A Beautiful Rose

Tough Times Don’t Last…

I was just a child then and like most children never really liked the idea of being a bookworm. I would rather go out and play and if never had anything I would create games of my own and have fun. Tough times were kind of never heard phrase at that point of time in my life. No one is to be blamed, such is the age and such are the memories. And there are some moments, some faces, some wordings get engraved somewhere in the mind forever.

I remember a friend of mine gave me a book to read. It was ‘Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do’ and honestly I never really read this book but the wording got imprinted on my mind.

There is no better book than life to teach you what this actually means. Slowly as we grow old the definition of the tough times change and it does more than we would ever expect it to. Now we think it was so much fun being kids. I sometimes wonder that we can’t just wait to grow old when we are young and now when we are getting old, we feel it was so much better being kids.

It’s been almost a year….since I have been at work. I have tried almost everything which I could…but still nothing. As luck would have it has all been downhill till now and the trend still continues. The way the things are happening it is obvious that I haven’t hit the bottom yet. Don’t know when would be the bottom and then would be the upward movement because………“Tough Times Don’t Last”.

Vienna Burns Punjab

A small poem for all thats happening in Punjab. People wake up....the so called religious gurus are doing all for themselves! Someone shot someone a few thousand miles away and we started buring our shops, buses and cars!

Panjan paaniyan ch ralai kade zaher kisse,
Te hun uh vass gayi dilan de vich aan likh,
Jinha vehriyan ch vasda si hassa kaade,
Vehre kyun ne aaj kal uh sunsaan likh,
Bhai bhai di jaan da hai dushman aithe,
Pher poochde ne maavan kyun ne hairaan likh,
Jihre chulliyan kol kathe baith khande kade,
Ikatthe fukde ne aaj vich shamshaan likh.

Just My Luck...cont

There seems no end to this now. It’s taking too much toll on me. I thought this is the bottom of it...but as usual I am wrong again. The adjuster from the insurance company came and he said the truck is a total loss. And what is worse is that the money that will be paid by the insurance company is too less.

That truck would have gone on for another couple of years without any problem and now a new one has to be bought. I had filed for my Green Card and by doing so I have also ruled out the option of going to school on a student visa. The rule states that the student has to go back to his native country once the course is over, and since I have shown an immigration intent I can’t go on a student visa.

I was talking to my friend today and was explaining the whole situation. He said because I have been trying too hard for everything and that is the reason I am getting frustrated. As once a basketball coach once said, “When rape becomes inevitable, you might as well lay back and enjoy it”. It seems like the life is now trying to screw and I don’t have an option but to sit back and wait till this ordeal is over.

Life is a great teacher and it teaches us many lessons. It is up to us how much we learn. Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so. I really don’t know how I would have reacted if I was in my uncle’s situation. But the way he has handled it has taught me a few important lessons.

You can be beaten once or twice but never defeated. Failure is temporary. Mr. President has said once that making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it's not. It takes patience, it takes commitment and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. And the real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you can’t. It's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere. So every mistake in life is actually a learning experience.

Second is to look for positives even from your mistakes. If we were to count the negatives, that would be so many. Finding faults in others is so easy and we just forget that we are humans too. We will so many reasons to see negatives; the thing is looking for the positives. Sometimes we need to have an attitude ‘it could have been worse as well”.

Third is not to blame others when it’s you who wasn’t up to the mark. It’s easier to do and avoid all the criticism which you would be facing, but wouldn’t that be trying to shy away from challenges. How hard it would be for such people to stand in front of the mirror eye to eye? Accepting a failure is a much more than even winning it. It takes a lot to concede a failure gracefully. But accepting is not the only thing, just doing it wouldn’t make much of a difference. It’s to learn and improve. That’s the key.

Just My Luck

If I was swimming in the pool in my community I would still be prone to a shark attack. This is the kind of luck I am having at the moment. When things are not going right for you…everything seems an uphill task. And it seems the troubles don’t come as ones or twos but in bundles!!! The last week had been really a horrible one and yesterday was no exception to it…

I got up very early helped cleaning the garage. I found a Aiwa 5.1 system lying there…and they were probably going to throw it as there isn’t sufficient space to place it. I got it into my room and fixed it all together, and it is just superb. Everything was going normal until then.

