Just another job or passion

Career has a different meaning for everyone. For some it is about catering to basic necessities in life, for others it is to constructively spend their time and for selected people its passion.

There is absolutely no doubt that money is important to all of us and we can't survive without it. However, at this time when everyone is so cynical is it possible to pursue one's passion?

Most of us spend our lives trying to figure out if we're passionate about our careers or its just another task/ tasks we perform everyday. Agreed that any job can get monotonous after a while but a passionate person doesn't feel that way. He/She is in that job because they desired to be in that area of work.

People are loosing jobs in every corner of the world and during this recession I would wish to pursue my career as a passion and not just a job that it has been for all these years. I have found that there is a strong need in me to express myself and also be creative in a career that I would opt for. Well, I know that this journey would be really interesting and not an easy one.

But no one ever said that being passionate about career would come easy. So, I am all positive and anxious about this journey that I am about to embark upon!

Julia Roberts is awesome

Julie as she was known and now an accomplished actor Julia Roberts. I've watched her movies over and over again cause her performance is so natural in all the characters she has portayed.

And all her characters are so real to life and she potrays each character so beautifully in all her movies. In this bad ass world we have to stand up for ourselves and that is something which is common in all most of her movies. And her performance seems so effortless like she is living the life of that particular character.

In "Pretty Woman", she potrays the character of hooker so nicely and also showcases the dark sides of her life so sensitively and brilliantly. She didn't have to try really hard to transform herself into this sophisticated woman accompying Richard Gere to dinner in the latter part of the movie. The transition is so seamless that one would not wonder what happened to this woman who was a hooker.

She plays this crazy, jealous woman once she learns that her best friend is getting married. In "My Best Friends Wedding", Julia plays a food critic whose editor is gay and also her current best friend. The fun starts when she learns that her ex-boyfriend and best friend Mike is getting married in a couple of days. She hurries to break up her friends wedding who adored her for 9 years. This character of Julia is so hilarious and I'm sure most of men/ women would have felt that way in their lives when someone they liked got married to another person. And, the movie ends perfectly when she realizes that Mike is actually in love with another woman and has moved on. She says her goodbye and moves on too. Julia looks dazzling and her smile is the first thing you'll notice in all her movies especially this one.

In "Stepmom" she plays a character of a modern working woman who falls in love with a married man. Things get really complex for Julia when she agrees to marry Ed Harris (married man). Being stepmom and getting along with the children as well as their mother has showcased Julia's brilliant performance. Susan Sarandon has supported Julia beautifully in this movie and their bonding towards the latter part of the movie is amazing.

"Runaway Bride" is another romantic comedy I can watch over and over. It is about a character Maggie played by Julia who would love to find that perfect partner. More than often she succumbs to certain relationships and decides to walk away from the altar and then disappear on the day of her wedding. Till she meets Richard Gere who makes her realize her potential and also the importance of having ones likes as well as dislikes. It is so true cause we have to understand our likes or dislikes as its an integral part of the individual we are. I guess most of us hesistate voicing our likes or dislikes and this sets wrong expectations for others. The movie is all about being yourself and understanding that there will be someone who wants to spend their life with you.

In "Erin Brockovich" we got to see Julia at her best. Her performance in this real life story was extraordinary and unbelievable. I could not imagine any other actor performing this role and thanks to the guys who cast her. She played the role of a working mother and a single parent to three kids. Since its a real life story everything in the movie is so natural including her appearance. Julia's performance in this movie was so natural and it was like watching her live the life of Erin Brockovich. No wonder she won most of the awards that year including Academy Award and Golden Globe Award.

Finally, I have to mention "Mona Lisa Smile", Julia plays the role of Katerine Ann Watson in this movie. She is considered more of a feminist professor in a college since the story is based in 1950's. It is wonderful to see her make her students who are all women understand that their life is beyond getting married and taking care of their house as well as their family. She finally leaves the college acheiving her mission which was to make women understand that they too have rights to study further and get into good jobs or pursue their passion.

Looking forward to watching her other movies too and she'll always remain my favorite actor.

Silence is golden

We've heard this many times and believe me silence is probably more than golden.

In my recent past I could have really made this guy wonder why he was ever born. Some men think that they can get away with any kind of behavior and treat women like doormats. I guess doormat would be an understatement. He could have been behind bars for his behavior but guess what I let him walk away after speaking my mind. Such men will never learn and continue to live the way they do. I just hope no other woman makes a mistake of spending her life with a man like this.

