Follow me

Guys when u visit my blog please type in ur mail id in the right side box that says follow by mail.... thank you.

THE UNFORGETTABLE TRIP

DAY 2:

This was an awesome day. We hit the road early morning for Panjim, the capital of Goa. Panjim is indeed a beautiful city. First up we visited Dona Paula. This place is basically a view point. Spent a good one hour taking photos in all crazy poses possible. The drive to Dona Paula was a pleasure. Clean roads and greenery on both sides. On our way back we stopped at the Goa Science Centre. Well it might seem absurd going to a science centre in Goa but this was a famous location so we decided to spend so e time here. We watched a 3D movie here and gotta say it was amazing. It really was a 3 dimensional experience compared to lots of movies which claim to be 3D and disappoint.

Then we had a stop at CCD where we got the news of our semester results. We were here for a jolly time in Goa and exam results were the last thing we needed. We had decided in the morning that none of us would check the results. But when something is forbidden the curiosity to know about it increases. That’s what happened to both my buddies. Well I hadn’t bothered to check mine but what the hell both these guys were gleaming and I was feeling a little insecure. So I was the last one to see my results. But luckily we all did the exams well and nothing unfortunate happened.  So we decided to celebrate our exam victory with a movie at Inox. Sherlock Holmes 2 it was. The movie didn’t disappoint.

Time for lunch and this time it was the famous Delhi Darbar in Panjim. Amazing darbari food. Food is always good in this state. On our way out of the restaurant, we saw a bookshop selling books at 100 bucks. So we took a look here and ended up buying a few books worth 5 times this price.

Our last stop in Panjim was the Church Square where we spend some time. Our way back to Calangute was eventful. Half way through the journey, the second scooter went missing. We waited a while for him and as we were heading back in search of him he caught up with us. Guess what he was caught by cops for riding without helmet. He was fined. Now we understood what the biker who overtook us meant when he asked us to drive faster. The cop had missed us and he was suggesting us to escape his eyes. We instead thought he was mocking us that we were too slow. LOL…

Back to the hotel and then to the beach for some beach soccer and eye soothing…. Hehe… The dinner was awesome as always here. Finally got to taste pork, something that I had been longing for. But the pork vindaloo we ordered made us spit fire. It was that spice. I wanted to try the local beverage, Goan fenny. So ordered that as well, and I was glad we ordered just two glasses and not three…. Just two sips and I couldn’t take it anymore. Wasn’t exactly appreciated by my alcohol hating tongue…..

Day 3- the last day will be up soon.. Stay tuned…

Life as a Conscious Practice

‘Everything is practice.’ ~Pele

When we learn a martial art, or ballet, or gymnastics, or soccer … we consciously practice movements in a deliberate way, repeatedly. By conscious, repeated practice, we become good at those movements.

Our entire lives are like this, but we’re often less conscious of the practice.

Each day, we repeat movements, thought patterns, ways of interacting with others … and in this repeated practice, we are becoming (or have already become) good at these things. If you constantly check Facebook or Twitter, that is practice, and you are forming that habit, though it’s usually not with too much awareness.

When you smoke, or eat junk food, or speak rudely to others, or put yourself down internally, this is something you are practicing to be good at. You may already be good at these things.

What if, instead, we practiced consciously, deliberately, and became good at the things we really want to be good at?

What if you first, above all skills, learned to be more aware of what you are practicing? What if constant conscious action is the skill you became good at?

If you could learn to take conscious action, you could learn to practice other things you want to be good at, rather than the ones you don’t.

What Are You Practicing?

Ask yourself these things throughout the day, to practice conscious action:

• Do I want to practice rushing through my morning, or can I wake a little earlier and simplify my morning routine so that I practice a slow, enjoyable morning ritual?
• Do I want to practice checking my inboxes when I first get to my computer, or can I do something better?
• Do I want to practice leaving dirty dishes out, or can I practice washing my bowl when I’m done with it?
• Do I want to practice leaving clothes strewn about, or papers lying on the counter, or can I take a few seconds to put them where they belong?
• Do I want to speak angrily to my kids or spouse, or can I speak to them with kindness and compassion?
• Do I want to practice complaining and self-pity, or can I practice gratitude?
• Do I want to practice rushing and being busy, or can I practice simplifying and going slowly?
• Do I want to practice eating fried foods, sugary foods, salty junk food snacks, fast foods … or can I practice eating whole foods, vegetables and fruits, nuts and beans and seeds?
• Do I want to practice surfing time-wasting sites, or can I practice clearing away distractions and creating?
• Do I want to practice watching mindless entertainment, or can I practice moving my body and exerting myself in activity?
• Do I want to practice smoking, or can I learn a healthier way to deal with stress?
• Do I want to practice shopping, or can I practice giving?

