Only if I would knew when my last day on this planet…is

“No, I don’t want to go by this way… can’t see the cancer patients battling with life”. See choose the other path & reached the ICU where her father was hospitalized, early suspect for Malaria. Ohhh Its “Sie” that’s what I called her. One, who married whom she loved, gave birth to a beautiful son, over trusted a friend, became a suspect in the eyes of her husband, got divorced, chose to study again, started staying with her parents and had the guts to fall in love again and fail.

That day Sie wasn’t sure that her life is going to take a major twist. All reports were placed in front of her & the doc says “Your father is in the 3^rd stage of cancer, you just have 6 months more”. Didn’t know how to react, asked no questions & went up to her god to ask “Why? Punish me, not my father”.

For a month Sie had almost visited all the top cancer specialist of her city, showed the reports & all had different recommendation & stories to say. She was confused & had lost the meaning of the word “Trust”. She just kept running away from home as facing her father was no easier. I accompanied her one such day to meet one such specialist & that day was the day of conclusion. He saw the reports and said, “Your father is at the last stage, take him anywhere on this earth you can’t save him for cancer forever. Stop torcuring him by getting those all medical test done on him, his body no more can resist. You have 5 months in hand. Make it the best for him. Let him live his life… he is a lucky man unlike us. Imagine what would you do if you knew your last day on this planet…”.

That’s the only day I had seen Sie crying out loud, yes because she had accepted the truth & was all set to batter for her father’s life. After this her only moto was to fulfill all her father’s wishes, major being a MBA. 2 months passed her family or closest people kept this secret from her father. They did all that he ever wished and desired for. Taught days were not very far. His body started giving up, tremendous pain in stomach, blood vomits, cuts in fingers which kept bleeding, hair & body weight loss…

4^th month in the mid night when her father was awake she went up to him and said, “Please forgive me for all the pains & hurt that I gave you. We just have 2 more months and I want to live every moment with you papa”. Cancer started playing its game badly and Sie was fighting it well. I salute this woman for never giving it up. Those 2 months, were the worst days of her life. Her father was on the bed 24/7, on saline, could only intake liquid, lost all hair & weight was not more than 36 Kg. He used to cry out loud with the pain & pluck bucket full of blood. Every night she was awake sitting next to her father with her books in hand preparing for 2 exams – MBA & father’s life. Cancer is one should disease which can make a father say to his daughter “Please kill me, I no more can live with this pain…”. Sie’s did all that a daughter could do for her father in those last days. It was his birthday & knowing that it’s her father’s last birthday made all the attempts to make it special. Till date she relives those memories & finds herself in the arms of her father.

The day stroked & he finally got peace when he took his last breath.

I wonder in today’s world where we speak of advanced technology, why we don’t have a treatment for Cancer. Why are the patients forced to die a painful death? Why could we hold on uncle for few more days so that he could see Sie’s MBA certificate?

I would like to leave you with these questions:

What would you do if you knew it was the last day with your parents?

What would you do if you knew your love is embracing death tomorrow?

What would you do for all those cancer patients who are left by their dear ones as they were cowards?

What would you do to not be in the place of Sie?

Life is short…make every moment special for the people you care, who knows if you would get another chance or not.

Wardrobe styling & Image makeover workshop

A first impression is built by 55% look, 38% style, tone & body language & 7% what you say. Most of the time what we are and like is never depicted in our outfit. To avoid people misinterpreting you, we need to get our dressing & styling right. I participated in this workshop hosted by iReboot by Babita Jaishankar.

Color Analysis:

According to the color worn people make conclusions that you are conservative/introvert/extrovert, sophisticated, friendly, down to earth, business like. Skin tones are categorized as Cool tones or Warm Toned.

Cool Toned colors recommended – (Blue undertones) Rosy Pink, white, dark brown, true olive, ruddy-pinkish red.

Warm Toned colors recommended – (Yellow undertones) Golden, dark blue & green, ivory, NO black.

