A Day on the Pale Blue Dot - 26

Thursday, 25th May 2023

Small Rich Life?

My wife and I decided to go out on a special date tonight. Usually, we'd take our car and go out somewhere; but today we decided to go by cab since we had some alcoholic plans. 🍸

It has been a very long time since the both of us had travelled in a cab. It was kind of nice, not having to worry about driving through the Bengaluru trafic and increasing our blood pressures. Instead, we could just sit, relax and talk.

As an expensive looking Mercedes Benz SUV overtook us, it randomly crossed my mind whether this is how rich people travel? In their own car, driven around by their chauffeur, and they just sit back, relax and talk?

I suddenly asked my wife: Do you think we will get out of middle class?

Wife (very confidentially and enthusiastically): Yes!

Me: Yes, even I do think and hope the steps we are taking now get us there. But however rich we become; I don't think I'd want a driver to drive us around. I mean, I wouldn't want to buy a super expensive car and not drive it.

Hmmpphh..! Someday!

And yes, the date went beautifully nice! 😊

A Day on the Pale Blue Dot - 25

Wednesday, 24th May 2023

The World Does Not Revolve Around You!

Maybe you already know that; or maybe you still believe the World revolves around you.

Fact check Genius! The World does not revolve around you, AT ALL! Both literally and figuratively.

So, whatever I thought yesterday turned out to be wrong. The reason that my manager's meeting with the VP got delayed was something else, and not because of something I might have said. It was my "world-revolves-around-me" mentality that made me think that the emergency meeting was called because of me.

Irrespective of what happens with you, the world will simply move on.

Just simply, like that - *fingers snaps*.

So, while you spend this short stint on this world, simply choose to do good! 

A Day on the Pale Blue Dot - 24

Tuesday, 23rd May 2023

Office Havoc?

Very interesting day at office! 😵

So, our Vice President from U.S is in our India offices for a couple of weeks, and he'd be in Bengaluru for most of the time. He wanted to visit everyone who is responsible for a team. And thus, it was my chance to meet with him to discuss "things."

I couldn't meet him in the morning as planned since an earlier meeting of his went on for longer than expected. So, we set up another meeting for the evening. I had made a list of things to discuss, about how we could improve things in our project. 

5:00 PM, our meeting time and I went down to his office. After a half hour meeting till 5:30 PM, I came back to my seat.

Soon after, my manager got a call from a director saying that the VP has called for an emergency meeting at 6:00 PM with the senior managers and directors. My eyes widened; panic started kicking in. Was it something I said to the VP that triggered this meeting? 

I gave a quick 2-minute brief to my manager about my discussion with the VP so that there wouldn't be any surprises. My manager left for the emergency meeting.

I had another meeting with our U.S. team at 7:00 PM which got over 5 minutes before another meeting at 8:00 PM. The 2nd meeting got over at 8.45 PM and still my manager was not back from the emergency meeting with the VP. My panic increased. At 8:50 PM I dropped a Teams message to my manager and left for home, not knowing what was happening in the VP's office and over thinking up to a point where I would have my job tomorrow. 😟

EOD.

Have you ever caused a havoc anywhere anytime unintentionally or unknowingly?

A Day on the Pale Blue Dot - 23

Monday, 22nd May 2023

That's not my Name!

I've been pretty used to people not spelling my name correctly for most of my life.

Tarun, that's not my name! My name is Tharun.

I do not blame people who write out my name by simply hearing it. It is pretty easy to make the mistake since Tarun is the more widely used spelling. But those who type the name incorrectly when replying to email or saying "Hi" in a chat? The name is spelt correctly right in front of them - in the email address, in the email signature, on the chat box - the name is right there - THARUN!

And yet you type in Tarun - I do not understand how you process it. Probably the hand-eye co-ordination is very bad? A family feud between the hand and eye, I suppose.

Look. Read. Write. Alphabet to alphabet. Not that difficult dear.

Regards,

Tharun.

THARUN!

A Day on the Pale Blue Dot - 22

Sunday, 21st May 2023

Ice from the Sky!

Like I mentioned in yesterday's post, we had a family friend stay with us for a night. Today we had to drop her back to her cousin's place, and we were invited for lunch there too. We planned to start at 11:30 am. And, obviously, we left after noon! The Sun was shining bright, and the temperature pretty hot for Bangalore.

We reached the cousin's place just after 1:30 pm, right in time for lunch! We had our lunch, the weather outside still bright and sunny. After we finished our lunch, the ambience outside turns dark and winds pick up speed. We could hear the loud wind! From here we had to go to another relative's house, some 11 km away. We started at around 3:30 pm, the wind gaining strength and blowing dust up into the air. Soon after it started raining - very heavily! The visibility reduced to a point that it was impossible to determine that we were in Bangalore city! We could not see any more tall buildings. The roads barely visible, we navigated using Google Maps - like playing a game! Then we heard an unusual sound as though our car was hit.

