From Death to Life: An interesting read

The unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time and what do you get at the end of it? You die. I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first; get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you’re too young. You get a gold watch when you go to work. You work forty years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, and you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating…and you finish off as a glint in someone's eye!!

An Epitaph

I am a thousand winds that blow,

I am the diamond glint on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain,

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awake in the morning hush,

I am the soft unflinging rush,

Of quiet birds in circling flight,

I am the soft star-shine in the night.

And so my friend, do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there, I did not die

Amen

Phases....

I wanted nothing less than hope,
But, relishing despair,
I plunged into the nearest hell
And spent some weekends there.

I saw no answers on the walls,
No rebirth in the rain,
No saving grace in suffering,
No rapture born of pain.

What held me there? It must have been
The jackal, crazed and lean,
Who took my face between his paws
And, hungry, picked it clean.

Rain Rain Come Again!!

For the uninitiated, rains have finally hit Udaipur... And how so!! I saw the Palace, literally washed apart by the flash rains. All the lounge chairs in the pool plopped right in, the furniture at our fine dining restro went for a toss, the Spa tents could not sustain the heavy onslaught and collapsed. In a nutshell, it was a nightmare for my operations team for the next 90 mins.

But then to actually see the guest enjoying the rains, in their own little ways was a treat in itself. An aged German couple was taking a walk in our Guava garden. When the rains came, instead of running for shelter or finding an umbrella, they simply sat down on one of the marble benches, holding hands and enjoying the view,(I hope!!) The poor butler on the other hand was havin a hard time convincing them to at least take an umbrella.

And it was beautiful, the view!! With all the flora in the landscape taking a different hue altogether with the first raindrops. And the fragrance was.... well heavenly!! I just wish I had my loved ones around to take it all in and stay in this one moment forever.. Yes, Udaipur is beautiful...!!

Am I in paradise?? That remains to be seen...

Peace

Newsflash: Mars=Venus!!

Sporadic blogs, crazy shifts.. corporate life is a muff!!! I'll be the umpteenth one to say it but, well, a fact is a fact. Anyway was running through a period of mass recruitments for the Palace for the past week. Out of the numerous things that meeting 20 new people a day teaches you, one of the realities that dawned on me was.. Men are becoming more and more womanized by the day....

(Disclaimer: Before I proceed may I add that I respect and admire all the ladies I know, and also that I am a big fan of the feminist movement. But having said that, I personally believe that some things are better when they remain the same.)

Anyway, coming back to the original issue, one of the things that I noted was the guys were sitting and chatting among themselves for hours at an end, oblivious to the fact that we offered them some quality food. On the other hand, the girls were quieter than usual, very to-the-point and unusually serious. All this makes me think.. Have the tables really turned??? Whatever happened to Chirpy Chics and Serious Sams?? I say this at the risk of sounding sexist, but its true.

Secondly, almost every male candidate who came along had problem with night shifts. The females on the other hand were totally gung-ho about it. As much as I was pleased to see this, I felt a tad melancholic to see my gender behaving like, well anti-stereotypes.

I mean, I agree the world has changed. But certain things are best when they remain unchanged. Guys having problem with night shifts is like so weird!! I would welcome my nocturnal adventures..ahem!! But then again, I was amazed by the gusto of the Ladies. They were conceptually better, better groomed, well-prepared and of course, much more charming.

I've said this before, and I'll say it again- "Women are finally taking their rightful place in the society". We, on the other hand should not take it as an insult or a call to arms. Rather, a sense of healthy competition and a mature attitude towards the opposite sex is the least that is expected of us at present.

In a nutshell- "Men, Pull up your socks... or get ready to be phased out of the Solar System"!! :-(

Ciao