Then came the cleaning lady who saw the TV in the garage and she wanted to have it. My cousin asked her 30$ for the same but she refused and said that she really wanted it. But my cousin really wanted to get 30$ for the same. So we loaded the TV in the truck it is an old Sony TV, probably 15 years old. And they used to make it real heavy back then. It was difficult to fit into my Camry so we kept it in my Uncle’s Mercedes ML320.

Off we went to sell it in a Pawn Shop. I really don’t know what was going on through my mind at that time, but I was late by a fraction of a second…and Bang! The car in front of me had braked all of a sudden and I was the last car in the 5 car chain. The reaction time decreases a lot after every car. So I just couldn’t get it on time. I was scared about the other vehicle…there were two Asian girls and thank God they were fine and so were their car. The only damage that was done, was done to the truck which I was driving…Just My Luck. Finally got a ticket and came back home, said sorry to uncle but he said such things happen. But it really feels bad deep inside.

I remember a friend of mine had once given me a hand made chart and on it was written a poem which I guess I can never forget – Don’t Quit.

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit-
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,
As every one of us sometimes learns,
And many a fellow turns about
When he might have won had he stuck it out.
Don't give up though the pace seems slow -
You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than
It seems to a faint and faltering man;
Often the struggler has given up
When he might have captured the victor's cup;
And he learned too late when the night came down,
How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out -
The silver tint in the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It might be near when it seems afar;
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit -
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit.

I really hope it doesn’t go any worse now, but it seems like I am hoping against hope.

American Challa!

Sitting home whole day and searching for a job...well I thought to use this time in a more efficient way with little intrest. So I decided to bring out the writer in me.

Its been a long time ever since I first heard this song 'Challa' by The Legend Gurdas Mann and its been kind of imprinted in my mind. I would often find my self humming it. Challa is a ring which is a symbol of love. You can listen to it youtube at the link below.




Well I have heard an Australian Challa on youtube and this is how I came up with our Amreekan Challa.

So this Challa has come to US......and there are many ways to reach the so called Dream Destination. Some come here to study, some after marriage, some through illegal means and some like me on a work visa(H1B).

So here it goes...

O Challa Aaya E Parne, Ve Kamm Storan Te Karne,
Te Cooler Beeran De Bharne, Ve Gal Sun Shudaiya,
Ve Jind Kyun Vakhtan Ch Paayiaa...

O Challa Charh Ghori Aaya, Sauriyan Daada Sataiya,
Te Kamm Koi Rass Nahi Aaya, Rone Nu Labhdi Nahi Thaan,
Te Chete Aaundi Hun Maa...

Saiyo Ni Ik Bhul Maithon Hoyi,
Ni Jera Amreeka Dera Laayaoo,
H1 Nu Aithe Koi Puchna Naahii,
Kahinde Green Card Laayaoo,
Ik Vi Project Na Mainu Labhiya,
Te Main Karje Hethaan Aayaa...

O Chala H1 Te Aaya,Recession Ghera Paaya,
Te Kaal Joban Da Aaya, Ve Gal Sun Chaliya Dhola,
Ve Kahda Paana Ae Rola...

O Challa Kille Vech Aaya, Jinhe Haath Kamm Nu Na Laaya,
Te Aithe Kamm Ne Sataaya, O Main Kiha Chado Janaab,
Hun Chete Aaunda Punjab...

Ever since my mind has been able to evaluate things... Landscapes have always been like a fantasy to me. As a child when I used to see photographs of landscapes....mountains, sunsets,rays of sun coming through a blanket of clouds....I just used to stare and admire those.

Now I have got my own new dSLR- Canon Rebel 450D....I am trying my hand at them. Last week I went to Skyline Drive.....and it was great. Although I felt I was a weel late for the actual fall....rain and wind couple of days prior ruined the perfect fall...but it wasn't as bad either.

Sunsets have always been my favs....and to get one good shot a whole day gives alot of satisfaction. The pic below is one of my fav's till now. The atmosphere here is so great and its just that one particular moment. It remains like this for a couple of minutes and then the color changes. I feel I have been really lucky to be there at the right time to capture the shot. And thats wht actually the photography is.....capturing the right moment at the right time.

I had been away from this blog for a long time and the photography occupied most of my free time. Even yesterday I read about the HDR and when I was doing it myself I wasn't able to get the desired results...needs alot of time for that. But I hope I will be able to take out time for my blog as well.