Watching Movies..Now and Then..

I remember the first time when the I-Max theater opened in Hyderabad, I  loved the clean environment, sophesticated ticket booking and more importantly the smell of popcorn, cookies and coffee. I thought, wow..this is so great. Ticket was Rs. 150 at that time and I thoughts its worth every penny. I thought now we can go to movies like in US in a nice clean environment.

 

Now, few years from there, I am kind of tired of malls and the big movies.  For one the exorbitant ticket prices on the weekend, along with that the popcorn, coffee..or foodcourt costs, and the crowd.

I miss the old theaters.

 

In Vijayawada, which is my home town, we had almost 30 theaters 20 years back. That was our favourite pass time as a family. Going to movies every now and then. In fact people in certain cities of Andhra will be movie buffs. ( There could be few exceptions :-)). At that time, if 6 people need to go for a movie it would cost only Rs. 150+ 50 - Rs. 200..for excellent balcony tickets and good snacks and tea. Now compare that to a PVR /any multiplex,  It costs almost Rs.3000.

 

Its painful. Now when I compare and see my maid /cook needs to work through out the month to get Rs.3000, it kind of pinches me.  Also the food courts are so expensive. I remember few years back when I landed in Bombay airport from US, I was just so amazed by the rate of an idly. I thought Rs. 150 for an idly - too much. Now I see these rates are accepted and paid for in Food Courts in various multiplex, without even the quality that is some what guaranteed at the Airport. Also the various varieties and the quantity of the food displayed at various outlests, almost makes me hate food atleast temporarily.  It makes me wonder how much and what kind of food people want to eat.

 

Needless to say, I lost the charm I initially had for the multiplex. I go for very selective movies, but most of the time I prefer them to watch them on TV even if it is few weeks later. Anyway with the new funda of multiplex, producers are earning their bit quickly and the movies really does not take lot of time before they appear on TV as a premier show.

 

However, some times as I end up going for a movie and shell out these exorbitant amounts of money and come home a bit exhaused being with a crowd and also sometimes in a closed environment where A/C may not function properly. Ofcourse atleast I feel better when the movie is good , like today.

 

And here is what I have decided, whenever I spend on a movie, 10% of it I will set aside for some charity. I will increase this %, and open an RD pobably , so it gives me some satisfaction.

 

As I just got back from a movie, thought will pen down my thoughts.

On a side note, I still love watching good movies.

Happy movie watching. :-)

 

Aruna.

 

 

 

Yet another experience with AMC

This is one course I seem to wait for months. Due to personal situations, I have been longing to do an Advanced Meditation Course (AMC) for quite a few months now. Finally it materialized when I decided to go for the weekend Part2 (AMC) at the Ashram. I decided at 9pm Wednesday and landed up at the Ashram around 12 in the midnight. Was doubtful if Housing will be open and to my delight I saw it brimming with bright faces serving joyfully.

As I went into AMC, I was very stressful (yes, inspite of being regular with my Kriya) filled with fears and anxiety about future. Now as I come out of AMC, a certain sense of peace dawns on me. Something to be experienced cannot be explained. Also what is bestowed upon me is a sense of courage and valor. Probably this comes with the letting go and seeing a bigger picture of life which is conveyed through knowledge, meditations and more importantly Guruji’s presence I guess.
However as I came out, I also felt the need for more meditations and more silence. I am going to go for one more course soon, In the mean time I resolve to keep up my sadhana, food habits and commitment to be grateful and happy.
Let’s see how it goes:-) Jai Guru Dev!

Simple Pleasures

Life is full of harmony and full of simple pleasures. Some days we are in tune in with it.

Well, today, I had a good lunch, good sleep in the afternoon - almost did not want to wake up. But had to. Well, that is what we call sweet sleep. Had a nice cup of hot tea. Had a quick shower and chanted for a little while. Watched a movie on HBO ( something I have not watched before) . Some movies just leave you feeling good and makes you smile and reminisce. This is one such movie. Its always nice to catch that movie on any weekend, when you least expect while surfing the channels. Well, I din't get the name of the movie, as it started and went on without breaks. :-)

Forgot to mention, swallowed few fresh breaths of air in between the tea and the movie some time. Perfect relaxed evening.

What else could you ask for? Normal simple life's pleasures ..what a blessing to have them and to have the ability to cherish them? Something I believe that runs in the family.

Ofcourse, in case we forget what a blessing it is to have a normal simple 'routine' day, Life has it's own ways of showcasing you and making you realize the importance of the same. Trust me when I say it. About time to enjoy the moments Life bestows us with.

With Eyes Closed..

With eyes closed
I see You better
and I find You closer

With eyes closed
I see the whole creation
in its perfection

With eyes closed
I see there is no other
and merge into the One

Jai Guru Dev!

खूबसूरत है जिन्दगी !

मंजिले है बहुत

ख्वायिशें है बहुत

इनमे न खोजाना

खुद्को न खोजना


खुद को मिटाके

खुद को मिलना है

यही एक तमन्ना है

जिन्दगी जीने के लिए

PM Triangle Useful in Buying a House?