Body Style:

Body style is categorized in 4 types:

1. Hourglass- Balanced hip and shoulder width, defined waist
2. Triangle – Shoulders narrow than hips
3. Inverted Triangle – Shoulders wider than hip
4. Rectangle – Balanced hip & shoulder, no defined waist

After analyzing which body style you fit, select the outfit accordingly. Few tips:

Triangle: Outfit which adds volume to shoulders eg: Padding shoulders, puff sleeves, avoid sleeveless & tube tops, pocket less trousers, no frill skirts.

Inverted Triangle: Outfit which adds volume to hips eg: Frill Skirts, pocket trousers, pleated skirts, trousers, low waist trousers, anarkali kurtas.

Wardrobe basics:

Must have in Men’s wardrobe – Suite, Dress shirts (White & Blue), Trousers fit, Khakis, Statement watch, dark denim, cardigan/sweater, belt, shoes, ethnic wear, Polo’s & Tee’s

Must have in Women wardrobe – Skirt suite/Pant suit, formal trousers, Fitted jacket/Cardigan, Formal shirts & blouses, kurtis & chudidar, black dress & saree, watch, accessories, purse, closed shoes, dressy sandals, denim & tees

Skincare:

Before going to bed apply cleanser (to remove all makeup), apply toner and then moisture which has no SPF. Oil massage hands & legs and some Castor oil massage round the eyes. Morning avoid using bath soap on the face. Apply moisturizer which has 30% SPF with UVA & UVB projection.

Haircare:

Oil your hair once in a week. Add 1 spoon of Castor oil, 2 spoon of olive oil & 3 spoon of coconut oil. Warm it and then massage it. After an hour use shampoo for wash. Apply conditioner and serum after the wash. Hair wash is recommended twice in a week and not regularly.

Quick Notes:

- No pinks, orange and red outfit for Interviews

- A person who dares to dress out of the norm’s has a “I don’t care" attitude

- Thin and lean people fall in cool tone

- Red color indicated assertiveness & dominance, Blue (trust), Orange (no diet), brown (Negative)

- Shampoo with Conditioner is a big NO

- Night cream need not contain SPF

- Girls whose face is longer than compared to neck avoid closed neck outfits

- Darker lipstick makes u look aged

- Guys should read book “Style & the Man”

- Shorter people should avoid mix & match.

- Almond oil is recommended for face message

- Don’t step out without sunscreen

- Cosmetics brand suggested – Mac, Avon, Amway, l’orial, oriflamme

- Drink lots of water and intake fruits & vegetable & avoid cigars, alcohol. Include rock salt in your food

- Never use products having alcohol in their ingredients list

- While travelling to other countries, study about their dress & attire culture. Just because U care J

If you next meet me, don't expect me to be perfectly dressed. Don't believe all that's written about fashion go out try new stuff.... Its all about experiments & welcoming compliments & most of the time criticisms. Stay beautiful!

Drive me back… let me…

I have not done some things,
and left others undone.
Drive me back,
let me re-do.

I have not cared for some souls,
and have hurt few others.
Drive me back,
let me re care.

I sacrificed some things,
and lost few others.
Drive me back,
let me reclaim.

I am suffering,
due to someone else’s offense.
Drive me back,
let me punish them.

I have ignored some moments,
and not noticed others.
Drive me back,
let me relive.

I kept silent,
and could never reciprocate.
Drive me back,
let me do justice to self.

I walked out of few life,
and they still can’t move on.
Drive me back,
let me bring back their smile.

I was spied,
and dictated to live life in not so my style.
Drive me back,
let me show them the value of a life.

I feared, shy,
and scared of losing & trusting.
Drive me back,
let and take a chance.

I acted weird,
and made them hate me.
Drive me back,
let me accept the proposal.

I was misunderstood,
and treated wrongly.
Drive me back,
let me teach them how to value a women.

I was trusted,
and made a part of their journey.
Drive me back,
let me tell them, “I am not worth it”.