These are only examples … your life will show you what you’ve been practicing, and you can decide what you might rather practice instead. Or you might be completely happy with what you’ve been practicing.

How to Practice

The first step is always awareness. When you are conscious of what you are doing, you can decide whether this is an action or thought pattern you want to practice, or if there’s an alternative you’d rather be good at.

As you go through your day, practice this awareness. It’s the first skill, and it’s the most important one. Be aware, without feeling guilty or angry at yourself, of what you’re doing and thinking. You will forget to to this, but remind yourself. You might wear a rubber band around your wrist, or carry a talisman, or make tally marks on a slip of paper each time you remember.

As you get good at conscious action, start to practice those actions and thought patterns you want to be good at. Start to notice the ones you’d really rather not be good at, and see if you can deliberately practice other actions and thought patterns.

As you consciously, deliberately repeat these things, you’ll get better at them. It takes a lot of repetition to get good at a skill, but you’ve got time.

Important Conclusions

You won’t be able to change all your habits at once, and I’m not implying that you should try. The habit you’re really changing is consciousness, and practice. Other habits will be difficult to change, especially if you’re trying to change all of them, but it’s OK if you mess up. Give yourself permission to make mistakes without guilt, and instead just deliberately practice again, and again.

If something is too hard, and you can’t get it right no matter how many times you practice, you can try it in smaller steps. If you can’t quit smoking, try not smoking once, and instead relieving stress through walking or doing some pushups or meditation or self-massage. If you can’t quit junk food, just replace one snack with a fruit, or add a tasty veggie to your dinner.

I’d like to emphasize that this isn’t about perfection. There is no perfect way of life, and you don’t need to strive to be perfect every moment of the day. I believe you’re already perfect. This is just about conscious action, which is a useful skill to have.

Remember that we become good at what we repeatedly do, and what we do repeatedly can be done consciously. It’s when we’re conscious that we are truly alive.

‘If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.’ ~Dalai Lama

Does Love still exist?

It was just one of those days when I was asked by the training department of our college to interact with the freshers and share some placement gyan with them. After talking for a while about placements, they got bored and asked to play some game. So here I was conducting an interaction game for them where a girl and a boy are randomly chosen and given the chance to ask each other questions.  There was this one question that caught my attention.

The boy asks, “What is your opinion about love?  Would you prefer love marriage or arranged marriage?” To which the girl replied, “Love is just for time pass. I don’t believe in love and will marry only the person whom my parents find for me.” It was this answer of the girl that made me think.

Does love really still exist in our world? Or has it given way to just lust and become a time pass game for youngsters?  There was a time when ‘love’ was a taboo. Then mention of the L-word was considered equal to a sin. Then there came a time when love started blooming and we had some great love stories that made the world proud. Now we are going into a period where love has simply become a time-pass like everything else.

Love never had a timeline. Love stories were eternal. Laila-Majnu, Heer-Ranjha, Romeo-Juliet these are names that will remain etched in the memories of people for generations to come. They would always be known as a pair and never as a single entity. But in today’s world where do we have such examples? We read of an emotional love story of Ravinder Singh and roll tears but do we see such things happening around us? Like everything else today love also has an expiry date, which is indeed sad. The timeline usually is the 3-4 years of college life. The paradigm has shifted from ‘love’ to ‘break-up’.

We have reached a stage where love looks all colourful and beautiful only on the big screen and in books. But the reality has taken a harsher turn. The Bible says to love your neighbor as you love yourself. Harry Potter’s greatest gift was love. Girls still wish for a lover like SRK from Kuch Kuch Hota Hai. But in reality what happens is we just brush aside the love that someone pours on us.

This world works through love. So where exactly are we headed when love has just become something that money can buy now? Is lust the new love? It wouldn’t hurt to give these questions a long thought. By saying ‘I LOVE YOU’ to someone, you are offering a lot of unsaid things. You are offering trust, a shoulder to cry on, a promise to take care for a lifetime. And when it changes to ‘WE NEED TO BREAK-UP’, you are breaking in fact shattering a person’s life amongst these things. So just be a little careful before you jump into the ocean of love. You might just break a heart which sure doesn’t make any noise. Go out and live a life filled with true love.

