Please stop this nonsense

I am so angry today, so frustrated, disappointed, humiliated and what not!!
The reason is so simple:
A set of hindu principles, traditions causing all this nonsense and irritating me.
Indian parents never change, they are born with these customs and they would eventually get buried/burned on the pyre with these customs and traditions and they want us to follow the same even after they are gone.
Will I be one among them, never!!!
Just read this and find out why I am so distressed.


"My little girl, can you get me a milk packet from the store at the end of our street?"
"2 mins Mommy", cried the 6 year little girl, Shweta snatching the rupee coin and a little bag for the milk packet. It is 6:15 AM on a wednesday morning. The town is still waking up.
Someone sneezed loudly on the first floor, "ahhhhhcccccccc"!!!!!!!
"Shwetaaaaa!!! stop right there, don't go, someone sneezed; its very loud so the impact is more. Be right there beta."
Nirmala came down running , shweta didn't even cross the gate of the house and she stopped as soon as her Mom shouted. 
"since the sneeze came loudly and from the first floor, you should take 3 steps backward and then turn back in the clock wise direction and go into the house and sit exactly near the center of the kitchen door, i'll be right there", cried Nirmala 
"whats this Mommy!! it just takes 2 mins to get the milk and you are doing all this now"
saying so, shweta did as her mother told.
Nirmala came hurriedly, sprinkled water 3 times in the air with her fingers so the water fell exactly on shweta's head. Then gave her the remaining water to drink.
All this tamasha took 4 mins and shweta finally left to the shop and got the packet.


This is one of the several nonsense pages in a typical Middle class indian family dairy.
No one writes these in his dairy as these constitute a part of their daily life. Its same as you brush your teeth daily, go to loo,take bath etc.


The other day Uncle Kodandam saw me on the road near his home and was inquiring about studies and my academics. At the same time a group of people were carrying an old man's dead body, singing  "hare ram, hare krishna".


Uncle immediately went inside his home, got a glass of water with turmeric mixed and sprinkled on me and on himself. He asked me to sit down in his house for 5 mins and then allowed me to leave.  I couldn't argue with him as I knew its just the way it is and you could never question.


Another instance.  
This is when I was in my teens and when I applied for my engg entrance exam. I filled the application and was about to post it, my grandma stopped me, asked me to write "OM" at the center of the application, made me put it in the Pooja room before God's picture for 5 mins, gave me 3 different dates and 4 different times for that week. All this to post just a single application.
The times and dates she gave were so funny!


wednesday between 2:22 PM to 7:53 PM
thursday between 6:15 AM to 11:39 AM and 5: 09 PM to 9:11 PM
friday - 2:12 PM to 2:55 PM


Does she really want me to follow those? Never, i just posted the application when I got some time in the lunch break.
The struggle continued. My engg. entrance exam falls on 19th of that month, she quickly checked her calendar and told me its a bad day.
I literally shouted at her, "For heavens sake, do you want me not to attend the exam as its a bad day!!! what happens to my year long coaching and my career???" 
She said there is a way, bad time on 19th starts from 6 AM and ends by 9:45 AM and again starts by 11 AM and ends only after 3 PM and the exam timing was from 9 AM to 12 PM.
God forgive her, I had to go to the exam center before 6 AM and waited till 9 AM, I was the first person in that exam center sitting lonely in a corner shivering the morning cold till some people gathered after 8AM.


All these things are awfully bad, they impact our careers, our day to day life. I feel these are for people who don't believe in themselves but in all those stupid rules and customs.
I often fight with my parents/grand parents and most of my relatives reg. these. They are so adamant and they don't want to mend their ways, its finally we who suffer. They don't mind, they just remind us every minute that we broke so and so rule in 1945 dec 22nd 8 PM and that's we are in this situation. 
What kind of situation are you talking about? I am happy and content, what do you expect me to do?


