It's all in the 'Family'..

Raw versus Processed!

One day I was thinking about people with whom I can be just myself, no matter what I think, what I feel, what I love to do and what I dislike...these people accept me as I am and love me so much for being just ME.

While I was thinking about such people in my life, I felt there are two kinds of thoughts raw and processed. Raw thoughts are those which are escaped from the processing in our brain...it is what we feel, it is spontaneous and when you have people in your life with whom you can share such thoughts without any fear, without any shame, without weighing those thoughts, without being worried of consequences...it is a real blessing!

And, next there are processed thoughts - think before you speak type - which are weighed much in our brain, before expressed, thinking if it is right or wrong to express this, and if yes, in what way it should be expressed, what words should be used...how can I communicate it right, all these things.

I do not mean that we can be rude with those with whom we share raw thoughts/emotions...it is just that we are spontaneous with them, sharing trust with each other that neither of us have any intention to hurt, and we share with honesty...what ever we feel...naturally...and this can happen only with a complete acceptance of a person. Moreover, in case of people with whom you share raw emotions or thoughts and just be yourself, there will be love at first place, which is more important than anything!

Be yourself, no matter what you are...if you go on losing your individuality, then you will have to replace yourself with someone else created by others for you! Never let that disaster happen to you at any point of time in your life!

Be careful before you split your tablets!

Here is a small note for those who take tablets splitting them. Even I used to do it often being lazy to search for tablets of dosage that I wanted. However, now I have changed this habit of mine, since there are a range of options available for those tablets.

Many researchers warn that splitting tablets into two or more parts is potentially dangerous (since tablet parts are often unequal in size) and could lead to people taking the wrong dose.  Specifically, with regard to pills that have a narrow margin between a therapeutic and a toxic dose, it is more dangerous. A study published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing has revealed that 31 percent of split tablets deviated from the recommended dose by at least 15 percent and sometimes by more than 25 percent. The study suggested that the pharmaceutical firms should produce a range of options, including smaller or bigger dose tablets.

If suppose the dosage prescribed for you is not available in the market, then I feel it is better to talk to your doctor about it once, and confirm if it is fine to split tablets to take recommended dose.

Take care, and be healthy!

Source: Sify.com

the bus ride....

Commuting is not exactly my forte. never has been. especially not a commute by public transport daily for an hour and a half two ways. And espcecially not for work ;)

But then this shift from 80 ft rd to the new office has added an entirely new dimension, an entirely new factor to life. Commute is the new buzz word. Bus is the new mantra. Travel is the latest in thing.

Aversion to change is not something ingrained in me. By all standards, I am fairly adaptable and mutable to change, well , not like an e.coli, yet not as stubborn as the dinosaur. Plus, i had somehow romanticized the idea of traveling in the bus.

the bright red bus, with AC spewing cool air on to me, whilst i sit back on the semi rigid plastic chairs looking thru the glass, onto the city go by its daily chores. AAh the optimism of an uninitiated mind!

A week into the dream, and its not just soured, but turned into a terrible nightmare.

Buses aren't all red ;) all don't have Ac. The ones that have, don't always use them. There definitely has been not a single day when i "sat" as much as for a second, leave alone the whole ride. And the city is pretty much inside the bus. Nothing else can explain the crowd inside every single bus. Add to that frustratingly somber and sullen looking, foul mouthed conductors, early morning ready to wipe off any little optimism one wud have for the day ahead.

Like the Tormentors and the Death Eaters from Azkabaan, the bus ride sucks out life form me, evey day as i start another gruelling rush to work and back home.

Still I do look forward to the ride, die hard romantic that I am.

The bus ride still is a window to immense possibilities. People have fallen in love in a bus, people have found new friends in a bus, people have struck deals in a bus, people have broken up shaky ties in a bus.

I aim to do more too, I plan to regain my dream of a bus ride from the clutches of a ruthless inorganic mass of crowd commuting with me daily. I am determined to not bow down to the rigors of a machanical lifestyle, I intend to stop and pause, ponder and wonder, find my way and sometimes wander, as i ride the bus to work each day.

Happy New Year

Here’s a collage (a very big thanks to Kiran) of some of the cherished and happy moments at our old office on 80 feet road.

It’s been nearly 3 years since we, 4 crazy media analysts, came up with this blog “80 Feet Road”; blogging right next to the actual 80 feet road. Now this blog has tons of contributors’ blogging on a wide array of topics. This blog has remained and will be a symbol for freedom of speech. People say that we have a right to “freedom of speech”; after all, it is enshrined in our constitution as one of the fundamental rights. However, one will truly understand the difficulties that need to be overcome only when he/she decides to exercise that ‘right’. Some of us found out that the hard way, encountering corporate red tape and the necessity to remain completely neutral, when blogging on a company blog. Necessity is the mother of invention and “80 Feet Road” was born. It was like setting a caged bird free. We could blog with complete freedom. We were our own ‘Masters’. It was this freedom to blog that attracted our people to write on our blog.

 Over the years, we learnt a lot about blogging. Though it looks very simple, it is not. We decided to opt for custom templates for the blogger platform and therein started our learning process. Editing the CSS templates to our needs; learning about the various java script widgets that could be used in our templates and tweaking them according to our preferences; creating a header image in Photoshop; creating custom signatures; learning about and experimenting with various hosting options for our scripts and image files; and finally, the big daddy of them all - Search Engine Optimization.

A very big shout out here for Kiran K. who, with all the workload that a full time graphics designer has to deal with, has steadfastly endured our various requests for tweaking the templates, creating header images for us, edit some of the images that we have put up in our posts and so on… Thank You.

Guru Bhai, the heart and soul of this blog, is responsible for most of the editing with regard to the widgets and templates that we have used over the years. Without his expertise, we wouldn’t have come this far. Thank You.

Guna Bhai was always ready with inputs and without his unwavering support and motivation; this venture would not have started in the first place. He has championed various causes, right from social to green causes on our blog and we are the ever more richer, both in terms of knowledge and soul. Thank You.

Arunava Das, whom I fondly address as Dassappa, has been an engine that drove our little group of activists – GreenHorns. His posts on Bhutan have brought the exotic flavor to our blog. His posts are always a delightful read. Thank You and please post more frequently!

Shilpa, “The Quintessential Phoenix” has been blogging like a phoenix. One thing was certain, when she blogged – it rained blog posts. :) Her range of topics brings out the entire gamut of feelings in the person reading them. Blogging from the heart, we are honored to have her write on our blog. Thank You.

‘A’ Corner, a.k.a. “the management swamiji” has had us in splits with his tongue in cheek satire and has been a welcome relief in our gang of bloggers, bringing in the rare touch of humor to our blog. A very big THANK YOU and please post more frequently!

Rakesh S. a.k.a “the spiritual swamiji” has been kind enough to share his thoughts and views, which inevitably led to debates and discussions. Miss the debates Swamiji and a huge Thank You.

And lastly, a very BIG “Thank You” to all our 80 Feet Road bloggers, without them this blog would not have been – what it is now. And special mention to Verghese Sir and Pravda, for being the beacon light that will always guide us, Thank You.

Our office has shifted to Hosur road. We are now no longer beside the 80 feet road, from which the blog has acquired its name. But this blog will go on. As long as the World Wide Web exists, so will our 80 Feet Road blog. That is a promise.

Enjoy! and here’s whishing you all a Happy New Year.