Bungy Jumping at Bloukrans Bridge , Tsitsikamma , South Africa – World’s Highest !!

And yes , I did it :-). I always wanted to do Sky Diving after seeing some videos of colleagues who did it. But then , I thought Bungy jumping would be a much more tougher task than Sky Diving. I was very inspired to see the video of Booo do this Bungy jumping and when we had planned for this trip , I wanted to do it........ AT ANY COST.

Yes , I was scared and yes there was some inner voice which pulled me back saying.... no need of it. But then , I thought , “If I cannot do it now.... I can NEVER do it. We don’t get these opportunities again and again “. So I thought , I will do it... come what may :-)

Seeing my enthusiasm , R had to agree that he will also try it out. He was not actually so interested in it , but I pushed him saying lets do it.

The day we were about to do the jumping , we drove very quietly to the spot. And I could see that R was very nervous and tried his best not to show it. Surprisingly , I was more confident though I had butterflies in my tummy.

We arrived at the spot and registered ourselves. And then we had a view point where people could see the bungy jumping which was a little far away on the bridge. That sight was breath taking and obviously , our fears doubled. But then , we had already booked it and now backing off means wasting a lot of money. So we didn’t have an option. I kept on counselling my mind that its okay and we can do it. We were a group of around 25 people who were called and made to wear the “belts” kind of things. And then we were off to the bridge walk. We had to walk to the centre of the bridge where we are actually supposed to jump. The bridge walk took away whatever confidence I had till then. It scared the hell out of me and I was left numb by the end of the walk. But , R became more confident after that. My God , I didn’t understand how , but he became the opposite of me and was actually restless to do it first.

Loud music played in order to cheer us and relieve us of the tension and the people who work there , I must really appreciate them for dancing and singing and diverting our attention till the end.

Bro went first and was successful. And then it was me and then was Ravi. I just can’t explain those moments in words. I just prayed to God and tried to be brave and re-iterated to myself that its okay and I will do it. And finally , I did it. And it was the most breath taking experience of my life.

Seeing people who did it in a video or from the far is a completely different experience. And ACTUALLY doing it is a completely different experience. I was a little uncomfortable as I was hanging up-side-down and the only connection was at my toes. The fear that I might fall down any moment was really high. But after everything , I would say that it is a MUST-TO-DO for anybody. AWESOME is the only word I can get out of my mouth after it :-).

Welcome 2011 !!!

It’s finally the end of another year. We are entering a new decade as well as a new year.

Its time to summarise what all happened in 2010 and what would be my resolutions and thoughts for the new year.

Year 2010 :
1. I had celebrated our first anniversary of talking on phone for the first time :-)
2. And then I celebrated our first anniversary of meeting up for the first time :-)
3. And then we finally celebrated our FIRST ANNIVERSARY!!! :-)
4. Work wise , it was a very tough year. I had lots of challenges. I won some and I lost some. But finally all of them were experiences.
I worked my A** out on Alphanumeric which a superb learning. But then , the biggest Jhatka I got was in the form of my appraisal. I learnt to deal with disappointments and fought against odds for my personal satisfaction. If I saw the best managers in 2009 , I saw the worst lott in 2010. I am glad I did. Though I struggled , it was all a learning.
5. Personally , it was a very good year. Obviously , it was a roller coaster ride but then it was not painful. It was fun :-) !!
6. We saw many many places in SA.
7. I got used to my little home in San Marino so much that I don’t want to leave it now :-(
8. I became quite a good cook with people giving me good feedback on my cooking.
9. I played cricket for the first time in an office tournament.
10. My parents came visiting us and we had great fun. I didn’t except that they would really turn up in SA .
11. I became a proud owner of an IPod Touch :-) - A gift from my brother.
12. I did the World’s highest Bungy Jumping at Bloukrans Bridge at Tsitsikamma on the way to Cape Town.

Resolutions for Year 2011 :
1. I want to become a regular to Gym and concentrate more on health.
2. I want to become a regular to Pranayaamam.
3. Think Positive and Stop Crying for each and everything.
4. Become more independent in all terms. Start doing everything by myself instead of depending on “R” for most of them.
5. Spending some time for myself everyday apart from the normal chores at home and work at Office.
6. Learn more and more about cooking and become a better one.

Letters over Emails

Long gone are the days when people used to wait for the postman to come and drop off letters at our nearby Postbox. Long gone are the days when we used to buy yellow postcards and blue colour inland letters. Long gone are the days when we used to collect foreign stamps and show them to everybody proudly.

Long gone are the days when I used to buy nice flowery envelopes and sheets in “Archies Gallery” to write a message to somebody.

Sadly , now our world remains with electronic mails :-(.

Personally, I feel that there is no “Human Touch” to an Email.I prefer writing letters rather than emails. I love the handwriting in those letters and would prefer people to send me letters over emails , atleast once in a while. I have treasured my childhood letters that I got from various people. The joy that I get when I see a past letter is very very different from the feeling I have when I read a previous email.

My first letter to my husband was also a handwritten letter. And now it remains one of his priced possessions :-) !!

Believe me............. Its really different !!

Diwali – The Festival of Lights – Always my Favourite !!