Dear parents and grand parents, do you want me to be like you, fearing everything which has been coming from ages, which you believe is our birth right?
No, never, that'll never happen, I am now more stubborn than ever.
I believe in god and nothing else. There is nothing supreme and powerful in this universe than God. I fear god and I abide by god's rules. 
I don't care if I see a cat in the morning, nor do I care if number 17 is not auspicious.
They never understand how much we suffer because of these nonsense customs and practices.
The reason why they are still rampant among us is because we let them. The time has come now and we should stop them right there.
Till I was 23/24 I used to follow that "sneeze" thing, it was very much in my blood because of my mother's insistence. When someone sneezes I just go back to the house, gulp a glass of water, sit for a couple of minutes and then move on. 
One day, I asked this question to my then landlord in hyd why he wasn't following this rule, he was 68 then and this was what he answered.
"I am retired and am old now, I don't have any desires left, I don't fear anyone except god, what ever happens I am ready to take it"
Those words changed everything, I realized and changed for ever. 


Its a painful battle that one should take with their own beloved ones, their own parents.
Its not so easy but we have to do and I am doing now, fighting with my own people. They just don't come down and stick to their own terms.
Its I who suffer because of this and I have to fight this moral battle all alone.
May god bring peace on this earth.
If I be given a chance to start a new human race, I'll make sure there are no practices or rules or principles ever written or recorded or practiced anywhere in the world.

How much I love you

Anything which relates to love is so exciting for me :)
A quick post on something I love:
This is for all those who are in love and are dreaming about love.


How many times these magic words cross our lips?  How many times do I tell you how much I love you!!
Yes, expressing love for someone makes her/his day. It in fact makes your day as well.
But if I love her more then I should express it more, every occasion and every day.
Not like other words which become monotonous and boring with each passing day. 
Love is such a word in any language which everyone love to hear, want to express it.
Please don't stop the word from coming out, express it, show how much you love her.
yeah I know its not so difficult to always say that you love them but that is how this nature is built on.
Each living thing in nature expresses/shows its love towards another, there are millions of blogs and youtube vidoes on this subject so this is not something new that I am writing on.


I want to express it love but couldn't, I love you but don't know why I can't show you.


I love you Love.

Mt Baw Baw Snow tour

I am writing this on public demand.

We had quiet a good tour last sunday to Mt Baw Baw. All of us wanted to do Skiing and hence the ever increasing interest to visit a snowy mountain.

We started quiet early on sunday, i got the last chance to the bathroom; by the time I went to the bathroom all my roommies left for Europ car office to pickup the car.

The other two friends were coming directly to the Europ car shop. 

Ok, I got ready quickly, had breakfast and walked towards the shop (15mins away); i bought a pair of gloves for 5 bucks as I know they would be needed in the snow.

The car was a dark sky blue (GM - Holden) and was looking very sexy :)

As usual our not so good driver started driving, we reached the free way and by god's grace all was well in the morning, the drive was good and we stopped at a petrol station on the free way; had coffees, roommies and others had burgers. 

I asked the shopkeeper if she serves Alocohol and I was looking for a beer and this is what she said.

"I wish, you can go to a pub or a bar to have a beer".

Between our not so good driver and my roommie drove well on the freeway. we hit the ghat road (desi word) as the place is too far and we have to drive all the way uphill. As soon as we started, our other roommie carried on with the driving and after sometime, the one who always fights with me started vomiting. yes its not so good a drive as we all had the same nausea affect due to the curves and the slopes.

But this person has vomited twice, poor guy, he always takes things to the extremes.

Anyhow he started driving again, all was good; we hired chains for the car tires( compulsory) and then continued up the hill. By the time we reached Mt. Baw Baw its almost 1 PM, that's almost 4 hour drive from Melbourne.

As soon as we were there, we hired the skiing equipment for 70$ (per head which includes jacket, trouser, skiing kit, shoes), the boots were very heavy and its difficult to walk with them on.

as soon as we started wearing the skiing skates we were falling down, unable to stop ourselves when there is slight down slope. Its all ice there, so beautiful in the sun.

some fellas helped us how to get up when you fall on ice, struggling we reached lift pass counter, took the pass (69$ per head) but unable to use the lift as even that was difficult.

only two persons got there without falling down. I reached half the distance in my fourth attempt.