The Habits That Crush Us

‘Don’t panic.’ ~Douglas Adams

Post written by Leo Babauta.

Why is it that we cannot break the bad habits that stand in our way, crushing our desires to live a healthy life, be fit, simplify, be happier?

How is it that our best intentions are nearly always beaten? We want to be focused and productive, exercise and eat healthy foods, stop smoking and learn to get rid of debt and clutter, but we just can’t.

The answer lies in something extremely simple, but something most people aren’t aware of:

We don’t know how to cope with stress and boredom in a healthy way.

The bad habits we’ve formed are often useful to us, in dealing with stress and boredom. Consider the bad habits that fit this bill:

• Smoking
• Internet procrastination
• Eating junk food
• Drinking
• Being rude/angry/depressed
• Watching TV or playing video games (if you become addicted & sedentary)
• Shopping (getting into debt, building clutter)
• Procrastinating on finances, paperwork, clutter (too stressful)
• Inactivity (avoiding exercise is a stress avoidance technique)
• Biting nails, chewing hair, clenching jaw

This isn’t a complete list, but all of these habits fill a strong need: they are ways to cope with stress and/or boredom. We have formed them as coping mechanisms, and they stick around because we don’t have better ways of coping.

So what if instead, we replaced them with healthier ways of coping? We’d get rid of the problems of these bad habits, and start getting the benefits of better habits.

Better Coping Habits

How can we deal with stress and boredom instead? There’s no one answer, but the habits we form should be ones that lead to healthier results. Some ideas:

• Walk/run/swim/bike
• Do pushups, pullups, squats
• Yoga/meditation
• Play with friends/kids
• Create, write, play music, read when we’re bored
• Learn to enjoy being alone, instead of being bored
• Take a daily walk and enjoy nature
• Deal with finances, clutter, paperwork immediately, in small steps, so that it doesn’t get stressful
• Take control of a situation: make a list, get started in baby steps, so things don’t get stressful
• Learn to be mindful of your breathing, body tension, stressed-out thoughts
• Get some rest
• Learn to savor healthy food that you find delicious
• Slow down
• Take a hot bath
• Learn to live in the present

These are some good examples. Each habit above will help cope with or prevent stress or boredom. If you replace the bad habits with these, your life will be less stressful and healthier. You’ll have less debt, less clutter, less fat, less disease.

Changing the Habits

The old habits of coping didn’t build up overnight, and they won’t go away overnight either. We built them up through years of repetition, and the only way to change them is also years of repetition.

But an important start is to realize why we do them — stress and boredom, largely — and realize that there are other ways to deal with these two problems. We need to be aware when stress and boredom start to kick in, and instead of being afraid of them, realize that they are problems easily solved by other habits. Let’s take the fear out of stress and boredom. Let’s learn that we can beat them simply, and prove that with repeated good habits.

Once you have that realization, follow the usual Zen Habits steps to changing a habit:

1. Pick one habit at a time.
2. Start very small – just a minute or two, if you want it to stick.
3. Use social motivation like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or email.
4. Be very conscious of your triggers, and do the habit consciously every time the trigger happens.
5. Enjoy the new habit. You’ll stick with it longer if you do.

We have been crushed by the habits we’ve formed out of fear of stress and boredom. We can fight back, by learning to breathe, to smile, to go slowly. We can humble these giants that crush us by turning them into mere gnats to be shooed away with a smile.

courtesy: zenhabits.net

The success story of Flipkart.com

It was meant to be a portal that compared different e-commerce websites, only there weren't enough of them to be compared. Thus was born Flipkart, making sure that online shopping would never be the same again in India.

From a two-member embryonic idea to a 4,500-member company, the Flipkart story is not just about stupendous success and mind-numbing numbers. Much more than that, it's about redefining customer experience and breaking online shopping inertia.

Started in 2007 by Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal -- both from the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT) and with prior experience in Amazon -- the Bangalore-based firm ships close to 30,000 items per day.

Or, in other words, 20 products per minute.

"We are clocking daily sales of Rs..2.5 crore ($ 5 mn). Our growth rate has been 100 per cent quarter on quarter," Sachin Bansal, CEO of Flipkart, told IANS.

But the interesting part is that around 60 per cent of Flipkart's orders are cash or card on delivery.

"Indian consumers are much more cautious about shopping online as compared to the West. They are reluctant to divulge credit card details. The cash on delivery service has helped a lot of traditional consumers turn to online shopping," he adds.

