Image of Self - an ongoing process
Who am I -
All I am is a regular guy, a father of a two sweet kids, a husband, and a software architect (living in Gurgaon). But I have accomplished a lot over the last couple of years (and failed a lot) and along the way, I have learned a lot.
About myself -
- I rate higher on nerdy and geek scale than on social scale.
- I can't cheat others.
- I eat so fast. If I’m not thinking about it, I will just inhale my meal. I have to put a lot of effort into slowing down if I’m eating with other people and even then I finish first.
- I usually walk with my hands in my pockets....it looks wrong and I need to mend.
- I can't live without access to my Linux box and android mobile. I myself sometimes believe that my laptop is my better half.
- I hate to suffocate my feet inside shoes, so you will often see me roaming around bare-foot.
- I prefer to tour a place that is sparsely crowded.
- I believe that surviving in this world requires you to be extremely mean and exceedingly cunning, yet I refuse to adopt to that kind of life style.
- I hate television. Whenever someone in my family puts on TV, I go to another room to read a random book.
- I would rather sit alone on with a book than booze and party.
- I would like to sleep only 6 hrs a day and still survive.
- I love the fragrance of wet mud specially during rainy day.
- I measure my happiness by whether people close to me are happy and love me, & by the difference I make for others.
- I buy more books than I can finish. I sign up for more on-line courses than I can complete. I didn’t start reading books until I was 28. Once I discovered the benefits of it, I was hooked. I've found reading books very intellectually fulfilling. Books allow you to fully explore a topic and immerse yourself in a deeper way than today's media does. I'm looking forward to shifting more of my media diet towards reading books from now on.
- I am a teetotaler and a hardcore vegetarian, and this bugs a lot of my buddies and office mates specially my bosses. I hate alcohol, mostly for alcohol-induced frivolity.
- I have never seen my parents fight; they had been together for over 34 years.
- When I'm tensed, I either play with my kids or sit back, close my eyes and relax.
- I don't have a big social circle. I am more of a family man and prefer to spend as much time with my family as I can instead of partying out with friends.
- I am a religious person, but not an orthodox one.
- I am not very cool like the kids of today or my peers in my office but I am cool the way I am. I wasted a lot of energy when I was younger worrying about being cool. It’s way more fun to forget about that, and just be yourself.
- I absolutely love taking a walk in the woods but alas there is none in Gurgaon. I enjoy going out for walks in woods whenever I am in Dehradun (in in-law's place) where there is ample natural surroundings.
- I am too economical in using any resource (except n/w bandwidth, I think).
- Amongst flowers, I love the fragrance of Jasmine and Lavender.
- I am a firm believer of simplicity and hope I am able to imbibe the same in my daughter.
- I hate deadlines to the CORE! Because it's not the end result that I'm interested in, it's the journey that's more exciting to me and that's where the learning happens. It was not until my daughter was born that I realized that there is life beyond task deadlines. People have often walked up to me sharing success stories with immense pride and how the heroic spirit of projects were executed and team was killed to achieve the impossible. Such stories are instilled with pride and such pride is very infectious in itself. What has intrigued me however is a strong aversion in the organization to follow process or discipline. A strong need for utmost flexibility and liberal approach in the way projects are run. Sure, I have an impressive job title, but it does not make me happy; it does not fulfill me. I have a passion for technology but not at the cost of quality to meet the stringent timelines.
- I am a firm exponent of open source software generally and the Linux ecosystem in particular. I wish some day I initiate my own open source project.
- But I also feel “bore”, much like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. I find small talk and parties painfully boring (which in turn would define me as a bore in the eyes of the many people who love parties and small talk.) I don’t drink, I don’t do drugs and I rarely stay up late (and I say “rarely” because I define late as 11:00 p.m. and sometimes I turn the light off at 12:00.) I’ve never been very good at drinks parties or that side of things. For a long time I fretted about how boring I was and tried to force myself to go to parties to “get out there” and “have some fun”. I assumed there was something wrong with me until the day finally arrived when the possibility of being the most boring person on Earth caused me less horror than the thought of dragging myself to another party. Today, when someone finds me boring all it means is we’re not a good match.
- While I don’t always tell my family how grateful I am for them, I do appreciate they are around me always.
- I believe you only see what you want to see.
- I literally drink in knowledge from the people I meet in my everyday life, learning about religion, art, politics, humanism, love, and death. My hunger to learn, and to keep on learning has become one of the guiding values of my life.
- I always prefer windows seat to aisle.