Are the project management triangle and buying a house related? Yes, I would think so. Here is how. If you have not heard of the project management traingle, here is a brief summary:

Any project operates under the constraints of Scope (amount of work to be done), Cost (budget) and Schedule (timeline by which you need the project delivered). All these three interrelated. For instance, if all three of the constrains are dictated or fixed then project is bound to fail. So for instance, if you want to reduce the cost of the project you may need to reduce the scope. Alternatively if a project needs to be delivered under tight timelines (schedule), one needs to work on either reducing the scope or increasing the resources and there by the cost. This is quite a common constraint I have faced in software projects. Makes sense?

It just occurred to me the other day that this traingle applies to Buying a House or Apartment as well. Here is how it maps in my view:

Area(sft) of the house and the location - Scope
Budget you have for buying a house - Cost
Do you need a ready to occupy home or can you wait? - Timeline

Obviosuly if your timeline is immediate, you may need to shell few more rupees to purchase what you need. So the cost increases. On the contrary if you can wait for couple of years for completion, over all cost would come down. Other way to reduce the cost is by changing the scope: looking for a smaller area (sft) or a not so prime location. You see how these are realted? I found it quite interesting as this thought occurred to me. Hope you did too :-)

Last Minute Stress ?

The other day I was in traffic near a signal, I could not help but notice, how everyone at the signal were just getting ready as though it's a race start just waiting for the gun shot to go in the air. I wondered, what they would do with the time saved (probably few minutes in this case) once they reach the destination. :-) . However it also occurred to me probably they were hurrying as they are already late to the office. Though I do not have any statistical evidence, my gut feel says probably more than 90% of us does things in the last minute. It could be reaching office, submiiting Income Tax returns, giving car for service, any thing.

Doing things in the last minute not only causes lot of stress to ourselves but also to people around us. Other than that one may face the crowd whenever one does things last minute. It could be long queues, long waiting times. One may end up shouting or getting angry at others, just because one is stressed about completing your task in last minute. I am sure one can think of lot of examples, if only one can pause and think for a second.

Now, one can feel happy that we have company, or chose to be different by organizing and planning for one self just a little. How can one organize better? It's been my observation that great gadgets does not necessarily make one a great organizer. Nowadays there are lot of features in the gadgets that could be used to organize our lives, both personal and proffessional. However it is more of a discipline and in one's nature to organize oneself. I have a friend who does not know how to operate a computer, but she is a great organizer. She just uses her single diary so efficiently to block her time, mark her calender and organize herself.

Who is a good organizer? I think, probably some one who could manage their time well, and do not feel at the end of the day that they left something just because they are acting on others whims and fancies all the time that somewhere they could not act on what was important and urgent to them. (can be applied to Life as well). This is a skill, that can be cultivated and improved if one is not endowed with it. Ofcousre only if one wishes to organize one self, that is.

There are lot of tools available for organizing on the net. However, one of the simple tools I like is having a list of items and prioritizing them. Urgent/ Important quadrant also is simple enough and serves a purpose. In case you have not seen it before, here is a link: http://www.orgcoach.net/timematrix.html

If one observes the pattern and breaks free from it, it's a liberating feeling.

Being Generous and Parero

It occurred to me that most of us spend lot of energy in bargaining on small items to save money, like vegetables, auto fare or a maid's salary. Now is it nice? 10 rupees more to an auto person or a vegetable vendor means a lot to them than what it means to us. I think being generous especially with these people is very important and it makes life easy for us as well as for them.

Now if that is not convincing, think of it this way. Have you heard of the Pareto principle: the 80 - 20 rule? Pareto noticed that 80% of Italy's wealth was owned by 20% of the population. It is used widely in software quality as well. 80% of the defects can be eliminated by addressing the 20% top causes in errors.
Now going by the same rule, 80% of the money we spend goes in 20% of the items ( like Home, Car, etc). This is my theory purely. So if you want to save money bargain on big items and with big vendors. Not on small items with small vendors. So if you bargain on the 20% of the items, you could be focussing on saving 80% of your money. How is that? Nice ?

Let's be Generous and magnanimous in Life for what goes around, comes around- multifold! :-)

Friends

Its an amazing feeling to be meeting old friends even if it is only for few moments. I happen to meet some of my close friends including couple of my friends from University in the past few months. Grateful, warm, light and being cared for - That is the only way I can explain the feeling whenever I am with them. Two of the friends I met almost after 10 years. Even then it was so easy and comfortable to connect.

You can practically talk about anything and laugh or reminisce about it. At one level there are lot of things that changes in each one's life. On the other hand they looked the same to me. Same was with them . Most of them said " You just look the same" :-). If you forgot yourself or some of your best qualities, probably it is a good idea to meet some old friends.

There is a comfort that comes with familiarity. To be able to enjoy it probably some gaps are okay. I guess one values it more as one grows in life. This is one of the treasures I have been given that I truly cherish.