of a new 365 page book. Write a good one!"

P.S: On second thoughts, I do find 2 reasons to party.
1.)America is gonna look beautiful today! ;)
2.)Sherlock Season 3. I've been waiting for the calender to change so I no longer have to wait for Sherlock Season 3. So let the party begiiiinnnnnnn...

And if you like what you read, also check my previous post
The Storm before the Calm

The storm before the calm

Hello People,

I hope you guys are having a great time.

Its near freezing temperatures here and I won't get out of the house unless absolutely necessary. That gives me some time to write something I have been contemplating about for a while.
This is the story of the storm that swept me off my feet, the "SUNSHINE" that made me want to wake up, and the source that gave me the strength to keep doing what I had to do to get where I am in life.

Life is divided into chapters. Some are good, some bad, some painful, some extremely weird, some so amazing that you can never forget them. Well, this chapter of my life, as short as it was, was all of that, and more. I feel the best way to divide my chapters with the people in them. Almost every story in my life has 1 main character that it revolves around. This one revolved around Sunshine.

Every one that knows me knows how I complain about my life in Bangalore, but there were a few months of my life I wanted to be nowhere but exactly where I was, one of those times that I honestly felt like the king of the world. I don't even know where to begin, I mean, it would probably take me the night to just list the amazing things about her. The early mornings, the rain, the cold, the coffee's, the late night skype chats, and even the malls, I enjoyed all of that. I loved my days more, didn't wait for the weekend as much, and was on the phone, A LOT...
I always felt its the little things in life that matter the most, and it was incredible how right I was about this, and what was mind-blowing was how she took care of it as much as she did.

I wish people weren't right about how your past affects your choices and therefore your future, because that's exactly what I let happen. I let my history spoil the mystery. There is something I do wish though, someone say to me while I was being stupid. "Do you want to keep playing? Or do you want to win?". Life isn't about who played the best, its about whether you keep track of the score, realize when you've won and leave with your prize.
All I want to say to her is thank you, for being just exactly who you are, and sorry that I didn't just take my prize and "live happily ever after"(Hindi movie style).

The storm came, made me smarter, stronger, and now all there is, is the calm.

Good luck Sunshine. :)

Until next time,
Dhiraj

P.S : I have not met a better cook in my life, since I left home, and now that I have to cook every day, I long for the food she used to cook, even the ajeeb tamatari paneer :P(Yes I remember!)

The 7 deadly sins

Well, I have been away for some time and while I have a genuine reason for it, I'm not really happy that I had to hit the pause button on my blog. I couldn't help it then(had exams :( ) and can't help it now( just have to get back to blogging :) ).

Its kind of ironic that I got the idea for this post after my computer crashed. I was pretty crushed myself, but then I thought, I finally have some time with myself and got to thinking about the things I have done in my life so far. The things I did wrong, the things I wish I tried and came up with my very own version of the 7 deadly sins.

Now, we all know the most famous ones. They are wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony.
But I honestly don't believe that a very large percentage of us can live a life of 60-65 (the average) years without actually committing most of these sins. I understood that there are no selfless good deeds pretty early in life. Every good deed has a motive that makes us happy, and I feel that is right. I believe in a single important concept, we all have a brain, and are all responsible to make ourselves happy.

The 7 deadly sins: (Now, most of these are derived from my personal experiences, but as general as they are, many of you should be able to relate with 'em)

• To not make long term friendships - I don't have too many, I know how lonely it can tend to get sometimes, sadness or elation.
• To not take a few risks - I wouldn't be here doing what I love and would still be stuck in Bangalore blaming he system, the city, my job and my life.
• To accept you won't fall in love - There's 2 kind of people, ones that have never fallen in love, and ones that have loved and lost. Some people in both categories give up, and force themselves to not fall in love. You guys don't know what you are missing  missing out on. I know who I missed out on, and trust me, you guys don't want to be in my position.
• To sleep too much - I am a big movie buff, so I will keep quoting movies. One great dialogue was, you will have enough time to sleep when you're dead. I wholeheartedly believe in it. You miss out on a lot in life when you excessively sleep.
• To not tell your family how much you love and miss them - This is one thing you should never stop doing. And this includes all the people in your life you love, not just relatives, every body you love is in a way or another, your family. Tell them you love them (as much as this is an instruction to help you guys, its also for me too!)
• To accept boredom / to accept crazy is always bad - Accepting boredom is among the worst things one can do. You allow incomplete results, don't have an aim, never obsess about anything, life isn't worth a lot. Never get bored, if youhave to be something be crazy, about a goal, about the stars, about the night, about love, ABOUT LIFE.
• To hurt people you love/ the people who love you - Well, I unfortunately hove done both of these things. And let me tell you, I have never felt worse about myself. Besides the fact that I miss the people I hurt so bad, it just kills me to think I could do that, and was able to justify it to myself then. This is specially for a couple of people, If you guys read this, I know you will get it, and I'm sorry, you don't know how much. I miss you, I miss the me I was with you guys, with more love in the heart, more faith in the mind, more life in my soul.