- Cutting me off from my laptop or internet is the best way to torture me :)
- I don’t check my email on weekends. This means I’m usually off social media…I’ll text a bunch because that’s social for me and how I organize social behavior. But I tend to get more reading done and my brain gets pulled in a cooler direction. And a lot of people tell me they can’t do that because their boss demands they check email all weekend.
- To me, there's no such thing as a Stupid Question (only unless, the intention of question is to show your participation)
- I have many good pens but prefer to use 0.5 mm mechanical pencil.
- I'm in a constant battle against my mind and the "mind games" it plays with me. So far I have failed miserably as my mind continues to push me around as I keep thinking worrying thoughts which are not too significant in my life. These worries are mostly related to office deadlines and "Just in case" trivial thoughts. I also have the tendency for my focus to become scatter shot and have multiple things going on at the same time. I fail all the time, on a daily basis. But I don’t let it stop me.
- Life without my family would be like someone has taken out vowels from the language and still expect me to utter meaningful words.
- To me too much of arrogance is a deterrent.
- I live thriftily, for most part
- I spent my 20′s climbing the corporate ladder, working 70-80 hours a week, 362 days per year, attaining “impressive” titles none of that made me fulfilled actually.
- I prefer to wear unfashionable comfortable clothes over expensive branded unwieldy ones. I wear the same thing every day. I have a handful of clothes I wear: grey or black T-shirts, with my one pair of jeans (or shorts, if I’m at home). I can throw any of the shirts on with my jeans or shorts, so I don’t think about what I wear. I prefer to wear simple and comfortable clothes over smart looking branded one.
- I was so talkative when young that I was often labeled as a “chatterbox” both in school and then in college.
- As a kid I was very naughty and reckless but transformed into a sincere and responsible adult.
- I'm extremely intolerant of songs and music not suiting my taste.
- I'm married, but from time to time I need some time alone to re-contemplate the meaning of life.
- Body odor and arrogance is a BIG turn-off to me.
- I think a lot about money and believe in living a frugal life, but I'm NOT money minded. I don’t think about money the same way I used to. I used to think money was more important than just about everything else in my life. But not anymore. I also set a very low budget for eating out [my wife cooks excellent] and for entertainment, but have a high budget for travel and learning. I strongly believe that when you master your spending, you master life.
- Writing code and looking at my programs run successfully gives me immense gratification.
- I have a BAD temper, and I'm thankful that only a handful few have ever seen it.
- I preferred Orkut much more over Facebook. A few months back I and my wife dumped Facebook. My initial reason for leaving was that I was spending too much time on the site in proportion to the benefit that I was getting in return. Also most of the relationships I was building on FB were nothing shallow but shallow connections. Considerably withdrew myself from most of social media realizing the utter crap that people circulate in the name of socializing. Fake emotions, over-edited photos, pretentious friendships - moved away from all of that. Another wonderful positive is that I've gotten recovered a whole bunch of time for myself. Constantly checking Facebook was becoming an addictive habit, and one that is hard to break. Although I probably only spent around 15-20 minutes on Facebook a day, that really adds up in the aggregate. Earlier Facebook used to distract me from my work, more often than not. All in all, lack of Facebook made me realize that looks are deceptive. Its absence has been a bliss. Life seems better now! The time that I used to spend on Facebook goes on Quora.
- Sometimes I believe I think more than I should, more thoughtful than I should be.
- I do my best to EMBRACE LIFE ~ I am extremely passionate about living a happy & healthy life so I am able to appreciate all my time on this planet has to offer. I realized this after my back ache problem started some years back. I feel it is my responsibility to myself and my family to do all I can to make sure I am healthy, fulfilled and around for a long time.
- Own a humble silver colored WagonR - Its spacious enough to accommodate family of four, comfortable, has a high mileage and low on maintenance. Most of my friends and colleagues plead with me to sell my car and buy a luxury one, but somehow I so like driving it. Don't really know why.
- I don't believe in astrology too much. It is an approximate science, though. Nonetheless, many a times I'm tempted to believe I'm a true Scorpion.
- From time to time, I can become too centered, giving an impression that I'm oblivious of the existence of rest of the world. This is kind of unnerving to people around me. If I don't talk to you in a while, that doesn't mean I'm pissed off at you, and neither that I don't care for you.
- I firmly believe our happiness is a choice. We are all faced with ups and downs and I feel it is what we do and make of those times that gets us to where we currently are at or where we want to be. I make it a priority to surround my family with quality association.
- People who don't know me think I'm shy. And people who do know me wish I were!. In fact if you strike the right chord with me, I can ramble on and on for hour.
- I hate using mouse and love ThinkPad's track-point as it lets me navigate with ease.
- I spend more time digging and fixing what is not right within me, than I spend enjoying what is good in me. I believe it helps me make a better me as days pass by.