Somehow I walked up the snow and tried 5-6 times skiing, fell down, got up, tried again.

All others were just doing the same, there were people who were doing somersaults not intentionally ofcourse.

I had my wrists and feet twisted over sometimes due to the sudden falls, no injuries though. It was freezing in the snow without gloves it will be next to impossible to skii, two of our mates didn't have the gloves and their hands had swollen like a fresh big tomato, one borrowed my gloves while I was leaving; my hands were freezing as soon as I removed the gloves, they became senseless by the time I walked back to the hire shop to return the equipment. We met two AP guys who were also trying to skii and one of them had a cut on his finger due to the ice (he wasn't wearing gloves).  yes its not an easy sport but a dangerous one as well.

We fed up finally and by 4 PM lost our energies and went back, the other friends were still continuing. 

All 3 of us (roommies) came back, had a shot of Red label, prawns and chips, re - energized ourselves, watched the counter girls in the hiring area for sometime while waiting for the other two to return.

they returned by 5:15 PM, we all started our way back to Melbourne, returned the chains on the way and stopped at the same petrol station, had some burgers, tea, juice and reached Melbourne.

There were not many moments to remember while driving.

The guy who always fights with me(my roommie) when ever we go out on a drive did an amazingly good job this time, i appreciate his improved driving skills though there were those usual jhatke moments. There were no fights this time, thanks to his vomiting, he didn't have the strength to fight.

Overall it was a nice drive up the hill and down the hill; we couldn't spend much time there skiing but it was a worthful experience.

I usually fear when I see down slope but this time there wasn't anything. Good that I am improving. Not many pics as we were all busy skiing but got a few as the location is simply superb and breathtaking.

Spread the word of goodness

This post is on cards and in memory for a few days before it is now made public.
We all are human beings and every man/woman is more than a critic than an appreciator.
That's quite true in every sense and I am sure most people agree to this.
I'll take my life as an example.
In my earlier life - late teens and early twenties, I have had this bad habit of talking much and spreading words here and there especially peoples' -ve traits. 
I feel this is one of the deadly sins, I was made to realize that I was doing a mistake in those days by a good colleague in my first company.
Later I knew that I was continuing doing that but couldn't control it.
Now I am in my late 20s and I could see a change in my for the past 1 or 2 years. I am conscious whenever I talk to people not to discuss other peoples' -ves infront of others.
There are few exceptions to this when you have to vent out your frustration, anger and disappointments and you talk to people close to your heart like your mother/father, best friends etc.


The problem with spreading -ve about a person is it tends to get magnified after each hop which not only puts that particular person's character in question in front of others but also your own character/attitude as people do notice that you criticize more than you appreciate.
This is very true and can see among colleagues, friends, relatives, mates etc.
Suppose I go to a party or a dinner with friends and I start some discussion; someone starts a discussion about another friend who is not present there and says he did that thing bad, he was awful on that day, he didn't know this, he couldn't even hold a glass etc etc in a funny way. I believe this is an attack on the back of your friend, you are criticizing him when he is not there. This is utter nonsense and you irrespective of circumstances should never do this; you are maligning his character in front of others. How could you just do this  to your own friend? The same is true in case of colleagues in office.


Instead of harming someone why don't you spread the word of goodness about him. Tell others that this person is very charming, he works hard, he/she is punctual, he/she dresses well, he/she is good at heart etc whatever you feel good about him.
The advantage of this good behavior is that you start liking about that person slowly as you are not thinking only of his goodness, there is no malice in your heart, you are also doing a favor to him by spreading some good words about him. Everyone feels happy when they hear some good things about themselves, it will make them more lively in life and they start doing things with much zeal which in turn leads to increased productivity in office life as well as a balanced life.


But what if the person in question is bad and he has a handful of bad traits?
Tough task but not impossible to do.
Discuss with him personally about what you feel wrong with him and what do you think would need a change in his attitude/behaviour; talk to him honestly, when you talk to him, when you vent it out what ever you have against him then you won't have that feeling to speak ill about him among others.
One of my best friends taught me this, this idea really makes sense and build relationships among people.


