2008

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YES+ !!!

Last week, I attended a week long course called YES+! It stands for Youth Empowerment Seminar, and is designed by Art of Living Foundation. It was such fun! Full of energy, dancing, music, meditation, exercise and breathing techniques designed to calm the mind, improve focus, get rid of negative emotions, find joy & peace in the present moment, feel connection and sense of belonging with others. I recommend it to everybody! It was taught by Natalie, a sweet young american girl who has conducted many many trauma relief workshops in New Orleans for Katrina affected people, inner city youth, prisons. I have always been overawed by all Art of Living teachers I have met. They really 'know' what they are talking about! Lets hope my discipline gets better of my inertia in practicing these techniques :-) Below is a music video made in Montreal YES+ course, which captures beautifully the essence of YES+.
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Amtrak is a box of chocolates..

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  and you never know what you're going to get (or meet)!  A new job in bay area, required me to commute and take Amtrak both ways. After two years of pandemic, that was a rare chance to see and meet diverse people from all walks of life. One such interaction stayed in my mind . Here is what happened.. I was trying to get work done on laptop at a lower level in the train, when in rolled a burly man, in his seventies, with a mask on, on a wheelchair. His cap said he was a vietnam war veteran. He parked the wheelchair next to a wide table and started talking on phone. From the sound of it, it was clear that he really enjoyed talking. It exuded eloquence, warmth, good humor and positive vibes in general. After the call, he looked at us fellow passengers and from the corner of my eyes, it was clear he was looking for some kind of connection as a pretext to talk. After some time, he broke the ice and started talking with me and another fellow passenger. It was mostly one-way as he c...
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Custom torture :-)

Recently had a very 'memorable' experience with Indian customs, which I was planning to blog about. This was my first firsthand experience with public corruption & bureaucracy, hence quite a learning experience. So this happened, when on my India trip, I naively carried two laptops (one for a friend & one for my work, as I needed both) without thinking twice about the custom trouble it might create :-) I was vaguely aware of 25000Rs limit, was foolishly optimistic of my falling below the custom radar or overly confident of dealing with any eventuality. Alas, on my way out of Mumbai terminal, when asked forthright, I declared the same, and was promptly asked to come to side & open my luggage. The officer, Mr.B was way too good for his job. The free & black market prices of all electronic valuables & accessories were on his fingertips. His knowledge of dell, hp, toshiba, ibm brands alongwith innards of chipsets, ram, dvd specs would compete with authorized sa...
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