- I have a sharp memory. As a kid I would memorize all the chapters, word by word sometimes even without understanding which I later realized wasn't a good thing.
- I am super tidy and well organized. I shower daily even in winters and keep my nails clean and hair trimmed.
- I am forever trying to flatten my stomach.
- I either forgive you in an instant, or never for the rest of my life. But either way you won't figure it out easily.
- I wish I could cycle to work but the traffic mess on streets of Gurgaon does not encourage me to do so.
- I am forever trying to teach my daughter to sit still.
- I'm not a business person.
- When not travelling with family I prefer public transportation to driving myself places. But I prefer to use my car on the weekends for the convenience when travelling with my family.
- I love to garden although I am not able to make out much time for it; growing home grown kadipatta and paalak are my favorite.
- I'm not a public talker.
- I'm a scientific materialist at heart. For some years now I am looking forawrd to some scientific theory of consciousness that works, and for a long time, I banged my head against the wall looking for a theory of consciousness in purely physical terms that I as a layman could understand.
- I am not a night bird and like to go to bed by 10:30 or 11pm, but life happens and sometimes I go to bed later. Some nights I sleep six hours, some nights eight. I wake when my body tells me it’s rested. As soon as I’m awake, no matter the time, I get out of bed immediately and start my day.
- I enjoy getting up so early. I don’t know why I like the mornings. I just know that my days go better when I did. In fact, one of the few things that gave me solace was my early morning walk in a nearby park in solitude.
- My simple 2 bedroom house is calm, relaxed, serene. No longer am I bothered by the organized chaos and no longer am I discontent with my surroundings.
- Fitness is a recently acquired dimension of my life. I started a fitness regime comprising daily exercise every morning. Till a few years back I didn’t exercise at all. Or, when I did exercise, it was sporadic; it never lasted more than a few days before I gave up. I do only exercises I enjoy. I don’t enjoy body-weight exercises, so I don’t do it. I attempted it for six months and discovered it wasn’t for me. Instead, I find other ways to do cardio: I walk; I run that incorporate cardio. Although I enjoy exercising most in the mornings, I at times go to a nearby park for a brisk walk in the evenings if I feel tense or stressed. Exercising at the end of a long, stressful day also gives me time in solitude to reflect on what’s important.
- I beat stress either by taking a relaxing bath or take a walk; contemplating while walking, alone with my thoughts. I love going for long walks when I am depressed or dealing with a complex dilemma. Fitness doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a long process, a learning process, something that happens in little bits over a long period. I’ve been getting fit for five years now, and I still have more to learn and do. But the progress I’ve made has been amazing, and it’s been a great journey.
- I love living close to my family. I love that and have forgone many great opportunities in life just to be close to my kid and family. I love working on my laptop even while the kid is play on the floor.
- When I give instructions or explanations I ask for a “repeat back" to ensure clarity and understanding. This irritates my wife.
- I have zero tolerance for bullshit.
- I tend to write and think in bullet points
- Assuming a worst case scenario. This bugs the hell out of my family and friends, but contingency planning is something you learn quickly
- I always put everything in the “correct” place when I’m done using it.
- I love to power nap. 20 minutes is all I need
- I have this strange habit of ensuring doors and windows are secured every night before it gets dark and double check before bed.
- Straightforward Dealings – Like to have straight, frank and honest dealings. Why waste time in bargaining or fooling each other.
- Room Orderliness – Everything in the house or room must be in an order. This I have been following childhood and even now.
- I hate unplanned activities, unless emergent.
- Adherence to Rules – In some parts of India, breaking rules is like showing your clout with the Administration. I hate that and respect all laid down Rules, be it on the road or paying bills or taxes.
- I always have a contingency plan, for everything, and never expect plans to work out as planned
- I never rely on one source for anything, including “intelligence”. Everything important should come from at least two verified sources when possible. If I'm asking about a conversation that's occurred - I'll always get more than one person/party to tell me what was said.
- I am usually indifferent to melodramatic behaviour. I had a colleague who started crying at work once because she was stressed out. Thing is, if she paid as much attention to her job as she did talking/flirting then she wouldn’t be stressed out
- I normally don't leave work until task are completed. I have difficulty clocking off when “teammates” are still working on the “mission”...this is something my family doesn't like because I get late for home
- No avoidable wastage – I hate wasting paper or scarce resources. Same for lights, AC, fan or water.
- Hair Cut & Shave – Regular haircut every month, even though I now have lesser hair and I cannot move out of my house without a shave.
- Being on time is very important for me. 100% drives me nuts when people are more than 10 minutes late
- I love helping my wife do the dishes while istening to song when our maid is on leave.
