Saturday 8 June 2013

Just a click away

"Life always "screws" you at the moment you least expected."

I have read this line numerous times before, and ever since I have always wondered if it is true, until very recently. I have always believed this line has a negative relation. Well, life did screw me up but it was in a very positive sense. It was when I discovered a new passion in my life. It is something really popular these days, but indeed photography is really amazing!

Facebook has been a very important tool to promote photography lately, whether new photographers, model competition or people just trying to get some "likes" or "comments". However in my case, it took birth through a milestone anniversary being celebrated by the head company where I am currently employed, Terra. The latter is celebrating its 175th birthday this year and on this occasion it has launched a photography competition for all employees! Well, believe me or not, it created a real buzz in the company and everyone was looking for angles, funnily taking pose as professional photographers! This competition has indeed created a positively joyful and friendly atmosphere within the company.

Hereafter, together with a couple of friends, we decided to venture out together and take our pictures, just to increase the fun surrounding this competition. Hence we scrutinized the whole northern part of the island such as Belle Vue Mauricia, Calebasses, La Cuvette, Montagne Longue, La Nicoliere, Plaine des Papayes, amongst others. It was thrilling to have discovered this new passion. It was even more exciting to explore it. And it was a pure joy to experience it together with a bunch of amazing friends. So thanks to you guys Thierry, Hemant, Aruna and Shrawan.

Here are a couple of pictures I have taken during the course of the whole competition. For obvious reasons, I am not uploading those I sent for the competition. Along with it, Happy 175th anniversary Terra. Thank you for involving all of us in this amazing series of activities in order to celebrate this wonderful milestone!

I hope you enjoy it :)













As I am writing this article, it leaves me wonder.. Is it the birth of a new passion, or the end of a newly found passion? That is the question :)

P.S: Photos copyright RKR

Saturday 23 March 2013

Cross-road



There comes many times in your life when you arrive at a cross-road. Hence, you have various options to choose, whether to turn right, left or just go straight. However, there comes only 1 or 2 times in your life when you encounter a cross road, but with no defined options. This unique situation can only make you lost, confused, seeking for guidance and more simply totally disoriented.

So here I am!!



Most probably you should be asking yourself the reason why I am at a cross-road. Alright, it fair to say that I have already bagged my degree and got a job that most engineering students here in Mauritius might be willing to do and I do not have any girlfriend to work out my mind. What is really worrying me so lately these days, is simply commitment. I am about to be committed for a long time ahead in my life.. Thus, I guess I am suffering from commitment phobia??

Browsing from the net, I found a couple of symptoms which is so surprisingly what I am indeed feeling right now:
  • A feeling of uncontrollable anxiety
  • Feeling that you must do everything possible to avoid commitment
  • Unable to live normally because of that anxiety
  • When you do realize that your fears are unreasonable or exaggerated, but yet feel so powerless to control it 
Just to cut all suspense, I am neither going to get married soon. It is plainly that I am soon going to enter a bond where I am currently working, and it will be for 5 years. It implies I cannot leave my current job and if ever I did, I have a fine of Rs300,000 to pay to the company. Yes, now I am sure you understand the situation I am currently in.

So for the past 5 months I have been working, I have always been convincing myself, I will keep applying elsewhere and as soon as i get a new opportunity, I will escape this bond. But alas, it did not happen and I think I am destined to be stuck here for the next 5 years! Is it really that bad to have a secured job? What am I honestly afraid of??

I have always, since doing my BEng Mechanical Engineering, dreamt of completing my registration process and hence be recognized as a professional engineer. However, where I am currently working, the chances I complete it is particularly limited. That is  my first fear. In terms of goals set up for the next 5 years, I will be missing out on this for sure. Honestly, am I not simply overreacting??

More than this, I think my biggest apprehension is simply the possibility of missing out on a better offer. I strongly believe it all narrows down to this. You always have the dream of doing a hype job, landing a managerial position as soon as possible in your career, the possibility to have a high social status quickly. Presumably, I guess this is another factor since working on public holidays, weekends and night shifts do not guarantee you for sure a high social status! 

