I normally go to office and come back home by a taxi... Today, as it was supposed to happen - I had nothing less than 50 EUR in cash, I had a card, but the taxi did not have a card machine, the taxi driver did not have change for 50 EUR (strange?... oh no, as it turns out, people here really do not carry cash!)...
The sequence of events, after I figured I had to get 12 EUR to pay to the taxi driver somehow:
1. I ask for change in a pharmacy shop, he does not have any
2. I see an Indian family entering their apartment - I rush to them with hope - but they also do not have more than 5 or 6 EUR in cash at home!
3. The taxi driver tells me to get into the car, we go in search of a shop where we can ask for change - we come back to the apartment, after going round in a circle - aha - no shop in the vicinity!
4. The taxi driver then drives me to a nearby ATM center - but as I tell him, it is no use. Highly unlikely that the ATM center is going to give me 10 EUR notes!
5. The taxi driver tells me to ask at the reception desk of a hotel :) I do that too - come out empty handed.. The receptionist also does not have change for 50 EUR.
As luck may have it, I see a guy outside the hotel door, talking to someone - and I recognize him as someone whom I have seen at Bridgestone, and have in fact exchanged a formal hi/hello with a few times.. The taxi driver has already started giving me dirty looks, he is so visibly pissed off with me (I am sure he was thinking - what kind of girl is this - carries so much of cash in her purse).
I take a chance, and blurt out my problem to that guy, he smiles at me (yes, he is obviously amused) - but he gives me the much needed 12 EUR... He says.... "I don't know your name, but I know your face.. So I am going to give the money to you :-)".. I smile back, it is a smile of relief.. I immediately hand over the money to the taxi driver and decide to walk back to my apartment... In fact, York and I (the good samaritan's name is York) walk back together (he also happens to live nearby), having a nice, light-hearted conversation along the way.
Interestingly, what started off as a frantic search for 12 EUR ended up very well, an experience and a meeting that I am sure going to remember for a long time to come!
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Current favourite: Metro
Surprisingly, I have caught up on a lot of movies here in Brussels.. And the current favourite of mine has to be Metro... and all the songs in that movie.. Particularly - "Alvida" and "Hai tujhe bhi ijazat"...
Thursday, June 14, 2007
There is a bigger plan for each one of us
At times, it is so relaxing and heartening to just say to yourself - "God has a bigger plan for me".. Try repeating that to yourself a couple of times, remind yourself again and again - the more you accept that as a truth, the easier and simpler things seem to be.. Small worries, tensions, some misgivings and misunderstandings seem to get smaller and smaller... till a point where you actually start seeing beyond a lot of petty, small issues that seem very big in the immediate short term...
Try that - it works. Think long term.
Try that - it works. Think long term.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Justifications
Are justifications heard? Are they respected? Are they accepted?
I don't know - I wish I knew the answer. Many times, I have found myself in situations where I justify, I defend - myself, my actions, my thinking behind a certain action. It is almost always an attempt to make others see my point, to give reasons behind how what was interpreted was not intended. Unfortunately, many times, my intentions behind an action and people's interpretations of those actions have been so disparate; the difference has been surprising, sometimes shocking and at times plain disturbing.
The more I experience this, the more I realize that justifications / explanations / discussions / defending take you nowhere. Because, as my questions in the beginning indicate - I am not sure any of these are looked at in the right manner. They are not taken as an attempt to put across the point, instead they are looked upon as acceptance of something done wrong... How many times have you said to yourself..."aah... see, she is coming up with all these explanations, because she accepts her mistake.."?
Whether I get the answer or not, I know, I will again find myself in situations where I do that, where I defend, where I try to explain to put across my point - and whenever I do it, I will always tell myself - I am doing this, because, I have the right to an opinion and thinking as an individual, because I was right in my own way. The day the other person also thinks that way - it will be ok, the day he / she does not - I would have just given another "justification" - useless, and valueless.
I don't know - I wish I knew the answer. Many times, I have found myself in situations where I justify, I defend - myself, my actions, my thinking behind a certain action. It is almost always an attempt to make others see my point, to give reasons behind how what was interpreted was not intended. Unfortunately, many times, my intentions behind an action and people's interpretations of those actions have been so disparate; the difference has been surprising, sometimes shocking and at times plain disturbing.