- If I was not a programmer I would have joined Indian Navy.
- I question things people tell me until I read them somewhere my self.
- I often wrongly assume people must know of something when I've heard of it at least twice.
- Though I am paid well I prefer to be a minimalist. My materialistic possessions are close to zero as I'm a minimalist both by choice and life's vicissitudes. I can't describe how much I hate buying useless shit, nothing makes me feel more guilty than buying something and then seeing it a week later unused. As such whenever I buy something I do it after carefully asking myself a number of questions and making sure I'll use it. I recently started my minimalist journey, and up until now everything I have let go of has been pretty easy. I now realize that we are not our stuff and I do not have to hold on to something in order to remember a loved one; their memories are inside me. I and my wife tend not to accept physical gifts. Sometimes it’s hard to get people to understand this cultural shift. The best way to approach the no-gift-getting concept is to be proactive: we set the expectation with our friends and family we don’t need any more stuff, and if they want to give us gifts, they can get us experiences we will enjoy; they can celebrate our lives with us by spending time with us, not by piling on more stuff.
- I am currently trying to get back into biking. Back in 1998 my friends and I where crazy and biked easily almost 3-4 km everyday, until we literally biked everywhere for any reason.
- It appears I tend to lean towards the "old fashioned" things like old music, dressing sense, marriage, manners, traditions and restrict myself to staid ways of thinking. I'm old-fashioned when it comes to my morals and standards. I was raised in a strict no nonsense household. I tend to hold on to a lot of the values that I was brought up with (especially manners, like nobody has that any more). But! I will say that I am very open to new things and more accepting then others in my family. Only thing I am modern with is the use of technology...don't have much of a choice here.
- I am straightforward—-not necessarily to the point of being a jerk, but I certainly do not sugarcoat things.
- I can admit to not knowing something.
- I try to avoid being an extremist.
- Now that I have lived over half of my life, stuck in a dead-end job and smothered by society’s expectations, scared and anxious I would like to change my life in some way I can improve it. I care for myself enough to change my life, but I don’t have the slightest clue where to start. So far I have lived my life the way society had always told me to live. “Find a secure job, work hard,” they would say. “Get a solid job and work your way up the ladder.”
- I drink a lot of tea but like only filter coffee.
- I am a fan of sharing meals with his family. I eat breakfast & dinner with my wife and daughter every morning before helping to get my daughter ready for school.
- I prefer T-Shirts and hate suits.
- I usually have a few coding project ideas in my mind but can't find the time to start on them.
- I consider stock trading as gambling but have tried my hand only to understand how the Stock market works.
- I'm often impatient with others.
- I question things people tell me until I read them somewhere my self.
- I often wrongly assume people must know of something when I've heard of it at least twice
- I love to read. I would choose a book over most activities. To me there are few joys that equal a good book, a good walk, a good hug, or a good friend. All are free.
- I desire knowledge and insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. I read and think.
- By nature I am not a risk taker. I always like to weight things, analyze issues from various angles and then take a decision.
- I hope I never stop learning and growing and my borderline obsession with learning also puts me in a great position to teach others and share my experiences. Probably a day has not gone by where I haven't learned some amount.
- It is utterly impossible for me to be fake.
- I would everyday want to work on the advice “Be Not Afraid”.
- I think, there is nothing so boring as doing nothing. My problem is, that I can't do 'nothing'.
- Today when I recall how rash I was as a kid it scares the s*** out of me.
- I believe simplicity is the ultimate sophistication of a man.
- I crave knowledge || I wish that I could go to school for the rest of my life. I love the learning, the studying, and the fulfillment you get when something clicks in your brain. I want to know about everything! I question so many things because I genuinely want to know the hows, whats, whys, whens, etc. It drives me insane when I don't know the answer to something.
- I've always wanted to travel India as a budget traveler after my studies but unfortunately never got the chance to as my job started immediately after my studies were over.
- My favorite trick for falling asleep is to count wishes.
- In college I was obsessed with soft drinks.
- I am a religious person and I believe that it’s not that religion is illogical but science is too young to understand it and so is our wisdom’s maturity. Today’s science and technology dominated world might not see any logic and reasoning in it today but I am sure with quantum physics theories this might change.
- I'm not a superstitious person, but a cautious one.
- I have extremely high metabolism || I do realize this won't last forever, but am I thankful for it while I have it! I have been eating a lot healthier and exercising more lately, so maybe it will stick around a little longer.
- I’m extremely content with my life, with what I have, and with who I am. I have accepted that I am the type of person who will always be striving for a goal, the type of person who enjoys a challenge, and who enjoys the journey. It’s not the goal that matters to me — it’s the journey to get there that is so fun. And I’m content with being that type of person.