So, that's my list. These aren't in any particular order but they will haunt us, well at least me. These are mistakes that I have committed in the past, and I am unfortunately even committing right now. I cannot imagine how different my life would have been had I read this exact post and stopped committing the sins a few years ago.

I know coming up with a list like his is probably not the easiest thing to do, I mean, it took me a few days, so if you guys have 1 sin you guys think is the "deadliest", leave it in the comments.
Also, if you guys like this post and haven't checked out my previous post, please find it here - TheTruth.

P.S : You might notice a lot of these sins are catered to not missing out on things in life. That's because in life, you're gonna regret stuff you didn't do more than the stuff that you did.

Until next time,

Cheers,

Dhiraj

The truth is - I miss you all

They say the thing that people regret most is not the stuff they do that they shouldn't have but the stuff they wanted to always do, but didn't. I have 1 such thing in my life, something I always wanted to do but never got around actually doing it.

I still remember each one of those expressions on the faces of a few people’s faces when they said they would miss me, when I left to come to the US. It was probably the most humbling feeling in the world. I am so lucky to say there were so many people that said it to me. My friends at Manhattan Associates, a few special people in Bangalore and Mumbai, about whom I will be talking soon, and of course my family. They all deserve a special mention because its words like this that give me the strength to believe in myself. I am a man of logic, of science, of proof, yet, with no proof, or possible sense of security in the US, I came here, all the way from home, by myself. It was definitely my hard work, my families love and prayers, and my thirst to be the best I can be, but it also was these small (well, small but extremely important) things that were the spark plug to the engine.

Meghana, Anusha, Sango, Swagath, PB, Mitali, BG, Arun, Hoorulla, and definitely Dhokebaaz (Sayeda) at office, all the wonderful bunch of young ballers who I had the most fun playing with and teaching sometimes at Springfields (Mayank, Arun, Boris, Shashank, Sudhanshu, Karthik, Daksh, Deeksha) and a few more people who will get their own posts (Yeah!!! :P).

Of course I can’t forget about Manu and TimmyD, but I've spoken about them already, so guys don’t mind :P.

I don’t even know how I can thank my family, or that I ever can. We only hear stories about parents earning as much as they can just to spend the money and their time, and efforts on their children, but I felt that (it increases the pressure, but that’s more fun, isn't it?).

I don’t know why, but I never did really say this, not then, haven’t since. I miss you guys, and I really enjoyed every moment with you all. Some of the best times of my life. Thanks a lot for being there, thanks a lot for all the fun, thanks for everything, oh and of course, thanks for missing me! (Helps a narcissistic like me stay narcissistic :P)

P.S - I hope I haven’t forgotten anyone, if you think so, please forgive me, I know I miss you!!!

Cheers,

Dhiraj

Hoops on Haasephalt 2013

Hello World,

I wasn't really planning on this post, but the event that I just witnessed basically compelled me to write about it. It is a detour from what I generally post, but trust me, it was worth it.

So, just to introduce the event to you guys who don’t already know about it, Hoops on Haasephalt 2013 was the second edition to the annual event that kicks off the basketball season.

Now, moving to the fun part, there was everything one can hope for, food and drinks, free t-shirts, a wheelchair exhibition game, a dance competition featuring the women’s basketball team, men’s basketball team, the men’s soccer team and the softball team, performances by the cheerleaders of UAB, and the tantalizing UAB golden girls, a 3 point shootout, a DUNK contest, a lot of fireworks, and believe it or not, a damn helicopter. Yeah, the head coach of UAB Men’s basketball landed just north of the outdoor court in a freaking helicopter. I was stunned for a couple of minutes to be frank.