Also, the model has unbolted the lock to a whole new customer base, which hasn't been exposed to the benefits of plastic money as yet or those with a default technological handicap.

"I've never understood how to pay by card online. The best I can do is use an ATM. I wish more websites had the cash on delivery option," says Sneha Anand, a school teacher.

Sonal Nangia, senior vice president (retail) at Technopak, attributes Flipkart's success to the "superior customer experience it offers".

"Right from browsing to delivery, you can track your order. You can pre-order an unreleased book, get good prices, even the customer service is very strong. Raise any issue, it's efficiently resolved," Nangia told IANS.

Adds Sachin Bansal: "When we started, the customer experience offered by e-commerce sites was below average. Our aim was to address this. We feel that it's this focus on customer satisfaction and ownership of the customer experience that has worked in our favour."

The superior customer service notwithstanding, Flipkart's biggest draw has probably been the huge discount it offers -- much to the envy of offline stores.

"I was waiting to lay my hands on Haruki Murakami's new book '1Q84'. But it was way too expensive at Rs..1,000. But Flipkart had a flat 30 percent discount, and I got it inRs..700," says Madhura Vishvakarma, a Delhi University student.

Though all bookstores get up to 50-60 per cent discounts from publishers, the low overheads -- one of the numerous virtues of online stores -- enables Flipkart to pass on the savings in the form of discounts.

Flipkart started with books, but now deals in 12 product categories.

The company stocks nearly 11.5 million titles, "making us the largest book retailer in India. As per data, we have 80 per cent share of the online book market", Sachin Bansal says.

So will this trend spell doom for offline bookstores?

"No," believes Anuj Bahri of Bahrisons.

"There's a huge market for everyone to co-exist. Besides, Flipkart's market is totally different, young people of 20-25 age group buy books from them. Some 80 per cent of their business is chic literature. The more sensible and mature readers will always go to a bookstore," Bahri told IANS.

But Nangia of the Gurgaon-based Technopak begs to differ.

"The traditional stores are to suffer. Internationally also that has been the trend."

She believes the increasing "access to internet, more iPads, smart phones, sophisticated technology that gives 3D view of products, time poor consumers, increasing costs of real estate, will all lead to a shift to digital commerce".

But with Amazon, considered a big shark in online retail space, already knocking at India's door, will that result in dwindling fortunes for Flipkart?

"No, India is a huge market, there is much more space for more e-retail stores," says Sonal.

Bahri, however, feels there is a palpable danger. "Flipkart works because of discounts. Amazaon can offer greater discounts as it can take bigger losses being a bigger company. That will change the dynamics," he said.

Already, there are players like Infibeam, Naaptol and Letsbuy in the market.

According to an Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) survey, the online retail market in India may grow to Rs..70 billion (over $1.30 billion) by 2015 from Rs..20 billion in 2011 as internet access improves.

The Unforgettable Goa trip - Day 1

They say no college life is complete, especially in south India, without  a trip to Goa. I had already been to Goa in my 3rd year but it was more academic than pleasure. So we decided to make a memorable trip to the beach state of India. Though the one who was most excited to go on the trip was a girl but unfortunately due to unavailability of another girl to accompany her, it became an all boys trip. So the theme of our trip was "3 boys and endless fun". As you read ahead you will realise that we experienced almost everything during this trip. It was like a film story like ZNMD or Dil Chahta Hai part2 as one of my friends termed it.

Lets begin with the part before we reached our destination. We booked our to and fro tickets from Salem to goa and from Goa to B'lore. The journey to Goa was a hectic one. We boarded the train at 10pm. The train travelled at the pace of a snail with the driver stopping umpteen times in the middle of nowhere for reasons only he knows. We spent time reading books and playing cards. It was the birthday of one of the '3 idiots' so at midnight we made him cut a cake and gifted him a present. Imagine celebrating birthday in a train! We finally reached our destination at 8pm the next day. From the station we had to take a bus to Calangute where our hotel was located. With a little difficulty locating the hotel we checked into our hotel room at 10pm. The room was big and spacious. Got to say that nothing beats spending sometime in the washroom after a very long journey. Then we went out and had something to feed our hunger and had a beautiful sleep.