When I required to be silent I did as I dont need to prove to anyone about the kind of person I am. There are many people who genuinely care for me and like me for the who I am. And, I am a level headed person who would accept if I did make mistakes. But, I cannot succumb to male chauvanisim and an unrealistic expectations in a relationship.

I now understand how precious silence is cause I could have revealed a lot of things which would make the members of his family regret their presence in that place. But, I guess my upbringing has been as such that I walked away with dignity inspite of the worst things that were fabricated about me.

Life is beautiful and has so many things to look forward to. I need to start my journey and I'm proud of myself since I didnt give in to domestic abuse.

I love my family a lot and all the people who care for me. I will start fresh and this time I would not look back on the worst nightmare I've lived.

Women should stand up against abuse

Women have always been subjected to abuse be it verbal or physical. This could be at home, workplace or any other public place. And this would stop only when we women stand up for our human rights.

The recent incident in Mangalore is just another chapter to the number of incidents that have been going on in India. Due to media such incidents are coming to our notice but sadly after a few days its forgotten. We move on like nothing has happened till we hear about the next incident. Then again there are a couple of discussions on and off television till we go on with our lives as usual.

We as women need to understand that we need to stand up for ourselves and ensure that the people who are involved in commiting such crime are thorougly punished. Once we stand united all the other systems would succumb to the pressure and yield in. It certainly isn't an easy task but how long are we going to wait for others to come and help us.

All schools, colleges and workplaces should have sessions to help girls/women defend themselves if they are attacked. Any form of defense mechanism would atleast help us take care of ourselves before we can seek some assistance.

At my previous workplace there was this security guard who was harassing a lady who was cleaning our office. I happened to see this woman crying in the pantry one day and asked her about it. She mentioned about this security guard and the terrible things he was saying to her. I immediately went up to my boss and narrated the whole incident. I also mentioned that none of the other women in office also would be safe with this guy around and he needs to be fired. And it did happen that this guy was replaced by another security guard.

There have been incidents in my own life where I have stood up for myself against verbal abuse or eve teasing. I have even hit people on the street who have tried acting overtly smart. Others have also learnt or are probably learning that a woman cannot be taken for granted. Every woman has a right to speak her mind and no one can take her for granted as long as she respects her rights. So, I would request women to know that they too have rights to stand up and voice their concerns.

Slumdog Millionaire

Well this movie has raked in accolades and appreciation. But, it is sad to see so much of hype for this movie when there are several others films made by Indians which deserve similar or more appreciation and recognition at the world platform.

The title of the movie too is offensive and I'm sure they could have come up with an alternative. Indians are not truly pleased with the idea of potraying the poverty of our country for the pleasure of viewing by the first world countries.

Had an Indian made this movie, would he/she have been fairly judged at the world platform. I have my own doubts. And we live in a democratic country and have the right to voice our opinions.

Does an international recognition at the cost of truly respecting one's country matter? I dont even know if the people involved in making the movie can be honest enough to their conscience while debating against people who have objections.

Be yourself

Are you afraid of offending someone by being yourself? Or are you the kind who would like to please everyone. It truly doesnt matter how hard we try its not possible to please everyone all the time. In this process we loose our own identity and after sometime we wouldnt even remember what we were like.

We play so many roles in our lives that most of the times its about others that we are concerned about. And during this whole time we forget that we would need to give ourselves time to do the things we liked or probably would wish to do. It is not selfish to want a better life for oneself and that starts by loving oneself. We all need to start by taking one small step and that would be to identify our interests or hobbies that we could pursue considering our schedule.

Time management is the key here and all of us are laid back when it actually comes to taking time out for ourselves. We often hear ourselves saying that there is no sufficient time to pursue a hobby or interest. Its not easy to get over the initial hurdle but once we are through things seem to be a lot more interesting. Frankly, no one likes mundane lifestyle and its in our hands to make our life a lot more exciting and beautiful.

As we begin this year we need to know that despite recession and all the violence around us we can still keep ourselves positive by pursuing atleast one of our interests or hobbies. This would add a lot of value to our lives and definetly to the lives of people around us.

I love the movies

Movies are an integral part of life apart from music. Language is not a barrier as I have even watched movies of languages that I dont understand at all (thanks to the subtitles) or can manage to follow. And since I'm so crazy about movies, its nice to watch different kinds of movies. It really gets boring watching the movies in the similar category so I like to mix it up.