Wife: "What was that?"

Me: I was thinking if some other car hit us. That couldn't be it - we did not feel any jerk of something hitting us.

Again, we heard the sound - the frequency increasing.

Wife: "What is that?"

Me: I think it is ice!

And so it was! Ice from the sky! A hailstorm!

As fascinating it may sound, it was scary - the ice pounding on the car - we were worried if our windshield or any other glass would shatter. We kept driving until we reached our relative's house. And finally, luckily, we made it to the house. One hell of an experience it was.

We realized how bad it was when my mother called me later in the evening. It was then that I came to know a lady passed away drowning in the flash floods ensued by the rain. And later while scrolling through Instagram, I came across a picture of a person filling his glass of whiskey with ice from the sky!

One event - some people relaxed and chilled with a glass of whiskey, while for some others tragedy struck.

Life!

A Day on the Pale Blue Dot - 21

Saturday, 20th May 2023

Live Life King Size!

Who doesn't want to? Most of us, I'd say. Anyhow, this post is not a tutorial on how to live life king size - wish I'd known the secret to it.

Before you plan to live your life king size, the 1st step you need to take is to define your "king size." It could be different for each of us. While for some of us, it would be big houses and cars, for others it would be contributing back to the society. While for some, it would be to travel the world, for others it would be simply to keep their family happy. Define your king size.

Today a friend of my mother-in-law came to visit and stay with us for the night. She is into her 70s, unmarried and still working in a school teaching little kids. She finds happiness in that and that might be her king size life. A cousin of hers had come to drop her to our flat. He is currently retired, earning passive income from his rental properties and put his kids to good educational institutions. That might be his king size life.

For me, like I said in one of my older posts, the goal is to earn as much as I earn now without depending on my job. And get all the time I want to, to write, to travel, and to explore the world. That is my king size life.

Have you defined your king size life yet?

A Day on the Pale Blue Dot - 20

Friday, 19th May 2023

Right Foot Forward!

After a very long time, our Company is bringing back the walkathon challenge. I love walking! It lets me explore places like no other modes of transportation. I have found many hidden gems in many cities just because I was walking.

Even after travelling through the same route many a times, I have missed many good places just because I was riding a bike. All it took was a walk through the same route to find awesome places.

If I were given enough time and resources, I would prefer walking to most places. I used to walk both ways to my office once upon a time - a round trip of around 8 km. Back in my hometown, my wife and I have casually walked from my house to her house - a distance of 11 km.

One of my earliest long-distance walks (compared to age) was when we were in school, probably I was 7th grade - so around 12 years old. My friend and I somehow missed our school bus, and don't ask why, we decided to walk to our homes - may be around 7-8 km away. Did I miss to tell that I grew up in the city of Muscat, Oman? Yeah, a desert country. But we did it. Well, it was not that we were walking across sand dunes; it was pretty much cities and town all the way.

I may not have realized how much I love to walk then - but now I do. In hindsight, maybe I sub-consciously loved walking already.

Anyhow, looking forward to this walkathon event conducted by the Company. Keep walking!

A Day on the Pale Blue Dot - 19

Thursday, 18th May 2023

5 Star Deluxe!

What came to mind? Hotels? If yes, you guessed right. 1 star, 2 star, 3 star, 4 star and 5 star are the more popular ratings we have heard for various hotels.

You have heard 7 star too? Well, such a rating does not really exist. It is just a self-promotion gimmick it seems. Though there is one another level above 5 star - it is called 5 star deluxe.

Today we had a team lunch, organized by the Company, at such a 5 star deluxe restaurant located pretty close to our office. The hotel itself was very posh - the ambience, the decor, the furniture, the staff, everything superb, until we got to the food. The variety of food that was placed for the buffet lunch was humongous. From soups to 10-15 types of salads, a big spread of starters, main courses, and desserts. I was very impressed by the spread. But most of the food was not flavorful. It seemed as though it was prepared for the Western palate. The food was Indian but tasted far from Indian.

I had wanted to take my family to this place one day, not anymore. It would really be a waste of around ₹ 2,000/- per head.

5 star for the ambience, 5 star for the variety of the food, and 1 star for the taste of the food.

A Day on the Pale Blue Dot - 18

Wednesday, 17th May 2023

Kasu Panam Thuttu Money Money!