- I don’t fear God. Not one bit. I love Him. I don’t know why but the latest fad in India states that ‘praying and believing in God is not cool anymore, bruh’.
- I am not fond of people and I don’t have friends. I’ve been lucky enough to experience true friendship in life but somehow, being absolutely alone has always comforted me.
- I barely call people I know. It just freaks me out. I have no idea why. And yet, I manage to blabber my way through a 2-hour call with the client, who sits in the UK/US and will never meet me. I have no idea why.
and the list keeps growing....I know I have lots more that I want to put down too but I'll save that for another time.
What life means to me : I may still be young and naïve but I believe that life is worth everything. For me, it's not just about having a relationship, companionship, good friends or maybe a job that you like, if you are lucky. Some people will settle for things like this because for them, it's by far the best it can get. For me, that's not all you get from this world. Life is so much more than merely pursuing the norms of the society but trying to be a good person in my own accord. It is not about wildly chasing dreams to be superior over others. For me Life is about passion and an opportunity to experience things & explore the possibilities out there.
Why I love to write blog: It's easy to understand why if you think about it. You see, I'm a horribly shy, reserved, and introverted person. However I like to think that I also have a sharp mind, keen wit, and imagination that run twice the speed of light. So there is always a lot going on in my brain, but not much coming out of my mouth. So I had to have some sort of relief, and that relief came in the form of writing. Moreover that my brain is reawakening now, I'm starting out with a bit of an introspective question - ‘Who am I?’
Turning point in my life : My father who was the chief architect of my life would often make acidic remarks to me on how hopeless I was (while a teenager) when compared to my elder brother and that was what drove my life for 17 long years and my motivation (negative) to prove him wrong. How this led me to be hyper-competitive as a person, excessively achievement oriented. This was a self-discovery I made as a part of a behavioral lab that I underwent 17 years ago.
What motivates me :
- The hard work and sacrifices my family made
- Recognition from & the Self-satisfaction because of the passion I carry for the job I do.
- Teachings of my Guru
What I am passionate about?:
- My Family
- Programming & Open Source community
- Zeal for Continuous learning.
What I would like to transition to: Live a more meaningful life and summon the courage to live a more fulfilling existence. But I do realize that leaving a job to pursue will not be a very easy job.
What is the meaning of my life - extremely complex and abstruse question. To be honest I don't have that answer as of today. Will update the day I discover.
My philosophy : I have lots, but here are my top 10.
- People are generally good.
- Happiness is in mindset.
- Good health is incredibly important.
- Don't worry about things you can't control.
- “God” is the energy of the universe
- Consciously examine yourself for improvement - Introspection is superpower.
- Work with people smarter then you.
- Break free from consumerism, the pressure to always want more and more. Adopt Simplicity characterized by being satisfied with what you need rather than want. Reduce your possessions.
- Life is unpredictable full of ups and downs but nothing is static.
- Success is perspective. I used to think success as a high paying job. But I am soon realizing that it is not worth because with each growth on the professional front, I can actually experience the stress increasing linearly. I took me some years to recognize that my job which has been by grace of God very good by cultural standards, was not my mission.
My advice to youth of today : This is from my own personal experience-
- Work today, enjoy tomorrow :)
- Get used to this life. Because, sometimes it's hard, and sometimes it's easy.
- Education, education & more education.
- Stay safe on internet.
- Practice living a minimalist life.
- Don't take things for granted & expect life owes you anything.
- Make Goals (daily, weekly and long term) and date them.
- Save & invest - both time and money.
- Question things but get a religion and live it.
- Push hard for those grades. Do yourself a favor: give yourself all the opportunity in the world. Sadly, the next 40 years of your life just might depend on it. More importantly the degree outweighs even the grades. For your first job after school or post-graduate program, your college and university grades still matter, but once you've been in industry for a few years, nobody will ever ask to see your transcript ever again.
- Aim to develop physical, intellectual, emotional and ethical traits with a view to evolve as a complete man. Build strong foundation using 3 R's - Reading, (W)riting, and (A)rithemtic.
- Read Books - Books are to be read and used, not collected and coddled. I am defined by my curiosity and thirst for learning.
- Keep your life simple. It has been my relentless effort to achieve as much simplicity in everything I work on as possible: be it website, complex software or even tangle of real-life relationship. I wouldn't claim I have been successful all the times, but the results have rarely disappointed me. I'm getting better as I keep practicing and by being constantly aware of this singular aim.
If I could have a super power, what would it be : I would love to have teleportation capabilities so I could travel across many galaxies and planets and meet super awesome aliens whether they are intelligent or not.