On the other side of the coin, I think engineering is such a huge sector and it is something you definitely do not master it within your 4 years of studies. Hence, as my uncle has repeatedly been telling me, the coming five years is simply an investment for my future career. Do not worry about money, do not worry about social status. I should only take it as a further step to my academic studies, learn and grasp as much knowledge as you can and later on it will reap benefits when applying for other jobs. I should admit I did complain a lot of my situation to people around and I was taken aback that many people thought that I was indeed over reacting. The job market is particularly not healthy at present and at the bottom of it, having such a huge company on my CV can only be beneficial eventually.

Yes, I do agree whatever people has been telling me is right. They are totally correct on all lines. But, believe me, it is not that easy..to commit! Elsewhere, when you are finding people from your batches earning much more than you are earning now, it indeed creates an atmosphere of frustration! It is not easy. I know I will be very much ill at ease during the next 6 days, I can't help it. It is really freaking me out!!!! To cap it all, I do not have another job offer in pipeline.

So here I am at a cross-road with no defined destination. Should I leave or should I stay? Should I just be happy to know I have a job and earning enough money for myself and my family? What about my further studies? What about some unaccomplished dreams yet??

I guess I will find all answers to my questions on April 1st and I hope I will not be fooled on that day!

Saturday 9 March 2013

Impacted!




Sometimes, there comes a lot of times in your life whereby a string of events impacts your memory for ever. It can be anything, ranging from reading a book to a simple walk in nature. Most of the times, they happened unexpectedly and that is how exactly these moments become so cherished. I am not going to talk about any leadership conferences, self-reflecting books or personal coaching sessions. I am just going to share a couple of movies that imprinted my memories for ever.

Movies have always been made to entertain people, together with a meaning in the background. Over times, the 7th art has become an invaluable asset in terms of enriching one’s personal knowledge. So, movies can eventually be an ideal platform to pay respect to someone’s life, to raise awareness of various issues, to materialize someone’s imagination and creativity and to simply discover world. Has anyone of you ever wonder how easy it has become for us to discover the world through movies?
Over years, there have been numerous movies that have indeed impacted me. It will be indeed challenging to numerate all of them individually. However, there is indeed one that comes to my mind every time I have to suggest a movie to a friend. It’s “August Rush”.


Basically, it is a movie based on how a child has been separated from his parents. With the help of music and his unbent love for his parents whom he has never seen, he left no stone unturned in trying to be reunited with them. However, his father never knew he existed actually and her mother thought he died after his birth and both of them separated before his birth. Music, indeed magical, did not only help him meet with his father again but also in bringing back both his parents together again. The amazing guitar tapping scenes really left me wow. I do not know for others, but it will always be one of the best movies I have ever seen.

Music is all around us, all you have to do is listen.


Another movie that has indeed left me with a lasting impact is The Guardian. It is a movie about the lives of rescue swimmers and make people realize about the nature of their jobs and to what extent it can be dangerous. To do a job that will save lives by putting yours itself in danger, I do not know many people that can do it. Not even me.


Ashton Kutcher and Kevin Kostner did an outstanding performance in it. I still remember the scene where Ashton was asked why he has a number 2 tattooed on his right back. And his answer was “It's so the guy behind me knows what place he's coming in.” That dialogue is just killing. I so wanted to do such a tattoo as well but did not go through since I don’t think I can come first in any activities. I will end this part with this quote from that movie and it’s an even more soothing line.

There will come a time when you have to decide who lives and who dies.

 
I am a fan of Bollywood movies as well, nothing to be ashamed of. There is obviously a lot of movies that will indeed remain memorable. However, there is one in particular that I cherish, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. 

 It is about the three friends that have gone on a bachelor trip to Spain. Well, all of them being of different characters, they chose one activity each for the trip. Each activity will eventually help them to overcome fears, doubts, give them a new orientation in life, to encounter love and to make them become closer friends. Without doubt, the amazing poetry by Javed Akhtar and the beautiful spots in Spain even made the film more enjoyable. 

Another amazing fact about this movie is that it is one of the very very rare movies whereby me and my dad had similar opinions about it. I particularly enjoyed the moment when we viewed it together after having gifted him a copy on Father's Day. Sometimes, it is not only the movie but the memories associated with it that renders it special. As usual, a quote from the movie follows:

A person should remain in a box only once he is dead.

 
 Today, I watched a movie that persuaded me to write a post about movies and those I have liked so far. I do not know about you, but I so believe at one point or other, you will watch a movie that so perfectly suits and summarizes a particular moment of your life. I have found it today. The movie is…I am sure you will recognize it through its poster!