I believe god forbids people to see/talk/think/hear etc etc about evil. 
so if you see someone saying bad things about your colleagues/friends in a group then please stop him there and divert the topic, you are saving someone from the attack/from the humiliation. This will also stop the spread of badness.
Always remember, you can always spread the word of goodness but not the word.
Distribute the goodness among people but not the badness, you should stop the badness before it gets spread. Kill the evil.


May the word of goodness be spread and every human being realizes and lives as gods own creatures.


Long live this beautiful world and long live nature !!!

My Weight Gain Program

I recently started this new program (not recent of course, this is my 4th week) to gain lean muscle and to bulk up.

Since this is completely different to my earlier program where my goal was to lose fat and become lean; I was in that program from Jan to june '11(6 months) and now started this new one.

Its fun pumping iron in the Gym and its difficult too; but I like it, like sweating and the shrieks and the shouts I do in the Gym.

As part of the program, I go thrice (min) per week with each day targeting specific muscle area.

day 1 - chest, triceps and shoulders

day 2 - back muscles, lats and biceps

day 3 - thigs, hips and bum

as soon as I started this new program, I started taking protien shake and creatine(sometimes).

I checked my weight yday and its not great improvement but there is an improvement.

I gained 1 kilo in 4 weeks.

Hurray!!

As part of the diet for the new program, I should just eat anything throught out the day irrespective of whether I am hungry or not.

I have an average appetite so cannot gulp more at a single point of time.

Here is what I am eating daily:

Early Morning: 2 scoops of international Protien with 200 ml of low fat milk

A single piece of bread with 20 gm of Nutella  and 100 gm of cornflakes with 20-40 gm of oats along with 100 ml of low fat milk

Mid Morning: Coffee with 50 ml of low fat milk

Afternoon: Lunch with white rice(50 gm), curry and 2 eggs;

twice a week i get chicken instead of eggs.

mid noon: snacks time!!! 150-200 gm of flavored yoghurt

Tea with 50 ml of low fat milk

100 gm of grapes with 50 gm of carrots

Evening brunch: protein shake with 50 gms of salted peanuts

Dinner: 50 gm of white rice with curry, a fruit, yoghurt(sometimes), protien shake(optional)

This is pretty long and I am trying to increase my calorie intake each day but couldn't possible do. I'll find out some more ways to increase it, otherwise I won't be able to grow huge.

Hope this helps those aspiring body builders who are yet to start training or just started.

We all want to be like Arnie but that's not possible, we'll continuously try to become what we will ultimately be

Bike trail - Lilydale to Warburton(Victoria, Australia)

I doubted if we could make this trip after two of the group dropped out unconditionally.
And the weather played its part too with continuous drizzles since early morning.
Nevertheless I wanted to do this as I wanted to prove a point.
And now here I am writing a post summary of the tour.
This was an amazing trip to the hills and the woods. A deep dive into the nature/forest and Victoria's grasslands.
We started a bit late, (scheduled start is 7:36 AM train but couldn't catch) caught our 8:36 AM train from Finders. 
Reached Lilydale station at approx 9:45 AM. 
The bike trail starts from Le Pine Funeral service, its just 2-3kms away from the station; we stopped at Subway (one of the mates was hungry), asked the whereabouts of the starting place and then we cycled.
On the way while cycling we stopped at a coffee shop and had coffee. Then 1 or 2 stops to catch breath(not me ofcourse), had some peanuts, (a shot of whisky as well to keep us warm). It was so freezing that I was shivering in between and my fingers just went numb.
I didn't have a problem at all with the slope and the hill but only with my fingers, they were so cold and started paining. My gloves are half covered(i use them for lifting weights in the gym) and I was wearing the bike short(with bum pad support).
With continuous drizzle all the way we were all shivering though my mates were in a better situation with Jeans and Jackets.
There's a down hill as well in between so its easy to ride, not much difficulty at all except for some places where its a little bit steep. 
We stopped in between for pics, the place is so beautiful with Yaks, Sheeps, grazing horses and green lands.
We went almost 16-17 kms from Lilydale station and then returned as we had to catch our 3 PM Ringwood station train.
On return we reached Lilydale station by 2:40 PM, boarded the 2:55 PM train to Ringwood and from there we caught the 3:16 PM flinders train.
Got off by 4 PM, handed over the rented bikes to the bikeshop, came back and here I am writing about our experience.
It was definitely a visit to this place with a bicycle. A must for every person who loves cycling and nature.
Thumbs up to all who made this trip a memorable one.