My favorite color and weather : My favorite color is Forest Green and my favorite weather is not too sunny but just enough for me to go out for a walk or with my family.
My favorite city: Chandigarh. It is flawlessly beautiful and meticulously planned specially the roads that are immaculately planned to ensure minimum traffic snags.
My favorite books and TV shows : I have many favorite books, but my favorite book of all time is "You can Win by Shiv Khera." I don't have a favorite TV show but if I had to choose, it would have to be History Channel's "The Universe." & "Man vs. Wild" on Discovery Channel
Things I love to do with my daughter - Read to her. Play ball with her. Taking walks and having talks with her. Gazing up at the stars with her and wonder about the universe. Listen to music and dance with her. Greet her in the morning with a huge smile and a warm, tight embrace and getting her ready for the school. Listening to her music learning classes.
My favorite movie list based on Genre-
- Tragedy- Anand, Pakeeza, Guide
- Comedy/Humour/Satire - 3 Idiots, Munna Bhai MBBS, Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro, Angoor
- Action/Suspense/Thriller - Sholay, Mission Impossible 1, Black Hawk Down, Bourne series, James Bond series
- Pure Romance - Kabhi Kabhi, Maine Pyar Kiya, Qyamat se Qyamat tak, Titanic
- Political/Patriotic - Rang De Basanti, Lagaan, Chak De India, Sarfarosh, Swadesh
- Human Document- Tare Zameen Par, Mirch Masala, Forent Gump, Sultan
The Hardest thing in being a dad - You work from dawn to dusk just for your family. But the kids give all the credits & love only to their mom.:) Nevertheless every step of the journey is wonderful with my daughter so much so that one even looks forward to all the tribulations...
My favorite songs :
Hame Aur Jeene Ki - Agar Tum Na Hote, Kabhi Kabhi Mere Dil Mein - Kabhi Kabhie, Tere Liye - Veer-Zaara, Chaiyya Chaiyya - Dil Se.., Chalte Chalte - Pakeezah, Aaj Phir Jeene Ki Tamanna - Guide, Ae Mere Humsafar - Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Pehla Nasha - Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar , Dheere Dheere Se - Aashiqui, Maa - Taare Zameen Par, In Ankhon Ki Masti - Umrao Jaan, Kehna Hi Kya - Bombay, Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To - 1942: A Love Story, Mere Dil Ke Chain - Mere Jeevan Saathi, Dekha Hai Pehli Baar - Saajan, Musafir hoon yaaron (Parichay, 1972) , Kahin door jab din dhal jaaye (Anand, 1971) , Papa Kehte Hain - Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Tere Bina Zindagi se koi - Aandhi, Dil Hai Ke Manta Nahin Title Track, Do Dil Mil Rahe Hai - Pardes, Ek Din Aap Humko - Yes Boss, Gunguna Rahe Hai - Aaradhana, Hosh Waalo Ko Khabar - Sarfarosh, Kuch Is Tarah - Doorie | Atif Aslam, Iktara - Wake Up Sid!, Mere Rang Mein - Maine Pyar Kiya, O Mere Dil Ke Chain - Mere Jeevan Saathi, Saathiya Title Song - Saathiya, Saagar Kinare - Saagar, Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai - Gangster, Zara Zara Behekta Hai - RHTDM, Teri Umeed Tera Intezar (Deewana), Peelon - Once Upon a Time in Mumbai, Tere Mere Milan Ki Ye Raina (Abhimaan, 1973), Tum Hi Ho - Aashiqui 2, Jab Koi Baat Bigad Jaye, Saathiya - Shreya Ghoshal, Gali Mein Aaj Chaand Nikla - Zakhm , Tu Meri Zindgi Hai - Ashiqui, Kissi Nazar Ko Tera Intezaar Aaj Bhi Hai, Chehra Hai Ya Chand Khila Hai, Muskurane ki waja tum ho, Bheegi Bheegi & Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai - Gangster, Paani da rang -Vicky Donor and many many more...
My favorite food : I can't choose. Too many good eats out there but my favorite is Rajma Chawal. As for beverage, obviously it is lots and lots of NIMBOOOOO PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANI specially during the Delhi summers. Other than that I also love Shakes, Lassi and Aam Panna. I am a plant machine. I eat more servings of vegetables than recommended. Fruit is also like candy for me. Because I eat so much of these foods, my carb total at the end of the day is high. I find vegetables and fruits keep me full longer. Eating more fruits and vegetables also helps me reach my fibre goals at the end of the day. I still eat grain based carbs and sugary desserts, but I don’t go out of my way to fit them into my lifestyle.
