Friday, December 12, 2008

IF

Life is so full of If's and buts.
If there is one poem that sums up so many philosophies across the world, it is the poem "IF" by Rudyard Kipling. This poem brings me solace, and sometimes is the guiding light for my corporate as well as my personal life.

If
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Colours of India (2)!!!






Colours of India!!!












Colours. I associate India as a land of colours. I see bright colours in shops, in clothes, in painted walls, festivities and almost everything that is still Indian. We love the deep hues of Red, in the vermilion of a married woman, in the BEST buses, in the outfit of the blushing bride, in the hot favorite red Maruti. We love the multi coloured golas with the green Khus, the black kala-khatta, and the pink strawberry. Diwali lanterns brighten our homes in all conceivable hues and Holi gulal in the omniscent pink is splattered with greens, blues and yellows with pleasure. We love our Men in Blue and admire the page three celebs in black. We have scootys available in a 100 colours, asian paints in 1000s to mix, and we love Gems and Poppins which are all differently coloured. We love our varied cuisines which are is spiked with colourful spices. For each shade of a sari, there are 20 different shades to be matched with at the local matching center. We love colour coordinating our earrings, necklaces, bangles, purse, sandals with the rest of our outfit. We love the multi coloured rangolis to brighten up our verandahs and ward off evil spirits. Our Gods also come in blue (Lord Shiva), orange (Lord Ganesha) and black (Maa Kali). Even our dressing, has a colour code. Brides typically dress in red, widows are supposed to wear white, while sadhus don saffron. Well, that’s the colourful India for you!