DAY 1:

So the next day on we decided to find out what makes Goa the ultimate destination. One thing you can notice in Goa is that there are more foreigners i.e. 'firangs', than the local people here. We rented 2 scooters for reasonable rates. Trust me, if you don’t take 2 wheelers, you are probably gonna spend all your money in travel. An interesting concept in Goa is selling petrol in mineral water bottles. You don’t find many petrol bunks near to the beaches, so they sell you petrol in bottles.

We began our first day with water sports. Our hotel was 2 minutes walk from the Calangute beach so we ran to the beach in the morning. By the way, Calangute beach is referred to as the queen of beaches of Goa. If you are in Goa and you don’t try water sports, its better you don’t visit the place. We tried riding Jet skis, took a ride on a speed boat, had a bumpy ride being dragged by a boat and had a terrific banana boat ride. These things are really cheap there. But for boat rides that take you to see Dolphins and para sailing, you will have to spend more. It really feels good to have a life jacket. Its like you suddenly became a superman. Did I mention that one genius amongst us lost his glasses while he fell off the banana? We then spent time oggling at the pretty ladies on the beach... Treat for the eyes... hehe...

After our time at the beach. We freshened up and hit the roads. Guided by a map and GPS. Our first destination was Fort Aguada. This is a famous tourist spot. The song 'uyire uyire' from the film Bombay was shot here. The place was bustling with tourists. Got to say that the fort was well maintained. Clicked umpteen pictures in various poses here.

Then we stopped at  restaurant named 'Indian curry house' for our lunch. Man this is one of the most delicious lunches I have ever had in my life. Tiger prawns with butter sauce. This is like one of the best things I have had. Yumm is not the word.  And the mixed fried rice we ordered, had literally everything in it. Prawns, egg, mushroom, baby corn, fish and what not. Lovely.

Now comes the best part. We heard that this Fort Khorjeum was like a famous fort here. So we headed there. It was a few miles away from the city. So we had difficulty locating it. Travelled through villages and outskirts. Finally we made it there. And imagine the look on our faces, when we saw the 'fort'. It was more like ruins of what once was. Uninhabited area. We were probably the only souls who went there. Oh ya there was one couple sitting there. Guess we interrupted whatever they were doing there. Anyways, so we took a look around. Almost cried for going there and then returned. The return journey was even better. We took a route that took us all around that area finally to reach the road that was just next to the fort. Another folly.

Well it was evening by the time we reached our hotel. Then we got out to roam on foot around Calangute. Lots of small shops aimed at tourists. Our 1st shopping in Goa was a pair of sunglasses for each of us. Bargained and bought them for a good price. Dinner was amazing again.

Stay tuned for the remaining days of our stay in Goa....

Meanwhile check out my trip photos at:
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3092301107389.2156159.1259859285&type=3

Why winning ICC World Cup 2011 was important for India?

Yes,we did it! It took us 28 years but when we finally did win the Cup,we won it in massive style.We won at home,chasing the highest ever total of a World Cup final, recovered after the loss of two big batsmen,and with a stunning six as the victory shot.It is not possible,at the current moment,to praise the team enough.Their victory will give a lifetime of bragging rights and inspire an entire generation.

Equally stunning were the celebrations that followed right after the win.Even though it was close to midnight,within minutes,millions took to the streets.In something India has never witnessed before,there were impromptu victory processions,happy traffic jams,ecstatic people on the roads and a street party to which,literally,everyone was invited.

Why did we feel so great What makes this win so special And is there a bigger impact of the win that we can carry into our own lives After all,as some may say,this is just a game.It has no tangible impact on ordinary Indians lives.Yet,there is no denying the mood-elevating effects of winning the biggest trophy of our biggest game.It is like a booster dose of self-esteem and hope administered to the entire nation.

To understand why this win is so big,it is important to understand the context in which this has come.This trophy comes at a time when the only remarkable news coming out of India was the scams,including a big one in sports.The only remarkable people were the corrupt politicians and their cronies.Many of these people roam free and are even celebrated by Indian society.This is India – connections,the clique of powerful people who scratch each others backs and give each other mutual access to their power to enhance it.This is the way people rise in India who you know is more important than what you know.How you trade your power for another persons power is the core skill that will make you rise in life.

In the middle of all this,our men in blue brought home the World Cup.It was not a competition of connections.It didnt matter who your father was,which minister was your best friend or how much money you had in the bank.Only one thing mattered excellence.For the only way to win this Cup was to play better than everyone else,in match after match.And we played better than anyone else.