What I do for fun and relaxation : I like to cuddle up and play with my kid & watch cartoons with her or sit & have tea with my family. For me nothing can be more relaxing than spending time with family over dinner, a good sleep, followed by a bright sunrise.
Dislikes : Dislike insensitive, insincere & arrogant people.
Pillars of inspiration for me :
Dr. Abdul Kalam, Sachin Tendulkar, Narayanmurthy, Amitabh Bachchan and A.R. Rahman for their focus, their determination, their hunger towards their passion, crystal clear vision, their commitment towards their goals and most of all their humility.
Inspirational Biographies I enjoyed reading : Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Nelson Mandela, Mahatma Gandhi, Benjamin Franklin, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Michelangelo, Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking, Leonardo Da Vinci, Galileo Galilei, Albert Einstein, Archimedes, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Swami Vivekananda and Guru Nanak Devji – the hardships these people endured is always moving and inspiring.
My daily prayer to God - Please just be beside me.
Technologists that inspire me most:
- Linus Torvalds - Creator of Linux and revision control system Git as well as the diving log software Subsurface. In such an intense, paranoid environment, where colossal amounts of money were being made and even more colossal amounts of money were yet to be made, no-one could have foreseen the release of a free, open, collaborative operating system such as Linux.
- James Gosling - Father of JAVA programming language that is widely used throughout the world and my bread and butter.
- Richard Stallman - He drafted the GPL license used by Linux , GNu projects, open souce projects and considered as father of the open source world. He programmed first versions of GCC and Emacs.
Preferred clothing : My style is something simple, but yet affordable. I don't have a specific style, but is usually simple & comfortable with cotton being the most preferred fabric & jeans my favorite clothing item. I have a handful of clothes I wear: grey or black T-shirts, with my one pair of jeans (or shorts, if I’m at home). I can throw any of the shirts on with my jeans or shorts, so really don’t think about what I wear.
My last most memorable trip: Travelling to Goa with my family in 2012. We relished strolling the streets of Goa, sitting on beaches chasing the waves, shopping some handmade items by the local artisans, swimming daily in the hotel pool and enjoying a perfect dining experience at the hotel. I embraced the feeling of all the beauty this city had to offer. It inspires me!!
Fears/afraid of : loosing those I love and care for most... I don't mean losing them to death, but just losing them.
My Best family Days: Rainy days and Sundays are my great family days.
Things I am grateful for :
- Life. How cool is that I'm actually here, in this world, living?
- Family - Had ups and downs, but they really are my foundation.
- My wife for giving me such a beautiful and loving daughter.
- The house I live in, its not very big but I am glad to have a roof over my head.
- Whatever little money I have, I am glad that I can live comfortably.
- Encouragement - So many people have supported me in my life and I'm so lucky to have them.
- Accountability - I'm so glad I've finally realized that I'm accountable for myself and my life.
My Bad habits : I'm normally a quiet person, but on occasion (particularly when I'm excited or nervous) I have been known to raise my voice to higher levels than necessary. Usually I don't even notice it until someone points it out to me. I have discovered that this has led to one embarrassing situation, and I'm concerned that there may be more that I don't know about. I would love to explore ways to become less loud, since I think it puts people off. In addition I have a very hard time understanding people who are "mumblers." & "mutters stuff under their breath" types. Also I tend to unnecessarily over-analyze at times which I later feel I should not have.
How I would describe myself : My family would describe me as someone who is loyal, dependable, organized, and always prepared. I am very punctual. When it comes to work and working with others, I provide stability and can maintain organization. I have the ability to handle details and to work hard, which makes me the backbone of many teams or organizations. I really believe that work comes before play, even if I must work overtime to complete the job.
Biggest regret in life : None as such, they were all learning experiences but yes I do feel at times that I should have taken a break after my studies before joining the corporate life and explored the world. I feel I am treading the same path as every other engineer/individual and not doing anything significant in life.
Biggest learning in life : Life is unpredictable and full of ups & downs.
Recently acquired habits:
- Began waking early. In order to get my running in, I decided to start waking early. I did it slowly, and once I began waking early, I began to discover the joys of the quiet morning hours.
- Became organized. I’m much, much improved over how I was before.
- Began eating healthy.
- Took control of my finances - learned how to stick to my budget, spend less, save and pay off debts.
- Simplified my life. I have become fairly frugal, and have reduced a lot of clutter in my life. A little at a time, gradually getting better, but I’m pretty happy with the simplicity of my house and the rest of my life.
The habit that has made the most profound impact on my life : scheduling.
What spirituality means to me: Stillness of mind.