The more I experience this, the more I realize that justifications / explanations / discussions / defending take you nowhere. Because, as my questions in the beginning indicate - I am not sure any of these are looked at in the right manner. They are not taken as an attempt to put across the point, instead they are looked upon as acceptance of something done wrong... How many times have you said to yourself..."aah... see, she is coming up with all these explanations, because she accepts her mistake.."?
Whether I get the answer or not, I know, I will again find myself in situations where I do that, where I defend, where I try to explain to put across my point - and whenever I do it, I will always tell myself - I am doing this, because, I have the right to an opinion and thinking as an individual, because I was right in my own way. The day the other person also thinks that way - it will be ok, the day he / she does not - I would have just given another "justification" - useless, and valueless.
You are what people make of you
For a very long time, and should I say till the time I was immature enough to believe that - I believed that it is only important for you to know that you are good, and be convinced about that. For a very long time, I believed that being a good human being, a good person, a good friend is the most important thing.
And then I realized that it is equally important that others feel that way about you! You may think very highly of yourself, you may tell yourself that you are good, but if others around you do not think that way - you are not. Period. Whether they are right or wrong, whether they misunderstand or misinterpret. Nothing much matters, except this - In a world, where you are not alone, you are what people around you make of you.
And then I realized that it is equally important that others feel that way about you! You may think very highly of yourself, you may tell yourself that you are good, but if others around you do not think that way - you are not. Period. Whether they are right or wrong, whether they misunderstand or misinterpret. Nothing much matters, except this - In a world, where you are not alone, you are what people around you make of you.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Some of the best things come in small packages
Taking a hot shower bath in a cold, chilly weather - heavenly
Sipping hot coffee on a cold, winter day
Eating kanda bhaji sitting next to the window, watching the rain falling outside
Catching your favourite movie on a TV channel, when you least expect it..
Reaching that point in a novel when you just can't keep it down
Seeing your code working :) (Ok, that is the techie in me)
Sunday afternoon siesta
Allowing yourself to indulge in a yummy piece of pastry...
Sipping hot coffee on a cold, winter day
Eating kanda bhaji sitting next to the window, watching the rain falling outside
Catching your favourite movie on a TV channel, when you least expect it..
Reaching that point in a novel when you just can't keep it down
Seeing your code working :) (Ok, that is the techie in me)
Sunday afternoon siesta
Allowing yourself to indulge in a yummy piece of pastry...
I am inside the computer :)
Jui: aatya, where are you? Where are you talking from?
Arati: I am in Brussels, Jui...
Jui: aatya, are you inside the computer?
Arati: lol (cannot stop myself from laughing out loud) - No Jui, I am in Brussels
Jui: aatya, when will you come outside? I miss you...
Arati: (finally I give up and accept her theory :)) Yes, Jui.. I am inside the computer.. I will come outside on 6th July..
So folks, for the next 4 weeks, I am inside the computer :) See you when I am outside...
p.s. - Of course, all this conversation was in Marathi (This is the translated version :))
Arati: I am in Brussels, Jui...
Jui: aatya, are you inside the computer?
Arati: lol (cannot stop myself from laughing out loud) - No Jui, I am in Brussels
Jui: aatya, when will you come outside? I miss you...
Arati: (finally I give up and accept her theory :)) Yes, Jui.. I am inside the computer.. I will come outside on 6th July..
So folks, for the next 4 weeks, I am inside the computer :) See you when I am outside...
p.s. - Of course, all this conversation was in Marathi (This is the translated version :))
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
My niece...Jui
My niece - Jui - has been the topic of my blog some time back too... Why you ask? The reason is simple, I just love her so much :)
She is a funny 3 year old, with the sweetest smile, and with the most innocent and genuine laughter. She won the "Most Neat and Tidy Student" award at her school this year :). She is a total "aaji bai" as I call her, telling everyone in the house to not shout too much, and not to enter in the house with their shoes on, helping out her grandmother and her mother in the kitchen (yes, she does that, and does that very well, so much so, that there have been times when I have had to enter into the kitchen, not out of liking but out of shame :))..
She calls me aatya (that is Aunt in Marathi), and the word had never sounded sweeter before. She is the one who normally wakes me up in the morning, and I almost always tend to prolong my sleep so that she comes upstairs searching for me. Aatya for her is like her friend - and I so hope it remains that way always.