Such global recognition is rare for India,but this win showed the way to another,more glorious,Indian path to success : India-excellent.The India-excellent way to success is still hazy,but the young generation is getting a whiff of it.And it smells a lot better than the stale odour of success generated by India-connections.In fact,young India loves the perfume of excellence.That is why the youth came out onto the streets at midnight for the players,but they wont for any politician.The success that comes from excellence feels good its like a fresh and juicy apple.The success from connections tastes like reconstituted fruit.From a distance they may look the same,but for the person achieving it,the feeling is worlds apart.You cant kiss a bribe the same way as Dhoni kissed the trophy.You cant celebrate an unfairly earned telecom license the way Team India did after the match.Your ill-gotten gains may win you some fake friends,but India-connections is just not the same flavour as India-excellent.India-excellent is cool,India-connections is not.

With this win,youngsters today can see two paths.As they grow up,they will have the choice of two roads.India-connections is a well-travelled road.It may be easier,but ultimately less rewarding.The India-excellent road that Dhoni and co have paved for us is the harder one.However,it is more meaningful and more rewarding.

The clash of these two Indias will dominate the next two decades.Right now,India-connections has the upper hand.In the finals,tickets were essentially reserved for the India-connections.If you didnt have the right contacts,you couldnt get a ticket.This,ironically,for a contest that celebrates excellence.But i dare India-connections to contain Indiaexcellent.It wont be able to.Lurking beneath the tiny,creamy layer of India-connections is a talent pool so vast that it can transform our nation.One persons success can ignite the winning spark in millions of hearts.And Dhonis men havent just provided the spark,they have lit a fire.As a tribute to our team,let us resolve to win,and win using the path of India-excellent.After all,if we can be great at cricket,we can be great at anything.Let this trophy be the start of many Indian victories.Thank you,Team India,for making so many of us so happy.

The pursuit of happiness

This is an interesting post from Ravinder Singh, author of "I too had a love story..."

By now the tired sun had lost its shine in the red horizons of the west. A mild chilly dusk had taken over the ‘city beautiful’ which was garlanded with series and grids of lights, announcing the arrival of the festive season. And I was inside an electronic appliance’s showroom to buy now a day’s (current) families’ latest crush – A Flat LCD TV.

I was almost lost in the crowd when one of the salesmen accosted me to understand my requirement. He then escorted me and made me walk across the series of running TVs, much like a minister who walks to receive the guard of honour from the cadets on 26th January. I checked the prices and the available features of almost all the models – the ones which I knew wouldn’t be affordable for me even in the next 5 years, the ones which were either too small or nonsensical enough to replace my current model and finally, the two which suited my need and budget. One was dearer by a thousand bucks than the other. I therefore, spent the next fifteen minutes bargaining with the salesman, whether he could give me the dearer one at the cheaper one’s rate. But other than the dinner set (the default gift) and his repeated utterance of ‘Sorry Sir’, the salesman had nothing to offer me.

In an unhappiness to spend the extra 1000 rupees to fulfill my happiness of procuring a better TV set, I stepped out of the showroom to call up my family members for their views. But before I could do so, I saw a bunch of kids strangling with each other to occupy the narrow sitting space on the railings of the staircase outside. Their faces and bodies were smeared with dirt all over. Half naked in their torn rags, they belonged to the class, which in the night, sleeps on footpath and in the morning, beg alms. Surprisingly, they all were giggling, showing their few teeth and more gaps. I wondered and turned back only to find that all the giant and small TV sets were now treating those kids’ with the Cartoon Network channel. Amused, I resumed my gaze back at those poor kids, dirty kids, yet happy kids. They were enjoying in unison. All of a sudden I felt a pinch in my heart. On one side, inside the showroom, were more not so happy people like me, who were ambivalent of whether taking back home ‘only happiness’ with a good TV set or ‘more happiness’ with a better TV set, and on the other side, were these kids who were cherishing happiness in whatever form they were receiving it. Seeing them encash their share of happiness in this way touched me and taught me that in the rat race of accumulating more happiness, we all are ultimately letting ourselves drift into the zones of unhappiness. And apparently, I realized that being happy is no rocket science and it’s a myth that most of the time we can buy happiness. But yes, we need to scale our horizons right and adapt to them.

Happy at this learning, I thanked the salesman who tunes the Cartoon Network channel everyday for his little guests. I didn’t call my family members and bought the cheaper TV set, thereby saving 800 bucks. The differential amount of200 got spent in buying chocolates for those kids. After a long time, that evening, sitting amongst those wonderful kids, I watched ‘The Simpsons’.