Inspired by http://www.akshaysurve.com​/blog/2010/12/let-me/

GENIVI Developer Conference India 2011

2 day conference hosted at Hotel Taj and it witnessed some amazing participation from Tier 1 & Tier 2 companies. Was a great opportunity to listen to GENIVI board members talk, network with automotive players & hear about the roadmap & challenges from automakers.

My notes from the sessions:
GENIVI forum was established intending to drive innovation in Automotive infotainment system & to bring together Silicon guys to work with software providers to improve the deliverables.
Automotive was one industry which never worked in collaboration and GENIVI (G) wanted to break this trend. G is where they decide where to collaborate & where to compete. It addresses the common component that goes into making an automotive infotainment IVI system.

70% of the code which gets into GENIVI is generally Open Source. So its very important for the contributor to know the source of the source.

Automakers cost structure goes like: 10% in hardware, 40% BSP (Base porting), 40% Software Integration & validation, 10% building UI & UX
G takes care of what needs to go into an automotive platform. It’s completely based on Linux & currently supports Meego & Ubuntu. Its main intention is to develop components which are reusable. It has around 121 members & 24 new members in the pipeline.

Biggest issue currently is that we don’t have any GENIVI products, solution or prototype, however BMW promises to get its first GENIVI based IVI system out in 2013.GENIVI deliverables are:
- Specifications
- Reference base line
- Patches for projects
- GENIVI projects

G has technical experts in domains: Automotive, Consumer Electronics, Location Based Services, Media, Networking, and System Infrastructure. Currently it supports only Meego, Ubuntu and with no support from Google, Android has not been a part of the reference platform at GENIVI.

GENIVI Tools: Blog, Wiki, Jira (Action Item tracking), OBS (Open building system & code scanning tools) also have an option to use free tools – Fossology & back duck
GENIVI base code is currently not open but sooner or later will be Open Sourced under some license.

G Compliance process: Automaker submits the POC -> verification -> true functional verification -> Certificate authentication. So far G has no compliance logo designed.
Things that were lacking in G are Quality, security, testing, validation compliance standards

Show stoppers we see, in India contributing towards G: Lack of Expert groups in India, diversification interest in the consumer towards infotainment, lack of POC to prove G can make automaker’s life easy, help in driving innovation & delivering products on time.

Set of questions which GENIVI need to answer to make it a successful community:
- What’s the benefit for the end user
- How can the platform be developed to look Hack proof
- Motivate companies in being a part of the forum and how can existing members bring in more contribution

For me GENIVI looks very promising & if all it done as planned Automotive Industry will soon see Innovation wave.

New resolution: Backpacking & going offline for few days

Going Offline:

Taking a break from online life and spending time in offline world is like finding yourself again & living in real. It has become sort of a new resolution of mine. It is fun to do such a thing and at the same time you get so many ideas when you are away from your laptop. We humans are not designed to think in front of a screen. I always believed that I think and as a matter of fact I do day dream a lot. I do chase some of my thoughts and have seen some of my day dreams getting real.

It was time to take a break and start a journey toward fulfilling my wishes for 2011. Perfect time & decided to visit Golden Temple at Amritsar. Excited! As it was my first visit to North India.
In these three days that I was away from the online world, I met myself again, I learnt & realized a lot, met new people, spent a lot of time with loved ones.

Delhi Airport:

Luckily we didn’t had direct flight to Amritsar we had to stop at Delhi Airport and we had 7 hours gap for out next flight. That was the time I got the ideas of having the following stuff at the airport:

- Mini Movie Theater: Where anyone can pick up this or her own CD and watch their favorite movie. I would have watched “Hum Tum”

- Library: I am not a book freak but yes I love watching people’s expressions while they are reading books. Trust me it’s really funny

- Swimming pool: That’s one thing that will make airport real heaven for me. I can keep my feet in water for hours and spend time listening to lovely music

- Park for kids: Better these airport guys design a park before I deliver my 5 kids, or else you can imagine airport to be a mad house.