21st century kid that she is - I guess she has picked up talking on GTalk very easily.. yes, these days, we talk over Google Talk - which basically means I have to just shut up and listen to all her nursery rhymes that she rattles off one after the other. It is a long time from now that I get to meet her again - a real long period of 2 months, and I seem to be missing her already..
Come to think of it, there was a time in my life, when I had confessed to my mother that I cannot play with small kids! I just never understood what conversation to have with them :) Well, that was me back then, and this is me now - aatya to my lovely niece Jui.
She is a funny 3 year old, with the sweetest smile, and with the most innocent and genuine laughter. She won the "Most Neat and Tidy Student" award at her school this year :). She is a total "aaji bai" as I call her, telling everyone in the house to not shout too much, and not to enter in the house with their shoes on, helping out her grandmother and her mother in the kitchen (yes, she does that, and does that very well, so much so, that there have been times when I have had to enter into the kitchen, not out of liking but out of shame :))..
She calls me aatya (that is Aunt in Marathi), and the word had never sounded sweeter before. She is the one who normally wakes me up in the morning, and I almost always tend to prolong my sleep so that she comes upstairs searching for me. Aatya for her is like her friend - and I so hope it remains that way always.
21st century kid that she is - I guess she has picked up talking on GTalk very easily.. yes, these days, we talk over Google Talk - which basically means I have to just shut up and listen to all her nursery rhymes that she rattles off one after the other. It is a long time from now that I get to meet her again - a real long period of 2 months, and I seem to be missing her already..
Come to think of it, there was a time in my life, when I had confessed to my mother that I cannot play with small kids! I just never understood what conversation to have with them :) Well, that was me back then, and this is me now - aatya to my lovely niece Jui.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
Quote
Winners are too busy to be sad, too positive to be doubtful, too optimistic to be fearful and too determined to be defeated.
- Have you ever felt sad, doubted yourself and others, feared for something or felt defeated? If you have, don't. That is not what winners are supposed to be spending time on.
Taxi Drivers in Brussels
Taxi Driver 1: I met him twice coincidentally. The first time round I had asked him whether he knows any shopping center close by. Second time round, he remembered me and enquired whether I found it or not.
Taxi Driver 2: An old gentleman, seemed very knowledgable. For a change, could speak very good English. When I complimented him on that, he told he knows 4 languages, has worked in Agriculture Research. He knew about Mumbai, because a long time ago, he had a girlfriend from Mumbai!. We had a nice conversation for those 15 minutes, and while leaving he said philosophically, "nice meeting you. My grandfather always used to say - Trees do not meet, people meet!" :-)
Taxi Driver 3: He had no idea where Kleine Kloosterstraat is, he searched for a wrong road in his navigator. We ended up roaming around Brussels for 30 mins finding the location, which normally takes 10 mins from my apartment. The meter was shooting up with every passing minute - at the end it showed 30.5 EUR, that otherwise reads something like 12 or 13 EUR. While I was worrying about the unnecessary extra euros I will have to shell out, he tells me - "Don't worry. We will find the way. And don't worry about the extra money". And indeed he sticks to his word, and takes only 15 EUR from me. (well, a little more than usual, but much better than 30!)
Taxi Driver 2: An old gentleman, seemed very knowledgable. For a change, could speak very good English. When I complimented him on that, he told he knows 4 languages, has worked in Agriculture Research. He knew about Mumbai, because a long time ago, he had a girlfriend from Mumbai!. We had a nice conversation for those 15 minutes, and while leaving he said philosophically, "nice meeting you. My grandfather always used to say - Trees do not meet, people meet!" :-)
Taxi Driver 3: He had no idea where Kleine Kloosterstraat is, he searched for a wrong road in his navigator. We ended up roaming around Brussels for 30 mins finding the location, which normally takes 10 mins from my apartment. The meter was shooting up with every passing minute - at the end it showed 30.5 EUR, that otherwise reads something like 12 or 13 EUR. While I was worrying about the unnecessary extra euros I will have to shell out, he tells me - "Don't worry. We will find the way. And don't worry about the extra money". And indeed he sticks to his word, and takes only 15 EUR from me. (well, a little more than usual, but much better than 30!)
Quote
We so easily believe what our heart wants to believe and so easily ignore what our mind knows.
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