So, why do I feel connected to it? Why did I like that movie so much? I guess you should watch it, then you might understand, and maybe if you do not know me well upto now, you will.. 

500 days of Summer relates the movie of Tom and Summer. The movie swaps intelligently between the past and present to tell the viewers how that couple was formed. Tom and Summer eventually parted ways. This left Tom distraught until he finally meets..Autumn! Except, for me, I guess Autumn is still lying somewhere around the corner and Summer still haunts me from time to time :)

“A boy and a girl can just be friends. But at one point or other, they will fall for each other..maybe temporarily..maybe at the wrong time..maybe too late..or maybe forever!”


As for now, that’s it. I know there are a lot of other movies ahead. I will indeed add on a few more later on .



Sunday 20 January 2013

A world in our world



I believe at one point in your life, you have come across a situation whereby you need to overcome a certain non-negligeable apprehensiveness in order to discover something extraordinary. Have you ever lived an experience or a day where you just managed to live it fully? Or a day you did something extraordinary and you would cherish those moments till the very end? Think about it for a few seconds before continuing..

It happened to me, and it was only yesterday. I lived a day where I discovered another world in the world we know. I was simply numb with happiness, and could not take off my eyes from such a natural wonder! I came across a world where zillions of living organisms come across each other and yet they are living in an amazingly synchronized harmony. I did my first ever undersea walk in my life!!


So the whole thing happened as we set off on a 3-activities package on the eastern coast of the country! There was tube riding, parasailing and obviously undersea walk. The preparation for THE event included wearing a rubber shoes, a belt with weight in order to keep you down on the sea bed and without forgetting all the various instructions. The next 7 minutes will definitively be blissful!

So I wore a scuba diving mask supplying oxygen through flexible hose. It was weighing a freaking 30kg and rested on shoulder! Yes, its really heavy, but you do not actually feel that weight when being in water. The first sight underwater was like...woww!! As I am writing, I am actually feeling goosebumps all over my arms.

So many fishes, so many colourful coral reefs, the blue water, the white sand on the sea bed..yes it was indeed a world in our world. What was actually more stunning was the priceless sensation of peace prevailing under the water, the pure joy of being just there observing those marine animals enjoying the companion of aliens in their world. They were nevertheless enjoying our presence as well and not feeling intimated, which was a good thing eventually. Or else I would not have been blessed to enjoy observing them. At a certain point, I so wanted to just sit down and just keep gazing at this real paradise. I so wished I could do that. It was really distressing, a good cure to forget all your pains, worries and stresses of your life. 

I think the highpoint of those 7 minutes were when I was asked to feed the fishes. I was given a piece of bread and as soon as I opened up the palm of my hands, there was like thousands of fish dashing,swirling around and literally fighting to eat those breads. Feeling ticklish, mouth wide open in wonder, eyes flashing and wide open, standing numb despite the strong current, seconds seeming like hours until time appeared to have stopped, hearing the waves crashing at a seemingly far away point but in reality just above you, it was simply blessing. A beautiful world. As those 7 magical minutes were coming to an end, I could not stop thinking of when to be back. I will, indeed!


However, I could not stop noticing the effects of human activities. Pollution has already affected the coral reefs to a considerable extent. Yes, the current generation should make it a must to protect this priceless treasure we have in terms of marine beauty. Educate, do not ignore and do not take for granted our ecosystem can be an encouraging step ahead.

Later during the afternoon at Ile aux Cerf, already boosted up by those 7 minutes, I could not prevent myself of trying to stay in this marine world as far as I could. I did snorkeling for long lapse of time, just feeling so at peace, wonderfully calm and energetic to just keep observing how life is happening in the sea. Constantly swimming over corals, being so alert at any observation of fishes, it was like an after experience.

Thinking all about it now, I was indeed apprehensive of how the day would be and to what extend those commercial activities would be safe. The short time I spent during that undersea walk activity did make me ponder about many aspects of life, such as: "How more beautiful the lagoon was at its natural state before human activities started on our island? At the rate we are polluting our ecosystem, will my children tomorrow be able to experience such exciting times?"


Finally, I would like to conclude my article with this amazing quotation and which I am sure will make you wonder how many aspects of life you are missing on currently:

"Fear is the thief of dreams", by Brian Krans


P.S: Sparing a couple of thoughts to the amazing group of friends from Terragen who made this day truly memorable. They will recognise themselves on their own for sure :)