So whom do you really TRUST??

“Kuthinathu nanbana irunthalum, sethalum sollakuudathu”

(If it is your friend who has stabbed you, you should NOT reveal it to anyone even if you die)

The above dialogue is the most impressive one which I have heard in recent times. It occurs in the climax of the movie Sundarapandian. The movie revolves around three best friends who turn into worst enemies because of a girl whom they all love, where the two friends back-stab their best friend for his close proximity to the female lead.

This dialogue opened my thoughts on issue of trust among various relationships in this confusing world. The best relationship in this world is that of friends, as we personally choose them to be a part of our wonderful lives. But as it often occurs, these chosen friends of ours do back-stab us sometimes.

The world is an ever changing place where the fortunes of individuals keep varying over time. Unfortunately, the basic nature of an individual also changes with time which results in them looking at relationships in a different light at different points of time. Another factor in the change in the relationship could be addition of another person in the straight-line relationship between two people as more people always spoil the broth.

With so much negative information, could there still be the light at the end of the tunnel?Definitely, would be an eventual or more an ideal answer. Friendship is based on trust which can be maintained by the following rules.

• Money is just a tool to lead our lives. It should never cause any friction between two good friends.
• Share your concern directly with your friend if you have any issues with him/her. Sharing any critical information with a third person will only spoil the relationship as we never know how the third person would use the information.
• “Bad people can never turn into good one while the corollary may not be entirely untrue”. If we have made a wrong choice in our selection of friends, it just best to leave and carry on with our lives. However, if we do know that our chosen friend is good at heart and may have said or done something in jest, we should definitely wait for them to come back to us.

All said and done, every minute of our golden life in precious and it is important for us to choose the people who understand us completely. With the song “Mustafa.. Mustafa..” still ringing in my ears, I truly wish all my best friends stay with me in my journey of LIFE!!

DENVER!!

We humans usually end up missing something long after the incident or the related people have crossed our life. But for the first time in my life I plan to do the opposite; to post a write-up about my second home, Denver!!

There are some people or places which have a karmic attraction to us even though we may not have reciprocated in the same manner. So many times in the past I have felt that today would be my last day in the beautiful city of Denver, but every time I have been proved wrong and somehow my life has continued marching in this amazing city.

As I saw the bright lights of Chennai shinning below as the flight took off the tarmac four years ago, I pretty much knew that a long journey awaited me. I missed my parents and my sister, best friends and my bike. I slowly started understanding how much I missed Chennai itself. I had roamed through the beaches, temples, theatres and eateries and missed them dearly as I landed in a dry deserted land, Tucson. Though I would soon come to miss the mildly pleasant Tucson winter is another topic of discussion.

As my journey progressed to Mexico, for my internship and to Houston, for a short stay with a great set of friends, it was Denver, which eventually was to become my second home. It was end of summer when I landed in Denver and I was completely unaware of the extremely harsh winter that was in store for me. I somehow weathered the first winter, ice-skied in the second and am eagerly looking forward to my third snowy winter in as many years.

I am lucky enough to have my office in downtown which is unlike any of the other downtowns’ in US. I reside close to the 16^th Street Mall, which bustles with people even during the harshest of winter weather. The street mall is a mile long road, with about 100 food joints making their presence felt on both sides of the street. The 10 to 15 Starbucks shops lined up on the various corners of the mall street quench your thirst for a morning cuppa hot chocolate or Frappuccino. The united artists’ theatre had provided a perfect getaway on many a Friday evenings for movie buffs like me.

Denver is nicknamed ‘Mile High’ coz it’s a mile above sea level, which makes it an even colder place in winter due to its altitude. But the beauty of a place lies in the people that we meet and I have been really lucky to meet great office colleagues like Ojas, Nachiket and Nikhil with whom I have shared the most memorable times at my office. I would like to convey my heartfelt thanks to my first room-mate in Denver, Chaitanya, who provided a roof over my head when I first landed here. I would like to take this opportunity to thank my roomie, my good friend and my younger brother, Arun Kalyan, for without  him, life would not even be half as interesting in Denver. Our Safeway and Gym sessions will definitely be missed wherever I go. A big thank is also in store for my amazing client, Xcel Energy, who have helped me grow immensely in my professional career and have provided me with a very friendly and cordial team to work with. A big thank you to my team-mates Abhishek and Alok also for memorable pleasant hardships we crossed together at work.

However, this post would not end unless I thank the absolutely amazing public transportation system that has brought me safe and sound during the freezing winter nights or from the many trips from the airport to my home and helped me survive without a car in US, as odd as it may sound. As I finish this post I do remember that it time for me to catch my free mall ride and my 83L bus back home with a beautiful ARR melody playing on my I-Phone.

What more can you ask of life? Oh ya, there is lots more to ask but this is one hell of a good start as ‘King Leonidas’ had said in the movie ‘300’.

Rainbow People!!

Have you sometimes wondered why people behave the way they do – either good or bad or sometimes, both? I have and so I thought I would write a post on some very interesting people I have met so far.
 
As mom and I watched a Tamil serial “Ethanai Nirangalin Manitharkal” (How many shades of humans), I used to wonder why people do good and bad things to others and sometimes to themselves. Many of these characteristics are transmitted from parents, friends and people we meet in the professional and non-professional world, but some of them exist in our genes by birth.
 
Over the short span of my life, I have met good-hearted, selfless people who would never do harm to anybody like my mother, father and my best friend, Narendra and many others. These people make me believe that if you do good things to others, somebody down the line will return that favor. I have learnt a lot from these people and try to follow their footsteps.
 
To compensate for these good people, I have met certain curious characters, whose main purpose in life is to keep disturbing people, to plot against others and make sure that they create an environment of distrust. In trying to understand these people, I happened to read a few books and also had spoken to some of them. I understood that some of them thought they were doing well to others while others knew that really manipulated people to their advantage. I certainly would not forget two dark shaded characters who have crossed my life for they made me understand the importance of meeting good people.
 
The third group of people are the most amusing ones. They are neither bad nor manipulative, but get manipulated easily. A classic example is a person I know who thinks he has a very good childhood friend but does not understand how his friend uses him to get his work done.
 
So finally I tried analyzing how many people from these groups I may have met and kind of ball-parked on a percentage of 60% good people, 5-10% curious characters and the rest in the easily manipulated state group.
 
All these three groups of people with different shades of characteristics form the different colors of the rainbow. I hope that, as I traverse through many different places and situations in future, I get to meet the only good people. Not all wishes come true or do they?