There is something in a “Deepam” or “Diya” or a “Oil Lamp” which attracts me :-)

I have been a fan of it since my childhood and my mood automatically radiates when I see bright diyas anywhere. I go to the temple , mainly to light these deepams and stand there staring at them. I must say that the TamilNadu temples look much more good than Andhra temples. And they give lots of importance to Deepams. Only in Tamil Nadu , I have seen people selling these oil lamps which the devotees can light in the temple. Simple , you need not be prepared and take it from home. They are readily available :-).

Before Marriage , for Diwali , I made it a point to put up some kind of Rangoli at home and then decorate them with as many deepams as possible. And then , I spent the rest of the festival just staring away to glory at them. I fall in love with them and I capture those perfect moments in my mind forever.

After marriage , in JoBurg , I hardly thought that I could make my Diwali so colourful as I was not sure if people would allow us and all that. But my two years of Diwali till now have been equally colourful and bright :-).

My mom keeps telling me that she also lights a lamp on behalf of me whenever and to whichever place she goes and remembers me fondly. Such is my love for lights :-) !!

No matter what , I will continue to light lamps for any occasion the whole of my life. I find God in them and I find peace and Divinity in them !!

Sunrise at North Cliff

A week back , we had gone to view the sunrise at a place called North Cliff in JoBurg, which is quite near to our place. We had been planning this from a long long time. Finally could make it. I was very happy. But the challenging part was........ getting up and reaching the place by 5 AM.Thankfully we made it before the sunrise and the sun came up at around 5:15. What a sight!! Life is so beautiful and God is so wonderful !! :-)

My heart is beating fast.........my heart is beating fast....

I am always nervous even if I know that I am right and I am fighting for my right. It has not been easy....... not at all easy.......because I am not comfortable talking to new people and in a way I am tired of re-iterating the same issue again and again. All in Vain! Nobody seems to see sense in my argument at all. Even after the case is so clean , nobody seems to see any sense in what I say....... and nobody seems to acknowledge anything.

I guess I am the stupid idiot fighting for this. If it was anybody else , may be they would not have fought for so long............ but I chose not to keep quiet. And I chose to shout out loud.......... no matter what !

But then its a struggle you know.......... its not that easy.......... unfortunately ! :-(

My appraisal. My manager has been quite a good guy though I don’t approve many of his mannerisms and all that. He has always appreciated my passion towards work. My mind knew that he has a good impression on me or atleast thinks that I am out of the crowd. But the way he behaved when it came to my appraisal......... I didn’t expect it at all. I had a discussion with him and he quickly told me that he gave me a ECC but my Level2 manager has changed it without even asking him. And he told me to send him a mail with all the appreciations etc and said that he would fight on my behalf. And I like a little ignorant fool did whatever he wanted and kept reminding him of the issue. He insisted that he wanted a reply from J and will wait for it. Though I knew it was a futile effort , I kept quiet.......... just because he was trying to fight on my behalf. But then , he gave me the greatest jolt of my life. Suddenly one day , he just replied saying that ECC is given to extremely and exceptionally good people and may be I need to do a little more in terms of blah blah blah which he already commented in my appraisal that he is impressed about the same blah blah blah.

Thats it. He just sent this mail and kept quiet. He knew he was contradicting himself , but still chose to do it and left my side in such a horrible way. He didn’t even speak to me about it. Though he knew that somebody else has overrided his decision , he still chose to keep silent. I know why........... because he didn’t want to take it to the next level and spoil his relationship with people. He chose to compromise on his morals and ethics but he didn’t chose to compromise on his relationship with J. Knowing what kind of a guy he is, I just want to ask one question............ doesn’t his conscious prick him for doing this ?

If I were in his place , irrespective of what would happen to me , I would have fought for the right of my subordinate who deserved it. And more than anything , I would have been eager to know what was the reason for changing it when I myself feel that she is an ECC candidate.

I am still fighting for my right and have escalated this to various levels. Nobody seems to even acknowledge that something is definitely wrong except for one person. But ofcourse things were not in his hands either.

Even after having so many appreciation mails and even after working so hard for one year and even after getting ECC from my direct supervisor , why do I have to go through all this ?

Dedicated to Tejaswee Rao

Her Blog Link : http://blabberblah.wordpress.com/

Its very strange how I got to know about Tejaswee and her life. Last Friday , I was just browsing through random blogs in Google and through somebody else’s blog ( I don’t even remember whom ) , I came to this blog which was kind of unique. I was flattered by the first post “A Letter to the Future”. And then I could not stop myself from reading her entire blog. Little did I expect that she is no more now. It left a deep impact in my heart that day.

Its really true that our life is so uncertain. When we get up in the morning, we don’t even know whether we will come back to the same bed that we got up. This blog of TJ (like her friends call her) left a really deep impact in my heart. And the fact that she is no more and the fact that it all happened in damn 10 to 12 days really startled me. God give strength to her family and friends to cope with the loss.

I spent 2 whole days reading her blog and then further found links to her mother and friends blogs. It was really good reading about all their experiences. TJ was an animal lover and wanted to adopt a child in the future. She spread optimism and laughter wherever she was. Her thoughts are really divine.

I took one resolution that day.......... that I will always continue blogging. In future, even if I am no more, my dear ones can always treasure my blog and my writings............ just the way Tejaswee is still alive because of her blog :-)

Rest in Peace Tejaswee......... I really wish I had known you before. I dedicate this post to you and all your dear ones who are coping with your absence.