Car I would have bought if I had tons of money - Land Rover Defender
My most dominant & fervent aspirations :
- To start a small start-up software firm once I turn 35. Donot wish to be stuck in the corporate cubicle forever.
- To encourage & mentor college students in any one of the reputed engineering colleges to become code literate after I turn 50. I consider myself to be a life-long learner, and I plan on being in the education field for the rest of my life.
- Giveback to the Open source community wherever & whenever possible.
- Post my kids marriage I wish to cast off (some of) my possessions to live a minimalist lifestyle and own less than 100 items. I have already disposed off my books and instead started using Kobo ebook reader instead. I have started using mobile to read the news instead of subscribing to magazines and newspaper.
Folks I appreciate a lot : South Indians!! Absolutely no Show off and extremely down to earth and embrace simple living. And if they have knowledge regarding something, the concept would be crystal clear.
My TO-DO Bucket List : Things I would like to do -
- Run a marathon
- Biking on the roads of Manali & Leh
- Fly first class
- Shower in a waterfall - Done in Rishikesh
- Do Rafting - Done in June' 2015
- Grow a garden & maintain it - Already doing it.
- Travel the world
- View an eclipse with a telescope
- Live a slow, quiet, purposeful life in a cottage by lakeside with a 360 degree mountain view.
- Witness a meteor shower
- Experience a sunrise in its true glory and in the evening soak in the beauty of sunset. Only someone who has lived in a metropolitan city like Gurgaon would appreciate this.
- Fly around a city in a helicopter
- Stay up all night and watch the sunrise.
- Become a voracious reader - In progress
- Learn to swim
- Own a SUV (preferably a Scorpio with automatic transmission).
- Own a camper van and join a camping extravaganza at some stage of life when all my liabilities are done.
- Read complete "Bhagwad Gita As It Is" - Done
- Help my community grow - In progress
- Own a telescope to view the starry sky with my daughter on the terrace.
- Develop good dribbling and badminton skills. Had to leave football and badminton after my back problem at the age of 26.
- Learn to sleep less than 6 hrs a day and still be efficient (and alive!)
- Raise my daughter as a well rounded and wonderful person. She is currently my biggest project with no end dates.
- Retire being self-employed and eliminate any debt that I may have and save up for a retirement.
- Take my family to a foreign land atleast once in my lifetime.
- Have the funds to write a cheque for my kid's good college education.
- Spend at least two hours 3-5 times per week reading at a coffee shop, taking notes, and enjoying the morning.
- Learn basic music lessons.
- Take my kids to the Olympics atleast once.
- Cycle to work
- Wake up by 5am everyday for the rest of my life and workout 6 days per week at least 1 hour per day.
- Create a company, product, or service that will revolutionize something(s) commonly done or used today
- Teach my children about the religion and lead them to live religion.
- Own a nice DSLR
- Learn basic cooking - Done
- Make a significant contribution to an open source software project.
- Teach computers to college students - Already doing it for past 3 yrs now since 2013
- Start maintaining a daily journal - Done
My biggest achievement : My daughter.
My outlook on future : The future holds endless possibilities. Life changes every day, always in flux. Life is good, that is all I can say. Overall, I would say things are improving. Kids seem to be learning more stuff at an earlier age, technology as a whole is improving, more and more cures and treatments for diseases are coming out. So long as the economy doesn't collapse and pull the rug out from under us, things can only improve.
My fantasy as a child : Do an army assault course.
My Hobbies/spare-time activities : Reading technical stuff and programming but my tech saturation has reached such a critical point that I would like to explore gardening, travelling & photography as hobbies seriously. I also want to start writing technical blogs as I feel writing technical blog posts is a great way to remember things and share knowledge. I also quite recently began a love affair with quantum physics. The field is at the cutting edge of science; the height of evolutionary thought, and is truly fascinating to wrap your head around. It has also become clear to me that people’s desire to answer the bigger questions in life (where do we come from? Why are we here? etc.) stems from understanding the smaller things, specifically the sub-atomic world. I also love singing (to myself only because I am a terrible singer), brisk walking and attending lectures online like on youtube
My favorite books :
- You Can Win by Shiv Khera
- The Art of Happiness by Dalai Lama
- The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
- The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma
- Getting Things Done : The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
- Top 200 Secrets of Success and the Pillars of Self-Mastery by Robin Sharma
- Freedom from the Known by Jiddu Krishnamurti
- The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety" by Alan Watts
- The Heart of Awareness: A Translation of the Ashtavakra Gita" by Thomas Byrom
- I am That by Nisargadatta Maharaj
- Be As You Are by Ramana Maharshi
Thanks for visiting my blog! Feel free to touch base any time!