A perfect diet "in my own way"

yeah I know there is nothing called perfect but this is in my sense and perception till now.


yeah plenty of fiber everyday like the below:
have lentils (red, black,green, yellow), kidney beans (rajma), grean peas, channa
But all the above produce excessive gas in the intestine, especially channa and rajma.
I have had this flatulence problems with the above, but that is the side effect of eating fiber from these food items.
A good solution is to eat raw/cooked vegetables like carrots, broccoli, legumes(leaves), cucumber etc; these will keep you clean without gas and also provide you with sufficient fiber, minerals and vitamins.
Though peanuts, cashew, almonds are rich source of protein and fiber they have more fat %. so should be away from them.
if you see any peanut/cashew/almond/pista, the protein content would be 21 gm/100 gm but the fat would be 45 gm /100 gm; i think almond has more, 52 gm /100 gm and these have both saturated and unsaturated fats.
soya has a very high protein but produces excessive gas.
Then where do we get good protein?
from chicken, eggs, soya, beans
Have plenty of Dates each day, they are rich source of iron, zinc as well as fiber.
Oats should be either part of breakfast or supper they are the best low GI and slow energy releasers with plenty of fiber.
Have low fat mil (skim mil has zero fat but will be tasteless so difficult to have). milk gives you your daily intake of calcium
replace sugar with honey or brown sugar.
Replace white rice with brown rice; i've tried this as well but brown rice is same as the lentils, excessive gas. when I tried them they also caused pain in my abdomen so next time i'll take care if I want to have brown rice.
Then when I take bread, try to reduce the nutella content as it also has more fat than protein, try with some jam with has zero fat (marmalade, blueberry etc)
Eat plenty of grapes everyday, i just love grapes, they are such a lovely food.
Of all i observed some Food items which I love the most or would be difficult to live without
Rice
Grapes
Onions
Lemon
honey


Avoid fries at any cost and anything oily food or food with ghee/butter in the outside restaurants, if you go out with friends then its obvious you have to take something or the other, in that case you can order an item which is shared by all so you don't have the responsibility to finish it all alone.
So many tips and tricks, some of them I got it from the book on diet I am currently reading.
I also have daily lemon/honey/hot water mix early morning as soon as I get up, this habit I learnt from my mother. 
This unique combination removes cholesterol from blood and keeps our heart healthy, it also acts as a catalyst for bowel movement (serves the purpose of bed coffee/tea)
Always cook your food with Olive oil.


Hey some more info today about sea food.
I cooked and ate prawns all by myself on thu/fri and enjoyed it to the full, they cost more, some 9 AUD for 300 Grams. they are so delicious, not so tasty as our lake prawns/shrimps in your place (andhra).
today I bought Salmon fish, they are unbeatable in taste.
Did some research and foudn they are full of omega 3 fatty acids which help in preventing alzhiemer's disease, fights depression, helps in maintaining good vision, prevents heart attacks and what not.
Also after some research found that Tuna is a great source of protein with almost zero fat and is best recommended for body builders (like me).
So i'll start eating Tuna cans from tomorrow.
can you believe it, if I compare my waist size to the same date as of last year, I lost more than 3 cms.
It used to be 34 and now somewhere 31 and a bit less I guess. 
All my jeans/trousers are of 32 cm and they all seem to be loose now.
All this change started 6 months back when I joined melbourne city baths Gym/pool.
my weight now is less than 70, its actually 69. There is no visible fat in my body except abdomen which will in due course will be removed.
My target is to have 30 cm waistline; so I should be throwing away all my jeans/trousers which I am currently using after 2-3 months and start buying new ones of 30 cm size.
Hope this happens soon!