It was an amazing evening watching the USA national women’s wheelchair basketball team, and the contests.

The highlight of the evening was the dunk contest, the highlights of which are on the youtube link below. Please like and comment on the youtube video too,if you like it.

So, now, I get back to work and leave you’ll with my favourite quote on basketball by Michael Jordan (the G.O.A.T)

“I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

Cheers,

<<<Dhiraj>>>

Ballers around the world!

Well, hello people!!! I hope you’ll are having a great day, week, month and year. I was sort of packing my bags today to go play basketball, but couldn't find my keys. Duh… happens all time.

So, I decided, if I can't play, I can at least talk about basketball.

(Now, it’s not in any wrong order, I am talking about the second love of my life J. Stick with me for some time, and maybe the order in which I do things will start making sense. And if they do, please let me know too :P ).

So, I loved the game, played a little in college, and once in the 3 months in Chennai during my training with Wipro, but the real story begins in Bangalore. It was a hot sunny afternoon. I am going from my ODC (my cubicle) to the canteen, and I have to cross the basketball court. I notice a bunch of guys playing, and I’m thinking to myself, really, in the hot sun… What I was happy about, is I didn't say that to anybody, coz in a couple days, I was there on the court, in the hot sun, playing with those guys.

That’s when a lot of things changed. I had something to do that I really loved, every day, with a bunch of really great guys, better physique, coz I run that much every day, met a lot of new people, learnt a lot about the game, and most importantly, met my first 2 coaches of the game,  Mukul and Pavan. I never told them this, but I always considered them as my coach. They knew a lot more than I did, and taught me all they could. I am in the US today, and I have the courage to play with the amazing talent here because those guys gave me the confidence and helped me with the skills. As important as that is, unknowingly they helped me out of probably the toughest time of my life. Okay, a little background knowledge, I am not very comfortable talking about my problems with anyone. (Okay, back to the story) So, these guys ensure I always have someone to have dinner with, something to think about. I never said this to them, but THANKS…

A couple guys I truly call Brothers and mean every syllable of it. It was a pleasure sharing the court with you guys. Hope we do it again.

Of course, a special mention goes out to a lot of other fantastic people who let me share the court with them and enjoy their company
Arjun, Preetu, Umesh, Priyamvada, Sajay... Thanks.

To TimmyD and Manu, I miss you guys...

Cheers,

DR9

PS: 1 other thing I never told you, when we do ball together, I am totally gonna kick ur asses! :P

A lot like love...

So, as promised, I am back. Although, technically, I never left. :P

So, as I said, I left out a few people in my first post. People that made a profound stamp on my life after my teens, when they say the real life of a person starts, when you leave the home, go to college, get a job, make a life.

I figured the the first person on this list deserves an entire post of her own. So, here goes.
This is about someone whom anybody who knew me back in my college days would know.
I still remember the day like it was yesterday. I think it was the second day of college, and I hadn't brought any pencils to class(typical of me). It was the engineering graphics class. So if you don't have a pencil, you might as well not be in class. So, I say, excuse me, can I borrow your pencil, she says, okay and gives me this tiny little pencil, the lead of which broke as soon as I pressed it on the paper. Another incident I clearly remember is her yelling at me because I commented on her dress and we weren't really friends then. The next thing I remember was asking her cell number.

In typical movie fashion, boy sees girl, boy goes crazy, boy talks to girl, gets even crazier, almost asks her out, just to realise she already has a boyfriend, asks me to be her friend. Now, that is where the cliché's ended. I said okay, lets be friends, and trust me, that changed everything. I had the most amazing time in college with her, so much so that I basically don't remember much about my college other than her. Details are for some other time, because frankly I could write a book. Anyway, fast forward to end of the awesome college days, we reach Chennai together. People don't really believe when I say this, but I had an amazing time there, inspite of all the heat, the humidity, the narrow minded people, lack of fun places, lack of good food. Impossible to not enjoy in good company. From there, we move to Bangalore, where another twist awaited me. Priorities change, relationships weaken, life changes. I spend perhaps a few of the toughest months of my life there. I believe Einstein once said "I am thankful to all those who said no. It's because of them, I did it myself." I am thankful to her for saying NO at the right time, right place, in the right scenario. Then I got all the motivation I needed to crack the GRE, TOEFL and here I am, in (arguably) the best country in the world working on stuff that I really care about. She stopped living my life for me, handed me the reigns. Its just one of those things, when the time is right, the stars align, and life changes for the better.