There are several movies I love watching over and over again and most of them have Julia Robert in them. She is an amazing actor and some of my all time favorites are Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, Mona Lisa Smile, Stepmom, Erin Brockovich & My Best Friends Wedding. I cant recollect the number of times I've probably watched these movies. When I'm blue these movies help me get out of that state of mind. Another movie that is my all time favorite is "Shall we dance" as it has brilliant performance by Richard Gere, Jennifer Lopez and Susan Sarandon. I am reminded some other movies of JLo which I really enjoy watching i.e. " Maid In Manhattan" and " Wedding Planner". Some other cute romantic comedy movies are "You've got Mail"and "Terminal" with brilliant performance by none other than Tom Hanks. Some other movies that I really enjoyed include "Sweet Home Alabama", "Princess Diaries 1 & 2", "Legally Blonde 1", "Devil Wears Prada".

Some of the movies I love watching for their special effects are Twister, Jurassic Park, Mummy and Harry Potter series. I enjoy animated movies sometimes probably more than other movies. I loved Lion King, Shrek, Kungfu Panda, Finding Nemo amongst the animated series. Some other movies that I thorougly enjoy watching are Gone in 60 secs, Mission Impossible 1, Air Force One, Independence Day, Dunston Checks In & Beethovan.

Apart from these movies I love watching Indian movies and my all time favorites are Andaz Apna Apna, Hum Hain Raahein Pyar Ke, Mr. India (Sridevi is hilarious in this one), Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayange, Padosan (with Sunil Dutt & Kishore Kumar), Guru ( with Abhishek Bachan), Yuva, Rang de Basanti, Lagaan, Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikander, Taare Zamein Par, Jodha Akbar. And ofcourse some tamil and telugu movies that I enjoyed are "Kshanak Kshanam", "Ghajini", "Pitamagan".

Looking forward to watching Delhi - 6 as it seems to be really interesting and something different. And I can go on and on about movies but thats it for now :-)

Downfall teaches you a lot....

Everyone wants to be a winner and those who say that they dont probably aren't speaking their mind. While success is the best thing that could happen to a person it is downfall that actually makes a person. Both success and failure are temporary but there is a lot we learn from a downfall.

I feel that downfall makes a person humble and realize that its not always possible to be a winner. One also tends to identify in retrospect the attributes that would help us get better next time around. This is the reason failure is termed as a stepping stone to success.

The world consists of people that are either cautious or adventurous kind. The cautious type are the ones that take more time before making a decision and also learn from the mistakes made by others around them. They prefer to be safe than sorry. Then there are the adventurous kind that believe that there is one life to live and want to live it to the fullest. These people know that they are taking risks by being impulsive and ignoring certain known facts. While being adventurous can teach you a lot of things one should also be prepared to handle oneself when things go wrong. Personally I feel that one has to be very strong hearted to be the adventurous kind.

To conclude, one cannot enjoy life nor learn from it if they are extremely cautious and on the other side there is a very thin line between frivolous or adventurous.

Dance like no one is watching

I've always loved to dance and have no formal training in the same. My style of dancing is freestyle :-)

Dancing is so much of fun as long as you are not conscious about people watching you and for those who are shy you always have opportunities when you can dance alone. Its wonderful cause you get to have fun and exercise at the same time.

Just play your favorite music and dance along. Beat that stress and I bet you'll feel refreshed after that dance. So dance along what are you waiting for?

Music along the years....

Music is an integral part of my life. The genre keeps changing but I cant imagine my life without music.

Back in school days it was all about Pop. I remember that most of us loved Pop music and were crazy about the boy bands or girl bands. There were many of them in this category like Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, Boyzone etc. I remember having posters of these bands in my room and even made a poster titled "girl power" .... lol ;-)

During the initial days in college it was bands like Michael Learns to Rock, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams etc. There was a change in the kind of music most of us started listening to. I found myself inclined to rock more than any other genre. I listened to a lot of rock during my graduating years. I am reminded of Scorpions, Deff Leppard, Metallica, Pink Floyd whenever I think of my later years in college.

The music that was constant during all those years was ofcourse Bollywood music which I still love listening to. I still love listening to Bollywood music cause the numbers are so peppy and others are so meaningful.

Now, all I need is some good music to go with my mood. But its more of soft rock, country music and ofcourse our Indian music that I enjoy. Music truly is an important part of me and shall always be. It keeps me going!!!!!

Being the extreme.....

Its a new year and I am probably the most anxious person of whats in store for me and others who i care about :-) This is exactly what i mean by being extreme... In the beginning of the year I am all excited and as the year passes by there would be certain events which totally turn my world upside down. This has happened over the last few years but still there is a ray of hope :-)

I love my life and I'm really looking forward to this year and I am positive that it would help me understand myself better and make the best of it. I am passionate about anything that I do in life and that keeps me going. Nothing or no one can take that spirit away from me.

Have a wonderful year everyone & try something new this year :-)