No, no, no. Don't excited already by reading the post title. Reading this post won't make you rich overnight. Hey wait! You should still read this! 😜

A Day on the Pale Blue Dot - 17

Tuesday, 16th May 2023

The Different Humans!

Note: I wanted this post to be gender neutral. Hence, I will be referring to the protagonist in this post as Bloopy (derived by combining Blue and Pink).

A Day on the Pale Blue Dot - 16

Monday, 15th May 2023

Tears of Happiness!

When was the last time you felt so happy that your eyes welled up? It is different state of emotion.

It happened to me today. Before today the last time it happened to me was 3 years ago. My sister was pregnant at that time, and she sent a picture of her ultrasound scan on her 1st trimester. Although we know that she has been carrying, it was at the moment at which I saw the ultrasound it hit me hard that she was carrying a life and my nephew/niece is real and we are going to love him or her a lot. Tears welled up at that very moment.

And today the reason was my brother. My brother has been aspiring to be a pilot since a very long time. It has been more than 5 years since he completed his pilot course and got his license. And soon after Covid-19 struck, and the air travel was banned which put airline companies in a very difficult space. Pilots were not being recruited since there was no flights flying. Throughout the global pandemic this was the situation. Slowly, after 3 years, flights started resuming slowly, but the airline industry was badly hit and in no situation to hire again. As a matter of fact, many pilots had to take huge pay cuts for the industry to sustain. Only over the last few months some airline companies have started recruitment. Last month my brother attended one such aptitude test. Today he got confirmation that he had cleared the 1st round is eligible for further rounds. This! This news is what bought tears to my eyes.

After having to learn so much, so much of effort, enduring so many downs through all these years, we finally succeeded!

A Day on the Pale Blue Dot - 15

Sunday, 14th May 2023

Selling Point!

We have been trying to buy a couple of tables for our flat. One, a coffee table and two, a dining table. But over the past 1 year, for reasons many, we weren't able to buy any of the 2. Finally, today we decided to at least buy the coffee table. We went to the furniture shop nearby where we found a table which we liked.

In the evening we reached the shop, and it was the younger brother of the owner who was at the shop at that time. Luckily, the table which we saw a couple of weeks ago was still available there. We enquired about the price again just to confirm. The younger brother said it costs ₹ 4,000/-. We were shocked. 2 weeks ago, when we came the shop, the owner (elder brother) told us that this very same table costs ₹ 2,800/- and we informed him about it. He calls his brother and put me on the call and after some discussion it was confirmed that the table costed ₹ 2,800/- only.

We closely inspected the table and told the younger brother that we would like to buy this table, but don't want this piece since it had at least 3 damages that were visible outright and enquired if we can get a new piece.

I am not sure how as a salesperson he told what he told next.

"We can get a new piece for you, that is no problem. It will take 2 weeks. But I cannot guarantee that the new piece also will not be damaged."

We were like: 😲😲😳

Soon after we left the shop - not really happy. Again, our hopes of getting a table was going down the drain.

Back at home, I called up the elder brother and informed him about our dialog with his brother. He told us not to worry, and he will get us the table without any problems. 2 weeks ago, we had met the elder brother, and we liked the interaction with him. He was a good salesperson. The younger brother - not much so. Either he is a bad salesman, or he is brutally honest, and I am not sure if both these qualities can go hand in hand.

End note: We paid the advance for the coffee table, and it should be at our flat in a week or two. Next - a dining table.

A Day on the Pale Blue Dot - 14

Saturday, 13th May 2023

Raise the Bar!

Today's is a simple lesson like the heading mentions.

My wife is a huge fan of Guardians of the Galaxy. Well not all the guardians really; but her fondness for Groot makes up for the others.

It was a spontaneous decision to watch Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3 - we were casually strolling in the mall and happened to book tickets for the late-night show.

Coming back to today's post's heading - Raise the Bar. Everyone would have heard this piece of advice at least once - raise your bar. May be not the exact words, but certainly some variant of it. While it is definitely an excellent motto to live by, raising the bar surely makes things difficult and may be impossible to achieve sometimes.

When you raise the bar for yourselves (or others), sometimes you succeed in achieving it and sometimes you fail. While Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3, in my opinion, failed at achieving the raised expectation they set after Vol. 2, it need not be always the case. We should try to improve, again and again, until we jump over that bar.

Just make sure you do not aim for The Everest on your 1st or 2nd day; may be not even on your 1st or 2nd year. Set bars at realistically achievable heights, but one that will push your limits; put in that extra effort and jump over the bar. Repeat. Repeat. And repeat. And then one day, you can make it to The Everest.

If you say it is impossible to achieve things, then well "I am Groot!"