Note: I assume you notice the lack of any first name, I think its for the best.
I called her Sweets, let us all just call her that. :)

<<<Dhiraj>>>

My story so far!!!

Hello People, I know its been a long time since I started this blog and haven't really posted anything.
To be honest, there hasn't been anything to post about during my days in Bangalore. All that's changed now! Life has!!!

I am back in school, a Masters program in Computer Forensics, in the US of A. And its been almost a month I have been here, and have liked it a lot. I met a few Indians who have been here and read the first post of my sisters blog, and it got me thinking too. Its pretty odd when I think about it, my family bought a new home, their first in Goa, and I couldn't live in it for even a day. It sucked then, it sucks now. Not much 1 could do about it. I have made a home for myself here now. Since moving here though, the most common question I get asked is What I have missed the most, in these past few weeks. I have to be frank, the thing Iv missed the most is my bike. Of course, I am not counting my family in this matter because that goes without saying. What I also miss, as everyone would obviously expect, is the food. I mean, the polluted, dust filled stinky roads in Bangalore, and the small tiny but beautiful roads in Goa may not be as magnificent as they are here, but damn, they lead to some places that offer some amazing food. Although, the advantage is I learn how to cook. that can never go to waste.

Speaking of roads, its amazing how the road rules are followed, I kinda like that, what I don't feel comfortable with is that there are too few people here, at least in Birmingham, AL. So the streets are pretty deserted all the time, which is crazy (All my Indian friends will get that one! :P).

I miss, gosh I miss speaking in Hindi, listening to all of that crazy slang acting like punctuation in the middle of all the sentences every time I spoke with my friends. Yeah, I miss them too, never said it to anyone but I do. Im not quite sure what stops me every time I try to say it, which is probably why I'm typing it here, but I miss them. The amazing group at Ocwen, I never had a workplace environment so conducive to work in, like at Ocwen, thanks to all of them. If u guys read this, I miss you'll a lot. Agnelo, Shawn, Sid, Corolie, Maria, Stephen, my bro Dhiraj, Fazil, and of course Bernice. The next company I worked for -Wipro, and moved to Chennai(the land of the lungi dance - as its called now). I cannot forget the great times. The amazing singing moment(by Niladri) in Kodiakanal, if Im not wrong, the Pondicherry trip where we landed on a dry day, and had to eat at that shady restaurant in the night, Hogneakkal, Yercaud. I was happy, with Terence, Amit, Amruta, Amanda - The Goenkaars!!! :). Also made a whole bunch of new awesome friends. Seed, Soldier(I honestly didn't know their real names for days after we became friends), Utpal, Niladri, Atif(our main competitor in coming late for training). The next stop brought with it, the storm, after the previous calm. Bangalore!!!!!! Phew, tested the heck out of me. My entire story of Bangalore should probably be another series of posts altogether, but in short, I lost all these friends by then and had to make a whole new bunch. And I did, my entire basketball team(again, another post dedicated to just these guys - for sure), the Tornadoes, my team at my new office(MA - new post new post! :P), the kids at Springfields and the guys at the last house in Bangalore I lived at in HSR. During this entire time, all I thought about, was getting out of there. But now that Im here, I miss them all. Of course, UAB is every thing that I expected, and more, but I guess its gonna take me a long time, and a few friends before I can see a home for myself here.

The process has begun, lets see where it leads me...

I promise my next posts won't be this big. Its just that, the people who know me, will understand, when I start talking, its really tough to make me stop.

Thank you for bearing with me for this long, and for those who read, please do comment and let me know what you think of it! :) For those who like, I promise, there's more coming, beginning with the most important people in my life, all of whom I left out in this entire text.

Until then,

Cheers,
Dhiraj
"What you see mainly depends on what you look for!"