- Kitchen: I hate eating food from outside. My friends who tease me, know this - Every time I look at the food, I thing I could have cooked far better than them.

- Pub: I can dance non-stop specially when the DJ plays the right songs

However in the absence of all these, God was great to me, he had sent over 2 lovely angels. I didn’t ever realized how the time passed-by while playing with them. The 6 and 8 years girls thought me some lessons of life:
- Just keep laughing out loud & smiling, don’t worry what the world would think. Your smile may just unknowing bring happiness in others life

- Never stops learning, life is gifted ones live it to the fullest

- Speak your heart out and let out our emotions. Stop cheating yourself
- Accept your weakness no one is perfect

It’s great to live like a kid throughout; at least you can look into your eyes when you face the mirror.

Golden Temple:Finally reached destination. Don’t understand these questions & I never found them worth answering:
“Why’s a south Indian visiting golden Temple?”

“Are you from Punjab?”
“Which part of Karnataka are you from?”
“How come your name sounds like a Coorge when you are from Mysore?”

Can we grow up please & stop judging, categorizing people based on their cast, religion & language.

Since school days I was asked to dream about Golden Temple. That dream got scattered but the marks remained. It was time to clean up the marks, move on & find a new path. As I stepped in & had a first look at the golden temple, I just couldn’t move my eyes off it. I loved spending hours sitting besides the holy lake and watching the temple. I had a wish, few thanks giving and lots of forgiveness to ask. I joined my hands to the almightily said a prayer for the well beings of few lives which at a time I never valued.

Amritsar Shopping:
Believe me it’s fun to shop at Amritsar. The Amritsar shopkeepers are real good sales guys, they should deliver talks at Management Institutes. I had no plans of buying a Lengha, logically because I am not getting married, even if I was, we at south India never wear lengha at such events. But this logical gal did buy a designer lengha, no clue WHY ? Simple answer could be, when I draped it just looked like it was designed & made only for me.

Lovely Punjabi suits, tempted to buy, exceeded my budget & finally to impress mom & dad I bought a saree too. Now you’ll can imagine after this exclusive shopping what pressure I would have from my grandma & family members.
*Warning: Go for a shopping to Amritsar only when you are about to get married or after marriage.

Waga Border:

Historical & patriotic place. Don’t know what craze I had about visiting this place. Gosh the people out there were MAD. It was badly crowded & everyone was ready to climb on each other. What race was that, some cheap crowd too & I would have bashed a guy if luck wouldn’t have hit us. Army guy told us to join a ladies queue which never existed. We somehow got in and this make me believe strongly about LUCK. Lovely drill, dance on patriotic songs and army parade was amazing to see. People shouting “Vande mataram” & feeling proud of being Indian.

My question is why this spirit is only for a while, when we step out, why do we start differencing people based on religion, women treated like object, girls given less priority over boys, parents wanting their children to be engineer, doctors & not get into army.

Its time Indians wake up & stop putting up masks.

Punjabi Food & People:This happens to me most of the time – 2 emotions run at one time. While I was travelling by auto cycle I was happy enjoying the ride, but when I used to see man almost of my dad’s age burning his blood and cycling all the ways tears flew down.
Nothing like rich Punjabi food – paneer pakoda, lassi, parotha all cooked & fried in pure ghee. Got to meet a lot of people talked with them about the life and challenges that they face. People are extremely friendly, they open up quickly, and they accept you quickly. Something that we in cities should learn. Life is hard there, they can hardly do anything after its dark (but they do so much during the day). Good Schools are rare. After schooling the choices of courses are very limited. People live a very community oriented life there.

What will remain always is the warm hospitality I received.

Coming Back Online:
Coming back online after a break is not easy. There are so many things to catch up. It took me two days to read and reply to all the mails, three days to read blogs of my friends, one day to catch up on twitter and one for all other social networks.

Feeling refreshed after a break!
Realized life is not the same for all and life is not in facebook, google+, twitter, emails, and flicker. It’s much more & I have lots to explore. I have just started my journey, wish me luck.